a fight {she}

she would fight the entire way; and in the end not care what she looked like

commission. 

although- i will probably do at least another one to provide choices and let the client choose.

happy wednesday.

xo. kristin

wash {watercolor quickstudies}

wishing that the weekend was continuing to wash into today.

#tooshort #wash #quickstudies

one of nine. listed in my etsy shop.

xo. kristin

last week's looks {portrait trois}

tgif....seriously.

i was really happy that i was able to save my whites, and was able to find that soft neutral color for the shoulders and down into the chest. 

xo- kristin

last week's look {portrait too}

good morning! this was me waiting for the morning lesson to begin...

and this lovely line drawing girl would become and consume; she would be worked

she would start in watercolor....and would move to gesso and some acrylics

 and she would transition and change to become who she was meant to be

happy thursday.

xo-kristin

last week's looks {portrait}

simply loved this girl....and she sold that day; didn't even bring her home.

Mirabelle

last week's look {positive/ negative space}

Dale Laitinen's underpainting- day two: positive/ negative space. he was working tree roots and rocks.

his progress....loved this painting

this was my positive/ negative space pic and drawing- keeping mine simple

almost finished with this watercolor

close up of the trunk

and then....this happened at the end of the day when i had finished my positive/ negative space painting....feeling a bit more like me.

happy tuesday.

xo- kristin

last week's looks {tuesday}

monday nights sketch at local coffee shop with group

tuesday morning breakfast and set up

notes. lots of notes. but always possibilities....

sketch. composition. black n white.

instructor- Dale Laitinen's underpainting. watercolor.

my landscape that ran awry.....can't fit the mold.

happy monday.

XO- kp

a watercolor swap

i am participating in a watercolor swap with a floral theme. i was looking for watercolor paper when i stumbled across an old painting. i loved pieces of it but, not the whole thing......so i did a little rework and now really like what i ended with. this will be my swap for this trade. and i love all the little detail work in this piece and the colors.

i love the blend of the colors and the defined black lines and the mix with the undefined black lines.

i hope that the swap partner likes her piece. mailing it out today.....

lessons

a few shorts weeks ago i took some time and went to art class. our instructor was a watercolorist by the name of Mark Mehaffey- very talented gentleman who told great stories. i managed to snag a pic with him after a lesson.

i really like going class as it is always good to hear the fundamentals again (and maybe a different way than i have hear before). some of the concepts are easy to pick up on and other things are more difficult.

the class was watercolors and i don't always paint in watercolor- mainly because i have a hard time mixing colors and getting what i want and understanding what is a light, medium or dark.

day one we started with a sketch and value study (which i am finally getting better at)- but, then i am supposed to transition into color and that is when the whole thing falls apart. except....this time, i did understand maybe just a bit more. i had heard that concept enough that my brain finally understood what the heck i was supposed to be doing. (thank goodness.......) these are a few pics from Mark's lessons.

here are the results from my lesson (this was actually my second value sketch- as my first one, i missed on....again.....):

day two and three were abstract painting. here is a sample- i like the layers and small details.

happy saturday!

thoughtful painter.....a humbling experience

this past week i attended a realistic watercolor class....now, if you follow my blog regularly or if you are new and are simply looking around- you will notice that realistic and watercolor are certainly not words that are found here very often. so this week was a very humbling experience for me...reminding me that was much as i think i know about art- there is always more to learn.

so as an artist, i should be able to learn key concepts from any good artist of any media. i was happy to join in this class last minute. our instructor was Andy Evansen.

he was an excellent teacher and re-enforced his concepts all week. he was a very "thoughtful" painter- always thinking ahead of what his next move is and what he is working towards...mixing his paint and working through his painting. his concepts for the week:

1. do your value paintings- to work through light and dark issues ahead of time
2. paint big shape- do not get caught up in the details; always paint big to small
3. connect those shapes- your middle value should be one big, main shape and should provide a visual pathway through your painting

here were some of my value paintings and lessons for the week....

and here was me trying to blend my colors and let them wash together to help with the shape connections in my paintings.

somewhere along this week's journey, my mind goes back to concepts that i find comfort in and i revert back to what i know or like to do, but, i did incorporate some of these new concepts in this painting.

21 secrets- watercolor inspiration with gelli printed circle

playing along with 21 secrets and one lesson was to use watercolors. i have watercolors and brushes, but, do not always paint in watercolor. i like to get it all out though, because my palette and brushes were my gramma's and her name is on the front of my canvas brush holder- it makes me smile every time and wish she were still here.

you probably do not know, but, i come from a long line of artists.....my gramma was an artist, my mom and dad are artists, and now- i am trying my best to be an artist. we had even done generation shows featuring my gramma, my mom and me. our last generation show my gramma even added our youngest son who draws. he was like 11 at the time and gramma had picked 3 of his drawings of people- he has a keen natural ability for shading. it was the best show ever......

back to the subject....- i played along prepping my journal page with some of my favorite watercolor colors and using a small strip of magazine paper with a pattern along the edge; but, the lesson was to "be free."

sometimes in being free i find that the results can be elusive. and then, i found this statement out of a book i am using and loved this quote.....

because the quote is relatively small- it was easily lost on my page so i found a gelli-printed deli paper with colors that lent themselves to complimenting the colors that were already down; and then, stitched around the deli paper to bring some focus to this area and then put my quote down. here is the whole page below.

and while i have the watercolors out....i couldn't resist to put a little color down on the other page. this is the back side of my hearts page i had done before for another 21 secrets inspiration. i love the orange! my mom brought that back from Germany for me. it is really opaque- and a lovely color.

week of class review

i spent this past week at art class with Myrna Wacknov- such a talented lady....we spent the week working from a photograph of one lady- all of us; and looking at everyone's drawings and paintings, i am not sure anyone would know!

 the first day we work with a grid so we could distort and understand how to use the grid to do this. my first drawing above- she seemed so angry. i tried to soften the left eye on the second drawing- and she seemed slightly happier....

 the second day i worked with shape and color- we had to roll a dice to decide our elements for our paintings which made life interesting, but, if you are not outside of your comfort zone at class what is the purpose?.....i do like my lady below- she is probably the best embodiment of the lesson for my work this week.

 i loved the hair on this one- but, i think i got lost in it.....i needed to go and work on the face and kept avoiding it- so, it is what it is.....

 and this was one of my last paintings for the week- and i need to go back into the face to put the light/ shadows in....i did add tissue paper to begin reclaiming some of the whites- but, have not gone back in with paint yet- we shall see.... i loved her hair as well....

i worked hard this week, and by friday when we talked about color- i thought i had the info, and then, it was gone....so much info to get in a week- but, so good. loved the week and had a great time stretching and working outside of my comfort zone! but, so glad to be home!!

i had started another art journal...mainly because it is a music notebook and liked how the paper was ruled. i have seen several other journal on different paper and liked how those looked. i decided that the cover was way too boring... there was a nice watercolor palette close and i just started to paint.

add a few little details- i like the blue arrows....

here is the cover as it is now. i don't like my green blob at the bottom, but, collage can fix that easily enough. it is not the most beautiful, but, i did have a good time!