Now that I am warmed up, I have been working diligently on the two dog portraits requested by a friend. It’s been satisfying work, with just the right amount of frustration thrown in, to make the experience authentic!
The black dog – Reggie – has the most progress:
Initial SketchFirst washes completeAdding darks and deepening some colorsMostly complete masking fluid removedAdding some final touches.
Reggie is at the stage where I pause to consider more carefully what adjustments and final touches are needed.
Yesterday I started painting Daisy, the little white dog.
Initial SketchFirst washesBeginning to add darks and various tones.
I’m enjoying watching their little faces emerge from the paper. My secret pleasure is to discover the dog’s personalities from studying their photographs and translating the shapes I see into colors.
Do you experience a secret pleasure while engaged in your craft? Do tell about it!
My local art association is having a fundraiser. I agreed to make some artwork on six-by-six canvases that will be sold for $66 each at the event.
Because of the small size of the canvas, I decided that I would paint only small creatures. This choice allows me to make them life size. Last month I completed a butterfly and a nest full of sparrows. This weekend I am painting a hummingbird. I was inspired to paint one in a hand when a woman at our farmer’s market presented me with a hummingbird she had found on the ground. The bird was alive, but stunned. She wondered what to do with it. I suggested she find a place in the shade of a tree where the bird could recover safely.
The image of that tiny, but alive bird in her hand lingered in my memory. Today I finished a six by six painting that depicts the event.
SHE OFFERED ME A HUMMINGBIRD
The hand model was me.
I used a photo on Unsplash taken by Osvaldo Pompa for the hummingbird reference.
For my final submission to the fundraiser, I cut down a painting that I completed in 2020 and attached it to the six-by-six canvas.
LITTLE GREEN BUG
This cute beetle was crawling around on the brick planter in front of my house. I snapped some photos and did the painting. While I loved rendering the bug, the real challenge for me was painting brick, mortar and shadows. I’m pleased that after four years I still like this painting. It’s on cheap watercolor paper with student-grade paints. A few lines with an ultra-fine sharpie did well for the legs and antennae.
I’ll turn these in next week. Hopefully someone will be willing to buy them for $66.
Last Wednesday, I participated in a watercolor tutorial offered by fellow art association member Cheryl Bryan. We were to paint a koi swimming near the surface of a pond. While she had a nice reference image, I preferred to use this one from Unsplash by Jason Leung.
Subjects in water are very appealing to me, especially creatures such as fish.
Here is my sketch of Jason’s photograph after I had added masking fluid to reserve the whites of the paper.
I am using Arches 140# cold press paper. The masking fluid is Incredible White Mask liquid frisket. I recently learned to apply this messy stuff by using a small paint brush that is first dipped into a solution of water and liquid soap. To apply little dots, I used the tip of a wooden knitting needle (!) Both worked great.
Here is my painting at the end of the 2 hours tutoring session.
I had the background mostly complete and the first wash on the fish. The next day I painted more color on the fish, added shadows and a glaze of highly diluted Phthalo blue. After the paper dried completely, I removed the mask and added highlights.
I’m pretty happy with the result. The fins, tail and ripples came out well. You can tell that the head and mouth are poking through the water’s surface.
I’m less happy with the shadows and my color mixes. Perhaps I should have chosen different pigments.
Anyway, I have dipped my toes back into painting after a long hiatus. The dry spell is over, for now. (puns intended.)
I asked my yoga instructor for a photograph of her two little dogs, with the intention of giving her a painting for Christmas. Well, Christmas came and went, and I didn’t get around to the work until January.
Here is an adorable photo of Marianne and Sissy (breed is Havanese)
I know these dogs well. They are present at yoga session and form a 2-dog greeting party with the arrival of each student. My challenge will be to render their personalities as vividly as possible.
No good portrait will happen without a good sketch. In this one, I taped two pieces of paper together so that I could make the sketch on 1:1 ratio with the painting. This allows me to transfer key contour lines and any gestural lines to the watercolor paper by tracing.
Next, I did a quick color study and selected pigments. Marianne will be painted with a mix of Prussian blue and transparent orange. Sissy will be painted with a blend of Payne’s gray and transparent orange.
White areas masked out and underpainting complete:
Second wash complete
Third wash finished and most details painted in. Time to remove the masking fluid and the little bits of masking tape.
Final touches to finish it.
I’m pretty satisfied with this one. There were challenges, to be sure. But I achieved the bit of sparkle and personality I was seeking. You can probably guess that Marianne is the extrovert and Sissy not so much. I think of them as yang and yin.
Blissful Dogs finishes out at 12 by 15. It is the largest watercolor painting I have finished to date and will easily fill a 16 x 20 frame after matting.
Done on cold-press Fabrico Artistico paper with a palette of Winsor yellow, yellow ochre, transparent orange, burnt sienna, quinacridone red, Prussian blue and Payne’s gray. Only tiny amounts of white gouache were needed.
Need I mention that this will be another stashbuster? While that’s true, this hat is a also a sort-of swatch for a much more ambitious knit project.
I’m knitting it up from scraps of yarn using a pattern offered by Wool & Pine. The technique is called 1 x 1 colorwork. It is just what it sounds like: Using 2 different strands of yarn per row, knit 1 stitch in color 1, then 1 stitch in color 2. Continue alternating colors to the end of the round. Then it’s up to the knitter on how often to change out colors throughout the project.
Here I am switching out colors once per row. After practicing on the hat, I hope I will be ready to knit the pull-over.
Seaglass is the ultimate stash-busting pattern. It came to my attention from fellow blogger The Crafty Yarnster who is working on her own seaglass sweater.
In other news, five recipients of Christmas handknits expressed satisfaction with their new accessories. The balaclava/mitten combination can be seen here:
After trying it on, the child’s mother ecstatically called out for her own balaclava. It’s that warm! The adult version will be cast-on no. 2 for 2024.
Moving on to watercolors, I have promised my yoga teacher that I would do a watercolor portrait of her two little Havanese dogs. This is the photo she sent.
Irresistibly cute, don’t you think? This will be my first painting of a dog. I think it will be truly fun to do.
So, with these three projects, I believe that my plate for January 2024 is full. Hopefully I can squeeze in some work on December 2023 UFOs.
Daily Fiber 