Great Neck-SOLD

So, I spent the day at Leslie’s house, host of what has become a  great “teaching” artwork  blog site called Lesliepaints .    I have had the good fortune of being friends with Leslie for over 12 years, a friendship that has definitely influenced my artwork, as well as  my ambition to continue to paint and she was the driving force for this blog site.   Leslie encouraged me to act upon my expressed interest in varying my work from primarily landscapes and architecture to adding animals to the mix.   When I wanted to start doing this, of course, I called her.  Painting with Leslie is like nothing you have experienced while painting alone.  While she enjoys watching another artist’s style at work,  her input is priceless, noteworthy, entertaining, useful and appreciated.  This giraffe is from the same photo Leslie used to compose her piece Giraffe Portrait.   It is always interesting to both of us to see the different colors and style that appears when we do the same piece, this mainly derived from our trips through the Indiana countryside painting landscapes plein air style together.   Our finished pieces were always a world apart and fabulous to see.   An artist’s style is definitely their signature, every artist has their own and all are definitely unique and wonderful.  This was a fun and informative day, thanks Leslie.  I may be on my way in the animal world.

ST. PAUL CHURCH IN ITS NEW HOME AND FRAMED

The people who bought this piece from me were excited to have it custom framed and matted and get it hung in their home, so they sent me this photo.   Ignore the reflection of their stained glass lamp in the upper right corner.   I thought that was very cool of them, I think they did a fabulous job on matting and I am very impressed with this elaborate frame.  Makes an artist feel good about what they do when see their work this way and being enjoyed.  I’ll certainly miss this one, it was one of my best.  But, I did have prints made before it was framed, so at least I have those.  Still, nothing is like the original.  Thanks to Depra and Stephane for sending me this.

Round Barn Winery Near New Buffalo Michigan

I finally finished this one, it was a long road, consisting of  many layers and patience I am normally void of while doing a piece with this much going on.   I managed to make it look alot like the barn in Michigan, so since that was the goal, I guess I am happy with it.   This is watercolor, ink, gouche and masking fluid.  I applied several layers of color on the barn over masking, then applied more masking on the colored layers before applying a layer of white gouche over top to finish the barn siding. I am always excited to start a new piece, but then wind up equally as excited to finish it!

CITYSCAPE

Cityscape in watercolor and conte.  This won first place in the landscape category at an art contest for me, the reward was a certificate for art supplies, which was nice to have, since supplies are certainly not cheap.   This is one of the looser pieces I have done, I think it worked for this piece and is a good example of watercolor, when I was in college, an art professor told us that “one in every 500 watercolors is a good example of the medium”, I completely disagree, and Leslie White , is a good example as to why, almost everything she posts is a good example of what this medium is about–thanks Leslie.  My sister hounded me for this one, so I gave her a copy, but eventually, I had to give in and give her the original.

Show Me Your Petals

I applied colored pencil to the final piece to add depth and character, one of the few pieces I have with no ink, actually the only one I have right now.  This was a long process with tons of layers, I am ready to move on to a new project!

California Spice Patio

While visting my sister one year in Sacramento, California, I found myself a little bored at her house waiting for her to come home from work on some days.  This day, I called her at work and asked her if I could paint her boring off white patio wall,  I just felt it needed something, she entertains here often and spicing it up with some original artwork would be unique.  To my surprise, she told me, “yes”.  Without even asking what I was thinking of doing to it.  I asked her, “don’t you care what I do to your wall?  I might screw it all up!”, she replied, “No, I trust you”.  Her trust inspired me to  be sure I did something Cool.  I rode her  bike to a nearby hardware store and purchased some supplies, then returned and started in directly.  I painted the whole thing with a three or four inch sponge roller, just free painting, no drawings, no outlines and no clear idea of what I was doing, I had a blast and actually enjoyed getting paint all over me.  I still wear the shorts and shirt with the paint stains!  The only sure thing I knew I wanted, was the flames coming out of the grill.  When she got home I was anxious and scared to see her reaction, she loved it.  The little outline of the doggy door in the bottom right was an ode to her two little wiener dogs, Sydney and Sammy.