Uncle Bud's Art Colony

Saturday, July 7, 2018

I have wanted to paint this for some time. Just an old mail box showing a couple of letters. This is truly becoming an obsolete item in our life and it is so wrong to lose it. But so it is. The milk bucket under the mailbox was something farmers used all the time.

I have tried to make this a little more painterly by not blending every color into one another. that way color blends in your eyes as in real life. I will take some more pictures of this to show later with more detail.

The fun of this is the way I had to compose it. I could have tinted the back ground but I want the mailbox to stand out on its own.

Keep your mailbox open and your brushes wet.

You got Mail

7:34 AM

Kathy

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Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Watkins. We all had our self as a model. Rembrandt did so many self portraits from the time he was a young man of 18 to the old man of 70.

Van Gogh did 37 self portraits, including the one ear painting. Me not so much, I've done a few this one is from a photo.

I got a gray paper and septa pencils, so right away I began to paint myself. The use of the white calk pencil for the highlights and the charcoal for the shadows.

So try to get your self on paper and have fun with it. Keep your brushes wet!

Models are hard to find

7:03 AM

Kathy

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Daily I try to bring you some information about art. There is so much to say, I tend to stick to the Impressionist and a few modernist. I also talk about a few other artist and I show my own art.

The cool things about it is I can go softly and show the styles of so many other artist and things I learned.

I try also to give you the truth as I know it to be and the stories behind it. Do I miss it once in awhile, yes. But then I try to fix it later.

One of my goals is to get you to look, and see, or at least try a new painting or drawing technique. I know there are more things I may have missed but if I get you on the path maybe you'll enjoy this like I do.

So draw on, paint on, and keep your brushes wet.

Softly and style on paper

8:12 AM

Kathy

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The village of the old country is always of interest to me. It is how the lanes and streets wind through the little 'burg. I make up story's about this kind of pictures. Is it the place where Dr. Frankenstein lived? Or is it the village where the "Beauty" lived?

Years ago when I was a young man I would use the pen and ink to draw castles and old towns like this to boost stories I would make up. The fun of the whole thing is even if I have never seen these places I still can Imagine what it would look like.

Now of course I have looked at enough pictures of these place to draw them better.

The fun of this is I could add color now to the old houses the road and clouds. Drawing my own coloring book.

Well happy 4th of July and keep your fireworks dry and your brushes wet!

The Village

8:21 AM

Kathy

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This is the summer of the Great America Read. So far this week I have read 4 books on the reading list.
( Go to Great American Read for the full list.) There is every kind of good book in there for you to read but I would like to take the challenge a little bit further.

Read then draw a scene, this picture is from a book I read a few weeks ago, "People of the Lakes" By the Gears. It is northern Michigan at the Sault St. Marie near where the bridge is now.

I saw the scene described in my minds eye and had to draw the place. Now as a child of 12 I went to it with my parents. As for me I was more interested in the Indian and native American forts and camps. Of course later the British, French, and American peoples came and fought over the land. This area is full of history.

But how fun to Read and Draw, try it and you will enjoy your books even More!

Keep your brushes wet and your pages dry.

Reading and Drawing

8:09 AM

Kathy

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I don't feel that I paint soft enough. I still have a heavy hand.( and a numb right hand) But I am trying to lighten up. This Mountain scene is good but the Mountain in the back ground is to strong. The farther things are in the back ground the softer they are. Look out your car window as your driving, safely, and see the layers. Most places show about 5 to 6 layers.

I have been stuck on this one for a while. I have it this far but the side and foreground is fighting me.
So sometimes I just set it aside. There is so much I like about this picture but it just is not coming together.

As you paint you want to remember to keep Eye stoppers on the sides. Also keep the corners darker to draw people in to your painting.

Fight on folks and keep your brushes wet.

Paint it softly

7:36 AM

Kathy

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I used to have a beautiful plum tree in my front yard. Some of you may have seen the picture in this blog when it was in bloom. Well we cut it down and this crazy bush has come from the roots.

I sat out on the deck the other day and tried to capture the essence of this wild and woolly bush. Using watercolor and some thin and small brushes I was able to produce this.

With watercolor you can make your project sparkle by painting distant backgrounds and by using more water it can be so faint.

Dip in to watercolors, continue to experiment, you can represent nature or not. You can express your feelings or paint for fun.

Keep your brushes wet!