Paintings #7 and #8

Hi Friends!

I know it has been several days since I’ve posted anything.  I have been working on my paintings and once I get started I have to keep going until they get finished.

This week saw a finish on this painting of Einstein and Jim: There is a slight glare when I took this photo, probably from the flash and the fact that the painting was still wet.  Jim said he looks like he has lipstick, which I tried to tone down a bit and Einstein’s eye isn’t soo scary in real life.

The technique used on this painting is the one where you trace off the outline of the silhouette in a photograph, paint it in Mars Violet, let that dry and then paint it again in color.  I’m sorry I don’t have any photos of the process but it was one our instructor shared with us and so this was my first attempt at this new technique.  I will have to say that it was a lot easier to paint the colors with the under painting established.

Speaking of Einstein, in case you all want an update, we received a letter from CCI that Einstein will be rotating through Team Training come May 7th-18th.  We’ll know about May 9th or 10th if he’s made a match and then we’ll travel to Ohio for the graduation on May 18th.  We are really proud of that dog and we hope everything will work out!

I still want to paint another painting of just Einstein and somehow frame it with his matriculation ribbon but I’ll wait to see what happens…

The other painting I finished is this one of a farm scene:

I don’t know why it looks so dark, it’s not, I’ll have to figure out how to lighten it up a bit so you can see it.  Maybe because I took it this morning indoors and it is not very bright outside?  Anyhoo, I’ll update the photo once I get a better shot.  It is still wet so it might be a few days…

This painting is actually painted on a pre-stretched canvas.  I’ve been painting on canvas panels so far and wanted to try something else.  The subject matter is a farm scene which I guess I’ll have to let you know what that is all about.

Jim cut out a couple of advertisements in the paper about two weeks ago for me.  One was a call for images (paintings, photography) from the Lake County Heritage Farm Foundation.  Some of the past work looks really good so I probably won’t make it into the show but I thought I would try.  So this first painting is my first attempt to see what I can come up with.

The other aspect of this show is to paint a farm in Lake County, Illinois, which the border is just about 2 miles from our house.  Last Sunday I drove and drove and drove all over trying to find a farm in Lake County!  Not very easy!!!! And as soon as I found one I stopped, made some reference photos and then went in search of some more.  I found 3 that I thought might be good but I only saw 2 horses (way off in the distance) and unfortunately, on this one farm I painted above, a For Sale sign on the corner.  But getting back to why I painted this farm.  It was in Lake County and there is a special segment of the show just for Lake County images.  I figure that’s my best chance…so there you are…

Oh, and the other article that Jim cut out for me?  It was for a Plein Air Painting competition which starts THIS Friday!  Yikes!!!  I entered so what the heck!

Talk soon!

~Cathy

Paintings #5 and #6

Hi All!

I have been working on a couple of paintings these last few weeks.  There are 6 more classes left and my hope is to do at least that many before it ends!  So here is painting #5.

I took a bunch of photos at our St. Patrick’s Day Parade last month and I was intrigued by this trio that came out and set up their chairs at the curb to wait for the parade.  I was across the street and was able to watch the whole scene unfold.  To me, this looked like Grandma and Grandpa and their grandson.  They all came out of the house that was on this corner, along with other family members not in the picture, and really had a great time that day.

The weather was in the 80’s!!!!  So unusual for this time of year, actually think it was a record high for the day.  So you’ll see something obvious in that the trees do not have any leaves but the boy is in short sleeves and shorts!

This painting was a challenge for me to mix colors.  I did that on purpose so I could really learn something.

“Waiting On The Parade”
Oil on Canvas Board
12” x 16”

When I was in class my instructor thought I should do a portrait.  He thought some of my brushstrokes might translate nicely into portraiture.  Of course, immediately I think of some of my attempts at painting people and I’m just not so sure.  Who would I paint as to which I would not offend?!

It dawned on me early last week that I would need to paint myself.  I’m not sure if I’m finished yet with this one (no signature yet) because I’m not so sure about the really brownness of my skin!  I guess the one nice thing about painting yourself is you can make yourself look any way you want!  I’m not sure this is it but it’s getting there.  Most likely will try to add more pink in the coming days but I’ll see what the class thinks tomorrow.

Painting #6, “Self Portrait”
Oil on Canvas Board
12” x 16”

Talk soon!

~Cathy