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Category: Peeking Behind the Easel

September 9, 2011
Kathy
3 Comments

Solving A Painting That Is Not Working

Posted in Art Work, and Peeking Behind the Easel

Solving A Painting That Is Not Working

It happens to all of us. You're happily working on a painting and as you think you are finished, you can see something is not right. Sometimes it's obvious like the colors are clashing, or the proportions are wrong.  Other times……you just can't see where the problem is but you know it's there.  What to do?  Here's some suggestions I use:

– move the painting to another room for fresh perspective

– turn it upside down.  You'd be amazed at how this simple trick helps your eye see the painting differently

 – put it away for a few days and look at it with fresh eyes.

 – show it to another artist  – they can usually see where the problem lies.

– ask your family members – they never hold back the truth and they look at it differently since they are not artists

Here is my current painting that is having issues:

When a painting isn't working - sibstudio.com

Can you see what isn't working?

My family noticed right away that the painting was lopsided.  Non artist words but right on target.  If you mentally divide the painting in 1/2 – the right half has sunflowers and pumpkins, the left half – it's one pumpkin. A composition boo boo that I missed way back in the sketching out of the painting.

How to fix this?  

Step one – brainstorm how to balance the painting, 

Step two – get a piece of everyday chalk and start sketching out right on the painting what changes might work.

Stay tuned tomorrow to see what we came up with! 

 

 

September 2, 2011
Kathy
2 Comments

Painting Dew Drops

Posted in Art Work, and Peeking Behind the Easel

Painting Dew Drops

After posting on dew drops this week, I was curious about how to paint them. It's not something I've painted before. Over the years, I've saved "how to" pages from various art magazines. I keep them in clear page holders in a  loose leaf notebook.  It comes in handy as a great reference for times like this.

Turns out that I have saved instructions from several artists on how they paint dew drops. All of them have the same basics: transparent wash of light  yellow to form the drop, darker shade of the leaf or flower for the shadow in the drop and the cast shadow, and a highlight on the dark shadow of the drop.  Highlighting over the shadow of the drop was the part that was most interesting to me. Usually the light side is highlighted, instead the shadow side is to create the appearance of translucency.  Here's my first try:

1st try at painting dew drops

I used a scrap of watercolor paper leftover from trimming a painting. The middle leaf is based too dark to give a good effect but I was pleased with the left and right leaves for my first attempt. I am inspired by fooling around with painting dew drops. I'll be working on a painting this week including dew drops. Stay tuned.  

August 31, 2011
Kathy
Comments closed

If Dewdrops Were Diamonds

Posted in Peeking Behind the Easel

If Dewdrops Were Diamonds

In these end of the summer mornings the dew is heavy on every surface.  The practical side of my brain says great time to sow grass seed on the bares spots of the yard.  The art side of my brain…. sees it quite differently. A sea of sparkling dewdrops as far as the eye can see, shining in the new morning light.  Like diamonds twinkling in the sunlight.  What if each dewdrop was a diamond?

Dew drops on grass

Diamonds…… waiting to be scooped up in baskets, like Easter eggs during a hunt. 

Close Up view of Dew Drops

  The mini drops look like diamond seedling,  I love the ones hanging off the blade of grass. If dew drops were diamonds…. I suppose they would not be as valued since they would now be as common as dew drops in the morning light.    : )

Enjoy the beauty of your day !

August 23, 2011
Kathy
3 Comments

Tiny Hyperactive Warriors With Wings

Posted in Peeking Behind the Easel

Tiny Hyperactive Warriors With Wings

We've been watching two hummingbirds that come into the yard in the late afternoon – early evening during the past week. They move hyperactive fast!  I've been wondering how in the world does anyone get a photo of these little guys?

This is a photo from a copyright free site –  graphicshunt.com.

When I think of hummingbirds, I think  of tiny,  delicate birds, and of all the beautiful photos and paintings of them with  gorgeous flowers.  Do we have that in our yard?  No……. we have tiny hyperactive warriors with wings!

They are charging at each other, up and down, in and out, and chasing each other over a butterfly bush and a handful of bee balm…….. I guess they are so busy creating a ruckus that they've not noticed that  there's an entire hillside of at least 10 more butterfly bushes! 

Watching them, the art side of my brain starts to wander, …..  The juxtaposition of  delicate, cute versus attacking, fierce hummingbirds is intriguing….. do their beaks act  as swords, the green on the top of their heads as tiny helmet…. It could be an interesting fantasy art painting …… hmmmm…reaching for the sketch book.  

Enjoy the rest of your day !

August 17, 2011
Kathy
6 Comments

I’m On Twitter Now

Posted in Peeking Behind the Easel

I'm On Twitter Now

Oh the fun of blogging and online selling! There is always something new to learn and new technology to figure out. Being some what of a news junkie, I've been a Twitter reader for a while. You can read on Twitter without signing up. If there's something happening, it's the folks with phones in hand that are on the scene, tweeting the first bits of news happening right in front of them. Fun for the news junkies : )

Now I've signed up for Twitter for my business. Follow me if you like at  – SibStudio tweets   or the cute little blue Twitter button at the top left side of my blog. The first twitter people I've followed is Etsy, and Etsy's Daniellexo – isn't she great! I was surprised to see how much they tweet and that's I've been missing out on some of the current things happening at Etsy. Especially with all of the changes in relevancy searches. 

One of the Etsy tweets this morning: Reminder: New shop critiques every day this week at 6PM ET! Watch us help sellers optimize shops for Etsy search. etsy.me/onlinelabs    I always forget to check the online labs and as confused as I am on the new system, this looks like one I should check out.

So that's my first 24 hours on Twitter. If you have Twitter links, feel free to put them in the comments.  Enjoy the rest of your day!