Venice at Dusk

I can see that I need to work on perspective and water!

Waterfall

The photo of this painting doesn't do it justice - it's blurry and dark and doesn't show off the detail or the brigthness. This is my favorite so far

Cafe Margaretta

You might recall a recent painting I did of a bicycle leaning against a wall? Well, a co-worker told me that he imagined the owner of that bike had gone to a cafe just around the corner and this is what I came up with...

Here's the bicycle painting:

After the Rain

This painting was very satisfying to paint - I enjoyed the sense of accomplishment I felt at every stage of the painting: the clouds and the rain failling in the distance, the puddles in the road, the reflections and ruts in the road, the tree and the fence.

Still Life Painted

So, I didn't impress myself with this painting - I liked my sketch of it much better, but it gave me some more practice and it also helped me to know that I like painting landscapes better than still life.

Paint Exercises

I found another paint book that has exercises in it, and am trying out a few of them. They're just exercises, and not anything I would hang on my wall, but still I felt that I should post them here, as this is a place to note my progress and not just flaunt my art! I plan to complete a few more of these practice exercises before moving on to my next masterpiece (ha!) I still have my still life painting to do - I've prepared the canvas and traced the picture on to it, but am feeling a bit intimidated to paint it; maybe if I procrastinate and practice other things first, I might be more encouraged...

Eagle Mountain

Soar on wings outspread
Above horizons bathed in glory
Lifted by the currents
That bring us closer to home

still life

I'm going to try a still life painting next - but just in case it doesn't translate to paint well, I thought I would post the sketch first. I'm going to trace this onto the canvas and then paint it - I hope it comes out. I'll let you know!

Spring Park

I think this one is my new favorite; I love the detail and the vibrancy of the colors. I almost didn't paint the tree because the background was so fantastic, but decided to go ahead and take a chance with the tree. I think I did good!

Summer Tree

I painted this two weekends ago, just didn't get around to posting it. I had already painted this picture once before, but thought the practice would help and perhaps I could improve my style. I think I succeeded.

I have two other paintings going right now, both have a lot of detail and are taking time to complete, which is ok. It seems like there is a lot going on in my life and it's nice to be able to take a break from the busyness and lose myself in the details of a painting. I'll post them as they are completed.

Waterwheel

Ok, so this is not my favorite painting; it was frustrating and dissappointing - but, still part of the learning process. I'm learning that I don't like Bob Ross' wet-on-wet technique, but it took a few of these paintings for that lesson to sink in.

Blond Moments

I haven't been inspired to paint much lately, but I've been creative nonetheless. I've ventured into the realm of beer brewing - here we are in the final stages of bottling and capping our Blond Moments:



We were supposed to let the beer sit in the bottles for 10 days, but could only hold out for seven - we put two in the fridge and let them get cold, then cracked them open and had a try - oh my goodness! We did good! It was a treat to taste this lovely beer that we had created in our own kitchen. We'll be doing it again as soon as we have enough empty bottles to fill up again. Yummmmmmy!