"Caroline at the Beach"

"Caroline at the Beach"
Oil painting, 16x20.

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I took a picture of my daughter at the beach last month and I thought it would be a nice painting and a sweet reminder of a wonderful day we spent together as a family.

I often take pictures of my work throughout the process to help me see from a different perspective and see how things are progressing. It helps me to step back and analyze my work in a new way. Another technique I use is to look at the paintings in a mirror -- it helps our brains see the painting from a more "abstract" perspective. You can really start to see where the values, proportions, etc. might be off.

Here are some pictures of the painting as it progressed throughout the week...

Watercolor: Wet-into-Wet

Another watercolor homework assignment from my class. This was a wet-into-wet technique....meaning, you wet the entire paper with water and then put in the color. It spreads like wildfire! I definitely need to practice this technique more - it's much harder to control the paint and for my semi-realistic style, it proved to be very stressful.

Wide Open Spaces - A Little Piece of Me

Last night I had a wonderful date night with my husband. We can talk for hours and never get tired, I love it!! On the drive home he told me that every time he hears the Dixie Chicks song, "Wide Open Spaces" he thinks of me. I so appreciate him telling me this because I think it is a wonderful example of what I am discovering about myself, and something he recognized about me a long time ago...

I need to be free! I need wide open spaces - not just physically but emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

There is a verse in the Bible that says: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Gen. 1:27).

This says that God created all of us in His image, but I feel like that is especially true with me on another level --- I believe God is the Great Creator, the Greatest Artist there ever was, and that he created everything we see and when God created me he gave me a Creative Spirit, an Artist within, just like Him!

I am so thankful for this gift and for the first time in my life I'm trying my best to let this sweet, innocent, creative person inside me out - I'm setting her free. I'm learning that to do this I need freedom, I need space, I need to be surrounded by nature, I need to breathe fresh air, I need to feel the sun on my face, I need to splash in the rain, I need WIDE OPEN SPACES. And when it comes to my relationships with the people I love, I need freedom there too - freedom to be who I am, freedom to explore, freedom to follow my heart and freedom to surround myself with people who encourage and want what's best for me.

I am a person who likes and needs alone time, time by myself to think, to breathe, to feel, to create. I need wide open spaces emotionally to help me process life and then be able to fully re-engage with the world/people around me.

I love wide open spaces! I need wide open spaces! And I am so grateful that I have a God who walks with me, as a friend, in those spaces!

Here are the lyrics to the song if you aren't familiar with it...

"Wide Open Spaces"

Who doesn't know what I'm talking about
Who's never left home, who's never struck out
To find a dream and a life of their own
A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone

Many precede and many will follow
A young girl's dream no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out west
But what it holds for her, she hasn't yet guessed

[Chorus:]
She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes

She traveled this road as a child
Wide eyed and grinning, she never tired
But now she won't be coming back with the rest
If these are life's lessons, she'll take this test

[Repeat Chorus]
She knows the high stakes

As her folks drive away, her dad yells, "Check the oil!"
Mom stares out the window and says, "I'm leaving my girl"
She said, "It didn't seem like that long ago"
When she stood there and let her own folks know

[Repeat Chorus]
She knows the highest stakes
She knows the highest stakes
She knows the highest stakes
She knows the highest stakes

Peacock Fun Fact

This little friend wanders around our neighborhood from time to time. I was reading up about peacocks and I came across this Fun Fact and, as an artist, I really appreciate it:

Peacocks see a deeper, more complex range of colors than humans can perceive!

Wow, I wish I could be a peacock for a day so I could see the world like they do - fascinating.

Onions

My second watercolor ever. The teacher called it Beautiful!!! I'm really liking this new medium -- can't wait to paint some more!

Potatoes

This is my very first watercolor painting ever!!

I'm taking a watercolor class and our homework this week was to do a value study of brown potatoes, using only Burnt Umber (dark brown color). Our teacher asked us to over-simplify the values, so the potatoes don't look too realistic but I think they came out alright. We will see what the teacher/class has to say tomorrow.

I love the challenge of trying a new medium. It can feel overwhelming at times but it's exciting to think about art and how to express something using tools I've never used before. So far I really like watercolor and I can see myself pursuing it further. I'll post more of my projects as I do them each week, so stay tuned...

Value Studies & Valentine's Day

A value study I did based on a painting by Lucian Freud -- pencil.

Value study of apples - pencil.

Valentine's Day sign I made to hang outside our house - acrylic on wood