Last week I had the chance to get away to our little cottage in Michigan. I met my sister up there. We'd both brought some art projects and reading materials, but we ended up concentrating on one book she'd brought up and had been working from. So we had our own little art retreat! The book is "Expressive Flower Painting" by Lynn Whipple. She has a unique approach and I will show some pics, but not all the steps...you will need to buy or check out the book to get all the details.

Here I'm making the first layer. There are many layers to the process, and this may or may not show in the finished painting.

This is my inspiration photo. I would never have picked something so complicated, but her process is more about painting it the way you see it and your impression of it.

Here are some more steps....you are layering drawings and colors with soft pastels...turning your canvas as you go. I was seriously having trouble letting go and doing this. I guess I'm a control freak.

Finally you pick one orientation and start painting in your darkest darks and then your flowers and your lightest lights. Different folks seem to all do this their own way. I was trying not to get too literal as that is my usual hangup.  In this photo you can see the table top is the layers below showing and I was hoping to somehow keep those layers, but in the end I wasn't happy with the colors in it.

Here I was going back in with the soft pastels to add some definition and detail to the flowers.

The background wasn't working for me, so I changed it to a green. Our porch at the lake is a light green and I was inspired by that. I also changed the table....I could have left the layers showing as the table top, but it didn't seem to work well with all the pink I'd put in the flowers.  

When I sat back and looked at this I was shocked that I'd made this! It is very different from what I usually do: ink drawings and watercolors in a sketchbook. I'd been so angsty during some of these stages, and that tells me I was stepping outside my comfort zone. But of course that's where the learning and growth happens! We started this at 10 pm and worked straight though the night...full of adrenaline! After finishing we crashed. 

The next few days we kayaked, swam, picked roadside flowers and some from the yard, visited with neighbors, and also did a bit more art...

Jennifer was working on painting a water lily. She'd already completed two paintings using Lynn's method. I didn't get a pic of them all together, but maybe it's not too late. 

I used a small canvas and tried to do one bloom. At one point I almost threw it out, but then when I added the pastels I liked it again! So if you go get Lynn's book, try all the steps, and just keep going even if it feels like a mess at some stages. There is not much background to play with on this one, so I used the sides too and added polka dots for fun.

If you ever get a chance to get away from your normal routine (by yourself or with someone with similar interests) to focus on your art, I'd recommend it! It's unusual to get to concentrate fully for several days with no interruptions...at least it is in my life, and I have a feeling I'm not alone in that.

Painting BIG

Normally, I paint small....no larger than about 12x12, but several years ago I bought this great old easel at an auction, and promptly bought a couple of huge canvases. Then it sat....for years. Suddenly the other evening I decided I just had to paint one!

I decided to go for it and do something kind of like the background I make for journal pages. It helped me get over the fear of that pristine canvas, to just think of it that way, and not worry about how it turns out...after all, if I hated it, I could gesso over it, and start anew.

I used Golden fluid acrylics and some acrylics in tubes. I layered on the colors using brushes and my fingers.

Added some water, and letting gravity paint.

  I painted with my fingers quite a bit. I also used foam brushes, and regular paint brushes.

 

I've not painted anything this large since high school. It was fun! I will definitely be trying this again in the near future.

Documented Life ...Layers...Don't stop til you get enough.

 

 I wish I had a picture of how this page started...it was a page I'd started earlier and hated. In this photo I'd already used some gesso and paint to block out some of the ugly. The leaves on the edge were cut from magazine pages, and I just couldn't get them to work either. This week's Documented Life prompt was to use lots of layers (don't stop till you get enough!).

Added some yellow and pink...because those colors make me happy. And a bit of blue to repeat.

Here I got out the black and white pens and started doodling.

A bit more pink paint to block out some parts I didn't like, plus added some happy words. It's kind of a happy page now. Keeping going with the layers did help fix it up enough to make make me want to keep it. I think the page facing it will have a calendar. I'm missing having the calendar/journaling aspect of "documented life."

If you are interested in following along with the Documented Life Project prompts, you can  join the fun at: Documented Life Project 2015

Documented Life ....using underpaper

 What is underpaper, you say? Well, it's the paper you keep on under your journal when you are painting, to keep the table clean. I've gotten to where I will empty the brush out on that paper before I clean it out in a glass of water to change colors. You end up with a nice colorful paper that can be used in other projects. This turtle was sketched on one of those papers.

The ocean is also made from underpapers. I found some Hawaiian proverbs online, and since I love Hawaii, I decided to make a page from one of those. The theme for the week was "What lies beneath" and Hawaii has a lot "beneath" with volcanoes and the ocean all around.

Originally I had a page facing this one that included a volcano and lava underground, but it was too bold for this page, and I wanted the turtle to be the focus. So, I cut this page out and glued it to another page to stand alone. Sometimes, you just have to edit a little. When we were in Hawaii, we saw green sea turtles many times, and one swam up to us one day when we were swimming in a lagoon. It was a rather magical moment!

 Gorgeous black cliffs and the prettiest blues ever.

A fisherman and his son with their nets, while turtles sleep nearby.

This is the day the Lord has made....

This is a little project I started a while back:

I painted the bike, and then was searching for a verse that would fit, and also fit with a bike. Since riding my bike IS a way to rejoice in the day, I thought this one was perfect. It has my hand done wonky lettering, and I embrace that these days. In this day and age, most everything is computer generated, so I think it's rather refreshing to see something that is hand lettered and hand painted. As you can see, this is the same style sketch that I often do in my journals.

Color Wheel...Documented Life Project

 This prompt was "The Color Wheel" and the suggest quote by Georgia O'Keeffe. I started with a large ledger page and a stencil, and sprayed yellow, red, and blue inks through the stencil so that they overlapped to form secondary colors. Then I glued it down with some pieces of book paper, under paper, and some tissues printed with the gelli plate.

 The little flowers are pieces of napkins glued down. Then I had fun with some fun doodling with the white and black pens.

 By now, my background was so busy that my quote would have a hard time standing out, so I swiped on some pretty magenta paint.

I've also been drawing some Route 66 signs and scenes in Illinois. I'm working on some projects for the shop with these little drawings.

Words with Friends ...Documented Life Project

The prompt was "Words With Friends" and it reminded me of this Bible verse: Proverbs 16:24.

Here it is while I was working on it. I was away from home when I started these pages, so I had a limited selection of supplies. I have a great honeycomb stencil, but of course it was at home, so I tried to draw the comb. I love the verse, but I was not overly excited about this page. I like it better after doing a bit of lettering and doodling on it though.

Documented Life 2015 Week 2

 This weeks challenge was to use gesso. We were also supposed to be inspired by a Mary Shelley quote about starting today, however, I'm behind and there is also a prompt out right now with the theme of "Words with Friends." So what we have here, is a combo...gesso and words with friends.

I've never started with black gesso before, so this was an experiment...I sketched with a white colored pencil.

Then I blocked in colors with paints. I didn't  know if the color would show up on the black, or allow too much black through, but I like what happened! The pink paint is a Liquitex Basics, and the white and reds are Golden Fluid Acrylics.

I just kind of blocked in shadows and highlights, keeping it loose.

 Then I got out the Pitt pen and did some sketching details and defining edges. Added some highlights and little dots with the Sharpie water based pen.

This was a fun experiment, and I definitely want to try using a black background again.

Vintage Camper...Home Sweet Home

I've been working on some little canvases today. I started out with some pretty greens and blues and yellows.

 I painted a vintage camper on an old map of the United States, and added some doodling. I love vintage campers, and someday I hope to have a little "canned ham" to travel with.

I like to paint the edges so they are as fun as the front. That way it doesn't have to be framed.