A Path of Light

Day 14 and I'm almost halfway through this challenge! You may remember this scene as I did a plein air study or painting a month or so ago of the La Purisima Mission in Lompoc, California. I'd been wanting to see what I could do with this in my studio and today was the day!

My main thought with this painting is that people frequently ask me 'what I paint' when I first meet them. This painting may be the best answer: To me this painting is not about the mission itself, but the spectacular lighting that I stumbled upon and later as I was painting in this shaded hallway I also hoped to capture the coolness of the shadows on a very hot day.

My Favorite Color!

I won't say what day this is in case my mother's reading my blog (she's superstitious!). :-0

 A fun study of seeing how far I could push my watercolors.

I used Arches 300 lb paper and found it a workhorse as I wiped out color and reapplied it yet again and again. Enjoy!

Intermezzo

Intermezzo- a brief entertainment between two acts of a play (American Heritage Dictionary). That melodious word was floating in my head as I painted this piece. I didn't feel like drawing much and was sparked by an old photo I'd taken in Bali of what I thought was a princess walking out of a holy place, down the steps and into the sun.
Can you tell I felt like playing with color? This was my story for today.
As a side note: Upon checking the word that came right after 'intermezzo' in the dictionary I found the word 'interminable'- which was defined as 'seeming to be without an end'. My exact thoughts today on this challenge! ;-)

Redo Of A Surreal Scene

Your not seeing a rerun- this is a Redo!  :-) In yesterday's painting I liked the composition but the background dried with blotches where my fingers had been used to blend edges! Ugly blotches! I think my painting had the measles!

This is drying normally as I used a soft brush to blend the edges of the white clouds (no more fingers!). Tomorrow I may float in a transparent layer of blue/gray over the sky area to calm down the white clouds a bit. The painting needs to be bone dry (overnight is good) to do this without muddying the colors.

When I looked up into the sky last weekend I saw a long row of whispy clouds guiding a sea gull into the distance. A sense of this surreal scene is what I am trying to describe in this painting.

Soaring

This is perhaps the best or the worst piece I've ever done - and this is exactly why I paint!  Painting on the edge...the edge of my comfort zone, the edge of discovery, the edge of disaster.

I broke many watercolor rules with this painting and I'm proud of that fact. My ideas may not have worked as I expected, but I'm a better painter for trying.

Thanks for viewing and hearing my thoughts. 

Regatta II

Day 9 of 30 days! Wish I could say it's going so quickly. It probably is- I'm feeling knee deep in this challenge. One good thing this is teaching me- to finish a painting the same day I start it. My pattern is to paint, come back the next day and paint some more, never really feeling like I've finished- until I realize the painting is overworked! :-0

I'm happy with this one. I stepped back a few minutes ago, and thought "what can I do to improve this?" When I didn't have an answer after a couple of minutes I decided to stop.

A Three Hour Tour.....

Oh boy, I'm gonna have fun describing this painting! Woohoo!!!

Yesterday I went out on a 60 foot yacht! It was for a fundraiser for Visiting Nurse & Hospice in Santa Barbara. Some generous people who owned yachts offered to take people out to watch a sailboat regatta in the harbor. Well, I won't bore you with details but it was the 1st time I'd ever been on a sailboat- and a yacht? Wow!
I don't usually worry about 'what to wear' but DID call the CEO and asked her what people wore to this event. She left a message on my answering machine that simply said "Casual yacht attire". OMG. I laughed! What does an Iowa girl know about yacht clothing?!? Well, I DID watch PLENTY of episodes of Gilligan's Island growing up so I had a tough decision.....did I want to be Ginger (Hell yes!), Lovey, or the MaryAnn character......OK, so I dressed liked Lovey! Well, almost. White capris, flip flops with rhinestones and a colorful, flowing top I got on the 80% off sale rack of Younkers last spring! It was perfect!

Oh, my painting? I almost forgot! ;-) This was fun to paint. Not too hard. I probably should have stopped with the small details about 20 minutes sooner, but I was having fun placing a spot of color here and another spot there.

One last note: I couldn't stop humming the theme from Gilligans Island while I painted this! Thanks for listening to my story!

Sincerely,
Lovey