I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by my sister Joan. http://watercolorsbyjoan.blogspot.com
If I understand the rules correctly, I now have to tell 7 things about myself that no one knows (well, my sis probably knows all of them), and then tag 7 other people. Let's see if I can find 7 people I know who haven't been tagged before.
About me:

1. I was named Michelle after my father, Michael, and got the nickname "Mickey" from one of my father's boyhood friends. My brother Joe was named after my Mom. We sometimes do things a little backwards in my family.

2. I was exposed to art at a young age when my aunt took me to the art museums in NYC on my birthday outings. I knew right away that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up.

3. When I was about 10, I accidentally stuck my hand into a wet oil painting belonging to an artist who was next to me on the Fire Island ferry. I was trying to keep from falling when the ferry lurched.

4. I wanted to play for the Yankees when I grew up (in addition to being an artist, of course). The closest I came was a mom's softball team when my kids were little.

5. My favorite foods are lobster and ice cream (not together).

6. I met my husband on a trip to a dude ranch with a church youth group. I was from New York and he was from Pennsylvania, and we met in Massachusetts.

7. A couple of years ago I joined a beginners senior tap dance class and have performed in two of their annual shows.

The 7 people I tagged are:

Rhonda Carpenter - http://rhcarpenter.blogspot.com
Susan Roper - http://wcbysusanroper.blogspot.com
Cia Price - http://artmaker-cecilia-price.blogspot.com
Jane James - http://janefranart.blogspot.com
Dabs - http://artbydabs.blogspot.com
Marilyn Fuerstenberg - http://marilynfuerstenberg.blogspot.com
Elizabeth McRorie - http://emcrorie.blogspot.com

African Violets

I started these African violets from life at my friend's house the week before I left for the workshop. I didn't finish it, and luckily the plant was still flowering so I finished it up today. Watercolor 11 x 15 on Arches.

Sunflowers

I started this painting over a month ago, and I finished it today. We do not get many sunflowers in suburban New Jersey, so when I saw these last fall I made sure to get a photo. This is 11 x 15 watercolor on Arches.

Two more small collages

Here are two more small abstract collages that I did to show my Thursday painting group the techniques we learned in Jerry Brommer's workshop. I hope to do one or two larger ones with them this week. I was happy with the purple and yellow radial design, but it took some work to resolve the blue collage. It didn't come together until I glazed some Winsor blue over it to unify, and added the whites with gouache.

Workshop Days 4 and 5

On the 4th and 5th days of the workshop we did landscapes. As I watched Jerry do his demo, I decided on a photo I had of the gazebo at Laguna Beach, California. There were no flowers on the hill in the photo, but I knew that flowers grew there in the spring, so I put a lot of color into my collage. Jerry said it looked more like Tahiti, so I guess I will have to call it something like "Tropical Surprise". On Friday after our last class we had a "gallery night" where all the classes displayed their work for the week. I truly enjoyed this workshop, or as I call it - my trip to art camp.

Workshop Day 3 - Flowers

On Day 3 Mr. Brommer, "Jerry", had us do flower collages. Being a flower painter, I was really looking forward to these. It took me a while to get the hang of it - they were harder to do than the abstracts, because we were just trying for the "essence" of flowers. I liked my third attempt best.

Workshop Day 2

The second day of the workshop we did larger abstracts on 11 x 11 inch paper. My first design was a horizontal one with a cool (blue) dominance and warm accents. The second is a "box in a box" design with a warm dominance and cool accents. It was fun to see how many different collages the class managed to come up with for this assignment. We spent many nights after class staining papers for the next day.

Stained Paper Collages - Gerald Brommer Workshop

Last week my sister and I took a "Stained Paper Collage" workshop with Gerald Brommer. I have been a fan of his work with both watercolor and collage for many years. During the 5 day workshop we learned to stain paper - lots and lots of paper. And we learned about several different designs and how to utilize them in both abstract and representational work. These three small abstracts were done on 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 Arches rough with watercolor stained washi. The designs used were a "bridge", a "T" and a "cruciform".

Snow and Fog

I took the reference photo for this painting a year ago at Ramapo Reservation, near my home. It was still snowing slightly and it was sort of foggy and soft. I loved the way the distant trees and mountains looked, and I think I nailed them pretty well in my watercolor. The foreground evergreens gave me a little trouble, since I found it difficult to put the snow on the branches without making it look too sharp and defined. I originally masked it, which was a mistake, and so I had to scrub them to soften, and then add some midtones and darks trying to keep it somewhat indistinct. I think I succeeded somewhat - not what I originally had in mind, but not bad.

Pemaquid Point

A few weeks ago I painted a smaller version of this scene from Pemaquid Point, Maine on yupo. This one is on Arches 140 lb. rough, and is a half sheet. Pemaquid Lighthouse and the rocks that surround it are my favorite landscape subjects. I was probably standing with my back to the lighthouse looking down to the left when I took the reference photo for this painting. I also love to climb down on the rocks, find a comfy place to sit, and do a watercolor sketch in my journal. It's getting harder and harder for this out-of-shape, almost 62 year old to get down there and back up again though.

Something Different Again

This is a "posterized" portrait of my grandson David, which I did by following a tutorial on the WetCanvas website. I had been admiring the posterized portraits done by a couple of WetCanvas regulars, and when the tutorial was posted, I decided to follow along. It was interesting to see how getting the shapes and values right made an accurate likeness.

Something different

This first is a stained paper collage - that is, I took several kinds of rice papers and stained them with watercolor in yellows, oranges, reds, purples, blues and greens, and then tore them and adhered them to watercolor paper. I did have a loose drawing as a guide. There are some gold "strings" in the vase and the background that do not show in this photo. I can see great possibilities with this technique.




It's been a week for doing something different, and yesterday I decided to play with a piece of Yupo, that interesting plastic/paper. This is "Pemaquid Point" approximately 10 x 12 on Yupo with watercolor. The watercolor floats around on this paper for quite a while after you put it down, making all sorts of surprise textures. I also spattered some clear water on the rocks and grass to help it along.

God Bless Us All This Christmas

This is the painting that I used for my Christmas card this year. It shows 6 of my grandchildren last January acting out the Nativity scene right after the youngest was born. It was a challenge trying to get a likeness for each of the kids, especially for Joey, the little blond guy on the right who refused to be in the reference photo. The original painting is 11 x 15.

White Poinsettia

I do a few poinsettia paintings every year around this time. It gives me that good old Christmassy feeling. This one is 5 x 7 and was painted for my swap partner - I belong to a group of watercolorists who trade small paintings a few times a year. I enjoyed "finding" colors in this all white flower.

Painting With Grandma

All of my grandchildren love to paint. This Thanksgiving my littlest grandson, two year old Brandon, painted this masterpiece for me. It took him a while to learn not to rinse all the paint off his brush before putting it to paper. My job was to get more paper and more water when needed, and to tell the budding artist how terrific his paintings were.

My Latest Dahlia

This is my latest floral - another dahlia. They are a challenge to draw and paint with all those petals, but I love the shadow and light patterns, and all the "colors" I found in this essentially white flower. The size is 15"x15".

Monhegan Lighthouse

I painted "Monhegan Lighthouse" a year after I took the photo. I "collect" lighthouses. I've loved them ever since I can remember. I found this sentinel on my first trip to Monhegan Island, sometimes known as "the artists' island", since everywhere you look you will find someone painting, and the tiny island is home to a good many galleries. I enjoyed hiking to various cliffs and doing small paintings while I was there, and have a nice collection of photos for future reference.

Watercolor Shows

This is the time of year when many national and regional art societies are having their annual shows. My painting "Dahlia", 22x30, is currently showing at the NorthEast Watercolor Society's annual members juried show in Middletown, NY. I love participating in these shows, as well as meeting the other artists and seeing their work.

More ACEO's

Last night I was painting some little floral ACEO's (2.5 x 3.5 art collectable cards) in watercolor when I got the idea to try collaging a few. I did these with scraps from my mulberry and rice paper stashes. I put them up on eBay. It will be interesting to see if any of them get bids. I think they turned out rather well.

White Irises

I painted this today for a project in WatercolorWorkshop, a Yahoo group for watercolor artists. The object of this project was to paint something white without using white paint, and to see how many colors could be found in a "white" object. For my irises I used cobalt blue, permanent rose, burnt sienna, permanent yellow, and a little scarlet lake in the centers.