Challenge # 14 - November 22 - December 31, 2011

A Gal Named Sam wrote

on 26 Dec 2011 4:43 PM

Joyce, it sounds like you are a busy lady.  Very pretty pink poinsettia.  You got the flower center in a sweet spot.  Nice work!

sandichot wrote

on 26 Dec 2011 6:00 PM

Joyce- Very lovely piece. I like that you varied the color and value of the petals. The center is eye catching as a focal point. The leaves are very well done too. Love the soft colors. You should be proud of your talent.

wetpaperfan wrote

on 26 Dec 2011 6:09 PM

Joyce _  your white pointsetta is lovely,  so delicate. 

Joyce Lydia wrote

on 27 Dec 2011 5:35 PM

thanks everyone on the lovely cc's on my pointsetta picture.  This picture took me a long time to do.

wetpaperfan wrote

on 27 Dec 2011 7:46 PM

Well the end of the year is upon us,  I crammed two into one on this one.   Just some quick fun this afternoon for a couple of hours.  The yellowish dot at the top is a flaw in the WC paper.  you don't see it until it appears....  yuck...  when you have lemons make lemonade.   I named it "Never abandoned"  ...  5X7, cranson 140lb cp,  wc pencil and a little ink....

A Gal Named Sam wrote

on 27 Dec 2011 7:57 PM

Marsha, you crammed three into one.  The wreath on the truck makes it a Christmas painting which is part of this month's challenge.  Nice work on the truck.  It does look rusty and abandoned.  Your squirrel is very well done.  Great colors and you captured his bushy tail.  I like the prints of his feet in the snow and his little stash of red berries under the truck.  The snow is nicely done.  The yellow spot could be the sun slipping behind the  hills.  Very nice winter painting.

sandichot wrote

on 27 Dec 2011 8:34 PM

Marsha- What a fun painting! And what an imagination! Nice cranky old car stuck deep in the snow. Meantime, the squirrel walked over and dug up some thing from the ground and posed in front of the car to enjoy its meal. The squirrel looks so cute with its bushy tail. I agree with Sammy that the yellow thing behind the hill could be the sun setting. You could add the sun rays to it.

The wreath in front of the car shows that it has not been abandoned but had been decorated. What a great idea.

A Gal Named Sam wrote

on 28 Dec 2011 6:21 AM

Sandi, you are so right.  An abandoned truck wouldn't have a wreath on it so somebody must care for it.. It took me a while to realize that the squirrel took those berries from the wreath.  Marsha, you took the time to think this story through and created an interesting painting that tells a story.  Good job! 

Marsha, I'm so glad that you joined us.  You have talent and are a promising artist.  I am looking forward to watching your talent develop.

You mentioned getting colored pencils.  You might be interested to know that colored pencil goes over watercolor very well.  I often will use pencil for little details, touch ups or corrections.

A Gal Named Sam wrote

on 28 Dec 2011 9:59 AM

I'm posting Haidyn again to show you the difference that the blue pastel over the black colored pencil made.  It wouldn't take much pastel since the black was so slick.  I think that it softened the painting some.  I used Pan Pastel and pressed it in with my fingers.

I just realized that I could lighten that dark bg considerably with OPs.  I'm not sure that I want to do that though.  Tell me what you think.

8" x 10" on Crescent Illustration board using a variety of colored pencil

sandichot wrote

on 28 Dec 2011 4:15 PM

Sammy- I like this version too. It's a hard choice to make. The pan pastel seems to work well covering the darker BG. I would think it may work better than OP since OP seems to have more texture than both the CP and SP. It might not blend well with the original black. BUT in your deft hand that might not be a problem.

When I compared the two pictures (I have two windows up but not side by side because I still have no idea how to reduce it into half size), it seems her face is more bright and shows more colors. It could be your camera or my monitor. I think I like this version in blue more than black BG. She looks softer to me. IMHO.

wetpaperfan wrote

on 28 Dec 2011 7:00 PM

Thank you Sammy and Sandi so much.  I had been wondering where the squirrel got the red berry in winter so I added the wreath and some berries on the old rusty truck,  this way the squirrel could steal the berries off of the wreath... they are little thieves... tee hee

Sammy I do like the new BG, but then I liked the black one as well,  however I too think is is a softer bg for a little girl.  I kinda looks like she is in front of a dark blue curtain.  nice job. 

I will post the blue urn on the chatter.  I tweaked the truck and squirrel, as well as the colored urn,  but I don't want to hog the airways,

Turp, looking forward to seeing your truck in oil...

Sammy have you tried the Luminance pencils by Caran D'ache?

A Gal Named Sam wrote

on 28 Dec 2011 7:22 PM

Sandi, thank you for commenting on Haidyn's portrait.  I added a little more light peach and pink to the side of her face on our right.  I also darkened a little around her eyes and the hair that borders her face on our right.  Neither pastels nor OPs will mix with the pencils.  The pencils form a firm surface and nothing will penetrate it unless I use solvent to dissolve it..  The blue pastel you see is lying on top of the pencil.  The OPs would do the same thing.  I don't want to use OPs though because it would be difficult to put the stray strands of hair on top of it.

Marsha, thank you for your kind comments.  I purchased a full set of Luminance pencils about two years ago and since I haven't been working with colored pencil, haven't used them much.  I did use them for Haidyn's portrait.  I like them.  The earth tone shades have several values and the light values of yellow ocher, brown ocher, burnt sienna and raw sienna are wonder for portraits.   They are expensive and can be replace in open stock.  One disadvantage is that the pencils are wood with just a little bit of color on the top.  That makes it more difficult to just pick up the color you want.  Also, the name of the color is printed so small that I can't read it.  I would recommend them though if they are within your budget.

Tal2 wrote

on 29 Dec 2011 10:13 PM

Hi,

I read about your Monthly Challenge.  I captured some photo's of this massive ship at our local Port Adelaide in South Australia on a really hot 42 degree day on 1 Jan 2011 and was keen to finish this painting before 2011 ends. I have tried to capture the huge silhouette of the massive ship and the local cement works in the background, by creating a late evening scene to emphasize how I felt. 

'Big Ships at the Port'   - acrylic on canvas - 92cm x 122cm 

Happy New Year and happy painting all!     

Judith from South Australia

http://www.judithklavins.com