Ritzy Rose Finished

This probably has to be some sort of record for me...posting a finished piece so soon after putting the brush down. All this red really needs to settle a bit in my mind's eye, and then...we'll see. My rule is to live with a painting for a bit and if nothing "bothers" me, then I know I'm done. It's just those little things that we can fiddle with and fiddle with that make an artist crazy!

This is quarter sheet, Arches #140 paper, and mostly AJ paints (think I've shared this before).

Ritzy Rose WIP

I'm still struggling with these silly stripes on Ritzy Rose. I'm ignoring them for a while as I've really wanted to get to the little teapot. So, now I'm looking at the stripes again in the reflection of the bottom of the teapot. They start there at the cloth and fade upward into the reds...I'm guessing that this will take several glazes with the different reds even after I put the stripes in...stay tuned...

Ruidoso Daisies

When we were in Ruidoso, we were luckey enough to be there on the weekend when they were having an art tour. Seven fabulous homes were on display with local artists (3 or 4 in each home) displaying their art...was a real treat. These daisies and butterfly bush blossoms(budalleia..sp?) were in one of the gardens. Since it is in a mountainous area, they aren't bothered by the heat like we are in Texas so their gardens were in full blast. I used lots of masking...more than I've ever used before...so I could get a continuous flow with a really dark "drop in" background. This is quarter sheet Arches #140...as usual...and a rather limited palette.

Ruidiso Colors

This photo crop is a little bit off, but I think I'm finished with Ruidoso Colors. I started to go in with a really deep, dark background, but have sorta changed my mind...for right now. It's my custom to live with a painting for a few days before signing it...so there's always a window for change.

This is a quarter page, done with mostly AJ paints (cobalt, sap green, gamboge, perm red, DS perm rose, a touch here and there of thalo green and blue off of my Joyce Faulknor porcelain tray from her workshop that I just hate to wash away...so I haven't).

Bookmark Fun

I belong to a wonderful forum, Painting Friends, and we have this little bookmark exchange going to right now and this is my original bookmark all laminated and already in the mail. I can post it here on my blog and even if some of the PR'ers see it...they won't know where it is going. It's been great fun.

Had the lamination done at FedX (old Kinko's), made copies and had 4 others made for grandchildren (especially Henry...my 7 yr old GS who reads everything he can get his hands on) and the whole cost was only $6.45...what a deal. These exchanges are always so much fun and they give us wonderful little originals from friends afar.

Ruidoso Colors (WIP still)

This has to be some kind of record for me to post a WIP twice in the same day, but I'm really obsessed with getting this one done and my red teapot back on the table. I've changed the plate to an orangy/yellow (would have preferred a light yellow fading to almost white, but the pink was too strong in the underpainting). Now I'm thinking about the background and just where I want to crop it, but it's getting near the finish line. This is a really limited palette (which I enjoy) and the size is a "big" quarter sheet.

Ruidoso Colors

Seems as I'm always posting a work in progress and then not getting around to reposting the finished painting. One of these afternoons (if it'll ever rain in Texas again) I'll try to go back and post them all.

When in NM last week, our hostess had so many treasures we could use for setups and this little cream/sugar combo was too good and too colorful to pass up. Was going to paint the Bing cherries Rainiers, but decided on the dark ones after all. I'm at a stage now where most of you haven't seen just how much white I leave all over my paintings. You can always go back and kill whites...you just can't ever get that white back if you kill it prematurely...so...there will be decisions to make. I'm not sure that I like the color of the plate and have stopped to make my decision about going to another color all together. That pinkish color is the actual color of the pottery and I'm just not sold on it. Decisions...decisions.

I always love to paint cherries 'cause they feed my red cravings, and this little pottery set fit in just right. Will try to get this finished this afternoon.

Ruidoso Painting Week

We're back from our fabulous 9 day painting excursion in New Mexico! Can't begin to tell you all how much fun we had...painting, casino "visitation...ouch", deer/elk watching, an art walk tour of 7 fab homes with wonderful area artists, shopping the quaint shops, sight-seeing the area, eating at great restaurants (try seating 8 at rush hour), and...did I mention painting every day. Our hostess, Greta Faulkinberry to my left, is a "Hostess with the Mostest" in every category for sure! But, you all have to know that what happens in Ruidoso, stays in Ruidoso.

I'm just posting two photos now as several others weren't on my camera and I have to remember who has the pics. This cowboy painting is from one I did in a Joe Fettingis workshop in 2007 and I think the gals all did a marvelous job! Funny how you can't paint the same thing twice though, and my demo piece is the second one from the right on top row. The original, of course, is the framed piece (which now graces a friend's Texas bar in his home...perfect for the theme). We also painted a "funky chicken" piece sorta stolen from a painting by Kay Smith. We had stopped by her studio in Big Spring, Tx. and one of the girls saw it and I remembered that I had seen it on our ArtColony blog so some also painted that. I added a few tail feathers to the piece and that made it more fun as the colors we added were just crazy! Apologies to Kay (ha!)

We also stopped in Plains, Tx and met Suzy Powell, a rather new artist friend. She was participating in an artshow in their community center and it was fun seeing her work and that of some of her students and other artist friends. I'm the short one with the book, and Suzy is the tall one next to me. Her painting won Best of Show for the event, and I have a photo of that somewhere on my camera.

Artists are such special people, and no matter where we live we all have our love of art in common...we're very lucky to have this passion to share.

Workshop WIP's

I've decided to go ahead and post my WIP's from the workshop. A bunch from our art retreat are going up to Greta Faulkinberry's home in Ruidoso, NM on Friday morning for a glorious week of painting and escaping our Texas heat. So, I know I won't get back to these until we get back...too busy wrapping up odds and ends here.

This workshop was crammed with laughter, knowledge, and actually good work from all of us...very unusual for a workshop. I'm not a "workshop" painter at all, but was pretty pleased with what we did. The crystal/glass painting is probably 3/4's finished, and the abstract floral in "probably" finished...gotta live with it a bit longer. When I get them finished, I'll go into the colors and a bit of the process with Guy's floral...

So...I'll be off line for probably a week from my blog. We do have internet at the house, and I'll be checking in here and there...you all know how adicting this computer stuff has become

Faulknor/Magallanes Workshop

Thought I'd post a photo we took during the workshop last week. Joyce and Guy are fabulous teachers and we all produced wonderful paintings...I'll post mine as soon as I have time to get them finished, photoed and resized. Joyce paints dark to light and her subject was a gorgeous crystal setup...Guy paints light to dark and his painting was of a very abstract floral with layers and layers of intense color in the wet-in-wet technique. Can't even begin to tell everything we learned from these two...now I've just got to remember all the info long enough to use it all!