My Skillz, They're Rusty!

I had foot surgery, which kept me on crutches for 2 weeks, which also meant that it would be too difficult to climb the stairs and stand at my easel to paint. So, I thought I'd get out the old Prismacolor pencils and have a go. Unfortunately, my full supply of pencils is nowhere to be found (or nowhere that my sweet hubby looked for me), so I had a limited palette and no blending pencil, which is a must. But, it was just for fun anyway. I wanted to make a card for my nephew's birthday and also do a "white object on colored ground" painting challenge, and I couldn't reach any of my white vases, so I found a baseball that this same nephew had signed for me after a winning game, cleaned it up and put it on a colored cloth. He'd given it to me for my 50th birthday and since he's still a primo pitcher, now on varsity, I thought it appropriate to name it, "Birthday Baseball". The second painting is an oil pastel. I was able to clamber into my car and go get some art supplies, thinking that pastels could be fun. I came home with oil pastels, which have a pretty close consistency to Crayola crayons, but you're able to blend them better. It wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be but I'm not giving up yet. I just need to get looser. Yet, you'd think that doing a painting of something that was just in my head couldn't get any looser...ha! But, if you stand about 20 feet away, in the dark, and squint...it's not too bad.

Still At It

I am satisfied with the foreground of this painting, but managed to make some strokes for the background and the "leafy" branches that really needed to be addressed. Yet, in the time I allotted for painting, I don't believe it's as finished and as polished as a done painting, so I'll hopefully get to it before foot surgery on Tuesday, because I'll be limited in how much I can walk and stand for a few weeks afterward.

Third Time's The Charm

"Sami's Bouquet III" 16x20 "Sami's Bouquet II" 16x20 "Sami's Bouquet I" 16x20 I set myself the challenge of painting a bouquet and, believe me, it was a challenge! All those shapes and details confused my brain and I made a royal mess of it. Not only that, but I tried doing it with a brush and setting the bouquet at a level, under a lighting that did nothing for me, that the whole situation was just uninspiring. Lesson learned. So the very last effort was done in a looser arrangement (had to change vases as the bouquet aged), composed from a more contemporary angle and painted entirely with painter's knives...soooo much more enjoyable. And that, along with the exercise of painting flowers from life, was what I was looking for. I always want to express the joy I feel in creating art. It comes through most of the time, and I know that this joy is why the feedback I've been getting lately is about how I've inspired someone to take up their own creative endeavors. Secretly, folks, I get a bigger kick from hearing that than any compliment in the world.