Class Menagerie

I've been working on this painting for months! It began in a class lesson on painting glass with watercolor. During the lesson about negative painting, I added the white daisies! Yesterday's class focused on painting the folds in cloth, hence the painting of my tea-towel to give the bottles something to sit on! I wish the scanned picture could reproduce the colors more true to life! I therefore have not posted the computer scan, but a digital photo instead. The result is more representative of my actual watercolor!

Maxine

This is Maxine. She found us at the perfect time. Our cat Kerry was old, and ailing. One day Maxine literally popped out of our rose garden and chatted me up. She clearly wanted affection and company! She was a stray that I later learned one of our neighbors was trying to find a home for. Well, Maxine took matters into her own hands (or paws!) and found us herself! My husband thought we'd never be able to get another cat, for fear it would chew on all the tubing he uses, for oxygen etc. But Maxine has never touched it! For a while we had an indoor cat (Kerry) and an outdoor cat..... Then Kerry's organs were failing, so we had to say goodbye to her. Now Maxine rules the roost here, both inside and out. She is a great companion and makes us laugh every single day with her antics! If you believe in miracles, she is ours.

Day Lily

This day lily certainly brightens my day! I love the color, and the contrast. Too bad it blooms for only one day, but the plant is filled with buds and some days I have several flowers to admire. Now my challenge is to paint this lily, and try to capture its depth and vivid intensity.

Portraiture is difficult!

My sketching class teacher has been helping us learn to do portraits. She starts out giving us all potatoes to draw so that we just focus on the "lumps and bumps". First we tone our paper with charcoal dust and a chamois. We then sketch our potato (or the shape of the person's head), and use our kneaded eraser to make soft white areas to show the lumps. She had given us the tips about where things go. For example, I never knew that the corners of the mouth are always even with the center of the eye, no matter what expression we make! Given all of this knowledge, my attempts still seem feeble, but it is fun to keep trying! Now, if only this call looked at all like Barbara (the person I was trying to render onto to my paper!), but it looks nothing like her, except for her hair perhaps!

Cottage of Content

One of my first attempts at perspective. There are problems with this picture and it was a struggle, but it was a learning experience! I realize now that my "dots" for the eye level line were too close! Next time I know I will have a better outcome. Meanwhile, I now present for your viewing "pleasure" my "Cottage of Content", located in Candyland!