More Work In Progress

Hi Everyone,

Work in progress watercolor on paper 23.5 x 32

I'm crawling along with my painting.  Thought I'd share my progress.  The above picture is where I am right now.

Here is my drawing stage 1.  I had a question about my pencil marks.  I do puzzle in the darkest areas with pencil, they will be covered in my darkest shades so I'm not worried about the pencil showing through.

Layering in my first colors.  For this painting I'm using a mixture of Daniel Smith and Schmincke watercolor paints.  DS colors are lamp black, Payne's gray, Quinacridone, gold, deep gold, and burnt sienna, undersea greenSchmincke ultramarine blue and turquoise

layering in my dark values

my first jar completed

starting in on my second mason jar.  The lid palette consists of lamp black, Payne's gray, ultramarine blue, and undersea green and Quinacridone gold

almost finished with the second lid

Finished lid working in my layers on the jar.  Notice the little reflections of window near the bottom of the lid.

Working in some more layers.  It's a lot like putting a puzzle together.  Making all of the abstract shapes make sense and working in all of the brilliant colors.

Where I am now.

I'll post my progress again on Monday.  Have a great weekend:)

Carrie

Work in Progress

Hi Everyone,

I'm sharing my work in progress with you.  I was hoping to be further along, but you know sometimes life just happens.  My weekend and week has been full of getting ready for school, a little boy that does not want to sleep, and a husband getting ready for a deployment.  It's a tad stressful and full of emotion at our house.  I'm sure you can all identify with having to juggle it all.

work in progress 23.5 x 32

Here is the beginning stages of my newest painting.  I don't have a title yet, I'm really hoping you all will help with this.  It may be early but please if anything strikes you let me know. 

I thought I'd share a little of the process.  I'm using Daniel Smith Lamp Black for the darkest areas, DS Payne's gray, Quinacridone gold, deep gold , burnt sienna, and undersea green Schmincke ultramarine blue and turquoise for my palette so far.  In the above step I've started layering in the undertones.  Payne's gray, ultramarine blue and undersea green are used on the lid.  I'm layering in the other palette colors on the jar.

In this step I'm just layering some more darkening my colors.

Here is more of the jar. I'm starting to lay in the veining of marble here.  And changing a dirty diaper, stopping a fight, letting the dog out, answering the door, cleaning up spilled juice, you know all that stuff that Monet, Rembrandt and O'Keefe had to put up with:)

So here is as far as I've gotten.  I'll post again on Friday:)

Have a great rest of the week everyone,

Carrie

A Spot of Tea

Hi Everyone,

"Spot of Tea" original watercolor on paper 6x6 $195 Buy Now

A recent Daily Paintworks challenge was to paint you favorite mug.  I took the opportunity to break out my favorite dishes and paint a spot of tea.  I'm not a coffee drinker, never have been, love the way it smells not the way it tastes, so tea it was.  I love the color of the tea and I'm always happy when I get to use my Daniel Smith quinacridone colors, just love them--thank you Paul Jackson for introducing them to me. 

The cup and saucer in this painting are dishes that my husbands Grandmother gave to us when we got married.  As a child my husband loved her "marble dishes".  I'm so glad that my he has such great taste because I just love the Candlewick dishes also.  They have been the star of a few of my still life paintings.

Above is a detail of the painting.  I was happy with the way I captured the fraying tea bag string and the reflection of my kitchen window in the painting.

And here is a picture of the painting sitting in my kitchen with the actual cup and saucer.

"Apples in Candlewick" watercolor on paper 18 x 24 NFS

"Pomegranates and Cranberries" original watercolor on paper Buy Now

"Apples in Candlewick" Mini 6x6 watercolor on paper SOLD

Here are a couple of paintings where these beautiful dishes have been the star.  I can guarantee they will be in more paintings. 

I'm working on a mason jar painting.  Can't wait to show you work in progress pictures, check back Wednesday:)

Have a terrific week everyone:)

Carrie

Happy Friday and a little painting too:)

Hi Everyone,


The weekend is upon us and I hope you have a fabulous couple of days.   Jean Haines has a lovely August challenge so I decided to participate.

I did a quick painting of her shell, it was a nice break from my usual very detailed paintings. 

Have a terrific weekend,

Carrie

Atlanta--Georgia Aquarium, Mason Murer, and Atlanta's High Museum of Art

Hi Everyone,

I'm finally doing a post about our trip to Atlanta.   It was a fun, family trip.  Atanta is only a few hours a way from us, but it always gets put on the back burner when we plan out trips.  But, since we moved to Alabama we knew we wanted to visit the Georgia Aquarium before it was time to move again.  The Georgia Aquarium is the World's largest aquarium and has been open since 2005.  I also wanted to visit Atlanta's High Museum of Art and the Mason Murer Gallery.

The Mason Murer Gallery was first on the agenda.  I always get a little intimidated when I go to a gallery, don't ask me why.  As we we were looking for Mason Murer, my husband asks "Are you sure we're at the right place?"  The gallery is located next door to a tortilla factory in an industrial area.  After we entered the gallery we understood why they were in this industrial area.  The gallery is gigantic and very much like an art museum.  I had an agenda and a list of fellow blogger/artists works that I wanted to visit and hoped that their talents would rub off a little:)

Me standing next to Alvin Richard's "Crayolas and Marbles in Mason Jar"

Alvin Richard is a favorite artist of mine.  I just drool when I see his work and he was my main motivation for making the trek to Mason Murer.  He has 2 pieces there right now, and I was thrilled to see them in person.  In addition to Alvin being a fabulous artist he is a very kind and supportive blogging buddy.

I also was excited to see a painting by M.Collier, another artist that I am in awe of.  Neil Hollingsworth and his wife Karen are also there.  Their work is unbelievable!  I also was introduced to Sally Tharp's work.  I've heard her name but wasn't very familiar with her work.  I fell in love at first site.  Her paintings are spectacular and if you ever get to see one in person do so.

At the same time that I was falling in love I was also a little deflated.  There on the wall were several large paintings of mason jars.  I had just finished a photo shoot of mason jars and was super excited to paint them.  And there was my idea hanging on the wall.  I really had to think hard about whether I should abandon my project, so I did a search on-line for mason jar paintings, and as it turns out LOTS of artists have painted this subject.  It all seems a little silly now but I didn't want to feel like a copy cat, even though they are my photographs and of course will not end up looking like Sally Tharp's compositions I still worried.  It always brings me back the topic brought up in my senior design class in college, "Is there an original thought?"

Steven and Sam and some fish:)

This tank was in the gift shop of the aquarium, it was pretty spectacular, there are blown glass elements suspended and of course fish.

We made it through the aquarium which is impressive to say the least, super crowded, but impressive. 

And of course we visited the Atlanta High Museum of art.  It's always inspirational.  Here are a few of my favorite paintings

Left "The Blue Mandarin Coat" By Joseph DeCamp not sure the name of the other 2, I was using my voice memo function to capture names and guess I didn't hit record, oh well.

Red Blue chair by Gerrit Rietveld, Marshmallow Settee by George Nelson, Diamond Chair by Harry Bartoia

Above are classic furniture pieces which I had to include because of my absolute love of great design and funky chairs:)

Hope you have a great week, I'll post again on Friday.

Carrie

Friends (original watercolor on paper)

Hi Everyone,

"Friends" original watercolor on paper 10 x 5.5 Buy Now

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 29th birthday, again:)  Between my Mom's birthday, my son's birthday and mine we pretty much have a month long celebration since they are all pretty close together.  We were fortunate this year to have my Mom visit for her birthday so our house ended up being a cakeapalooza, we had 3 cakes in the span of 3 weeks.  So on my actual birthday we went out for a quiet dinner with friends.  We had a lovely time and our friends brought me a pretty little bouquet with flowers from their garden.  Truly the perfect gift for a still life painter.  I warned them that it would show up as a painting.

Jeff got his painting framed and shared a photo with me so I'm sharing it with you:)

Sam's artwork

Steven and Sam's collaboration

Steven and Sam have both been dabbling in the arts this week.  I love to watch Sam my youngest guy (2yrs) he switches from drawing with his left hand to his right hand.  They even collaborated on a piece this week.  They are really great brothers and love each other.

Last week I said I would post about our trip to Atlanta.  I will do so this week.  It seems like every time we go out of town it takes me a week to re-cooperate, get the house back in shape and get us all back in a routine.

Have a great week and I'll see you Wednesday:)

Carrie

Shoo Shoo Baby vintage airplane

"Shoo Shoo Baby"  10 x 13.5 original watercolor on paper NFS

 Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend.  We took a mini vacation to Atlanta and visited the Georgia Aquarium the Atlanta's High Museum of Art and the Mason Murer Art Gallery.  I'll post pics on Wednesdays entry.  There was something for everyone:) 

My painting this week was a retirement gift for a friend finishing up his Air Force career and moving on to a new career in the civilian world.  Jeff's favorite airplane is the Shoo Shoo Baby which is a B17 airplane from WWII.  As I said in my last post I had the privilege to visit this plane often because it resides in the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  We lived at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base prior to our current assignment.  If you ever have the chance to visit it is really amazing. 

Jeff spent 26 years of his life in the Air Force and he said he loved it as much on his last day as he did on his first day of work.  How many people can say that.  26 years of service before self is quite the accomplishment.  I am proud to call him a friend and wish him the best as he starts the newest chapter of his life.

Carrie