learning to paint – Page 2

This week the summer heat has finally set it. I haven’t been posting for the past several days. Perhaps it’s because my energy is sapped, not only by the heat, but also by the unrelenting misery of contemporary human interactions. Wow, I don’t even know what that last bit means.

As a counterbalance I give you a photograph of some non-human beauty.

**Ozark Sundrops** **in front of an old house.**

I’ve been working daily with fiber. But nothing that I think is share-worthy. I have two knitting projects underway – a shawl and a baby dress – both are disappointing me. The local art association had another plein air meeting, during which I sketched. But I stopped before completing it, due to the heat.

The one bright spot in my week has been my water color painting. In an effort to hone my skills I made a goal to paint daily. Here are the two still lifes I painted this week.

This one was painted while following an on-line tutorial and a sample photograph.

My photography is not super-focused but I’m pretty happy with the painting.

The next painting was done while looking at a photograph, but I took off the training wheels. I worked out the color mixing and brush technique without a tutor.

What I like: The textures of each surface, the highlights and shadows of the apple, the rich mottled color and shaping of the apple. What I don’t like: The shading of the folded cloth. But it does have a sort of abstract appeal.

Okay, enough about me. What’s up with you?

The wind howled all night and by 8 am this morning, the temperatures were in the lower 30s. I’m told that this is today’s high. The temperature is still dropping and the wind continues to blow. It’s a good thing that I have plenty of fiber objects and other creative endeavors on hand. No need to change out of my comfy yoga pants.

Yesterday I began to learn watercolor painting on paper. It’s been a long-time goal of mine to study this art form. I signed up for Lindsay Weirich’s introductory course Hand-painted Holiday, which can be found at https://lindsayweirich.teachable.com/p/hand-painted-holiday

During an overly-optimistic moment several years ago I had purchased a water color set. I dug it out of a drawer and retrieved several tubes of paint. It took some muttering and a dull yarn needle to pierce some of the foil seals, but eventually I had small quantities of paint laid down onto a cheap plastic palette.

First the tags. Lindsey called these a warm-up exercise. After a few hours I had completed six or so gift tags. Here are some of my favorites:

Next came the cards. I worked the first of the series, stopping when I realized that the afternoon had flown the coop, it was 5 pm and time to cook dinner.

Taking a break from painting, I moved on to knitting. At this point, all of the holiday gifts that I wanted to make were finished and ready to be wrapped. (Mmm maybe I will attach some of those gift tags!) I suddenly remembered that daughter had requested a pair of mittens for her son. She specifically wanted stranded knitting, so the mittens would be extra warm. I found the perfect pattern on Ravelry. It will only require a few adjustments, including the insertion of a thumb gusset for better fit.

Here is my progress so far.