Monkeying Around, 30 of 30

Monkeying Around, 6x8" watercolor, 30 of 30

Today I spent the morning at the Cincinnati Zoo acting as a Mentor for the Highschool Paint Out Competition sponsored by the Cincinnati Art Club. I was really impressed by the independence, maturity and talent of the participants.  While hanging out at the Japanese Macaque Monkey Island with my group I managed to also sketch these colorful creatures.  At least their faces and rears are colorful! Also known as Snow Monkeys, click the link for a short video of these fascinating animals in their natural hot springs.

I am really thrilled to have completed the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  Tomorrow, October 1, marks the beginning of INKtober. A daily drawing challenge. Today's painting can work for that as well! Here's the link to the suggested prompts for INKtober2017 . I'm probably just gonna wing it...

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming Essex Studios Art Walks. We are open to the public the first Friday & Saturday (6-10 pm) of October, November & December.  I am in Studio 231. Come on out and explore the diversity of local arts talent available at Essex. 2515 Essex Place, Cincinnati, OH 45206

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today!

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Struttin', 29 of 30

Struttin', 10x8" oil on panel. 29 of 30

Today I continued my theme of Key West Roosters to celebrate the Keys being open to tourists starting Sunday. I have spoken with the landlord of the house we rent in Key Colony Beach (Marathon) & he expects to be back in business by early November. "Only 2 FEET of storm surge went through the property. He seems to be doing well over all.

My husband says this one has "roostertude". I can claim that...

Transparent underpainting

Blocking in...

adding details

I am really pleased to have done so well on the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge this month. One more painting to go!  I'm heading back to the zoo to mentor some Highschool students who are participating in a paint out sponsored by the Cincinnati Art Club tomorrow.  stay tuned...

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming Essex Studios Art Walks. We are open to the public the first Friday & Saturday (6-10 pm) of October, November & December.  I am in Studio 231. Come on out and explore the diversity of local arts talent available at Essex. 2515 Essex Place, Cincinnati, OH 45206

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today!

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Belle, 28 0f 30

Belle, 8x8" oil. 28 of 30

Today I wrestled with an ewok.  At least this pup stayed very ewok like for most of the day. It was a struggle and the client loves it. Whew!

I paint wet-into-wet, starting with a transparent layer that may or may not reflect the final colors. 

Transparent layer.  Lots of "uglies" goin' on here.

I then start adding the opaque paints. The eyes still look spooky.

It's always better when the eyes start looking right.

Belle, 8x8" oil. 28 of 30

As you can see, Belle has her very own leopard print doggie bed upon which to recline. She lives a blessed life. As do we all...

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming Essex Studios Art Walks. We are open to the public the first Friday & Saturday (6-10 pm) of October, November & December.  I am in Studio 231. Come on out and explore the diversity of local arts talent available at Essex. 2515 Essex Place, Cincinnati, OH 45206

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today!

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Mama Rhino, 27 of 30

Mama Rhino, watercolor sketch, 27 of 30

Today was Cincinnati Zoo Day with the Cincinnati Urban Sketchers / Illustrators group. We met just after 9 am, at Hippo Cove to start our morning with Fiona, Cincinnati's rock star of a baby hippo. She was born prematurely at 30 pounds and just tipped the scale at 500 this morning.  She's so darn cute, (for being one of the most dangerous animals on the planet.)

Even the polar bears were active!

Mama Rhino on location sketch

It was HOT today. Hard to believe September's almost over. As is the 30 in 30 challenge.  Amazing.

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming Essex Studios ArtWalks. We are open to the public the first Friday & Saturday (6-10 pm) of October, November & December.  I am in Studio 231. Come on out and explore the diversity of local arts talent available at Essex. 2515 Essex Place, Cincinnati, OH 45206

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today!

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

The Flock, 9x9" watercolor. 26 of 30

The Flock, 9x9" watercolor. 26 of 30

Today I was working in my studio. I am getting a huge backlog of framing at this pace.  I need to get some of these painting prepped for the October ArtWalk. Others are getting ready to go to new homes.  I prepped a board for a rooster in oils, then decided to paint this small flock of Key West chickens.  These have survived Irma.  They may have been the flock that someone collected, wrapped in newspaper & stacked in the back seat of their SUV. I can only imagine what chicken poop did to that leather interior...

Loose sketch with a gel pen

Original is 12x9" but I plan to matt it in a square.

colorful & juicy, just like I  lwanted...

 I had a blast painting this one, can you tell?

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming Essex Studios ArtWalks. We are open to the public the first Friday & Saturday (6-10 pm) of October, November & December.  I am in Studio 231. Come on out and explore the diversity of local arts talent available at Essex. 2515 Essex Place, Cincinnati, OH 45206

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today!

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Resting, 25 of 30

Resting, 8x8" watercolor study. 25 of 30

Today I returned to sketch group at the Cincinnati Art Club.  I am also happy to report that deep in the bottom of my materials bag I found my missing markers and water brushes. Yea! No need to go out & replace them. This sketch took about an hour to complete. I like that it is loose and juicy.  And yes, I do seem to be avoiding those tricky feet...

5 more paintings to go.  Whew!  AND in three months it will be Christmas.

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming Essex Studios Artwalks. We are open to the public the first Friday & Saturday (6-10pm) of October, November & December.  Come on out and explore the diversity of local arts talent available at Essex. 2515 Essex Place, Cincinnati, OH 45206

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today!

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Fall, 24 of 30

Fall, 3.5x3.5" watercolor sketch. 24 of 30

Today I worked in my small travel journal. This painting is a 3.5 INCH square.  Could be a plan for a larger painting but stands nicely on its own.  I used a photo I took last night at Lowes. It's way too hot and early to buy a pumpkin but they sure look tempting, don't they?

Original inspiration

I am struggling a bit because I have misplaced some of my traveling sketching supplies.  Can't find my markers or InkTense pencils.  Frustrating.  Hopefully I will find them at the art club tomorrow afternoon. That's the last place I had them.  Meanwhile I certainly have other art supplies to use...

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming Essex Studios Artwalks. We are open to the public the first Friday & Saturday (6-10pm) of October, November & December.  Come on out and explore the diversity of local arts talent available at Essex. 2515 Essex Place, Cincinnati, OH 45206

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today!

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Sunny Faces. 23 of 30

Sunny Faces, 9x9" watercolor. $125. 23 of 30

7 more paintings to go! Yippee! Today I was in my studio but chose to work in watercolors anyway. I used a watercolor palette that had been prepped about 20 years ago.  That was a long time ago. I also used my watercolor INKtense sticks. The sky is a bit more intense blue than in this image.

Working from my ipad mini for photo reference.  This field is in Mason, OH.

Add caption

It's nice to be caught up and to have completed 23 paintings so far this month. I haven't done this well on this challenge since the first time I tried it 4 years ago. Yea me!

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming Essex Studios Artwalks. We are open to the public the first Friday & Saturday (6-10pm) of October, November & December.  Come on out and explore the diversity of local arts talent available at Essex. 2515 Essex Place, Cincinnati, OH 45206

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today!

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Kentucky Glass, 22 of 30

Kentucky Glass, 9x12 pastel, $175. 22 of 30

Today's painting is a pastel abstraction of one of the Chihuly installations at Makers Mark distillery in Loretto, KY. I wanted to capture the essence of the huge glass piece without getting too realistic.

Inspiration for painting

This installation is HUGE!

abstract start

Developing forms

I use my ipad mini for photo reference.

I added blues & purples and danced the colors around

I really enjoy the "energy" of this piece. Because it is a pastel on sanded paper it will need to be framed behind museum (glare-free) glass. I plan to have it available at the October Art Walk.

I am grateful for the blessings of my life as it is today.

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Profile Sketch, 21 of 30

Profile Sketch, 11x8" watercolor. 21 of 30

Happy Fall Equinox. Summer is officially over, although it's going into the 90's this weekend. Once again Nature is saying, "Hold my beer..."

Today's painting was done at the Cincinnati Art Club's Evening Sketchgroup. The model had really interesting hair, grey in the front then black then tinged with deep blue. She was beautiful. I focused on capturing the shadows more than a likeness.

I was quite far from the model

Next time I intend to go darker on the shadow shapes. I tend to be more pastel in watercolors than oils. It's a process. I am using a different paper. Kilimanjaro by Cheap Joes.  It's interesting but I think I like Arches cold pressed better.

I am grateful for the blessings of my life as it is today.

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Findlay Market, 20 of 20

Findlay Market Cincinnati, 6x8" watercolor sketch. 20 of 30

Today I met some neighbors for lunch at Findlay Market, a permanent farmers market in downtown Cincinnati. It was a beautiful day and I arrived early for lunch in order t engage in some "Urban Sketching", The art of capturing spaces in urban environments. It has become a great way for my to capture my travels without stressing out about exact colors and perspective.

I sat under the canopy at Pho Lang Thang and captured the stalls across the street as they were being set up. I have yet to attempt people in public. Stay tuned...

The servers were fascinated by my set up. They had never seen watercolor brushes that had actual water in them. It was pretty funny.  By the time my friends joined me I was done for the day. We had a nice lunch then explored the Market.

my lunch started with a fried port springroll, then a bowl or pho (fuh)

Jean-Robert's French Crust Cafe in it's new digs near the market

I couldn't resist dessert to go!

Market Wines had a creative paint job

The neighboring properties were all decked out in flower boxes.

The nice think about being at the market today was that the weekend crowds were not there. Of course neither were the farmers and a lot of vendors. It is a totally different place Friday-Sunday.  You can also catch the street car there as well.

I am happy to announce that my client like the dog portrait I posted yesterday so I declare it DONE!

I am grateful for the blessings of my life as it is today.

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can