Bits and pieces.

Still experimenting with the watercolours.  Tried watercolour on top of gesso and quite like the effects.  Not sure if this one is quite finished yet, but getting there.  I've collaged a photo and some paintings on canvas paper, but that means using gel medium on top of the gesso.
                                    

I'll try putting more gesso on top of the gel medium and see how that turns out.  And maybe more collaging, and stamping, and stencilling, and perhaps some oil pastels.  Here we go again!!! lots to do.....see you soon!!

More watercolours, and trying to just 'play'!

Two more pieces of watercolour playing.  The first one is another colour wheel (I've used these colours already: cerulean blue, alizarin crimson and quinacridone gold) and then some flowers (tulips, did you guess?) on that same page, using the colours from the colour wheel plus some payne's grey. The next one revisits my little pepper mill.  I did another blind contour drawing and then painted into that.  I am experimenting with dropping water into the paint on the page and getting deliberate backruns.  I really like the loose watercolour look and it is pushing my 'play' button.  OK, I didn't think I was that controlling, but...maybe!  Anyway, at least I have been doing something!!  I'm playing now with oil pastel resists and colouring over top of that.  More later!

An acrylic piece.

This is another piece I have done for Jane Davies' class ( http://www.janedaviesstudios.com/).  It is acrylic, 9 x 12 and collaged.  With a stamp that I made.  I'm still not quite there yet with the watercolours!!  But today, today I am going to get them out and even if all I paint is a grid, I am going to do it.  Yes! Yes, I am!!!  And I will post it tomorrow, no matter how it looks....there, I am committed.....see you tomorrow!  (If not, it's because I have been abducted by aliens and taken away to a remote area where there is no internet......what?....it's possible!)

And again.

Two more little pictures from last week.  My younger son was helping me sort through some of my 'stuff' (of which I have plenty) but I decided I couldn't part with the pepper shaker.  Such a fun thing to draw.  It is amazing what a little bit of looking will do.  How did I miss all this before?

This is a little rudbekia (I think) from the garden.  I'm having trouble getting the darker lines on the petals.  I am using just one brush for all these watercolours (the one with the handy little water reservoir, perfect for travelling) but it's a bit shaky on the lines (isn't that fun how I blame the brush!!!  I'll persevere...it's vaguely possible that the fault is mine!!!)  The lines show up beautifully on the flower in the photo, so perhaps I'll give it another go using the photo as a reference.
I'm also trying to pick out a background for my collaged milk pitchers.

This background was painted with black gesso (matte) onto which I stamped black acrylic (shiny).  It means that in some lights the diamonds don't show, which I kind of like.  Anyway, still pondering.  I have another lighter background, prepared with various mediums, which may work.  More on the final decision later.  I may wait until I go down to gail's to get a final decision.
Check out gail's new location and the classes that she offers.  http://www.gailcreativestudies.com/