Revise

Three Plums, 8x8 oil on board, ©Laura Gable

Revising an older painting that needed a bit of softening of edges, warming and brightening up of colors was what this day's studio effort called for. Just a few brush strokes for this quaint little French plum painting which was originally painted last year.

more fun with sketching

I am still trying to figure out how to do a sketch-sketch, I mean not the painting-like sketch. I was used to painting watercolors before I started sketching, and I find myself filling up the paper with stuff like I did with painting. The only difference for me is that I work much faster and don 't polish my sketches. I will keep on sketching and sooner or later I'll get it right.

Sketching with the Urban Sketchers Today!

Always a great time (tho not nearly this challenging) the Wednesday morning sketching with

the Urban Sketchers at Clearwater West.  

A GIANT perspective study!

Blogging about Sub Arachnoid Hemorrhage and Brain Surgery -correct link

Oops - here's the correct link...

http://ibaritr.blogspot.com/ 

A Little Sketch

Thought this would be easy as I sipped a cup of coffee this afternoon at The Local, and then the perspective got all wonky and drove me nuts.

I am also working on some paintings that are not going so well.  For me I guess I just need to keep plugging away and be happy with getting something done and learning from my messes. 

January 7 - Landscapes

Yup, sometimes a Landscape means a Landscape and I LOVE the art of Landscapes.  I research trees and shrubs and driveway material and screens and windbreaks and walkways.  Today I did not go into the studio but sat at my desk and drew...

Blogging about Sub Arachnoid Hemorrhage and Brain Surgery

I can't seem to direct my energies into the studio and am distracted by the number of things I want to get done.  Two main ones are completing the Yoga Teacher Training hours and homework I missed while in the hospital and getting the story of my experience written before more is forgotten.   

So, that's where I'm giving my attention.  My Art-a-Day will be writing. I will post in a separate blog so as not to clog things up here and let you all know when there are new installations.  

Here's the first...
http://ibaritr.blogspot.com/  (corrected link)

Wallow in the Oils

This day's goal was to wallow in the oil paints and use a limited palette-- using only the paints I have here at home. Well it worked for awhile until I realized that the last dregs of white were not nearly enough. Landscapes need a lot of white!! I do love the blues I was using here -- cobalt teal and another softer King's blue from Rembrandt that my niece recommended. Anyway this one is based on our land here in the shrub-steppe region of eastern Washington. Oh and it was painted from a photograph taken earlier in the first wisps of the Autumn season. I like the composition and may consider it for a larger painting later. BTW this photo was taken with my Canon DSLR camera.

"Sage Lands" 5x7 oil on canvas, ©Laura Gable (taken with Canon DSLR camera)

To continue a discussion we had earlier about the photographs we take, I thought I would include below the iphone photo I took of this same painting. (The one above is still a bit brighter than the original, but both were adjusted in Photoshop). See how the iphone photo doesn't quite represent the nuanced color as well. The bright color is fun though, but not what I'd intended. ;-)

same landscape, photographed with the iPhone. 

PS. Do you like the size of these images? I'm struggling on which is still viewable, yet isn't too ostentatious. Top is sized large, bottom is sized middle.

a neighbor"s house

I love looking at this tree surrounded house, those trees provide different combinations of color for each season. Yesterday around sunrise it was the pinkish southern sky above the house that caught my attention. I sketched right away trying to capture its beauty. The colors changed as I sketched. I began with the sky, then worked my way down. By the time I painted those in front of the house It was already in the bright day light, therefore the color was bright also. I guess this is the big problem with painting plein air.

Plein NO Air with Ashby

Well if you saw a previous post, I was working on a space scape..  It's done. 24 x 30 called "Plein 'NO' Air".  An Earth, an Artist, a Moonscape, a paintbrush that floated away like a 2001 space oddyssey thing what more could you ask for.  :)  Greg Ashby

Ashby: Strange Planet thing

Well this is what I did on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th. I started out with lots of diagonal brush strokes, knowing I wanted to do large planet. But bright colors, psychedelic colors. Then came Saturday and time to make it into a planet, had to actually make it a perfect circle or it would drive me crazy. So.. redrew it , not perfect but will work, then did a dark sky and speckled stars into it. (Yep with a toothbrush) But not sure where to go next.

peeking out

It was a sunny day, and the outdoors seemed very inviting. But, I was still afraid of the cold, so I just tried to capture it through a window.

pomegranate

I enjoy sketching with watercolor because of the supposed fresh-looking result. The type of sketch pad I am currently using, Super Deluxe Bee Paper, does not take water well, and the color on it looked washed out, so I am not too happy. Maybe I should try other media on it.

January 5 Post

Have been working on this for the past 2 days and things seem to move so slowly I figured I wouldn't post yesterday.  Still, I wonder if you can even tell the difference 2 days made (and I should take these photos in daylight so the paper comes out bright white instead of this yellow).  I signed it.  I guess that means I'm done.  Watercolor on 24"x30"Arches 300# hot press.

Icy River Sketchy (Saturday)

Iced River--Columbia River @ the Richland Y.
I loved the melodious movement of the young branches.

The day sunny and the temps warmer than usual, though still not warm enough for this fair-weather artist to paint on an icy Columbia River shoreline near the Richland Y. I always sketch before painting anyway - gives me a better opportunity to work out composition. As you can see by the boxes inside the sketch, the image kept growing and went from vertical to horizontal format. It's a great view of Rattlesnake Mountain, all lavender and shadowed, peeking above the horizon line while the low water in the foreground was still frozen over. The breeze off the icy surface chilled my fingers in fingerless gloves, and I knew my easel would likely rock about so I'm saving painting for another day. 

My day's goal was to "be in the landscape" and so for about 30 minutes, I was. I did paint in the studio afterwards for a bit too. Will post that painting at a later date.

Suribachi - February 23, 1945.

colour attempt

I had to get outside and take advantage of the today's sunshine. This is my attempt at colour. Micron pen, tri colour pencils, and art bars.

Awkward First Date

It's been so long since I've been in my studio it was as though being on a very awkward first date.  If we didn't already have a history there probably wouldn't be a second.

I set out to make a simple silver brooch or pendant that would hold such treasures as one finds on walks but that was clearly too big a commitment for a first date. So instead I spent a stupid (truly) amount of time arranging this bit of sage from yesterday's hike. 


I then touched and fiddled with lots of interesting bits and starts for a good long while then returned them to their little bits-and-starts bins 

and then did same with these been-here-forever earrings I simply need to photograph, card up and get them out there or give away. 

Tomorrow, hopefully, we get past this awkwardness and advance to hand holding.

Goals for the day - absorbed in expression, try new techniques

"Tempest" oil paint and cold wax medium on golden gessoed board, ©Laura Gable 

I've been setting daily goals for my artwork with this Art-a-day challenge. Today's is be expressive and try new techniques. I've been playing with this cold wax medium for a bit and still have a lot to learn but it is fun and forgiving. I've been mixing oil paint with cold-wax medium and then working in layers. The wet or dry layers can be manipulated with scratching tools, and the paint sometimes goes on with knife, spatula or brayer. It gets messy. (Yay for messy. Who likes messy??)

This painting has been in progress for a while - just put some finishing touches on it today. Next time, I will post progress photos since the process is quite interesting. Today I introduced oil pastels for the squiggly strokes (some blended with fingertips), added more white mixed with wax, and scratched through dried color. The bright gold tones peeking through is the base coat of gold gesso. I love gold gesso.

So why cold-wax medium? I had free Gamblin samples, and purchased Dorland's last year. I sometimes use it to coat covers in my book arts projects (hides fingerprints, gives a buttery feel). Unlike Encaustic, it doesn't need heating (and not recommended). Mixing it with oils allows one to work thin layers over thick ... so the traditional "fat over lean" can be ignored. I usually mix 50-50. It can be buffed when totally dry for a waxy look.

Even though this is non-representational I see the suggestions of a landscape back in there, so I chose "Tempest" for the title. I love the word. It's my grandmother's middle name. She was a force to be reckoned with. Thanks for looking!!

Art for January 3, 2014

Here is some new stuff. One picture is of some mugs I just trimmed today. Another picture is of some pots I re-glazed. They were glaze fired but I did not like them so I am re-glazing them. Another picture is of my ball mill. It is milling some wood ash for stoneware glaze. A ball mill fine grinds material so it can pass through an 80 mesh screen. Another picture is of some tiles I am making for a table meant to be done for the ACT Hidden Garden tour in the Spring. The tiles are placed between wooden bats so they will dry flat. The last picture is a painting of Miles Davis. I am struggling with how to finish it but that is the joy of what we do. Tomorrow I will load the kiln and mix some clay and maybe finish Mr. Davis. The painting is made from tempera mixed with acrylic, masonry, additive. Yesterday I bought some linseed oil and Japan Dryer to mix the tempera with oils. This will be fun.