Uncle Bud's Art Colony

Monday, August 7, 2017

In Michigan on the Betsie river the former lake comes into the lower place where the dam was this makes a fast water rapids. What a great place to paint.

Take time when you frame a photo for your reference library. I tried to get the best of the water/rapids and the rocks. Now to add some fore ground. I have the grasses and buried rock.

Here again paint the dark first, start with the water. Scrub in the browns and greens for the under painting. Now on top of that add your light colors off white to pick out the boiling water.

The rocks can be a scrubbed in dark gray or a mixture of greenish brown. then pick out the high lights where the sun hits and slowly add more light. This makes the rocks come alive.

The grasses are the easiest part and you can change the seasons just by changing the color of the grass. By adding blue and white you have snow.

Well now its time for getting your brushes wet and paint on.

Rapids, Rock and Rough Water

8:04 AM

Kathy

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I want to paint this picture soon. I like the boat tied to the dock and the random oar pointing to the sky.

I would remove the third boat on the far left side. I would make the dock a wooden style. I like the tree in the fore ground. It makes the other items pushed back adding distance to the painting.

If you look closely you can see the shadow / reflection of the main boat.

The way to start this picture is with the darkest darks, i.e. the shadows under the boat and dock, plus the trees.

One of my teachers said that a boat is like a figure eight. That way you can get the bow and the stern to match up drawing the top line. This is one that is very neat. It is part of our Michigan vacation.

I got an Idea let get our brushes wet and paint away!!

Boating Weekend

9:19 AM

Kathy

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I sometimes look at paintings in different ways and by bundling these paintings I get a different take on the style and composition.

They all have my signature of my style and the hand or touch I put on my paintings. But the different and juxtaposition of color behind the subject make it interesting to me.

You can make your colors in to a wash or a very light background almost watercolor. These I have varied to get a mottled background. White will make your color chalky and dark colors make it more tinted with a deeper tone.

I hope you like these Ideas I have a few more I will be posting soon so keep your eyes pealed.

Get your brushes out and get them wet!

Three Pack

10:32 AM

Kathy

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I watch Jerry Yarnell rather regular and he did this painting on PBS. I did not think I could do it like his so I didn't try to copy but rather get the essence from the painting.

Many years ago I use to paint airbrush tee shirts and I did many like this one. Blazing sunset and silhouette or palm tree and stuff.

Jerry always shows the high lights on the edge of the trees and clouds. That high light is the golden glow that brings the picture lots of life.

To me what makes it great picture is the blues and yellows in contrast, plus the other complementary colors. Color is very powerful look what a room is changed into with different colors. Ceilings look higher in white and you can cut a room in half by using dark colors on the lower half.

I love color!

Well as always kids lets get our brushes wet and go for it.

Tropical Sunset

10:13 AM

Kathy

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Are you ready for the next few weeks? School starts, Labor Day, and then the Fall Holidays.

If you grow a garden you know things are gettin' ready to get ready. The blooms are gone the fruit is popping. The Corn has tasseled and the rabbit and raccoon are watching what to eat. The squirrels are nesting and building for winter.

We painters are moving our canvases around and are ready for a fall show. People want to have their fall decor set out. I can teach you how to if you want to learn the basic of these baby's.

They grow in every gourd position they can. Mostly round and squat. Some are tall, I know they have a giant pumpkin contest in New York or New Hampshire. I suppose in the south and western USA also has a contest, 500 LB pumpkins are not unusual.

Once again I use the opposite color or the complementary of the orange, red and yellows. It creates drama in the painting. I added the shadow and high lights for effect.

Keep your pumpkins growing and your brushes wet.

Soon It Will be Pumpkin Time

10:10 AM

Kathy

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Do you think you could paint this flower? I know you can with a little help I can show you and lay out the basic shapes.

This was a very fun painting to do and was not that hard. I like the Idea of using the opposite or complementary colors i.e. yellow and purple. the lower part red and green.

I could paint the sunflower in every shape and form I love them. I used every yellow I had yellow ocher, bright yellow, and chrome yellow. I feel it makes the flower petals come alive.

You could paint this on your own but why not come over to our place and we could paint together.

I have more of these type of paintings and we will talk about them and how you can do it too.

I kept my brushes wet and so can you!

Sunflower Madness

7:17 AM

Kathy

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Yesterday I wanted to show you how I come up with an Idea . This is the finished project.

What I do is draw a sketch like I was showing yesterday and then fit it into the format of my canvas. This is an 11 by 14 canvas double primed with gesso.

I painted the moon first and then the violet and crimson sky then the light green grasses. the tree is rough and curly. I added the light side to the tree where the moon light accents the whole side.

I think a new artist could easily paint this project and a little more experienced artist as well could do this painting.

I know this would be fun and you can add your own touch to make it your own. You could add stars and do a little Van Gogh style and do circles around the stars and moon.

With this project you could do many other projects and use this as a jump off point. Add some other trees do a house in the back ground. Put some scary people in the frame, so many Ideas.

Keep your trees curly and your brushes wet.