This is a work in progress, a little painting I have been working on. It is based on my memories of the beautiful view of the river in Porto and the Arrabida bridge. Recent changes include extending the line of the water beyond the bridge, lightening the color of the bridge, and adding detail to the houses and the roads that run along the riverbanks.
This week I did some more work on this portrait that I am painting for my friends. I am starting to focus on the details of the face, trying to catch a likeness. I also added more light to the face. I know I still have a lot of changes left to make. . .but this is how the portrait looks today.
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Today I have been looking at pictures of my Dad in my Mom's old album, where she kept photos he sent home from overseas during World War II. I found a snapshot that I especially liked of my Dad in London, with St. Paul's in the background. But the photo needed a little help. So tonight I scanned the image into the computer. The image was tilted, so I rotated and cropped it to straighten it out, and improve the composition.Then I adjusted the contrast for the sake of the patterns of dark and light. Then I opened the image in Painter IX to do some clean-up. I had to remove some black marks and scratches, so I used digital bleach, scratch remover, and even some cut and paste. It's not really just about the photo, although I am glad that I could fix it up. It was nice to spend time on this today, and it made me smile to think of my Dad in London. He went to Picadilly Circus, and Saint Paul's, just like I did. He tried out the red phone booths and the pubs. I wonder, did he ride the double-decker bus? I hope so, and I hope he liked it as much as I did!
This image began as a photo taken with my cameraphone during an evening walk. I like the way the trees looked in the light of the setting sun. Tonight I cropped the image, and then used Painter IX to posterize the colors.
This is the fourth and I think final version of this painting. I had not worked on it for a few days, but that didn't keep me from thinking about it. I decided that I wanted the mountain in the foreground to be a stronger color. I was thinking about brown, but once I started mixing colors, I decided on the color you see here. I love to see the Colorado mountains turn pink at sunrise and sunset. I also made the sun a brighter pink, so it would show up against the bright blue sky.
On a recent walk, I used my phonecam to take this photo. I love rose of Sharon. I especially like the blossoms in this color, the same color that was growing in my yard when we lived in Lawrence, Kansas. Tonight I cropped the image to focus on the blossoms against the blue sky.
I only had a short time to spend at Red Brick today. I was taking some collage materials over there anyway, so I decided to make an image with pasted paper. I started with a strip of painted paper trimmed from a painting, and began to make a design based on geometric shapes. I decided to start making flowers, using the green paper for stems and leaves, and then I added two different shades of pink paper. This is what my little paper bouquet looks like so far. . .
This is a work in progress. Yesterday I had a chance to work some more on this little painting. The bridge in the painting is supposed to be the "Ponto de Arrabido" (Arrabido Bridge) in Porto. This is a view I have seen often during my visits to Portugal, and I began painting this scene from memory. Yesterday I modified the shape of the hillside, and added more houses on the hills.
I worked a little bit more on this painting today, adding more red and orange colors to the Colorado mountains. I also lightened the sun, added pink highlights to the mountains, and used a pink wash to suggest clouds in the sky. But the sky is still blue. . . .
Here is the painting of the Colorado mountains I have been working on. This is the painting looked on the second day, after I added some transparent washes of color. (The mountains really can look pink at sunrise and sunset.) But I left the sky alone. (Please don't tell me that it is too blue.)
Here is another work in progress, a painting that I started last week at Red Brick. I have been painting a lot of mountain images since I got back from my recent trip to my home state. This one is acrylic used as watermedia paint, and I was painting from memory and imagination. The blue of the sky is intense, but the sky can look turquoise in Colorado sometimes, especially when you are very happy to be there.
This is a portrait I am painting for my friends. Over the past few days, I have had a chance to do a little bit of work on it. I am still working on basic issues: the shape of the face, the placement of the features, and the basic composition. Right now, those factors are more important than the details of the face, which will come later. I am working in thin layers of paint so I can make corrections as I go.
This piece of digital art began as a photo of a single pink and white rose, taken last year with my old cell phone camera, which had a nice soft focus. Tonight, I decided to use Painter IX's tools to create a pattern from the photo. Then I used the pattern pen tool to make the roses twirl across the page. It looks like quite a celebration!
This is a work in progress, a painting at the very beginning stages. When I visit Porto, I love to see the beautiful views of the bridge over the river and the red-tiled roof on the hillsides. So the other day, at Red Brick, I started this funny little painting, working from memory and imagination. So far, It is only a very rough sketch, but it was fun to get it started, and it brought back many nice memories of my visits to Portugal.
Yesterday I was loading photos into my computer, and this one was among them. I used my phonecam to take this picture during a recent excursion to Long Hill Gardens here in Beverly. We were walking the dogs, and I saw this beautiful tall tree. I liked the pattern of the vines against the tree trunk. Later, I cropped the photo to get the composition the way I wanted it.
I love crab apple trees. I love them when they are in bloom, but they are also beautiful when the crab apples turn bright colors. Here is a picture that I took last week and cropped tonight to show the little crab apples on the branches.
This is the painting I have been working on at Red Brick Studios. This is an acrylic/watermedia painting of the Colorado mountains. This is how it looked on Day 3 when I was finished. I started by adding a wash of gray to the sky, trying to get the soft colors of the thunderstorm. Then I added blue and gray to the bottom half of the painting, trying to suggest a lake. I added some strong pink to the bottom of the picture to suggest grasses at the edge of the water, and then outlined the mountains with some pink, working with a dry brush, with the intention of making the colors more intense. The result is not a realistic image of the Colorado mountains in a thunderstorm, but that is what happens when I paint from my imagination and memory. Still, these are colors I associate with Colorado, and there is something here of the feeling of seeing the Rocky Mountains in a rainstorm. I can never be sure that a painting is finished, but I am content with this one as it is.
This is my painting of the mountains as it looked on Day 2. I added some color to the sky to begin to make it darker, and put a brown wash over the mountains, to cut the sweetness of the colors just a bit. Then I put some brown in the foreground too. I wasn't very happy with the painting at this point but it was time to go, so I took a picture of it anyway. It actually helps me to I leave a project unfinished for the next day, so when I it is time to paint again, I can just pick up the brush and start right away.
Over the past few days, I have been working on a painting of the Colorado mountains. Last week while I was in Colorado Springs, you could see that it was raining in the mountains, and the colors were great. That is what was on my mind when I began to paint. (Although I did take photographs that day in Colorado, I am working from memory and imagination, with only a very general image in mind.) I have been painting in the studio at Red Brick, trying to get there as often as possible. My schedule is crazy this week and I could only spend an hour each day on this, but I try not to let that stop me. Anyway, I took a photo of the painting each day. This is how the painting looked on Day 1.
This image began as a photo that I took during one of my trips to Portugal. I love the narrow streets of Porto, especially in the Foz. I took the photo on an overcast day, and the colors were muted. Tonight I decided to brighten them up, using Painter IX's digital pastel, tinting the sky with some blue and intensifying the colors of the buildings. Then I used some special effects to kick the saturation up still further. Under cloudy or sunny skies, I love being in Portugal
This day was full of stresses and worries. And then there was the news. Are the skies friendly or not? This question matters to me because I count on air travel to help me connect with people I love who are far away. . . .After dinner, at the end of a day full of tasks to do, there was just one more errand, so I went outside to put something in the trash. On my way out the door, I looked up at the sky and saw the most amazing pink and purple clouds behind the trees. I suddenly felt much better and I took a quick picture with my phonecam. It took less than a minute to walk back to the alley with the trash, but when I came back, the clouds were already gone. But the sense of peace and comfort did not vanish with those evening clouds.
I started this collage yesterday at Red Brick Studios, my new place to make art! I finished it this morning before breakfast. I made it with torn paper, magic marker, and acrylic paint. The image is from memory and imagination, influenced by my trip to Colorado last weekend. This week, my schedule is crazy because I am catching up after my trip, so I can only spend an hour or so at Red Brick each day. But it is wonderful to be able to just walk in and start painting. I am posting this because it is the very first piece of art I made at Red Brick Studios. I think I am going to like it there.
My first trip to Portugal was in October, several years ago, and Mauro surprised me with a road trip to Vigo, Spain. On the way, we passed many beautiful little farms as we drove through the mountains. I took as many pictures as I could along the way. This image is from a photograph that was alright, but needed a little help. The photo looked washed out, probably because of the bright sunshine in Portugal. So tonight I cropped the image to improve the composition, and adjusted the saturation and contrast to bring out the colors and patterns in the landscape of Portugal.
I spent the past few days in Colorado, visiting friends and family, and attending my high school reunion. On my first morning in Denver, I took a walk around Sloan's Lake. The colors were great in the morning light, so I took this picture with my camera phone. Tonight I cropped the image to improve the composition.
A few months ago, I mailed this portrait to my friends. But there was a problem with a shadow near the jaw that was too dark. So after I mailed it, I made an adjustment to the digital image, softening a shadow near the jaw. Today I am visiting my friends, and had a chance to make changes to the original version. It was fun to see my friends and work on the portrait again.
If you give me a blank piece of paper (or a blank computer screen), it is likely that I will begin to draw mountains. Here is a quick sketch of mountains that I made with Painter IX's digital pastel today. Mountains make me feel at home. This sketch is from my imagination, and these mountains could really be anywhere. I love the mountains of Portugal, and the mountains that I saw in Brazil were beautiful too. The mountains of Scotland are fantastic, and there are some amazing cliffs in Ireland and Northern Ireland. And there are beautiful mountain vistas in New Hampshire and Vermont. But the Rocky Mountains are where I grew up. I feel at home when I see mountains because I grew up looking at them every day, and this drawing looks most like the scenery in the foothills of the the front range in Colorado.
It has been unbelievably hot and humid here! Air conditioning helps, but I get cabin fever staying inside. Late this afternoon, it started to cool off just a bit, so I went outside to sit for a few minutes. I saw this vine on the fence, with its tendrils curling every which way. I thought, "My hair does the same thing in this weather," and that made me laugh. I took a picture with my phonecam, and tonight I cropped the image to highlight the patterns of the leaves and the contrasting shades of green.
I met Heather at Red Brick Studios today, and while I was waiting for her, I noticed these flowers against the red brick wall, so I took this picture with my cameraphone. Tonight I cropped the image and adjusted the color a bit.
