Updates and musings on fiber art, bead embroidery, sketching and painting by Rachel Murphree
I have researched part sun and shade plants for my back garden because the trees around it have grown too big. Last summer I hardly went outside so there is a lot of work to do this year. It looks a bit sparse now but it will fill in with time.
I have planted yellow and green striped liriope, plumbago, day lilies, mint, and a ruffled echeveria which is to die for. There are mexican petunias and torch something and lantana from before.
So i worked on this bouquet two more times, once w soft wet in wet wash laid down first, the second without. Not sure what i think do i am setting them aside until tomorrow.
Today J did the Braden Aboud 5k race and she ran the whole way! She did great. 9.5 min miles.
She got a fortune cookie whose innards spoke to me and got me painting again.
It said: Do not give up. The beginning is always the hardest part.
When i have been away from painting i will do anything, even cleaning, LOL, to put it off! So hopefully this is another of many bad paintings in order to get better at it.
Arent these blooms amazing? This is from the front yard of a house in my neighborhood. I don’t know what species it is, but note it is in partial shade. Does anyone have a guess? Yesterday i had a lovely driving tour of gardens i like w jean, and it was the only day for these funnel shaped blooms. Perfect timing!
I have been walking mostly twice daily for a week now and it has made me feel so good!
The picture says it all.
It’s been quite chilly here this past week and looks to continue for a few days. Our little dog doesn’t want to stay out long at the dog park, so figuring she needed a sweater, I went to the store. Nothing seemed warm enough, nothing in wool, and frankly the stock was depleted. not knowing if she would tolerate one on, I decided why not? There’s a patriots game on, and I can do some knitting. I found a french press cover that I’d made early on in my knitting life (not that I’m too far along now but still) and it was too big so I put it away. I got it out, it fit around her body perfectly, so I picked up stitches in the middle of the one side, knitted up to make the top back portion and made a tab to go around her head. 2 1/2 hours later she was sporting a new sweater! and she likes it, she really likes it! I’m thrilled. it was fun making up my own pattern, I took notes as I went, just to keep track of what I did. so here are pics of our little Tulie girl styling….
You can see how my tension has improved, not so loose a knitter any more, and the part I added, I did in continental which I’m trying to get as comfortable with as american. When I “throw” the yarn too much, I can feel my shoulder isn’t happy with all that extra movement.
So this is how my art day went yesterday (with the exception of starting to knit fingerless mitts). I thought, ok, I’ll paint a shell. Got out one from my nature box to sketch and it was WAY harder than i thought it would be. I got lost in the ribs of the shell, the perspective, differentiating the actual colors of the shell from the shadows created by the side lighting, etc. I was going to give up. But then I thought, no keep trying. start again, it WILL get easier. And in time, it did!!
So this is sketch one…it’s a bit taller and rounder than the shell is in real life, but I thought it was decent.
Then I tried it again and you can see, I think, that this one is a looser better sketch. More vibrant.
I thought, Ok, you’re done. Don’t press your luck. Sketching is as important as painting, more so, to fully understand the subject before being able to paint it.
Then I had another stiff talking to and told myself, it’s ONLY paper and pigment. What harm can it do?
So this is the in progress painting it’s on Aquarius II 80 lb paper, on a pad, 15×22 so it’s much larger than the 6″ sketchbook the sketches were in.
Even if it goes nowhere other than this stage (but it will), I LOVE the wet in wet deep color blending of the triangular shape at the peak of the shell. Just watching that move and richly settle into the paper was glorious.
The blue of the shadows is not as vibrant as the photo. Same palette: ultramarine, alizaron crimson, winsor lemon. I had purchased paper awhile ago, various kinds and weights, and so I’m starting to learn what I like and don’t like. I”m definitely leaning toward Arches cold pressed.
Glazing to knock back the background and bring out the leaf more. I’m leaving this for now and on to shells for the white challenge on Watercolor Workshop yahoo group.
Pattern from Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/rcbeads/cloche-divine-2
Knitted cloche with free pattern from Ravelry. A bit of a stretch for me and my abilities, but I finished it! didn’t tack the front brim down, but I did the back edges of the brim. Mattress stitch is easy. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/rcbeads/cloche-divine-2
Recent Comments