Across the Street

This is a clearer picture of the sketch I originally posted

Drawing Lecia

Drawing Lecia - slideshow maker

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I finally had enough success drawing/'painting my wife Lecia that I am able to post this. (of course this refers to my most recent attempts.  I have actually drawn and painted her before). The first attempt was done weeks ago and is shown in the first slide.  The second attempt at a watercolor is actually in my last slideshow post.  So earlier this week I broke down and did a drawing of one of my favorite photos.  Unfortunately it's not  the candid picture I was looking for in a piece.

A little more work to do on this one.

Woodstock Park Series

Tuesday:I'm not done with this one yet, but I think I need to put it away for a few days so I can figure out where I want to go with it.  When I started it, I had the intention of cropping the painting to make it work, but I think that lack of focus hurt me when I went to paint it.  More about this later....
And it is later: Wed.   So after looking at the painting I knew that I liked the sky, but wasn't sure about the building (school) on the left.  Then something struck me.  I think this painting would really work if more of the sky was featured in the top half.  Too much foreground and not enough back ground. In fact, the more I look at it, the more I realize the sky could have really brought this to life.  Lesson noted

The preview in this link for Daniel Gerhartz got me going. Unfortunately downpours and painting usually don't mix. (without a very strong umbrella)

I seemed to have managed only one successful painting of my wife Lecia in over 2 years.  I feel the need to make more of an effort.  I've tried twice in the last two to three weeks with no success.  I did this one about two months after I started painting again, and although it isn't very detailed, I was pretty satisfied with the likeness.

My Saturday: A slideshow

I attempted to fix the slideshow so that it wouldn't start every time you visit here or click on a link.  Now the music is muted, so you have to hit the mute button to hear the music.  Unfortunately this means that the music does not sync with the slides.   But Im working on this as well.  (What did I expect for free)

My Saturday - slideshows

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My Saturday - slideshows

An additional comment about the slideshow.  I stopped taking pictures when I realized the first painting was not going to work.  So I started on a new sheet of paper for the abstract.  I was almost done with that when I realized I should incorporate both into the slideshow.  The magic of editing or lack thereof.  Both were done Saturday morning.  But I was up at 3 and started at 5AM.

Artist Gary Everest

"Photo op" with Artist Gary Everest

Gary Everest and I have been talking about meeting up for months now.  It dawned on me that if I actually committed to setting a date, it  probably would happen.  I've admired Gary's portraits since I found him on Blogger last year.  If I remember correctly, I found his blog through our mutual  friend RH Carpenter, who seems to have the ability to bring many people together with her informative blog. Essentially I went to Kentucky to find an artist 15 minutes away.

I was trying to find an artist online to show Gary.  Looks like I'm dozing off here. 

Detail of one of Gary's   paintings.  I cut myself out of it, so my shoulder is visible in lower left corner.

   I was up at 3 Am this morning determined to knock out a painting.  So when I met up with Gary at about 11:30, I  was looking pretty haggard.  His work is more impressive up close, where you can see his meticulous attention to detail.  Like myself, Gary will work and re work his paintings to get them right.  Neither of us have the ability to just knock out a quick little piece at will.  He does a great job of measuring the correct dimensions and checking to make sure they are accurate.  This explains why his subjects are so recognizable.  One of the most gratifying things about blogging is sharing thoughts and ideas with other like-minded artists like my friend Gary.   
As for that painting I was going to knock out this morning.  I will have to address that topic later.  Suffice it to say it did not turn out as planned, but I did get something painted.

Never Give up...know when quit and learn from it.

At this point, I knew I was in trouble, but thought there were some possibilities

 In between removing and adding layers....A muddy mess at this point, so how much more damage can be done...should I give up or see if I can do some sort of magic here...I think it's move on time.  But I hate failures like this. 

I seriously considered avoiding the embarrassment of this disaster by just throwing this one away.  Especially after visiting some of the websites of the most accomplished artists, who are beyond making the many mistakes I made in this one.  In fact, my mood might change and I could decide to remove this post.  So if you are one of the lucky (or unlucky, depending on how this makes you feel), this might be the shortest lived post I've ever done.
The reason I decided this morning to post, is because one can always learn from mistakes, disasters, failures.  This one started out with a light Gouache wash on Bristol Plate. That would allow me to work it without killing the  paper.   Unfortunately it was too much white, and the mud began to show early.  Nonetheless, I tried to move thru, thinking something good might emerge. In the top photo, things were starting to look okay, but it bothered me how dull, yet busy it looked.  I scrubbed off all those little hilites and confusing shapes in the background, but that  revealed all the flaws in the subject...it doesn't help that my enthusiasm for painting flowers is minimal at best.  I hated the flower shape and tried to give it some sort of believability.
It has not even come close to that.

I am now at the point where I will have to decide whether or not to scrub the mission.

Yes it can be done...This is the successful flower I did last year..Please Read RH's comment and my reply  below