No. 17 in 30 Day Challenge 'ONE TOO MANY'

Hey Friends,  No. 17 staring at ya.  What a title, just went blank on this one.

I enjoy these black and white works.  Would love to do a room in Black & White.

I spent almost the entire day in the studio, prepping black and white papers for what will happen tomorrow.  There are at least the same number on a table drying.  I may have ruined a few black papers with fluid matte medium applied with a sponge roller.  When you use a sponge roller a lot of air gets incorporated and can make the surface look dull.  It's OK.  They will be mostly covered over anyway.

That didn't take long but I was also painting more colorful pieces for the bin at Goose Creek and maybe 2nd Helpings.

It has been another dull, gray day.  Really dull.  So I did my best to brighten things in the studio.

I wish I had some of Linda's Pasta Salad for supper.  Sigh

Happy Trails

No. 11 in 30 Day Challenge - 'SAD SONGS'

Hey Friends, the Eleventh day is upon us.  Jan. is ticking right along.

This gem above started life as a real mess.  Every ugly color you can imagine was on it.  A heavy coat of black and white fixed that.  The rest of it is one of those games, where you keep moving stuff around until you like it.  The umbrella finally came to mind.

I tinkered with several other small pieces.  Started this 20 x 16 when I came to a road block.  Started with a dull khaki green and added some light areas so the intense colors to come will look clear.

You never know, I might fix it with a coat of black too.

I will venture out today and have a school lunch with my sweet little GranSon.

Then another lunch with my Sweet Daughters.

Hope life in 2017 is Treating you Well.

Happy Trails

No. 9 in 30 Day Challenge "HOT GLUE"

Hey Friends,  Day nine !!! Glad I decided to take the weekends off.  Seems to make this so much easier.  I didn't have my Gran Babes over the weekend because of the SNOW so when I do have them next weekend, it will be extra nice with out that pressure.

I still played in the studio yesterday.  I made some free form stencil, mask thingies out of Hot Glue.  If you don't get the timing just right you can't flatten them.  They must be warm.  Hot glue sets up pretty fast.

Hopefully if you look hard enough you will find the almost clear thingies.  Also showing you the deli papers I coated with gold and silver.  I think it might work.  I intend to play with them today.

This shot is to show you my mess made with a kitchen fatigue mat.  It felt squishy in the store and I thought it would work.  Not squishy enough.  Plus it has a texture that you can't see with my naked eye.  The 2 little canvas panels are what I will play with today.  One in front has an old tissue pattern I found at goodwill, years ago.  And the other has some paper I made years ago.

And the top photo of #9 started life with tissue that I stitched on with a sewing machine.  Even though it is small (5x7) I was pleased with my outcome.

Onward!!

Happy Trails

No. 6 in the 30 in 30 Challenge

Hey Friends,  No. 6 is here already.  This piece is 10x8 inches and as you can see, it started it's life as a black and white paper covered canvas.

My initial thought was a flamingo torn from a painted paper.

But I didn't want it to represent anything so I just started adding colors that Pantone says are the top choices.  Yarrow Pink, Niagara, Greenery, Kale.  And I scratched with a knife and scribbled with a pencil.  FUN.

The last element was part of an acrylic skin.  And it hung overnight by the wood stove and the gloss gel never cleared up.  Have not used gloss gel very much so I'm not sure if this is a usual behavior.  If anyone out there in cyber land knows, please leave a comment..  And I decided the title will be LAMBCHOP.

We have NO snow yet here in SW Virginia but maybe tonight.  Sorry school kids.  I know you love your snow!

Happy Trails

Drive carefully

No. 4 in 30 DAY CHALLENGE

Hey Friends,  Still having fun with No. 4  "He Swims with the Fishs".

I know an odd, male choice of a title.  But that's all I could SEE in this one.

Do you see the body bag floating behind the fish?

Maybe one of the Saprano's will use it in their bathroom.

Some process shots that actually make a little sense.

After getting some black on the canvas, I used the squares from the kitchen sink mat I showed about 4 days ago.  Put white on them and pressed the design onto the canvas.

I like squares and circles.  The squares could represent the cinder blocks.

Here are some strips of Paper I found in the trash.  They could represent the lines holding the body underwater.

I can remember my Dad or maybe Uncles using washers if they didn't have the little lead sinkers for their fishing lines.  So the circles represent the weights also.

All of my challenge pieces are available at my website HERE.

Happy Trails

NO. 3 - SEA SPIDERS

Hey Friends  I think it looks kinda spidery or like logs have intertwined in the water flow.

I have more photos of the process but they just don't show the work involved.  I did get a critique before I was finished, which is the photo above and the additional arm or leg on the left finished it nicely.

The top image was scanned on my Epson scanner (which I love and wish was bigger)  I have to scan in sections and then knit them together in PS.  One of the few things I can do in PS.

The bottom image is from my camera, a Nikon Cool Pix L830,  which I also love.  A gift from a really Kool sister.

Hope you are enjoying all the extra posts and explanations.

I'm enjoying this Challenge more than the past challenges,  BUT it's only day 3.

Happy Trails

Traces of 2016 - #2 in 30 Day Challenge

Hey Friends,  Doing blog posts at 9pm can really tax my brain.  I should be spacing out in front of the TV.

"Traces of 2016" is my final decision for a title.

Maybe you did not read my first post of Saeta's 30 day challenge, which was just yesterday.  But my theme is Black and White with pizzazz from Pantone's Top 10 Colors for 2017.  So above are Greenery and Primrose Yellow and mixed on the table they made a PooPoo yellow.

So had to get out their Flame Something.  I wanted a more Rust color and the Flame didn't do it so I just added some Quin Gold.

This is the final, using the PooPoo Yellow and Flame and Greenery.

But you do see I started with a Black and White Base.

This is available at my Website HERE or if you want a print from FAA HERE.

Happy Trails

PANTONE'S TOP 10 COLORS FOR 2017

Hey Friends,  Another sunless day here in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mtns. of SW Virginia.

I just looked up the color picks made by Pantone for 2017.  They say the top color will be NIAGARA,

a denim-like blue.  On the bottom row up there.

I have decided to participate in Leslie Saeta's 30 day challenge in January.  That made me go look for the 2017 colors.  Jan.'s challenge seems easier for me to do because it is winter and mostly you have to stay indoors and paint anyway.

I would like to have a theme this time too.  Past challenges, I remember a flower theme and maybe a plein-aire theme and all were small paintings.

This time I would like to do larger sizes maybe 16x20's would be realistic.

And I'm trying to decide between Figures or Tropical.

If anyone has an opinion, please share.

Happy Trails