Christmas Tree Topper from Scratch

My husband and I put up our little Christmas tree yesterday and decided to make our own tree topper.
I cut a paper towel cardboard roll to size. I stapled a copy of Silent Night around the roll to cover up the cardboard. I then stapled tissue wrap from a present to make the skirt. I use to save Victorian pictures from calendars and found a perfect angelic face from one of them. I then took a copy of a butterfly, cut it in half and glued the wings to the back of the angel. I stapled her to the front of the roll and added a sticky that says remember. The remember was my husband's idea.
I had two, small, felt shoes that I stapled to the bottom of the roll.
She is now on top of our tree. My husband enjoyed the process just as much as I did. It was fun.

Class Color Study 11/18/10

Here is the class study I am working on and you can begin to see that it is a glass bottle, a black bottle and an apple.
Note: remember that a highlight has a sharp edge and a diffused edge and clear glass is painted wavy.

Sheeba Value Drawing - still in progress

Color Study 11/17/10 - SOLD

Here is my morning color study before touching it up. It is a gorgeous day here. The lemons and bowls seemed like a good study.
I am fascinated how the light effects the bowl.

Color Study 11/16/10

This is studying a cobalt vase. I like my shadows which were the focus. Not too sure about the vase.

Value Study and Measuring Sheeba - My Cat

Here is a value study of Sheeba. One of the world's most spoiled cat. After all, they are in charge. I will work more on it later to fix the front leg, add shading and detail.

Perspective Study from Last Week's Class

Here is a perspective study where you draw your eye level horizon line and find the vanishing point of the building. You can see all the windows, walls and panel converge to that vanishing point.
I was then chasing the shadows as I began to shade them. Took me about 2 hours.
Good study. Note: My son actually liked this drawing. First time ever!

Class Color Study 11/15/2010

Can you guess what this is? It needs more band to figure it out.
I learned while creating the composition to start at the interesting shadows and crop up rather than starting at the top or side of this setup.
I also learned that since I am working with glass, to remember to use warm colors in the shadows. I forgot that. Oops.

Color Study 11/15/2010

This is my incomplete morning color study. I need to add highlights and a few color changes.
As you can see, I did the bowl and lemon but on a warmer cloth. I wanted to see the effect of a pink pastel on the bowl and lemon than then the cool green form yesterday.
I also added the foot to the bowl. I didn't paint it in yesterday.

A Few Changes

I walked away from the morning study and returned later to gray it down more. I still think the colors are too sweet once I changed the lemon. The whole painting colors are now effected. Good lesson.

Color Study 11/14/10

Here is my morning color study. It is gorgeous here today. I put out a simple white bowl and a lemon. I had the stage 3 pretty good and goofed this up on stage 4. My husband came home and wanted to practice guitar. So I rushed through it.
Learning how to put the last bands of light and color in are my main focus currently. I am having problem thinking it through only because of distractions.
I will get there.

For the Shell of It

Here is my completed, class, color study. I was happy with my progress of showing values and improving my compositions.
I also like that I can see the color and light with each painting more and more.

Color Study 11/10/10

I think there is a thing as too much purple. I found this great purple bowl at a local thrift store and couldn't wait to paint it. I needed to put down more blue in the shadow but decided to call it a day.
The bowl is crooked. I need to learn how to fix that better. There is too much purple. A nice green block would have been a better choice than the white block.
Oh - well, good lesson.

Fixed Color Study from Yesterday

Here is the finished study from yesterday after corrections.I fixed my painting by correcting the bowl and block. The orange was also dulled down more.

Block and Color Study 11/09/10

It was too cold to walk this morning so I set up a color study. After working on this for a few hours, I then took my walk.
This bowl is difficult for me to paint because it is transparent and I get on the shape and color. I am pleased with the block and the orange. Not happy with the bowl values. I need to draw it a few more times. It has a flat lip it and the shadow side cast a warm light because it is a white transparent bowl.

Color study 11/08/10 Stage 3

Here is my color study at stage three. I have completed the stages for the lemon and now I am working on the vase and the shell. I have not finished the bands for the vase that are horizontal. I will need to continue the bands on the shell.
Afterward, I will need to compare my entire painting.
I am pleased with the values in the vase and the lemon. The shell is coming along but take longer. I am treating it like a white vase.

Streetscape color study

I had a difficult time making the street light enough. I was pleased with the trees.

Drawing Landscapes and Still Life Abstractly

Here are some drawings of abstract landscapes and still life. I am trying to crop them into a good composition. Interesting shapes in the landscapes. I enjoyed cropping them.

Landscape Study 11/05/10

I did a few perspective drawings this morning, worked with landscape values and did this landscape study by this afternoon.
Last night, I did an abstract study of my cat. I love to paint cats and this was part of an exercise in the book, Finding Your Visual Voice.

Color Study 11/04/2010

Here is my color study from class today. I love this stage, stage 2. Can you guess what I am painting?

Value Studies

Here are four different value studies from today's drawing class where the light was moved 90 degrees every 30 minutes. I had a choice of pencil, pen, charcoal and ink. I chose pen and pencil.
I had to remember to measure and compare darks with other darks and lights with other lights.