FAVORED TYPE AND COLOR

I love the color blue...most every shade and value of blue creates a happiness in my soul. I don't know why - can't explain it - but it's there. Right now, as I am typing this, I have looked out the window and I see blue-grey clouds with pinks and yellow-orange in them floating in a blue sky above coastal mountains which are a dark blue-green for the ones closest to me, fading to a purple-blue for the ones farthest away, and varying shades of blues for the two layers of mountains in between. Beautiful!

And for the first time that I can remember, I saw my first true blue flower this summer! It is a gorgeous Hydrangea, of which we planted 6 in our flower beds. The blue one (my favorite type of flower now) was discovered on the Tofino side of the island, and since then, I have seen them in our neighbourhood as well. I got several photos (of course), and have begun a small 10" x 12" oil painting of this blue beauty! In the spring,  I am going to find one to plant in our yard! :-)

Here is a photo of the work-in-progress...

WORKING...

oil painting in progress

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted here! Yes - I am still painting, but the last 2 weeks, it has mostly been with students. Meetings, private workshops, lessons finishing for 2 students, new set of lessons beginning for another student...it has all been great fun, but makes for very little time for my own work!

What has made things even more busy is placing our house on the real estate market the beginning of this month. Showings and an open house mean cleaning more frequently than usual, and a lot less time in the studio. But this morning I got in some solid time, and completed the background (except for final details at the end) for this painting of a horse. I am now excited to begin the horse, hoping it will be as wonderful as the photo I took of him. Guess we'll have to "wait and see"!!

GREENS ARE DONE

20" x 24" work in progress

I have had some fun guesses as to what this could be from friends on Facebook, but none has been correct so far... The closest guess was bamboo.


The greens are completed, and will dry over the weekend. Then I can begin on the next color. Does it help you to know what it is if I tell you the title? It's going to be called "SLICES". 


Have a great weekend!

Companion Piece progress

Companion Piece to Autumn Fence

The companion piece to Autumn Fence is blocked in with the oil paint ... now I get to develop it with detail and texture. This will be the fun part! 


As an aside - I am so pleased that studying color theory, and now teaching it to several of my art students, has given me the ability to do so well in matching the colors I mixed and used in the original painting. The hard work of trying to understand complementary colors, analogous colors, mixing of transparent, translucent, opaque paint, and so much more must be at work in my brain as I paint!


I'll post more as this progresses. :-)

Sunrise 1 - a wip

Sunrise 1

12" x 12" oil on canvas

work in progress

This little study is on my easel right now. It is nowhere near finished - but I like the detail in the sky already. I have taken so many pictures of sunrises, sunsets and Chinook skies over the last few years that I have decided to try to paint some of them for a little series. If I like the small studies, then I might do several of the paintings in larger sized canvasses. It's all experimental right now - keeping it fun.

What has NOT been fun is having a very bad cold right in the middle of warm summer weather! I foolishly cut back on my intake of Vitamin D3, thinking that I was getting enough from the times that I was in the sun. Then, on the very evening of the day I went in to the city to get groceries (several stores of course) and to visit the library (very busy with children and parents now that summer is here), I developed a nasty viral cold. I am feeling like I am on the mend again, but I lost 2 days to sleeping and blowing my nose. YUK! That will teach me to not fool around with my vitamin intake!

Pear Tree - a wip

This week has been incredibly busy for me... I mean REALLY BUSY with all kinds of things that were not painting. But, in spite of that, I did get this painting drawn and started.

My friend Donna has a pear tree in her backyard (lucky woman!) which she sent me a picture of. So this is my rendition of that tree. I had to simplify the photo (which I absolutely LOVE) quite a bit, but the essence is still there. It will take a few more days till I get this one done. I have company coming, and so it is going to sit on my easel for a while until I come back to it. I love all the different shades of green - yet they are harmonious. It's not easy painting with green, you know! :-)

Beaches and Illustration Board

Sea Ribbon - a work in progress

In June, I visited my sister on Vancouver Island. Because I am an early riser, and live in a different time zone, I got up each morning, walked to a near-by cafe, picked up my morning coffee, and headed for the beach. With my camera and journal in my backpack, it was a short 8 block hike before reaching a spot that had a perfect seat - a big driftwood tree. I sat there each morning, watching the ocean, the boats floating past, and taking pictures of house finches and bald eagles. It was such a calming and relaxing experience - I wished I lived close enough to the ocean to do that every day!

I also took lots of pictures of the rocks on this beach. Vancouver Island rocks are so unusual - mostly colored blue or black and white, and many are spotted. It is so amazing just to pick up as many different types/colors of rocks as you are able! You wouldn't believe the variety!

I did pick up some baby sized rocks to bring back so that I could paint them accurately. They had to be tiny, and not many of them, as we are now restricted in how much weight each suitcase can be when flying. Several of my pictures were of this seaweed which wound its way in between the larger rocks, forming a ribbon of yellow. It was so beautiful! I knew it was a painting waiting to be done!

The above photo is this painting, Sea Ribbon, as it now sits on my art table. I am trying a new surface for this watercolor - illustration board. I LOVE the textural effects I can achieve with this board! It works perfectly for my rocks and the sea stuff in between the rocks. BUT it is a challenge as well. Illustration Board is not anything like cold pressed watercolor paper nor canvas. It is ultra smooth - so much so that the paint does not always want to stay where I place it. If you work over an area too much, every under-painted layer lifts off. As well, if you overwork an area, you damage the surface of the board, and then you might as well throw it away.

I have to be careful not to place anything on the surface of the painting - except maybe a dry paper towel where my hand might rest. I put my hand on the painting while it was a bit damp from doing dishes, and the paint lifted onto my hand... lesson learned! However, this same quality can make it easier to lift out whites and highlights.

So - we will see if Sea Ribbon makes it through to completion without ruining the illustration board. It has been fun to work on once I understood its properties. However, understanding and being able to overcome the challenges are 2 different things! I will post this as soon as it is complete.

Rhino - a watercolor work in progress

Rhino

20" x 30" watercolor

140 lb. Arches paper

Here you see the next stage of Rhino. I have added the background, creating depth with the purples of the rock and the green of the foliage. This makes him "pop out" and appear lit by the sun. In some of the washes I have added to his body, I have created texture with salt, and with throwing water to make backruns or blooms.  This will become more evident as I work further on his skin.

Here is a closeup of his ear so far. I love how the reflected light turned out...

Next step is to begin the long and tedious... but fun, of course... process of adding the bumpy skin texture, starting at his back end, and working toward the front.  

I will be away from the easel and this blog next week. Each year, we join with my husband's siblings an spouses for a short vacation. This year we have gone together to rent a cabin on a lake in Lake of the Woods. My husband and I are driving which will take us 2 days each way. I hope to get lots of reference photos taken for future landscape paintings in oils. We always have fun together- lots of laughter, lots of playing of games, and lots of eating good food. I'll be back with more progress on Rhino on the 13th of July.

Till then, I wish all of my American friends a wonderful 4th of July, and I hope all of you who visit this blog are enjoying your summer.

Catch - a work in progress

                               Catch

           acrylic on 6" x 6" masonite panel

              

This is a work-in-progress of one of my cats, named Catch. Catch is a cat that we inherited about 9 years ago, when she was 4 years old. Her owners were leaving the country and decided that we would make a good home for her... so she came to live with us. She had been raised in a small apartment in eastern Canada, and when she arrived here, was totally freaked out by all the space in our home. She hid under boxes for about a month, and hissed at us any time we tried to pet her. Then one day, she suddenly decided we were okay, came up to us meowing, and that was that! 

She gets her name from a game she used to play before we got her (we don't play games! he he) where a small piece of paper was rolled up and thrown into the air. She would try to catch the paper in between her front paws. She would then pick it up and bring it to you to throw again.  She really is a nice cat, even when she stays out till 2:00 a.m. and then brings home a live mouse which she drops on the kitchen floor. (It was dark when I let her in, and I didn't know that she had a mouse. She catches them, but won't kill them!)

This painting is acrylic on masonite board. This is my first cat painting... and I am liking it so far. It is probably about 1/2 finished. 

I have not liked the couple of paintings I have done on masonite before, and have actually thrown them out. But for some reason (could it be that I suddenly "understand" the texture of the surface?) this one is going well. 

I will post the finished painting next week.

Watercolor Elephant - still a work in progress

Although it may not look like much has been accomplished on my elephant, let me assure you that it has taken hours and hours to put the detail in his long trunk - 24" long, and every inch needing to show the texture of his skin as you see above.  Ears and eyes are just about done, the head is half done, and then I have to tackle the skin of the legs and chest. In spite of the tediousness of all this detail, I still really like this painting, and my husband says he "loves" it. That is a very high compliment from him!!! None of the above pictures have the color altered in Photoshop, so I hope your monitor shows how beautiful the colors are in this painting. Next time I post him, I hope to have him either completed or very close to completion.

Sunflowers- a watercolor WIP

I know, I know - sunflowers again! But you would not believe how people are drawn to these spectacular flowers! These sunflowers, which I bought back in November, were giant ones which lasted a very long time. They just kept on looking great until in one day they finally faded. They were beautiful though, and really brightened the descent into winter darkness and frigid cold.

Now, when I am finally painting these flowers, it is bright, sunny, plus single digit temperatures, and we are on the upswing toward longer days, shorter nights, and eventually, warmer temperatures and SPRING!!! I am feeling optimistic these days as I get outside and walk my border collies... perhaps the worst temperatures and weather are behind us, and we will have a mild rest-of-the-winter. Regardless, it is just encouraging to paint these cheerful blooms.

If you are interested in purchasing this 15" x 22" watercolor painting, don't wait to contact me at jogiesbrecht@gmail.com. I am sure this painting will not last long! :-)