First Fire in New Home

It has really turned cold up here, had some snow flurries two days ago, so I built our first fire in our new home.  Very cozy!

A Favorite Drawing

I did this little drawing some time back and it hangs in my living room.  It's my dog Petey who died in 2000.  I did not get the Pink mixing charts done yet, so I thought I would share my favorite little drawing with you. 

Color Notes - Not Today

I had intended to do some color mixing examples of Pinks to post for you today, but never got to it.  My computer mouse broke halfway through designing a new postcard online.  If that was not enough to make me pull my hair out, three times through the tedious ordeal of online designing the card, I was either knocked off line or lost the site before getting the design saved.  I am now drinking some Pinot Grigio and trying to regain my sanity.

Great North Mountain - My Bad

I have been informed that big North Mountain is actually Great North Mountain.  

Making Pink

Sooner or later, you will want to paint flowers.  And sooner or later, you will need to make pink.  I could say just add white to red and you get pink, but that would be just too easy.  First, do you need a warm pink or cool pink?  Will it be in shadow or full sunlight.  Always consider color temperature when mixing.  For cool pinks, I love Alizarin Crimson with some Titanium White.  For a warm pink, I lean towards Cadmium Red and White.  For a truly peachy pink, I throw in some Cadmium Scarlet.
More on Pink later this week. 

My Spectacular View

My whole marriage, I have been nagging my husband about wanting to live on a mountainside and have spectacular views.  We almost did not buy this place, because all I could see were oak trees totally hiding us from the world.  Now the leaves are gone and you can actually see Big North Mountain in the distance.  Well, maybe you can't tell from this photo, but I can!   So I win!  I have my seclusion and my view!

Stink Bug Scuttle

So we decided to light our first fire in our new home's woodstove.   Way Cool, Right?  Wrong......as soon as we touched the match to the newspaper and smoke and flame began to rise up the stove pipe, all these horrible stink bugs came running out and up the stove pipe.  You could actually hear them scuttling up the pipe, their scratchy little fingernails, desperately seeking an escape route.  So we slammed the glass door shut on the stove and vacuumed up the few who did manage to escape.  Fortunately the heat and smoke carried their stink up the pipe and out of the house.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Good intentions are always there, but life gets in the way.  I am super busy, but promise to resume color notes shortly.  Ciao

Color Notes - More Cadmium Orange

Cadmium Orange is evident in the skyline just at daybreak....I call this time of day, first light.  Mix just a tiny bit into your morning sky and you will get that first glow of the sun as it breaks the horizon.  Just remember that all the values in the scene at that time of morning are going to be very dark values, including your blue sky.

My Published Article

Color Notes - Cadmium Orange

Cadmium Orange is one of the most useful colors around.  I have been using it lately, to liven up my paintings.....it's everywhere right now, in the fall foliage up here in Gore.  If you want to punch up a landscape painting, just add some Cadmium Orange.  Add a little white to it and you get a wonderful peach color....add more white still and you have a good base for making some nice flesh colors.  Try mixing some into a green and you will end up with some very natural greens, not those flashy man made greens you see straight from the tube.  And of course, use it for painting your pumpkin still life!