HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I just got this nice card from dear friend Lorraine....I have had the pumpkin for years.  Notice anything?  Its the same pumpkin in the photo on the card.  What are the odds on this happening?
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Doberman Art is Finished

So the Doberman illustration I have been working on is finished and drying.  As soon as it is good and dry, I will be putting a matt varnish on it, since a few areas are just too shinny to photograph well.  I am holding back the pictures of it until after a competition is juried, that I am hoping to get it into. 

Color Notes - Tree Trunks

Brown tree trunks are not really brown in most cases.  They are actually very grey on the oaks in front of me.  I would use some Burnt Umber and add some white to get a grey color of brown with maybe a spec of black.  And then to deepen them in spots where the bark is cracked, I would mix some Burnt Umber and my good friend Cadmium Orange.  I noticed also that in front of me the trunks are lighter and get darker in the trees that are furthest from me.  This is not to say they are more vivid in color, just getting darker due to the leaf cover.  A lot of light is striking the trunks closest to me.

Color Notes

 A good exercise to do if you really want to master mixing Cadmium Orange and Cerulean Blue is to try and create an entire landscape painting, using only those two colors and a bit of white and black.  Its a real eye opener! 

Studio Distraction

I  built this dollhouse from a kit, years ago when I had less time, but more energy.  I would work on it an hour each evening just before bedtime.  We moved it into the studio and are going to surprise my granddaughter next time she comes to visit.  Something fun that she and grannie can do together.

Too Busy Right Now!

No pictures today.....I am too busy with the Doberman illustration.  Deadline is looming!

Color Notes is Back

OK, it's been awhile, hasn't it?
I am sitting on the back porch with my cup of Joe and marveling at all the beauty in my new neighborhood.  It's peak leaf season here, red, yellow, orange, and still some greens in the trees that still have leaves.  I recall a woman from Maine who visited my gallery in Little Washington, telling me that our mountains are called the Caramel Colored Mountains up north.  I see what she means.  Most of my oaks are a brownish orange.  This led me to thinking of how I would mix the colors to paint them.
So here is my little nugget for today.  If you mix two complementary colors together, they will grey one another.  And depending on how much you add of one to the other, you get various greyed color.  For my caramel oaks I would take some Cadmium Orange and add tiny amounts of Cerulean Blue to grey the orange.  If I add equal parts of the two colors together, I will get a warm grey. 

New Doberman Illustration

I have begun a new Sci Fi illustration using the Dobermans.  I just love these two dogs.   I am trying to finish it for the Art Order Challenge.  Off to the studio now!

New Studio Lights

We hung this studio light this past weekend.  It is daylight balanced and its almost like being outdoors.  Wow, what a difference.  I may never leave the studio again.

Intrepid Women of Miniature Portraiture is Published

My article, Intrepid Women of Miniature Portraiture has now been published in the quarterly journal of the Portrait Society of America.  It is in Volume XIV, issue no 60 on page 4 & 5.   It is a brief history of the role women have played in miniature portraiture and includes a few tiny images and short bios of four of todays top miniature portrait artists working in America. 

More Reference Photos

That is my finger(for scale) beside a walking stick.  He/she is such an interesting insect.  He/she is actually very delicate and so I did not pick him up for fear of hurting him/her.  This will be a great reference photo for something I have in mind down the road.  Off now to paint!

Resource Photos

Over and over at the IMC, we were instructed to use great resources for our work.  The instructors repeatedly told us to thoroughly research  our subjects.  We were shown how to take good resource photos in one session.  So, how is this for a good resource photo?  I took this on Sunday.  Can you guess what they are doing?   Can you guess what comes next?  HINT: She is not going to smoke a cigarette...he is going to wish he had remained celibate

More Predators in Neighborhood

So, I was taking veggie scraps out to the compost tumbler beside the garage/studio, and just a few feet away on the sunny hillside was this beautiful visitor.  He did not seem too worried about me at first.  It had been a very cool night and I am sure he was warming his bones up.  I often see my cats hunting mice on that grassy slope.  I am sure that is what he was intending to do also. 

Bees on Coneflowers

I took this a while back and forgot to post it.  I see a painting here.  It seems to really help me to look through a camera lens when I am searching for a good painting composition.  This is a good example of what I think will make a decent painting composition.  My sarcastic inner Linda voice say's "Stop congratulating yourself,  if you take enough pictures, you are bound to hit on something good."

"Barns Resumed"

I am back to work on one of the three little barns I started way way back before we moved.  I am blocking it in today. 

Green Tractor Complete

I think I have taken this one as far as I need to go.  Its time to stop nit picking it.