Found objects

Happy Paint Party Friday All

and thank you for visiting my site.

This week our local art center class assignment was to bring in "found objects".

We have been working on horizontal composition and so this week we

added decorative bits to our pictures.

Here is my painting with a large bead as the sun, some starfish and some deocrative wire

added to the bottom of the sea.

And then we jump to the desert.

Again, a horizontal composition with bits of copper, milagros and turquoise.

We used gloss medium to adhere the extra bits.

Now I am thinking about the old watches I have from my Mom.

Maybe I could add them to something.

I will have to wait till I have an inspiration

But, if you have one, please share it.

No blooms this week.  We have been hot and humid.  I see lots of buds but no action yet.

I hope the blooms won't rot in all of this moisture.

Thank you for your visit and Happy PPF!

Summer doldrums???

If it is July in Florida

You can be sure it is steamy hot in Florida

I have been painting on the lanai and it has become a labor of love for sure.

If I get outside early, not so bad.

But if I get an idea to try in the afternoon, WHEW it is sweaty out there.

I was rummaging around in my dead painting file and came up with this green
background.  I don't use green very much but was pleased with the outcome.

I also had another Tar Gel project in the works.
I added layers and layers of Tar Gel and then did a light violet wash.

So that is what's happening here this week.
Wishing you all a Happy PPF

This and that

It has been a busy, busy week at work.

And for whatever reason, I have been busy  creating as well.

I remind my self of the pesky mosquitoes that harass us at this time of year.

I flitter from one medium to another, to another.

I dug out one of my old yupo paper pieces that never worked for me.

I cut off what I didn't like and got out my circle stensils.

We have been working on abstracts at our art center.

This is a frame within a frame.
I was thinking about summers in the sea in Italy.

And these are frames.  I am not sure that this is done.  I think I want to 

stamp letters and/or numbers on it.

I will try it on plastic, lay it over the artwork and see if I like it.

A big thankyou to Kristin and Eva for hosting Paint Party Friday!

I look forward to seeing what everyone is doing.

My bloom this week is Hawaiian ginger.

It smells like heaven and will bloom for about 6 weeks.

Happy PPF!

Collage

Good morning friends.

It is summer.  It is REALLY summer in Florida.

Like many of you, we are sweltering in hot, humid heat.

We have had over a foot of rain in the last two weeks.

When it is like this, I turn into a slug.

I can only stay in one spot and that means reading is just about all I do.

I did have a day of making gellie prints...hundreds of them I think.

I was outside on the lanai and I think my sweat made additional texture to the prints.

So now I have to collage.

This was a "failed" abstract so I covered it with off white paint and started over.

I was quite happy with it and my husband asked why my palm tree was brown.

It does look like a sunflower, doesn't it?

Wishing all a Happy Paint Party Friday!

A tiny little dendrobium bloom appeared this week

The story our canvasses tell

I have been involved in yet another abstract class.

Abstract art is hard for me (unless it is geometric).

I come home from the classes exhausted, just from thinking.

Gerontologists will tell us that that is a GOOD thing.

Anyway early on, we were supposed to pick a word and then paint.

I picked "bloom" and set to work, as you saw a few weeks ago.

My first start (underneath) was just too undefined for me so when I got home

I covered it up and did this .

Well, it was too defined for my instructor so with her guidance

I reworked my canvas, yet again and this is the result.

She liked it but I am not sure I do.
It has more dimension than the floral
We never know what lies beneath the final layer.
At our art center there is a class in reworking old paintings.
They do some amazing things.
And it is the politically correct thing to do, recycle!
Wishing you a Happy PPF!

This cattleya orchid is blooming this week.

Tar Gel

A couple of weeks ago I shared this photo for Paint Party Friday.

I had heard about Tar Gel on various You Tube videos and decided to try it

I would apply one layer of circles and let it dry.

Then I applied the next and let it dry...for 5 or 6 times.

The watercolor paper is now quite heavy with the gel..

I let that all dry a couple of days as it is VERY humid here in Florida right now.

Then I put a red/black wash on it and rubbed it off until I was happy with it.

The wash fell into the creases where the Tar Gel wasn't.

It is very shiny.

It dries clear so whatever is underneath shows through.

The downside is that it isn't cheap, for the amount I used here.

But it made a rather plain painting into a quite dramatic painting.

Wishing everyone a Happy PPF

This week's bloom, a dendrobium orchid

Playing with gesso

The past ten days, I have focused on my plants.

We had a wonderful trip down to Homestead, FL to the Redland Orchid Festival.

It is a long drive but it is SO worth it.

We always enjoy driving through the Florida Everglades.  One year the bromeliads were

blooming in the trees and it was quite spectacular.

I only purchased one orchid and some supplies, but totally enjoyed each of the booths

from all over the world, each with it's own selection of plants.

So my art this week is a happy accident.

I always use gesso to prepare my watercolor paper for the paint.  More and more,

I am using a second layer of texture to add more interest to the painting.

Often because of all of the color, the texture is lost.

So this week I tried something different.

I only used a couple of shades of red.  It has two coats of paint.

The first layer had bits of color added here and there (Mexican Serape colors)

but I didn't like the additional color so did a second coat of light and dark red.

Look at this little beauty.  My husband treated himself to the bromeliad this week.

The bud was the solid pink and then today these little purple flowers appeared.

Quite spectacular.

Happy news, the dendrobiums are blooming again.  

Wishing you all a happy PPF and thank you to Kristin and Eva.