Uncle Bud's Art Colony

Thursday, November 10, 2016

I wanted to paint this with just a few colors. Browns and Blues with Yellow as an accent.

These Birch trees are a neat design, and in my mind, I remember them from our trips to Canada and Michigan when I was a kid. We would go north to fish and hunt and explore the great outdoors.

Some of you have seen my river and beaver dam painting and the lighthouse on Pt. Betsie plus all the birch trees I've painted.

I tried to show the far horizon with the woods on the hills in this one. I used the masking fluid to protect the trees and leaves. Then I can paint the brighter colors. And the details are added later.

I hope this encourages you to try painting with watercolors or even acrylics just to get a feel for the colors and relaxing time it is. Let all take a minute and sketch out something and paint it just to see what happens!

Few Colors - Big impact!

10:34 AM

Kathy

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This is a picture some of you have seen before if you have followed me at all. The Mighty Elephant stands for strength but unless we protect them in the wild they are doomed.

In the United States we have picked the Donkey and the Elephant as our mascots for our political party's and I have no Idea why. Stubbornness and strength?

This painting was a trial for me to learn back-lighting and bringing out the silver lining in a paint of a subject.

I love the clouds in this painting. The landscape is a bowl in which we live and move. Now it is up to us to keep it on track! Protect our wildlife.

I used a lot of thin strokes with a liner brush to build the weeds and stuff in the fore ground.

Lets all commit to protect the Elephant!

Elephants Strong Today!

10:12 AM

Kathy

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Today there are lots choices. I have painted several types of trees and brush. Weeping willows, old oak tree, pines, and those great maples.

You can paint trees and shrubs and collect them for add on in your work later. These ideas can be gathered in your sketch book and compiled later.

I have that little travel watercolor box and I can whip up a little painting in 2 - 4 minutes.

Today we have so many choices to how we paint, draw, and color.

Oh Yes And Vote for.

People can grab a notebook and draw, Or use paper, or canvas anything and everything in between. So lots of choices today and maybe tomorrow things will be different.

Keep on painting!

Lots of Choices Today!

9:21 AM

Kathy

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This little painting was just and Idea to get a some "winter" or Holiday feeling.

I started with ultra marine blue, and payne's gray, with the blue green for the tree.

I took a few dots of red for the birds. and then painted white gauche for the snow.

The composition is all wrong everything is in a row and laid out on one plain. the sky is uninteresting.

The exercise of the painting and incorporation of the gauche in the tree and foreground is the purpose of this whole project. Practice and experiments are a large part of painting.

Leonardo as well as other painters did hundreds of little "what if " paintings. It is said that under the Mona Lisa there is several layers of her picture. In fact one of the trials has her with a mustache! That is how you learn and pick up some amazing ideas doing a what if painting.

So lets try a few crazy painting.

Cardinals and Mailbox

9:54 AM

Kathy

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I believe that it is as much what we say as how we say it.

I think of some of the most amazing painters in the world. Like Rembrandt, Leonardo, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir and about a million more. Their art said a lot!

J.W. Turner painted his most abstract painting in his older years. Then other painters did their best work when they were just youngsters.

The thing about this skill is it can be learned and is repeatable. Vincent Van Gogh learned to draw at the age of 27 and for the next ten years turned out some of the best paintings ever done by humans. But we ( the artistic community at the time) turned our back on his work because we didn't understand it then. (1880's) Look at what we accept for art now. everything and anything.

Well with that said I offer my little bit of watercolor today. It is the two trees out front with a split rail fence and that was repeated for design sake. I find my self painting watercolors looser, and that's a good thing.

Also I am not comparing myself to these masters of the artistic world. I am just trying to paint and share with you a few thoughts.

Pines and the Fence

8:15 AM

Kathy

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These little watercolors are so much fun, This is across the road from our house and they just harvested the bean field. I can see the land contour an undulations roll.

This is a little abstract and not real defined. A loose impression of the subject.

The farther away something is the more faint or light it is, it has a bit of atmosphere in between you and the subject you're looking at. I notice this every time we travel down I-75 to Florida. When we go thru the mountains in Kentucky and Tennessee those far away hills are almost blue and indistinct on the horizon.

These trees are closer and the far trees are only about a mile or two away. This was under-painted with ultra marine blue, and the tree line with cad yellow. The field was painted with raw sienna and yellow. I kept it wet so the sky would have movement. The fields would also blend and move.

I hope you like these little watercolor sketches. I have a few more.

Fall Color Across the Way

2:04 PM

Kathy

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Here is the pumpkin I was talking about yesterday. This one is setting by an old door and stone wall, I like so many elements of this painting.

First its by and old door, one that is rotten at the bottom. Next it is by a stone wall of various colors and shades. The tints of paint blending to make an old faded stone wall.
Then the Pumpkin is shaded and highlighted setting near the building.

I used masking fluid to cover the white brace board on the door and the pumpkin. Masking fluid is so cool to use because I can cover important parts of my watercolor paper and then later add the elements I want in a lighter or protected area.

As for the composition of this painting it is simple. The white board leads your eyes to the pumpkin then back to the door. Also with the main design, the pumpkin, I have kept it to the right of the picture and lower in the whole painting. This creates an area where you want to look and then you're able to see the whole painting.

Well lets paint more pumpkins this next few days and get ready to eat some Turkey.