Paper and Threads

We cleared our apartment of desserts and sweets after Thanksgiving, so I brought home a candy from the candy dish in our Department office.  I am struggling to learn more about painting reflections and thought that the cellophane wrapper would be a huge challenge.  Fortunately, no one can see how poorly I achieved the desired effect in this scan.  I brought home a second piece yesterday and tried Jana's Mask-it trick, but that wasn't any better. 

I leave in an hour for a 6 day business trip without my laptop, and now realize how much I enjoy my daily review of the EDM group site.  I'll have lots to catch up with when I return.

Posted by Shirley at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last Sunday I explored Bryant Park, the space behind the New York Public Library.  A free skating rink and 100 artisan Christmas shops were set up in the park and Christmas decorations were everywhere.  The sky was clear and the late afternoon sun was on the Empire State building and the Chrysler Building.  I sketched and painted both of them, and tonight collaged the wreath that I painted last week on both buildings.  However, I'm not proficient enough in Photoshop to do it digitally, so I cut out the wreath, used restickable glue (like post-it notes) and put the wreath on each building before scanning.

Our family Christmas card each year is a Manhattan holiday design - next year I might be able to make my own. 

Posted by Shirley at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

In September I posted my first non-sketchbook watercolor painting - my son and daughter-in-law's new house in Washington DC.  When I was talking to my son on Thanksgiving, he said they would love to use the painting for their Christmas cards but wanted it to have a wreath on the door and candles in the window.  I am madly trying to finish baby quilts, ornaments, and other family gifts before we leave for London for the holidays so I told him another painting was not possible. 

So yesterday morning I looked at some images, and created this sketch:

And by dinnertime, and through the magic of Photoshop, my son had created this:

He even had to do some color adjustment on the plants and tree to turn summer into late autumn.  I am so delighted that this worked so easily and even more thrilled that my watercolor painting of their very first house will be their Christmas card this year.   

Posted by Shirley at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I brought my sketchbook, waterbrush, and travel set of watercolor paints to a Med School Retreat last week and sat in the last row at an end seat so I could doodle during the proceedings.  I sketched the keynote speaker and then painted the sketch without the person sitting next to me even realizing.  Then I turned over the program and sketched the panel discussion and moderator in ball point pen - to try to practice figures.  In the spirit of playing with art, I decided to cut out and collage my figure doodles with the painting.  Definitely an unplanned composition!  Again, I think I'm so tired after a 2 day Thanksgiving event in our apt. that I forgot to crop the scan before posting it!  It is definitely in my Moleskine large size journal!

Posted by Shirley at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am really, really bad at painting reflections in glass and metal.  So I actually drew spoons for 2 days to try to improve my skills.  In reality, I would need to paint reflections every day for an entire year to understand what I am doing.  As I type this I realize that I never even cropped the second sketch so it is very obvious that I am using the Moleskine watercolor journal now for my daily practice.  I am able to use both sides of each page using watercolor, so I am enjoying the process and results as I flip through my visual record of the recent weeks.

Posted by Shirley at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)