Skip to content

Category: Art Work

February 19, 2012
Kathy
Comments closed

Happy Weekend!

Posted in Art Work

Ooops!  Where did the week go?! 

I am working on a new project . I'll have some updates by the end of the month. : )    In the meantime I am painting new work for the CCAA Exton gallery and my Etsy shop.  I am bored looking at the same art and I know you are too, so stay tuned for new artwork!

This time of year brings yard work at our house. We have the yard set up so most of the work needs to be done in the early spring. Which works great because that's before the ticks are out in full force and the weather is still cool. I found the first crocus bloom and a bluebird flew by! I was surprised by the bluebird – seems early to me. But I am wrong, they are here all winter – who knew?!  I didn't have my camera with me  – umm…  power hedge clippers and cameras don't mix – at least in this household. So I am including this terrific photo from smelllikedirt.wordpress.com blog  that I found thanks to Ginger on Pinterest.   The blue is so brilliant – it's an eye catching bird!  And does it bring happiness ?  Well  I was happy to finish the yard work today ; )

February 1, 2012
Kathy
2 Comments

New Painting: Part 1

Posted in Art Work, and Peeking Behind the Easel

I am almost  finished another painting in my series of fruits and vegetable kitchen art. This new one features strawberries. I used photos I took of strawberries on my counter this past summer. 

reference photos and sketches sibstudio dot com

Sometimes I use tracing paper to sketch out the drawing so I can get the shapes and composition precisely  how I want it. In this case I knew exactly how I wanted the composition and there wasn't much room for error on this smaller  6 x 6 inch canvas. After chalking the back of the drawing and tracing my drawing on to the canvas, I got to work painting.  Here is the work in progress:

Unfinished painting of strawberries

This is what i call the ugly stage.  Not anything to call home about….yet.  : )  The strawberries are based with the midtones, with some shadows and highlights.  The leaves need tweaking because the shape of the leaves is off. The strawberry caps need to be painted and the highlights/shadows adjusted.  Stop by tomorrow and see the finished painting.  It looks a lot better than this!

January 20, 2012
Kathy
3 Comments

New Painting: Peas

Posted in Art Work

This is my newest painting completed this week

Original painting of Peas by Kathy Sibley

It is one of a series of paintings of fruits and vegetables that I am working on. In our garden, we create a teepee of  poles, tied at the top for the peas to climb up. I love watching the vines of the pea plants reaching and pulling the plants up and up the poles.  I think peas are the best when they are picked  from the garden and cooked right away.  This painting celebrates freshly picked peas.

This painting and the first two of the series  [ radishes and garlic] would look great in the kitchen or dining room. You can find them in my Etsy shop.

December 15, 2011
Kathy
Comments closed

New Teddy Bear Painting

Posted in Art Work, and Peeking Behind the Easel

Here's my newest painting:  "Teddy Bears Three" 

teddy bear - sibstudio dot com

  I started this one several months ago and got stuck on the teddy bear fur.  I've written about getting stuck on a painting in previous posts. In this case, I knew what the problem was but it was going to need serious concentration to move it forward.  I pulled it out after joining StitchSilly in her pledge to build up shop inventory by add one thing a week for 8 weeks. 

I used my daughter's old stuffed animal collection for the initial composition. I liked how the well loved toys no longer sit up straight – they lean against each other to stay up. I used an Ampersand gesso art board for this painting. The art board has a very smooth surface and handles lots of light layers of paint well.  Painting teddy bear fur requires light layers of gradating paint colors, lightly tapped (stippled) on to create the soft fluffy look of the fur.   I started with mid tone brown and slowly added burnt umber ( dark brown)  to the mix as I stippled on the fur. Then I use the first mid tone brown and begin adding a little yellow, and then white to create the lighter fur.  When layering 15 -25 layers of paint, it's pretty easy to end up with a muddy look  – which is what happened on the first round. This week,  I slowly reworked the stippling, painted on the bows and faces.  Now  I think it looks like fluffy teddy bear fur.  : )

SibStudio dot com Teddy Bears

That's a peek behind my easel!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

November 16, 2011
Kathy
5 Comments

New Painting

Posted in Art Work

Some shameless self promotion today : )  I posted a new 11 x 14 inch painting yesterday.  I used some reference photos of daisies taken back in July.

Daisies by SibStudio

I was cutting back the very last of the daisies a few weeks ago and thought i'd like to capture them in all their summer glory.

More Daisies by SibStudio

I decided on painting a faux denim background to bring a nice country summery feel to the painting.  I got so involved in painting the denim look that I forgot to take a few photos.  I started with a light blue background and then dragged a loose mixture of navy blue across the canvas.  I ended up with a bit of a plaid look which I liked. After it dried, I lightly sanded the whole surface with sandpaper to give it a distressed look.  I painted a spray of daisies and a bit of vines to finish the look.  Here it is:

Summer Daisies by SibStudio

  And that's a peek behind my easel.   : )