Acrylic Warm Up Exercises

I started out this beautiful sunny morning with some warm up exercises using acrylic alcohol resist techniques and metallic watercolor paint.

The beauty of these is that they can be used as a start for a painting or you can tear them up into interesting shapes and use them as collage material for other paintings. You can also leave them as is and frame them.

Sorry, the photo is a little crooked (not the painting).

Acrylic/Watercolor – 11 x14 inches on Watercolor Paper

“A painting is never finished – it simply stops in interesting places.” – Paul Gardner

Drawing Realistic Eyes

Tips for drawing realistic eyes with Stephanie Valentin.

Tools:

Adobe Photoshop, Tablette graphique – Graphic tablet – Wacom Tablet

Jack Rabbit Moon

Last night I dreamed of a Jack Rabbit sitting in a freshly plowed field.

In the east, a full moon hung over the countryside, and I could see the dark silhouette of trees in the distance as coyotes howled at the moon. The dream was oddly comforting because it reminded me of my childhood in Texas.

I did a few preliminary drawings to attempt to capture the essence of the rabbit and I finally settled on the one below. Now,  I definitely need to work some more on the rabbit and the background. I’ve got miles to go …  But…it’s a start.

Jack Rabbit Moon –  Mixed Media – 11 x 14 inches

“The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.”
– CARL JUNG, The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man

Stones Tell Stories

There are many myths about stones and one of my favorites comes from the Seneca Indian Tribe. It’s about the origin of stories.

A few years ago, our neighbors created a dry stream bed that mimics a natural watercourse and I have often admired these stones on my daily walk.

I love the colors and texture of the stones and I thought I would try to capture this in a painting.

Stones Tell Stories

“I will lift the stone as Mary lifted it for her son, for substance, virtue, and strength; May this stone be in my hand till I reach my journey’s end.” – John Gregorson Campbell

“Have not all nations had their first unity from a mythology that marries them to rock and hill.” W. B Yeats

Quiet Moments

Today I had my yearly retinal scan, during which they dilated my eyes. They gave me a set of plastic glasses to wear while my eyes readjusted.

I then left the doctor’s office and everything was bright and blurry.  My husband laughed when he saw me wearing those big plastic glasses.

I guess I looked pretty weird.  hehe . . .

Quiet Moments – Digital Collage & Photography

I knew painting was out of the question so I decided to create a digital collage using a photo I took of a tea cup.

Afterwards I had a cup of chai tea and a quiet moment to myself.

“Traditionally we are taught, and instinctively we long, to give where it is needed – and immediately.  Eternally; woman spills herself away in driblets to the thirsty, seldom being allowed the time, the quiet, the peace, to let the pitcher fill up to the brim”. – Anne Morrow Lindbergh