Open Secret

As I promised from yesterday's lesson on a focal point as we looked at a hummingbird engulfed in creation, today I am going to show you how to paint a similar painting painted with the same particular technique.This is a mixed media.

In painting abstract or impressionistic paintings, you need movement and mystery, I believe this painting has both. There are hidden images and I wanted to show movement. 

Petal Tips! A Mixed media could mean anything with more than one kind of paint.  On this one I used four or five. I started with an under painting of acrylic.  Basically, I use acrylic just to get away from a white canvas. I start adding colors. Nothing in particular, just covered the white.

I then switched to oil paints. I took an old doily, layed it down on the canvas and used gold metallic paint. I sprayed it in places. Then I used other colors to do the same thing, all from a spray can. You can see at the bottom left, the polka dot texture. Then I decided where I should draw in the hummingbird. I wanted the gold to reflect on the wings and I wanted that texture on the wings.

I painted in the bird and accented the black head. I used light bluish white behind the head to bring it out. I wanted the head to be the focal point. I added red, the flower is insignificant, it is the red I wanted to show. I added red towards the bottom to give the painting balance. 

I used a permanent black marker to outline the bird. 

There is a partial butterfly wing and other things for mystery.

Meanderings~~~~ I love the freedom from this technique. I just enjoyed using several kinds of paint to get the effect. This is a painting that I let it speak to me. I was doing a series of hummingbirds, so I knew I was going to incorporate one in one way or another. I let the background just happen and then I used very little detail to pull the painting together. I made sure that I used the effects of the background to compliment the hummingbird. More detail, less freedom. I really watch when to stop on detail. I have choked the life out of  many paintings by taking them too far with tight detail. 

Isn't that the way life is at times, when we stop sweating the little things, (all the little details) we seem to have the freedom for life to take shape the way it is going to anyway, and we paint ourselves into the picture where we need to be. It's not a lack of concern or care, but it is the beginning of freedom. I pray your hands will be full of grace and your heart full of beauty, then you will be a wonderful artist.

All Nature Sings

Good Morning, Wake up and smell the coffee. It's time to paint. There are many things going on in my garden; birds, bugs and creatures. And of course there are flowers, vegetables and fruit.  I painted a series of hummingbirds and thought I would add to the collection.

Petal Tips! I purposely painted this in an obscured way. It is as if all naturing is singing and vying for attention. The attention goes to the hummingbird, only because it stands out in contrast. It has black on its head and wings and body. Everything is much lighter in value. A painting must have a focal point otherwise, the eye will skip along around the painting trying to find something to land on. It's like the hummingbird, they are always flitting around, never resting. Good for the hummingbird, but not for a painting.

I wanted the light to dance off the objects also. I worked the paint so that the light and dark are interlaced in and around.  There is much movement and a certain movement pattern  in this painting, it is caused by the the light pattern. The only defined object is the hummingbird and the rest is used to support the hummingbird. In the next lesson, you will learn how to get the light and dark patterns.

Meanderings~~~~~There is so much going on in this crazy world we live in and just as much in my head. Unless, we learn to set a direction, a goal, a purpose, we will flit around like the hummingbird, looking for the brightest colors. Bright colors excite us for awhile, then we burnout, and usually in disappointment.Do you wonder if the hummingbird ever gets tired. There little wings move so fast they are in a blur.

With a million ideas in my head and many projects on my desk and drawing table, I have to bring my mind into submission of Christ. I have gone on many wild trails thinking it was perfect for what I needed and the thing that would bring me success.

I am now learning, there is only one flower who satisfies, He is the flower of the valley, His name is Jesus. From Him and his sustenance, I am able to bring into focus the necessary things of the day. Out of this surrender I am confident of the thing I am doing will be of benefit. It will have lasting results, because it comes out of the life of Christ. It might take twenty years to see the fruition, but when I do it in faith and am surrendered to the One who holds it all by the power of His Word, I can rest assured. What I am doing in the moment will be necessary and will lend to the next moment and the next. 

Cotton and red chillies Oil 15X30

Good morning, are you ready for a lesson in oil painting? This is for you who paint traditionally.  

Cotton and red chillies Oil 15X30

 This painting in oil on canvas was painted in 1965 from a still life setup.  It was one of my first.  I was under an art teacher who painted very detailed work and a lot of blending, and this began the love I have for painting.  I think it took me a month, going every week to her house for a class.

I was thankful and relieved the day she said, "Sign your name, it is finished."

I took lessons from her for five years and I learned how to paint traditionally. I have painted a many cotton bulbs, thistles and white ceramic pots since, not only in oils but in watercolor. I've also painted a lot of red chillies in baskets, ristras and you name it. Once you learn the technique, then it is always the same.

Petals Tips: This is an oil painting with lots of medium.  I painted it very thin, and layered many, many coats of paint. It looks awfully gray to me today.  I would add dirty blue and lavender into the shadows of the white cotton and the  white pot.

Oils are totally different than watercolors. Oils you start with the darks, then add lighter colors, until you have a white highlight. I started the cotton bulbs with a dark gray (now I would go dark grayish-blue), then I added white and started blending with a large soft brush.  I lightly brushed over it until I sank the white down into the grey.  Then I added more white and continued the same process.  The paints need to blend without losing the whites or the darks.  I could improve on that cotton today. 

On the thistles, I don't think I could improve them unless I  added more raw sienna.  Start with burnt umber under painting, half the size of what you see there. (I would probably make up a rich goop with alizaran crimson, ultramarine and cad yellow.  Start from the outside of the dark, painting with raw sienna, with a # 6 brush. Use lots of medium and make strokes from the middle of the thistle to the outside edge beyond the dark circle. That's why you have to start with a small dark circle, the thistles need to be open, airy on the ends and I warn you, this thistle will grow larger in diameter. With yellow ocher start closer to the center and continue the strokes from inside the ball outward.  Then add white to your yellow ocher and continue to make strokes from the center. These last strokes will be coming from the center and will only be out a short distance from the center. This gives the feeling of the puffiness to the thistle, it is building in dimension.  It is starting to look full and thick.

The red chillies are painted dark red.  Add burnt sienna or black to Alizaran Crimson Paint in the shape of the chilli, then start adding red. Today, I would add ultramarine into some of the red chillies, makings them much more interesting. That's what happens over the years, you get bolder and color does not scare you, if you know how to control it.

I am looking at this painting, and since I painted it over forty years ago, I think the teacher had me use a lot of burnt umber in the shadows. I hardly ever use burnt umber today. It is too brown, and I want color. You can get dark colors. without using black or brown. That will be for another lesson.

This will give you a good start.  I pray your hands will be full of grace..

Meanderings~~~~ Things I did years ago still add to who I am today. Nothing is lost, not even the mistakes and bad choices. This painting was a beginning of my painting days and I have painted almost everyday since. When I fell in love with painting, I have not looked to anything else. I've done things that added to it, like changing mediums, styles; oils to watercolors, traditional to impressionistic, canvas to furniture and tee shirts, but there has always been with a brush or palette knife in my hand.

I didn't believe I was an artist for a long time, I thought artists were different; it was a high attainment and I surely didn't consider that I would ever be good enough to claim myself as an artist. But I painted and continued to paint and paint, until one day, I said, "I guess I am an artist. I don't feel like one, but that's all I do and all I want to do. I just want to create. I guess I will call myself an artist."

I look back today and know I was born an artist, I wasn't trained, encouraged or supported as a young person, but one day, I had the opportunity and I grabbed it. It has caused me to see beauty, grow as a person, and question myself a thousand times in a thousand ways.  It is the vehicle the Lord has used to know myself.  Have a great day, and think on good things.

Poppies in Glass

Poppies in Glass (Mixed Media Half Sheet)

This Monday morning I woke to see a mist in the air and our flag blowing slightly. There is a heavy dew on the ground, indicating winter is very close. Every thing has been brought in for the changing weather.

When I decided to do this project, it did not start out for these flowers to be a daily journal, just a way of categorizing my paintings. I planned to add one painting a day from my garden of color and I knew it would be at least a year's project.  These paintings are becoming a way of sharing where and what is in my heart each day. 

The Word says that "The preparation of the heart belongs to the Lord." He prepares our heart as artists to see differently as we are changing daily and evey thing around us is changing. I have no idea how I will feel tomorrow, but today, I have an appreciation for all of his beauty. Maybe that is why artists and writers paint and write, they record that moment of time that will never be a part of them again.

I look on this painting and think, "It must have been a freeing day, I painted bold, loose and with bright colors This is what an impressionist painting does for me. It gets me out of the box." My style has changed dramatically over  fortyfive years. I started out with a very traditional painter which harnessed me in, in detail and discpline.

Petal Tips! This painting is a mixed media, beginning with a watercolor on 300# paper. I would consider this painting more of an impressionistic painting. I didn't follow the rules.  I have always said, "Once you know the rules you can break them." In an impressionist painting, I do not worry about where the light is coming from, and where the shadows are. If it is a traditional painting, I am very careful to record it accurately. But this is what is so fun, I let the painting speak to me. I am more concerned with the design and balance than with the subject.

I brought some red reflections from the giant poppies to the table top. I didn't want all the red to be at the top. I wanted these floppy flowers to pull down in weight. I balanced the strokes, some are going straight up and some strokes are bending down with the flowers. It is to give a heavy feeling of big flowers too big for their stems. Those strokes could be leaves but lines are okay too.

I made a few diagonal strokes through the pot.from left to right. They could be shadows and light on the pot from the leaves or just an interesting directional stroke for the painting sake. Like I said, I just moved with the painting and how I felt..  That is an impressionistic painting. It captures the mood rather than the subject.

Meanderings~~~~~ The mood of the weather moves us in the same way. The dew makes the ground deep and rich in fall colors. The burnish trees, the golden and raw sienna leaves, the burnt umber tucked down deep at the base of the trees and the orange and red oak leaves all make for a beautiful painting which I want to run to my studio to capture.

The Lord does that for the artist. Being an Artist Himself, He creates not only nature, but He creates the moment for us. It's His preparation in our hearts that makes us see the moment which He has so creatively orchestrated

.

Every thing I look at I see a spiritual indication of God's beauty, His teaching, His Word, and special things He wants to say to me in this day. He has prepared my heart for this day, for bad or good weather, ups and downs, frenzied or quiet moments. In the change I am steadily planted in peace knowing things can change and will change, but I can stand still in whatever the day brings.

We serve a great God, His mercies endure forever. I love Him so much even with this fickled heart.

Whites (14X18 Watercolor)

Good afternoon, These whites could be anything.  I 'm not sure what they call these, but I know I love to paint white flowers. They paint themselves.



Whites (14X18 watercolor)

These whites are shaped like  bugles. I guess they could be called  morning glories. There are many things in life we can not identify, but we see something that draws our attention to paint. It is like Moses and the burning bush. He turned aside just for a second and he saw something that stopped him. When he looked on  the burning bush, he met with God. God's beauty is so inconspicuous that we miss the simple beauty of  a white flower.  I painted them in a very easy way. No fuss, no muss.

Petal Tips!  Draw out the shapes of the flowers with a pencil. Make them ragged or scalloped, they need to have a loose appearance. Paint the background first. I chose purple and green in the background because I knew I would be adding yellow centers. Again, it is pushing colors. Yellow is the compliment to purple and I allowed some yellow for the stems.

Also, give your background a direction.  What I mean is this. I am having the flowers coming from the right bottom and  with diagonial strrokes, I lean them to the left, giving the appearance the flowers are not just standing straight up, but are swaying to the left. There is very little background showing, but enough to give the flowers a direction.  

After you get the back ground in, leave the edges of the flowers white. Decide where the center is in the middle of the flower and how the flowers are leaning. If it is low, then the flower is tipped more forward. In the bottom of center of flower, put your dark color. It could be similar as to the background purple. Add yellow and yellowish orange.

The shadow on the top right is showing the bottom of the bugal. See how I cut the shadow along the line to show the white above.  I put a definite line up under the white and allowed it to be a gradual blen in the bud, making it rounded.

I wished I could be where I could show you with just a simple stroke.

I put a few veins coming from the outside into the center. Don't get too tight or you will lose the looseness of these flowers. Happy Painting.

Meanderings~~~~ I have found in life, the Spirit is not usually in the loud noises, the firecrackers, bells and whistles.  He quietly shows himself. That is what these white flowers do. They simply show themselves and reflect the true care of the caregiver, the One who made all of creation.

For years I wanted the goosebumps and something to say, "the Lord is in this place." He wanted me to see Him within my heart. We must  experience Him within and that is when, everwhere we look we see His beauty. It took years to understand how the Spirit of Christ comes within us when we yield to Him, surrender ourselves to Him, then He manifests Himself in us. Then we see the beauty without. That when a simple white flower will turn your head.



Bursting in Spirit

Today it has been drizzling rain all day, the leaves are falling from the trees and fall is fading into winter. One of the things we do every year is to protect the rose bushes in our yard.  It is amazing that these delicate roses can even grow in this 8,000 feet elevation.

One of the things we learned about caring for roses is that the Root has to be protected. If you will keep the roots protect, the rose bush will survive. So we put hay on the ground for insulation.

Bursting in Spirit (Watercolor 14X18)

The snow will lay on these bushes all year. They will not see spring or hear the turtle doves until next April.

Petals Tips! I call this watercolor painting Bursting in Spirit, because it has the feel of just coming forth without any effort. I remember the day I painted them, they just happened.

I wet the unmarked 300# paper, dropped in red and pinks, leaving white, then I dropped in some green paint around the red in places, still keeping the whites, darker green at the bottom to give it a feeling of strength, weight, shadow and roots below. The darks establishes it, where the light is airy and feels like sunshine coming in through the roses.

I also dropped in a little yellow  in the green, showing highlights on the leaves. Before it dried and after the sheen of the water was gone, I sprinkled course salt around. What I mean by the sheen is gone, the water has to dry to a point that when the salt is sprinkled in, it doesn't  dissolve but it crystallizes, making texture.  The course salt will mean bigger crystals. On this one I also threw the salt randomly, covering even some of the roses.  I don't usually do that, I usually keep the salt in the background.

It worked great with this painting.  After it dried, I took a small brush, whirled marks starting at the center with small circles, then larger, making the rose unfold from the bud. Happy Painting.

Meanderings~~~~~ When I went to a class on roses, I thought how appropriate. Protect the roots and the bush will survive. Our roots are so important, even if we don't like where we came from or what happened to us during those years, we are our history.  We learn from it, we take on the characteristics of our family, we lean towards it, it is who we are.

There is much to say about the roots and I will expound later. Take time to smelling the roses today.

Gate to my Garden



Garden Enclosed


Come with me through my garden gate and see the fruits and flowers and all that the lord has planted inside his garden. I just taught Song of Solomon today, and the King calls the Shulamite, his garden enclosed, a fountain sealed. He invites his friends into His garden. And invites the south wind and the north wind to blow on His garden.

This painting was done in an art class many years ago. I can not take credit that the design is mine, but the work is mine.  This is hanging in my daughter's home in Grass Valley, California.

Petal Tips!  This painting is tighter than I usually do, but on the other hand I painted it loosely. The particular artist I painted this with had a similar style as mine in watercolor.

It is funny, to tell you off the top of my head exactly how to paint it, I can't remember it. How I would paint it today in my style would be a little different, but I would get the same effect. 

meanderings~~~~ Maybe when we borrow words or ideas, they are not really ours.  Those thoughts have to be  tested in us until they become ours, then they will come out different in the language and style that is uniquely ours

We borrow words from great masters, then one day we surprise ourselves we wrote those words and can not believe we penned such words. . We take art lessons and we learn a certain trick or a new way of doing things and we incorporate it in our own work. It is impossible not to learn from others.

 I love this painting and find great joy in it. I am glad my daughter and family are enjoying this one too.

I love to meander with you in my garden of color. these paintings are so much more than paint on paper or canvas, they speak of an inner emotion or spirit that has uniquely been worked in me. I never mind you copying my work because I know that my touch is different from yours. It might be the same subject but it will not be the same feeling. We need each other. I thank you for all that you have given me over a life time, and I hope I have returned the favor.  

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