Block by Block

 I love taking photos of buildings of all kinds, especially older ones with lots of angles, interesting rooflines, in different stages of upkeep and repair.  So, I was intrigued by this old church in an old Florida neighborhood.  It looked like several buildings were put down and then attached to each other.  I couldn't help think of a child's set of wooden blocks. 
 I have a hard time translating all the wonderful nooks, crannies and lived in character that I see in buildings onto my canvas.   I usually paint farm houses, out buildings, sheds, or barns that are not the main focus of the painting.  I decided to just paint the wonderful shapes and see what happened.
The church was all white but I liked the idea of having each section a different color just to see what kind of vibe it would give off.
The result isn't to everyone's taste but I am happy.

Block by Block

 

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Reflections of a workshop

The end of the year is looming fast and we are all busy, busy, busy with family and commitments this time of year.  Part of a yearly tradition at my house is the photo calendar.  Every year I give my husband and children a calender with a photo for each month.  Some years it is easier than other to get everyone in so it takes a lot of looking to come up with the those wonderful calendar worthy pictures. 
As I was browsing I came across the photos Carol and I had taken at the Elio Comacho workshop we attended in November. Browsing those photos I could have printed a decades worth of calendars. Not only was the workshop wonderful but so was the scenery.  Here are a few standouts.
Donna Vines



just part of the scenery

After a long day 

Elio's wonderful palette

One of the set ups

 

Just the Bling

Here is the same subject with just the jewelry. It takes a long time to get deep or bold color into a hand painted photo. The color is added a layer at a time, wiped and then after some time has gone by added again. You follow this process until you get the color you want.
The oils I used were special oils made just for this process. You also need special additives to mix with the paint and seal it. All the color is added with cotton swabs, not the ones you buy like Q-tips, but ones you make yourself from pure puffed cotton you can buy in a drug store. You then wrap the cotton loosely around long slender sticks you can send for.
I just love the colors on this one.
Donna Vines

Just the Bling

Morning Stack

How can anything that seems so simple be so hard.  Bowls are one of my favorite things.  I love their roundness, their color, their design, their shape, the way they feel....ahhh, they are just cute.  I thought I would set up several bowls and just paint away. 
First of all setting up several bowls and making them look interesting takes on a life of its own. Not everyone likes bowls or finds them endlessly fascinating, I know it's hard to believe but I have heard rumors and secondly you have to take lighting and composition into consideration. o.k. after several attempts, opinions, suggestions, changes and false starts this simple arrangement was agreed upon.
That was the easy part.  Round is hard!!! Their are lots of nooks and crannies to deal with, depth and shadow and lots of curves, oh dear. I had a lot of help with this painting and it is still not finished but I do love looking at it, not only because of the subject but because it reminds me that when I wanted to throw in the towel on this one I got a lot of  support to keep going.  thanks ladies.

Morning Stack