Blue Heron, coloured pencil on textured cardstock
Illuminated R, acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, mounted on heavy cardstock
Peggy's Cove, acrylic on canvas, mounted on heavy cardstock
(cliche Nova Scotia ;) )
I've been down with a virus this week, so haven't felt much like painting, and the art I have made is secret and I can't show you (yet) ;-) . I am involved in an Art Trading Card exchange. ATC's are miniature art works 2.5" x 3.5", or the standard size of sports trading cards. Twenty six people from all over the world are involved in this project. We each have six months to produce 25 cards, and mail each one to each of the other 25 on the list, aiming for a card a week. In return, we will each receive 25 cards. I have made two cards, but couldn't get to the post to mail them today. I don't want to show them here until they have been received by their recipients.
Smoke on the water
(The wind chill temperature is low enough that it causes vapor to rise from the water)
Taking a break from the raven today, I did two quick watercolour sketches, with items from this week's artwork from life scavenger hunt at www.wetcanvas.com.
After finishing Dad's painting, I decided I wanted to do another acrylic before I get back to my apples. I spent the better part of the day yesterday deciding what I would do, and then last night worked up a sketch.
The first picture shows how I often compose paintings. I've drawn the elements of the compostion on tracing paper. Then I can move them around until I'm happy with how it looks.
Next, I lay another sheet of tracing paper over the design and trace everything again. Sometimes I'll do this tracing in ink. The next step is to turn the sheet of tracing paper over to the wrong side and trace each line in charcoal or graphite. When I flip the tracing paper over to the right side again, I have "carbonized" the image. I position the image over my canvas and tape it down, then re-trace each line again. When I peel off the tracing paper, the image has been transferred to the canvas.
Here you can see the carbonized image:
An update on the apples: I have about seven layers of glaze down for the background, and have started building the apples and pot. I find watercolour painting convenient with my schedule because I can sneak up to my desk for 10 minutes at a time, long enough to lay down a wash, and then leave it to dry.
Taking a break from the apples while layers of glaze dry, I've been working on this last evening and this morning.
I did the line drawing last night, while hurling insults at Tracy Barlow and Charlie Stubbs on Coronation Street (okay, I confess... I don't watch much TV, but I am hooked on Corrie).
This morning, I transferred the drawing to my watercolour sketchbook and began by masking out the brach and tulips with masking fluid, so I could work on the fence. After I'm satisfied with the fence, I'll peel the mask off and do the twig and tulips. I'm trying something new with this painting: I am mixing all my colours from the three primaries (primary cyan, primary magenta, and primary lemon yellow) and black. You can see my mixed palette in the photo below.
The latest sketch, done last night. The items were all for the Scavenger Hunt on www.wetcanvas.com, and they all turned into nummy chocolate chip cookies with pecans. In graphite, on cheapo Bienfang wc paper, about 10" x 10".
Here are some photos I snapped on Sunday when I went for a hike by myself to clear my head of a lot of stuff that happened last week. It had been a rough week, lots of stuff going on, including the loss of my dad's sister Bonnie.
It was windy on the shore, but the walk through the woods was quiet and peaceful. I could feel the thunder of the surf pounding the rocks before I could see the water. As always, I find a stiff bracing wind and the rhythm of the waves cathartic. I just let the wind and water carry away my pain and stress. I always feel cleaner and purer after.
The path through the woods.
Waves rolling in.
Breakers pounding the rocks. 
I worked on the apples last night after I got the kids to bed. Bobby was at the annual $100 buddies poker game, so I knew I had a few hours.
I traced the value sketch on a piece of tracing paper, then used the tracing paper as carbon paper to transfer the basic line drawing to a watercolour board. You can see the board circled in blue, with the top edge of the apples and pot masked off with greenish-blue masking fluid. I got a layer of paint down for the background, but didn't get a shot of it as the lighting wasn't great for photos.
The pad of paper you see is cheap watercolour paper. I'm using it here to plan what colours will go where in the painting. I drew a quick sketch of the outlines of the apples and pot, and used that to test the paints colours on.
The earphones on top of my colour wheel are also an important piece of art equipment! Last night I was playing an old Dave Matthews Band CD. I hadn't listened to it for a while, and it took me back a few years.
I worked for about two hours on this the other night, but haven't had the chance to upload or go further with it. I am working from a photograph from the reference image library at www.wetcanvas.com . It will be an 11" x 14" watercolour painting. This value study is done in graphite, with charcoal for the darkest value, in my large sketchbook. I apologize for the poor lighting - the grey rectangle in the upper left is a shadow, not part of the drawing. I'll post more as I work on this.
I spent a few hours today assembling my new art desk that arrived yesterday. It was a gift from my husband. I've been using a rickety old table and a ricketier mircrowave stand. My "studio" is a well-lit corner of our bedroom.
It is a computer desk, but I am using the keyboard tray to hold my large watercolour palette and a tray for coloured pencils or pastel. The cupboard behind the glass door will hold up to 16 x 20" canvasses. I'm quite happy with my new set-up.
