Red Pear

I had very little time yesterday, but I did manage to get this one pear painted. I still think more contrast with the shadow. I do have trouble building up some very darks.

Still, I like the pear. Its a good pear.

I used quinacrodome  rose, vermillion hue, some glazes of windsor yellow and some carmine red.

I want to try again when I get some more reds, like alizarin crimson and the coveted quinacrodome coral! :^)

3 Pears

Working my way through the Pear-ology workshop this is my work from yesterday. I still want to go in and add some darker tones in the shadow, and perhaps more shadowing between the pears. I have always had trouble building up enough contrast in my work.

I also want to do a study of the red pear-I feel like I could work up a more vibrant red somehow. I don't have the quinacrodome coral that Martha uses in the example, but I definitely want to get it. It is only sold at Daniel Smith, so I have to order it. I will have to wait until the budget allows. I am really pining for it because coral is my all time favorite color! In fact I am pining for ALL of the Daniel Smith quinacrodome colors!!

I hope I will have time for painting today. Not sure I will because the youngest has an awards ceremony at her school and I have to run my mother around on errands a little bit.

Have a wonderful day my friends!

Annie Beez Art

I have truly fallen in love with painting! Acrylics, watercolors, mixed media of all kinds! 

I am still making dolls, that I believe I will never leave behind. 

But I haven't really picked up a needle in some time.

 I think because I have the daunting task of altering my daughter Chelsea's wedding dress for her wedding in September, plus the alterations on my dress and my other daughter Isabel's, I need to put quilting and embroidery aside for a while.

But I am painting.

And I am loving it!

 If you would like to follow my art journey I have started a new blog just for that.

 Come join me!

AnniebeezArt

Pear-ology

I am taking a workshop from Martha Lever Of Red Door Art Studio called Pear-ology.

 It is all about painting with glazes in watercolor.

 The subject is, of course, pears, and the techniques she teaches are wonderful. 

I love her cute southern manner and her straightforward teaching style.

 I feel really excited to learn some techniques for watercolors. 

I have always, always been drawn to them, and it is exciting to finally be unlocking some of their secrets!

Here are my beginnings:

I still need quite a bit of practice, and I am slowly building up my supplies of paints and I just ordered a new palette from Cheap Joes!

This one is round so you can set it up like a color wheel. It helps visually with mixing colors. Since I am so visual and I can never remember the rules of color mixing I thought, this is the palette for me!

Mermaid painting in progress

Here is my start on the mermaid painting. I am a little bit stalled here. I'm not quite sure where I want to go with it at the moment.

Definitely some more shading on the body and tail, and I think I want the hair to wander out a little more. 

Also definitely more contrast between the figure and the background.

 It is really helpful to take a picture and evaluate-really helps to see the obvious! 

Its a forest for the trees kind of thing! LOL!

Here is a close-up:

Working on a canvas background

This is an 16" by 20" gallery wrapped canvas that I bought at Michaels. This is probably the biggest canvas I have ever attempted to paint. I have a few layers of acrylic colors here, using stencils, a sea sponge and some drippage. Some of it is Golden acrylics and some is Adirondack dabbers. I like the super matte finish of the anirondacks-they are easy to use a variety of mediums over. I think this painting is going to be a mermaid. We'll see!

More art journal pages, and another page from Frolicaholic: