Da Vinci has a really neat treatise on painting I found online.  The following is some advice he offers to painters.

"A painter ought to study universal Nature, and reason much within himself on all he sees, making use of the most excellent parts that compose the species of every object before him.  He mind will by this method be like a mirror, reflecting truly every object placed before it, and become, as it were, a second nature." 

Here I just added little details.  I made the darker mountains show more values.  So there is a light side to the mountains and a dark side.  I also put some yellows, pinks, blues and oranges in the grass (particularly in the background.)  I also gave the grass some more texture so it should appear more "grassy."

After the major colors were blocked in, I began to add the clouds.  I did this by drawing them in with a white pastel and then adding some purple, pinks and blues for the shadow.  I tried to maintain some clear white parts of the clouds without making them to choppy.  After I put in the colors I used a light blue pastel (the same color as the one I used to make the horizon lighter) and blended it so they appear light and airy.  I also made the back mountain lighter using a mixture of grays, blues and purples.   As for the water, I took a turquoise pastel and blended over the whole thing so that it looks smooth and "watery."

After the sketch of the landscape I started to fill in the colors.  I usually work from background to foreground, so in this instance I started with the sky and made sure I had that gentle lighter value near the horizon and the gradual darkening up towards the top.  I then put in the Mountains with some dark blue, the grass with a dark green and the water with the sky blue.  As you can see I started to work some lighter values into the grass and mountains.  There is a small part of dark blue in the back of the water which will be the reflection of the mountains. 

I chose this picture because it had beautiful colors, it had interesting zig-zag shapes and I plan on having the mountains in the back suggest a sort of valley.  My art teacher has been stressing the importance of composition lately, so I'm doing my best to be aware of that.

Are you ready for one of the most boring posts ever??

Yay!!  I'm starting a new painting (as you can tell, I tend to start paintings, get to a boring spot and then start another.  I do finish them eventually.:)  I'll post the "blocked in" stage tomorrow.

I picked this frame up a few years ago at a little furniture store.  It had an embroidered saying in it, but I just really liked the weathered look of the frame.  I drew this mini still life to put in it after I took apart (Ok, tore it apart, it was not made to be re-framed).  I'm not sure If it's exactly what I want for the frame, I think I might try a landscape, but it's still really cute!

I think it's cool how you can see my hands in the glass taking the photo. 

Tucans are facinating.

Here is a landscape I drew using the same method as the tree.  I flipped it over and just focused on all the shapes and values.  I also did this in pastel a few years ago. 

I started to sketch Monica but my drawing ended up aging a few years.  I liked the direction it was going in so I went with it.  This is my prediction of what Mocha will look like in ten years.

Tonight I am babysitting for a family, so I put together a little project to do with the older kids after the little guys are asleep.  The coloring is a bit rough, since I did it quickly but I'll spend more time on it with the kids. 

Now this is a really fun exercise!

 

What I did was take the photo and flip it upside down.  Then I squinted my eyes and just looked at the different shapes, values (light and dark areas) and angles and started to fill in what I saw.  It took be about 7 minutes all together.  I love doing this with landscapes.  It helps me loosen up and not focus too much on detail. 
I'll post the photo with the picture (upside down, of course!) next to it so you can compare. 

I made this for my mother for her birthday last week.  It's on a 4X6 board canvas and it has my favorite quote from Theresa of Avila.  I used some paper I had previously dyed in tea (and then burnt around the edges) to give it an aged effect and some scrapbook paper along with paper cut outs.  (No, I didn't cut out the flower detail in the corner by hand...:)  I also gave her an adorable mini easel to display it on.

My grandparents sent my mom these beautiful flowers for her birthday.  I decided to paint one of the fuchsia ones.  This was so exhilarating because of the vibrant colors.  Pastel colors also have their own texture and I particularly like those of the pinks.  Although I like my picture, nothing can compare to the actual flower.  God really knew what He was doing!

Although I love to paint them, I find landscapes very challenging.  I tend to copy things literally which is wonderful when painting or drawing still lives, but is not so good with landscapes.  In order to successfully paint a landscape an artist needs to be looser and really focus on the different shapes of color rather than the individual leaves and blades of grass.   This is a landscape I finished in class yesterday.  I learned so much from the composition and from painting the foliage on the trees.

My dad has an excellent book about the Book of Kells.  I drew this picture on paper which I had died in tea.  It is inspired by one of the pictures from this book.  I'm going to get a set of nice markers so I can put some color into this and other similar projects. 

Here is another Calvin and Hobbes picture I drew.  I used pencils, crayola markers and watercolors.  Pretty snazzy supplies! 

I'm a huge fan of Bill Wattersons's illustrations.

This is how a lot of us feel this time of year. :)

Now I must wait for the first layer of oil paint to dry, so I will take a break from the bird for a week or so.  Here is a still life I started last summer.  I coppied it out of a book to practice my drawing, then I must have tucked it back in the book an forgot about it.  I finished it today.  Enjoy!

Ahh! my favorite part of painting!! This is the step where I just look at the main colors and pick out a dark, middle and light value of those colors.  Then, looking at the photo, I just put the color where I see it.  This is the most free and refreshing step of painting.  As you can see from the picture, I haven't totally blocked everything in yet, I still have the beak and the talons.  The photo I am copying doesn't include the talons so I'm going to have to do some studying of those and come up with some that fit the composition. 

Here is the same picture with the green background.  I used a stiff bristle brush to put the oil on the canvas.  Yet, this brush tends to leave very defined brush strokes, which creates a choppy and unfinished look.  I then took an extremely soft brush and ever so lightly went over the entire canvas.  This created a soft blended look and gives the impression of a wooded background.  This blurred look will be a beautiful contrast to the details of the bird.

Today I would like to share the early development of one of my bigger projects.  A few years ago, I took a picture of a falcon at our friends house in CA.  This is a picture at it's very first stage.  I primed the canvas with bright yellow acrylic paint before I began sketching.  This is a new technique for me, but the idea is that when I put the different shades of green in the background this beautiful color will peak out behind it.  Oftentimes, when I paint, I spend a lot of time going over things I have already done, just because the little white dots from the grain of the canvas bother me.  This should remove that annoyance and enhance the beauty of the picture.   I will post the picture with the green in the background when I paint it tomorrow.

I have decided to start a fresh, slightly ambitious project.  For the next few months, I am going to post a different art project every. single. day.   I have to admit, the idea does scare me.  But the good that I can see which will come of it is entirely worth it.  This way I will have a definite goal which will give me sufficient motivation to produce (or at least work on) an art project daily, practice writing outside required essays and such, and of course there is always that chance that someone might notice my art and decide to hire me to paint something as astonishing as... the Sistene chapel, or Van Gogh's Stary Night!  (Hey, I can dream, can't I?) 

My first project is this picture of the humming birds.

This is a rendition of wallpaper we have in our house.  I enjoy finding beauty in the small things in life, and for the past few weeks this particular composition of the humming birds has impressed me.  I love how the bird facing us is the most prominent and is the focal of the picture, but the bird in the back, although smaller and not as detailed provides and sense of comfort and company to the painting. 

I started to sketch this while sitting on the stairs up to the second floor.  With my pastel box the step above me and my paper and pencils the step below, I took advantage of a peculiar, yet accommodating studio. 



11X14 oil on canvas