daily painting - another cupcake!

Chocolate cupcake

ACEO - 2-1/2" x 3-1/2"

watercolor on 140# arches paper

with Strawberry icing...yum...I've never met a cupcake I didn't like.

I added glitter on this one, which you cannot see well in this scan- it's pink glitter to go with the pink icing. This is one more of the many cupcakes I have posted in the past. I just love cupcakes!

ACEO = Artist Cards, Editions and Originals

Illustration Friday - FIERCE

Project Runway winner Christian Siriano

daily painting - laundry day

Laundry day
8" x 10", 140# arches paper

click to enlarge

There is nothing like the smell of clothes dried out on the line!

I think this would look very nice hanging up in a laundry room, right over the folding area - having a nice image to think about while folding laundry.

I wanted the laundry drying out in a meadow instead of the back yard, so I used two different reference photos to create this painting.

daily painting - crab on the run

"Crab on the run"

5" x 3", 140# arches paper

click to enlarge

As a small girl, I have sweet memories of crabbing at the beach in Delaware with my brother and sisters. We would use chicken necks tied with white string to triangular lead fish weights. Out on a wood dock that stretched out into the shallow water we would go. Lying on our stomachs so we could see into the shallow water better, we would work at coaxing a crab close enough to then catch him with a net on a long pole. There was a certain finesse needed to lure in a blue crab. If you pulled the string too hard or too fast, the crab would spook and let go. Not enough pulling and you lost your chicken neck.

Into a large basket they went, once caught. I have a vivid memory of blue crabs getting out of the basket and scurrying around on the wood deck. As I was always barefoot or had only flip flops on, I would squeal and get very excited, thinking the blue crab would take off a toe or two. My brother would be the hero and grab the crab in the back and toss it back into the basket.

Back at the beach house, my mom would boil up the crabs in a huge pot and then pick them clean. Picking crab was a tedious job. It was not easy work to cook crab as this was the time before air conditioning. Looking back, I don't think my mom was real thrilled when we caught crabs, but she did cook them for us!

Funny thing, I don't remember eating the crabs. I just remember catching them. I am not sure what my mom would make- Crab salad? Crab imperial? I just don't remember. I think as a small child it was much more fun catching blue crabs than eating blue crabs!

daily painting - Daisy II

Daisy II

4" x 4", 140# arches paper

click picture for larger view

I love how this little painting turned out- For the background I did a wash of opaque paints and then charged in some jewel like Phallo blue - I wanted a darker background, like the daisy is growing up against the woods. Daisies often grow on the edge of the woods.
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painting a day - Daisies I

click to enlarge

Daisy I
8" x 10", watercolor on 140 lb. arches paper

SMALL service is true service while it lasts:

Of humblest Friends, bright Creature! scorn not one:

The Daisy, by the shadow that it casts,

Protects the lingering dew-drop from the Sun.

~ William Wordsworth

One of the first summer flowers to appear in NY is the daisy. It's simple beauty appeals to me. They grow all along the roadsides here and add their simple summer beauty to the world.

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SOLD

Craft show in Dutchess County, NY

I went to a fabulous craft show today! This was the cream of the crop- a juried show of over 300 extraordinary crafts people; Crafts at Rhinebeck. Rhinebeck is over 60 miles from my home, but close to my youngest daughter's home. I picked up Jen at her home and off we went for the day. I had moments of deja vu- I was at the same fair 30 years ago as a young woman- before kids and when I lived in New Jersey and the trip to Rhinebeck seemed a world away back then.

There was one particular artist I wanted to meet- Andy Smith. He is a watercolor artist that I really admire. His work is amazing and I've followed his blog for quite some time now. When I saw that he was at this show, I wanted to go to see his work in person. (He lives somewhere in PA.) I was very happy to meet him- he was very appreciative of the idea that I came to see his work in person. His larger original watercolors run in the $1500.00 and up range, so I bought a print called "Warm Glow". He signed and dated the back for me. I love it! Funny thing- my daughter and I split up and looked all through his booth and bins of prints and when we met up again, we both had picked out the same print!

I also bought a beautiful piece of pottery from the artisan Ede Walker. It's a large covered casserole dish and is perfect for baking mac 'n cheese. It has bands of gold, blue and green, like this bowl.

I also bought a beautiful basket, but the artisan doesn't have a website. I plan on using the basket in my studio to corral my huge stack of current art magazines. (I swear they multiply all on their own!) Notice I say 'current', as I have an entire shelf of older art magazines. I finally broke down and started cleaning out the older magazines...it's hard to let go sometimes!!

inchies - fun to make!

I am sure most of you know what "inchies" are. For those who might not know- they are 1 inch square pieces of artwork. They are great fun to trade and collect. I've received a lot in swaps. Here are a bunch I made recently. I was in a weird mood- so they are a slightly dark in the humor! Click on the picture above to see them up close.

daily painting - value study

I'm reading a great watercolor technique book at the moment. I got it out of my local library, but this is one book I may buy- it's that good. It's called Putting people in your paintings, by Laurel Hart. She stresses the importance of VALUE in painting. If the values are correct, it really doesn't matter what colors are used...so I decided to put it to the test. This is from a photo of a local track team. I used unrealistic colors and focused in on the value instead. Using the 'wrong' colors forces me to focus on the value. It's a great exercise!

I painted this on Bristol vellum, for a change. I wanted to see how the paint and gum Arabic handled on the Bristol vellum and how well (or not) I could lift out white areas.

The human form is very intimidating to me. I am slowly learning...it's a life time of learning!

In order to become a great artist,

I need to be willing to be a bad artist...

rusty things

What is it about rusty old things that gets me? I love rust, peeling paint, weathered wood...I think it's the history, the story behind the rust and peeling paint. Each tells part of a long story of something that was once shiny, new and cared for.

Yesterday I went to a train museum with my husband. I've never been to a train museum before, so I didn't know what to expect. I was so intrigued by all the old rusty trains that my husband ended up sitting down and waiting for me while I roamed around and took shot after shot of rust...sweet man, he does understand me :) And he is the train buff!

Here are a few pictures I took:










"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." ~ the Velveteen Rabbit

half the fun is the hunt...

If you are anything like me and craft products, you have long since realized that the acquiring of craft items is a sickness, an addiction...I have enough craft products in my studio to last me the rest of my life. And half the fun is the hunt.

I went to a stamp show this past Sunday with a fellow craft addict, driving 2.5 hours to Massachusetts, just to see 'whats new'. It's our annual pilgrimage. My buying has truly dwindled over the past year, as I think I pretty much own most of the craft products out there. (not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.)

BUT, every now and then something comes along that is new and terrific in the crafting world. At the show I found (and had to have), this paint box. It is just like the Twinkling H2O's glimmer watercolors, but 16 different colors in one paint box for $8.95. How cool is that? Of course I already own a six-pack of the Twinkling H2O's, but that is besides the point. What I love about this paint box is that there are 16 colors- non-refillable, but they will last for a long time. They are portable and the box is very flat, easy to pack and take.

daily painting

apple blossom IV

7" x 5", watercolor on 140 lb. paper

Well, I think this is the last of my apple blossom painting for awhile! This is # 8 in this series of apple blossoms. I made the background darker this time, using more greens and blues.

I am thinking daisies now...

Daily Painting

apple blossom III

7" x 5", 140 lb. watercolor paper

This painting is a close up of an apple blossom- one more in a series of apple blossom paintings. I love how the shadows of the stamens fall across the petals. It gives depth to the painting. Again, I am always amazed at how many colors are in white petals! I am enjoying this series and have fallen in love with apple blossoms~they are so simple, yet elegant.

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Quote for the day

Friendship is the shadow of the evening,

which increases with the setting sun of life.

~Jean de La Fontaine

below are leaves with shadows~