Tile Mural

I forgot about this mural I did about 10 years ago. This is actually my first mural. The other mural that I posted that I said was my first was the first one I had done with regular paint. This is a tile mural. It is painted with china paints (like you see on decorative porcelain plates, tea cups, etc.) then fired. Each tile has been fired 4 to 5 times. The paints (which have an oily consistancy) are painted onto glazed tiles so it is a slick paint on a slick surface. People that are good at china painting can build up the color easily but as I tried to darken the colors, the previous paint would lift off unless it was made permanent by firing. This was a major undertaking which took 4 months of working on it every day. Since I find painting more fun than drawing, I would draw a few rows of the design and then paint the tiles. Then I drew a few more rows and painted some more. That kept me from getting bored.

I painted this when I was really into delicate flowers and softer colors. Below are a couple of close-ups.

Tile Mural

Image Size: Wall: 6' x 4', Floor: 3' x 4'

China paints on tile

Sunny Path

This week is the 2 year anniversary of when I began posting a painting each week. I know that's not much of an accomplishment when you compare it to all of the artists that post a painting every day but for me, who used to paint maybe 8-10 paintings a year, it's a pretty big deal. I've been having so much fun being more involved with art and blogging. I have met so many nice people and incredible artists on the internet. I've even met a couple of them in person. Making art a focal point in my life has made me a better artist. I have learned so much. Of course not every painting has been a success but I have probably learn the most from the ones that I like the least. Some weeks have been a little stressful as my self imposed Monday deadline has drawn near with no finished painting in sight but I've been able to pull it off. I haven't missed a Monday yet -- even when I was out of town.

This is a pastel of a photo I took in Mexico. When I saw this scene, I had a really strong sense of deja vu. My mom was from Alabama and this reminded me so much of my visits there, it was really strange. I'm not sure why it would remind me of that area because Mexico doesn't have the red clay earth or the type of trees that are in Alabama. It was probably just the dirt road that seemed familiar. Anyway, it brought back happy memories of a beautiful place.

Sunny Path

Image Size 9" x 12"

Pastels
Unframed
$100.00

Galactic Litter

Here's another weird one. I started this like last week's painting with poured frisket. My goal here was to create a sense of depth. It looks like things floating in space to me, hence the title. However, now that I'm looking at the photo, I'm seeing all sorts of things within the shapes. Does anyone have a better idea for a title?

Galactic Litter

Image size 22" x 30"

Watercolor
Unframed
$650.00

Wavering Muse

Wow! Is this weird or what? I do love to experiment. I started this painting intending for it to be a non-representational painting. I poured resist on the paper and moved it around. I kept seeing a face and neck from those lines on the left side. Of course, the face shape is not really realistic but I went with it anyway. The other lines reminded me of one of my bad hair days so I started playing with hair. Then it started to look like it was floating in water so I went in that direction. I need to fix her mouth. The left side has a highlight on it but unless you are looking at it from close up, her mouth looks crooked. I love the feeling of movement in this painting and overall, I'm pretty happy with it.

Wavering Muse

Image size 22" x 30"

Watercolor
Framed
$900.00

Santiago Canyon

I forgot to let you all know that both of the silk paintings in the last two posts were juried into the Chemers Gallery show and they will be there through May 29th. They didn't win any awards but at least they were juried into the show.

This painting was done quickly and I was trying for "loose". It's definitely looser than most of my paintings and it was really fun to do.

Santiago Canyon

Image Size 15" x 22"

Watercolor
Unframed
$330.00

Farmer's Market - Silk Painting

This is another silk painting that I painted to enter in the "Live and Play in Tustin" show. I should know soon if they got into the show. I almost didn't enter this year. The theme really stumped me because it seems like you really need to have a person in the painting that is showing the living and playing in Tustin. Well, I don't like painting people. I made a couple of attempts and then decided to skip the show this year. After talking with the gallery owner, I decided to make a last attempt and I'm glad I did. I'm pretty happy with both of them. I like the way they look framed. Silk paintings are always so fresh and happy looking to me.

Farmer's Market
Image Size 15" x 15"
Silk Dyes on Silk
Framed
$350.00

First Bloom - Silk Painting

This is the silk painting I told you about in last week's post. This was the second one I painted and I am happy with the outcome. I painted this to enter into a local contest held at Chemers Gallery. The theme for the show is "Live and Play in Tustin." I'll find out next week if it gets in. Below is my first attempt at this scene.

I just taped it onto a board and it's not stretched which is why it's so uneven looking. Also, I wasn't paying attention when I taped it down and it's backward from the way I painted it. Of course, that doesn't really matter because with silk painting, the color is the same from both sides. There are several reasons that made me feel that this first attempt wasn't as successful as it could be. Even though I always garden in pants, this person dressed in pants didn't feel right. I also don't like the sunglasses. I think my second attempt with the girl in a skirt and hat just feel more garden-like.

First Bloom
Image Size 30" x 18"
Silk Dyes on Silk

My First Mural

A few weeks ago I posted pictures of a mural I did as well as WIP photos of it. I mentioned a mural I did a few years ago (my first one) and I was asked to post pictures of it. Our garden was on a local garden tour and I painted the walls for that day. Most of the plants were new so they were pretty small and the mural showed all the way around this small patio. Here are some pictures. I know I took some pictures when I first finished it but I don't know where they are. Since I painted it, the plants have really grown so most of it isn't visible anymore. That's okay. Even though it took me about 40 hours to paint it, I'm ready for something a little different which is good because we need to get the house painted and I really wasn't looking forward to painting around the mural.

Please forgive the bad photo. This is one wall that I will do a new mural on after we re-paint the house because there is no planter directly in front of it. You can see plants in front of it here but there is a walkway between the wall and the planter. The wall always looked very stark to me and originally, this was the only wall I planned to paint. I was having so much fun with it that I decided to paint all of the walls.
Can you tell which of the plants are real and which are painted?
There are a bunch of different types of plants painted behind this schefflera. You can see a piece of a spiky looking plant if you look way off to the right side of the photo.
This is a part that I will probably paint around and then just touch up because I like the feel of the path leading into the distance. This part was really never finished. I planned to put some more distinct plants in the foreground and a multi-trunk birch in the corner and onto the side wall but I ran out of time and after the garden tour was over, I decided it was finished. Ha Ha.

Spring Flowers

This is not what I was planning to post today. I did finish another painting but I really don't like it. I don't like this one either but I like it better than the other one. That tells you how bad the other one is. I have a friend (you know who you are) that gets upset when I say negative things about a painting but I have to be honest. This is a pastel on Wallis paper that I did today after realizing I needed something to post. It was good practice at drawing a person.

The other painting that I finished but don't like is a silk painting that took me a long time to do but it just didn't turn out well. I like the main idea though so I'm going to do it over and make changes and I think I will like it then. Maybe I'll post the bad one if the re-do is good so you can see both and what changes I made.

Spring Flowers

Image Size 8" x 10"

Pastel

Waterlily II

I'm playing with charcoal and watercolor again. I also have some gouache on it. I threw a little bit of everything at this one. It sure is bright! I like the black contrasting with the bright colors. I think it has a happy feeling to it. Maybe that's because I was feeling happy while I painted it. It was very relaxing to throw paint on a wet piece of paper with the idea that it was going to be loose (for me) and have a carefree feeling. It was a good exercise in giving up control.

Waterlily

Image size 14" x 18"

Mixed Media

Unframed
$195.00