Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 27, 2023)

Here is my painting as it looks today.  I have been working on the background color and am finally pretty happy with it. That was quite a struggle over the past few days I would love to say that this is finished, but can only say that it is very close.  This is the basic painting. I don't plan to make any major changes.  But I can see areas that need to be fixed, little lines gone awry, etc. You might not even notice some of them on screen. Although the changes are tiny, they make a difference in the aggregate.  So I will continue to make those changes as I prepare this painting for mailing out. I plan to post one last time, with changes made, before I send it to my long-lost friend Marcia.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 25, 2023)

Here is my current project as it looks now, January 25th.  Recent work includes modifying the shapes of a few leaves, repainting the leaves against the wall, making them darker for more contrast, and working on light and shadow on the wall.  I think this last needs a bit more work, but apart from that, this is getting very close to completion.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 22, 2023)

Here is my current project as it looked yesterday.  Using my photo reference, I added a few additional blossoms.  I also tried to suggest places were the sunlight has broken through the foliage.  I am still working to fix miscellaneous small problems, any bothersome stems or leaves out of place.  But I think this is almost finished. . . NOTE: I didn't change the background color, but this was photographed in daylight while other versions were photographed at night under artificial light.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 21, 2023)

Here is my painting as of January 21st.  I spent some time trying to smooth out the colors on the wall. I am still refining the foliage, adding a few leaves, and darkening the leaves that are against the wall.  These are the kind of small changes that I make as I am finishing a painting. But in addition to making corrections, I am looking hard at the reference photo, trying to capture the play of light and shadow.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 20, 2023)

I was only able to work on this painting for a short time today, but I continued adding areas of light and shadow to the adobe wall, using my photo reference as a guide. This is getting close to finished, but there is still work to do (smoothing out colors, sharpening details, fixing mistakes). To be continued. . . 

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 19, 2023)

Here is my painting-in-progress as it looked on January 19th (yesterday).  I am still working on details of leaves and blossoms, but also trying to add light and shadow to the wall itself, using my reference photo as a guide.  

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 18, 2023)

Here is my current project as it looks now. Today I added some shadows to the foliage, refined some of the leaves, and began adding some shadows to the wall.  I think this is on the way to being done. . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 15, 2023)

Here is my current painting as of January 15th.  I have been working on the shadows within the foliage. Using my reference photo as I guide, I have been painting in shadows within the foliage, using dark blue and purple.  I have been reworking some of the leaf shapes as I go. To be conitinued. . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 12, 2023)

Here is my current painting as it looked when I finished painting yesterday, January 12th.  I worked on the leaves that lost some definition when I modified the color of the wall behind them.  I also started to define the stems. To be continued. . . 

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 11, 2023)

Here is my current project as  of January 11th.  I lightened the background and now the color is close to what I want, the dusky pink of an adobe wall.  It was time to do this so there would be more color contrast with the blossoms.  I did like the bright color, however inaccurate, but I think a hint of the bright red-orange will still peek through.  After I repainted the background, I started to work on the blossoms, using  white and pale yellow for highlights, and a yellow-orange for shadows.  Now I feel like I am getting somewhere. . .To be continued. . . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 10, 2023)

This is my current project as it looks right now.  It is time to work on the blossoms, but I decided that I had to adjust the background color first. My eventual goal is fo the final color to be a dusty adobe pink. More immediately, I knew that I might be using orange tones to shade those blossoms, and if I kept the background as it was, I wouldn't be able to see what I was doing. So I added some washes with purple and brown tones to the background. This is not the final color but it is closer than it was.  Then I used some yellow and white to add highlights to the blossoms.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of January 8, 2023)

Here is my current project as it looked on January 8th.  I continued to work on the leaves, concentrating on those that are in the shadows. I am just about done with that task, at least for now.  Next up: blossoms.  NOTE: these are not the final colors. To be continued. . .

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs) at Galatea

This is my mixed media landscape, "Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs)". Yesterday we went to Galatea Fine Art in Boston and I finally had a chance to see my painting on the wall in the Artist Alcove Show, "Light of Day".  I liked the way it looked on the wall, so I took a picture.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Jan. 6, 2023)

Here is the painting I am working on, as of January 6, 2023.  I have been concentrating on refining the foliage, this time working mostly in the upper left corner.  To be continued. . . 

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Jan. 5, 2023)

Here is my current painting as of January 5th, 2023.  I am continuing to refine the lines and shapes of the leaves, and adding foliage to the areas deeper in the shadows.  These are not the final colors. To be continued. . . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Jan. 4, 2023)

Tonight I finally had a chance to do a little work on this painting. I am still refining shapes, and at this point, concentrating on branches and leaves that are in the shadows. To be continued. . . 

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Jan. 3, 2023)

I worked on this painting again today. I continued refining the leaves, looking at my photo reference, and working on the "top layer" of branches.  To be continued. . . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Jan. 2, 2023)

Here is my current project as it looks now. Today I kept going with refining the leaves that are against the wall.  To be continued. . . .

Wishes for a Bright Year Ahead (digital drawing)

Yesterday's post was a little animation that I made on my iPad with the Procreate app, which captures a video replay as you draw.  This drawing is the final frame of the video, cleaned up a bit on my computer with Painter. I am sending this out to everyone with wishes for a bright year ahead