Wine Label

A label I designed for my husband's wine making hobby. I plan to redesign this, but don't seem to get around to it, what with earthquakes and hurricanes lately.

The Key

Ink, watercolor, on hot-pressed wc paper

Spring flower

A lonely little tulip from my backyard. There are two of them who, despite my neglect, bravely appear each year and produce a couple of blooms for me.

LaFazio lesson 5 - shoes 1

LaFazio lesson 5 - shoes 1
Originally uploaded by MaryO 2

Continuous line drawing with water soluble pen. Brushed the line with a little water to add an ink wash. Hot pressed paper, 5x7.

LaFazio lesson 5 - shoes 2

LaFazio lesson 5 - shoes 2
Originally uploaded by MaryO 2

My red suede loafers. Pen and watercolor wash on hot press paper, 5"x7".
Added the white stitching with WC pencil.

Lesson Four - Tweaked

It just didn't look finished to me, so I added the name of the flower (thanks, Barbara!) and gave the background a bit of color and the leaf a little more definition. I like it better now. Wish the photo didn't look so gray!

Lesson four - Flowers

I had hoped to get several examples done for this lesson. I love painting flowers and some of the tips and instruction that Jane has given the class have help loosen me up (not as much in this piece, actually) and helped me get back a little confidence.
Next lesson is on shoes! I'm not as exited about that, but you'd think I would be, considering the number of pairs resting in my closet!

Continuous Contour Pen drawing

Lesson three from Jane LaFazio's Sketching/Watercolor;Journal Style. I chose something simple because drawing directly with pen is intimidating for me. I'm much more the "fiddle around with the pencil til it looks right" kind of artist. But this was such fun, maybe because it was continuous contour and I didn't expect perfection. I think I'll want to do more of this, it really loosened me up better than anything else I've tried.

It has been awhile, but I'm back!

I'm taking yet another online class, this time with Jane LaFazio. These photos are from the first two lessons. I'm learning a few new things each time, painting a little differently than I would ordinarily, and having a great time. I'm actually beginning to loosen up a bit and learning to handle the watercolor a little better I think. These are all on hot press watercolor paper, 5"x7".

Background practice

Another lesson from Laure Ferlita's class. Utilizing my earlier border and background designs. I'm having trouble photographing these pages. My scanner is misbehaving and I can't seem to get a good shot with my camera from these pieces on watercolor paper. Guess I need to read my camera manual, huh???

More class work

Well, it's getting me into the studio! I hope this will become a habit, because I have enjoyed playing with pencils and paints again. My skills are still quite rusty, but I think that probably has as much to do with my age than anything. My hands don't always want to do what the brain says they should these days. Have to admit, the brain is a bit slower now too, but it still recognizes sloppy work when it sees it! ;o)
The first is a prototype for a wine label I've thought about for awhile and seemed to fit one of the projects Laure gave us, a study of borders. The second is a collection of border ideas that were fun to play with. I plan to do more of these to keep as a reference.

I'm Ba-a-a-a-ack!

It has been too long awhile since I've posted here, and just as long awhile since I've done anything "postable" in my studio. I've been entertaining the mother of all artist's blocks (well it has been that overwhelming for me, anyway) and I feel like I'm starting all over again.
Albeit with some trepidation, I signed up for a class with Laure Ferlita and am finding that the lessons are just the right challenge without being too intimidating....which I think was Laure's intent in setting this class up. Anyway, though I've been very slow about keeping up with the class, I have accomplished a few things and here is a sample. I'm very bravely posting even the "oops" factors, so have fun finding them! LOL!! Some things turned out better than I expected and some things didn't..........

New/Old Journal page

After almost a year, I finally remembered I hadn't finished this spread in my Grandma's House journal. 5x8" watercolor in Moleskine journal

Journal Page Purple Hollyhock (2)

Journal Page Purple Hollyhock (2)
Originally uploaded by MaryO 2

I had some more photos of the hollyhocks we used to have in the garden and couldn't resist drawing this beauty. I should do them on better paper, they look pretty washed out in this journal.
6x9" on handmade paper. Watercolor pencils and sepia ink.

Hollyhock

In keeping with my latest attempt to simplify, simplify, simplify...here's my sketch for today. This is from a photo I took in the garden we had a few years ago. Wish I had these lovely things growing out there now. But I surprised myself by completing this all in one day..it usually takes me that long just to plan what I intend to do!
Watercolor pencils on (spongelike)handmade paper in 6x9 1/2 inch journal, which unfortunately doesn't scan very well, either.

Frustration

Okay, this is one of the sources of the frustration I mentioned in the previous post. I wasn't going to post this, but at least you can see I was working on *something*!
I finally got the blossoms to an acceptable stage, but the background just would not cooperate in spite of (or because of) multiple glazes......and a mild expletive or two.
This is watercolor and WC pencils on hot pressed paper, 9x12".
LOL! I see I inadvertently left a tiny white spot beneath the upper blossom! Oh my...

Back to Drawing

After a frustrating week of working on paintings that never seemed to come together, I went back to my journal and did some quick and easy drawings just to loosen up. This is a 6x9" journal containing handmade paper without too much sizing so it's difficult to add much watercolor, the paper sucks it up so quickly. I think I'll stick to this way of working for a little while.....

Backyard fauna

One of several plump little creatures who frequent our backyard. This one has produced several small copies of herself this year already. They're pesky but not as pesky as the deer who have late night picnics in my hosta beds.

New SuperBlog

This is the new logo for the new SuperBlog for my EveryDayMatters group. Hope you'll visit sometime. The group of artists who post there is a formidable group of very talented people and I'm grateful to be a part of it.

Update on Hosta

The hosta finally bloomed so I added a sketch of one of them to the page. I usually don't like the blossoms very much, but after being more observant in order to draw them, I think they're quite beautiful in their subtle way. I'd like them better if the stems didn't grow so tall.......