gifts

I gave a gift... and received a bigger gift.
I painted a watercolor of our daughter-in-law's bridal bouquet for Christmas. She was absolutely delighted, and touched, which in turn delighted and touched me.
A happily tearful, big hug was one of my best gifts Christmas morning. :-)

Cristina's Bouquet ~ 12x12 ~ watercolor

fun raiser

"Fun Raiser" 12x12 acrylic on acrylic paper

Last night was Oliver Art Center's Fun-Raiser. I painted live and donated the painting to the silent auction. I tend to say YES before I realize what I've gotten myself into. Let's just say it's a bit intimidating to be painting in front of a large group...and let's just add on the auction sheet sitting next to you... luckily I didn't have to wait too too long before there was some bidding. Aaaack! I worked on two paintings at a time, and the winner get's to pick their favorite after there are a couple of finishing touches, varnished and framed. This one is the first one dry....I'll post the other one tomorrow, and let you know which one they picked.

circus act

"Circus Act" 12x12 acrylic and oil bar on canvas panel

Repeating a subject pushes you into different places. I'll do anything to escape boredom.

pushing and abstracting

Turns out... I can go pretty far with abstraction... I could go a little bit further to a Rothko-esque place, but I won't. (These are all things I'll be teaching in a new class this summer.)

living and learning

#72 Big Poppies~ 28x18~ Acrylic on Collage (c) 2013 L. Everett Finn

Now that I've completed this larger piece... (with the wrinkled paper applied to watercolor paper... then painted with watery acrylic...) I think the process lends itself better to the smaller scale. While an interesting texture... it's not enough texture at this size. Living and learning.

(Big Poppies are going to try to get in a show this week... we'll see if the juror agrees with me... hopefully not.)

icelandics

#68 Icelandics~ 7x5~ Acrylic on collage

Still pretending it's spring here in the studio. :-)

Kroger Bouquet

# 67 Kroger Bouquet~ 12x9~ acrylic on Yupo

Yesterday, I intended to drive to a local nursery green house to pick up some potted plants to paint... hoping for flowering plants...Freesia, or something inspiring. I only made it as far as the corner Kroger (our local supermarket). I did this quick (20 minute?) painting at the tail end of my painting day from the bouquet I got there....(I worked most of the day on a large poppy painting that I'm more excited about)
The set up would have liked some more dramatic lighting... a spot light would have been nice. This is what it looks like with flat, even, daylight fluorescents. :-)  I sort of like the color combo though... it's different for me.

poppies squared

#65 ~ Poppies Squared ~ 11x11 ~ acrylic on collaged paper

Another Poppy painting... And I have one more larger one in the works... I'm liking the unpredictability of the crinkly paper and the watery acrylic. It shoots about in somewhat unexpected ways.

Icelandic Poppies 1

#64 Icelandic Poppies... 7x5 ~ acrylic and collage

Having some fun now!

sweet pea 5

#63 Sweet Pea 5 ~ 15x11~ acrylic and collage on paper

This sheet of paper is the first "real" sheet of watercolor paper I ever bought. It was expensive and because of that...it's 25 years old. Seriously. I have carried this precious sheet around with me for years, afraid to do anything on it. This last studio move had me reconsidering things like that... What the heck was I waiting for?  The poor paper was just sitting in my flat file year after year. (Makes me think of the island of misfit toys.) Finally, last week it came out...was quartered and is now supporting some paint and collage.
"Well, hello beautiful!"

Forsythia

#62 Forsythia ~11x11 ~ acrylic and collage on paper

Went a little bigger today... Wish I had some branches here in the studio... Frustrating to only have reference photos to use.

sweet pea 3 and 4

#60 Sweet Pea 3  ~ 7x5

#59 Sweet Pea 4 ~ 7x5

Two that are smaller... 7x5. These are harder to do on a smaller scale. Finished Sweet Pea 4 last night and hated it. But this evening, I don't hate it as much. The ink on there gives some structure to the looseness. Hmmmmmm.

sweet pea two

#57 Sweet Pea Two~ 15x11~ acrylic and collage on paper

Here in Michigan, we are dreaming of seeing signs of spring. I have lots of these florals in various stages of completion, all over the studio. If I sniff really hard, I think I'm smelling sweet peas.

sweet pea one

#56 Sweet Pea One ~ 11x7.5 ~ acrylic and collage

Last week, I went out with some of my friends from the old "hood. Jill asked me about one of my challenge paintings that was of sweet peas. I drew a blank at first... then a few moments later thought of the painting she was referring to. I'm pretty sure it was this one. When I painted it, I wasn't thinking of any specific flower, but after she said "sweet pea" I realized, Oh Yeah! I love sweet peas. My sister grows (and fights with them) every spring.

Perfect subject to do this experiment with. I painted (too quickly... i was excited) some sweet pea shapes with watered acrylic onto water color paper. Then I painted more watery acrylic  sweet peas on a crumbled sheet of soft transparent paper. (I have a roll of it from somewhere... maybe my mom's sewing pattern making paper?) Let them both dry then glued the crumpled paper on top of the painting. I love how it veiled the previous painting... and it took the paint really interestingly after it dried and I added a bit more. I love me a new technique.

ranunculus

#39 ranunculus  7x5 watercolor

Because I'm limited to watercolor at the moment... I'm enjoying getting back a couple of watercolor skills...

• light hand with glazes
• transparency
• lifting
• patience (ha!)

I've just about caught up (6 paintings per week for a year).

Wallpaper

#37 Wallpaper... 5x7 Watercolor

Still finding my watercolor legs...
Along with my 6 paintings per week for a year, challenge... I'm posting January's paintings over at Leslie Saeta's blog.... She's organized a "30 paintings in 30 days" challenge... There's some fantastic stuff going on in there!

subject jumps.... hop hop hop

I've been skipping from non-representational (abstract) to representational,and back again. Keeps me on my toes.

 I'm downstate (Michigan) and sort of enjoying the limitations I have here. For example...I'm using the table as a studio space and only have watercolor, gouache and colored pencils. Wonder how long I can resist the art supply store that is a hop skip and jump from here. 

hop hop hop       hop hop hop        hippity hop. :)