Surprise Image in my Painting

Bird of Paradise
© Barbara Parish, watercolor 11"x15"

Every once in a while I am surprised by an unplanned image that appears in my painting.
Can you see it?

My first thought, paint over or wipe out the image.  I know the image is distracting and not part of the plan, but I am fascinated by this ghostlike creature intently looking at the Bird of Paradise.

In this painting I use several painting techniques, positive and negative, glazing, and mingling and merging of color.

Tomorrow, I'll be on location in the High Desert of Hesperia painting the Joshua Tree Blooms.

Artist to Artist

Meet Judy Stoh, book illustrator and aspiring watercolor artist.  

Judy illustrated a children's book titled "Roger Meets Sam".  

Daughter, Emily Stoh is the author. 

I bought Roger Meets Sam for my Great Grandson Liam, 9 months old.  

Written by: Judy Stoh

I had dabbled in drawing and painting most of my life.  In high school I took art classes in summer school.  I had one year of industrial drawing.  However my focus in my education for a profession was foreign languages.

When my two daughters, Debbie and Emily, were young, I volunteered to help in vacation Bible school. I usually helped as the arts and craft teacher.  When I became a teacher in the public schools, I worked 20 years in Kindergarten teaching Spanish-speaking English language learners. I occasionally used drawing to convey the meaning of words that I didn’t know in Spanish. I also trained my students to draw simple pictures and to mix the basic colors.

I painted as a hobby now and then.  I usually painted in oil on canvas or canvas board.  I studied from television and tapes to build skill.  I either hanged them in my home or gave them to friends and family as gifts.  I also work a little with clay and sculpture.

In April of 2008, I was just about to retire from teaching. My daughter Emily, who had been studying creative writing, asked me to illustrate a children’s book that she had written. With my experience in teaching young children, I knew the story was an excellent story. I set to work immediately on the sketches for the book. When they were done, I stopped.  I realized that if I wanted to paint them in watercolor, I would need to improve my skills.

Charge!
© Judy Stoh 15"x11" Watercolor

In August I joined the Hemet Valley Art association.  I signed up for a watercolor class with Barbara Parish.  Along with the class projects, also worked on painting the illustrations for the book.  It was completed in early October of 2009.  Jim Watters helped me with my questions on how to photograph and digitally edit the photos of the artwork. The book was published in November as Roger Meets Sam by Emily Stoh Illustrated by Judy Stoh.  It is available on-line at Amazon.com and Barnes &Noble.com

Hummer
© Judy Stoh 11"x15" Watercolor

To contact Judy leave a comment.

Searching for Spring 2013

Joshua Bloom

The Joshua Bloom nestled in
protective spines.

Searching for Spring in the High Desert of Hesperia 2013

I came across the Joshua Bloom with its tight creamy colored textured flowerets protected by spine like leaves.

OK! This is my painting challenge for Monday.  I'll go back on location to paint this bloom.  mmm, I might post a step by step along with the finished painting. Yes?

Artist to Artist

Hello Painters,
This month I have the pleasure of introducing a fellow artist working with Encaustic Paints and completing her MFA at Claremont Graduate University.  Busy and focused!

Suzanne Gibbs, Artist

                                         

© Suzanne Gibbs 2013

I am currently doing all of my painting in encaustic paints while completing my MFA at Claremont Graduate University. I was one of those kids that continually played with the melting wax of candles on my mother's beautifully set table, much to her dismay. I also was the first to build a fire on every camping trip I've been on, ask my husband! Encaustic is a form of painting using pigments suspended in wax. I work with encaustic paint in the molten state, fuse it to the substrate with fire and let it harden to a translucent finish. I make art using basic motifs of patterning like dots, lines, circles and squares and continually try to finish a work on the edge of structured and disordered. Each unplanned happy accident sets the stage for my next exploration. 

© Suzanne Gibbs, Encaustic

© Suzanne Gibbs, Encaustic

                                          

Suzanne Gibbs, Artist     

707-738-5886 

SuzanneGibbs.com 

Join Suzanne's Blog 

High Desert in Bloom

This time of year the desert comes alive with intense color and new growth.  The Joshua Trees will bloom soon with a huge ball of off white artichoke shape floweret.  The brush, in a variety of sizes, comes alive with a  carpet of yellow flowers cascading to the ground. The twelve inch purple nubs trying to be noticed along a pathway of ruts and stones.  I find it interesting how nature will team yellow flowers with its complement of purple nubs.  Even the sizes are varied to excite the eye. Nature!

My on location painting gear is ready, soon I will take the soft top off my Jeep.  Oops! I might be rushing this a little.  March will bless us with rain.  Okay, I won't take the top off the Jeep yet!

I use a view finder in gray color to locate my next visual story.  The gray color is #5 middle value.  This helps me with painting light or dark values.  On location with the sun and glare, I find I can't tell with accuracy the values of how light or how dark to paint.  Looking through the gray view finder I can SEE the values by comparing lighter than #5 or darker than #5.

Have you used a view finder?
Leave a comment.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year 2013!

How fortunate we are to have another new year to practice our passion with watercolor.
I would like to hear from you about what is happening in your art world for 2013. 
This year, look forward to video and interviews with working artists and authors.  How fun!

Mondays, I will paint on location with a group of dedicated painters, aspiring to raise their painting skills and exhibit.  You know what to do if interested, right?

Friday Painters Watercolor Class will start a whole new year on January 4th.  The class painters are all skill levels.  I hope to show their paintings and interview them about desires and goals.  This will encourage you to "pick up a brush and paint".

New Years Day, my favorite day to schedule "what's happening in my art world in 2013".  In January I will post the monthly on-location Watercolor Workshop dates/places, on-line monthly class "The Flow of Watercolor", and my Demonstration/Lecture dates and places.  Join me?

This year, I will offer my paintings for sale through my website and monthly exhibitions.  I plan to make a video each month, giving you insight into my painting process.   Also, on video I'll feature my working studio in Hesperia and Hemet.

Join me, let's travel together to enjoy this adventure in painting.
Barbara

Artist to Artist

Succulent!

When I hear the word succulent I think like a painter. In my mind I visualize the color intensity of a luminous blossom.  I take it one step further by attaching a dangerous prickly body of the mother plant.  Playing with the contrast of a delicate lovely flower and gnarly prickly mother plant adds visual excitement to my composition. Out comes the sketchbook!