Painting again!

Work in Progress

There's Something in the Water

It has only been a couple of weeks since a ruptured pipeline spilled up to 101,000 gallons of crude oil along the Santa Barbara coast, so we are a little paranoid about our water. 

 Instead of oily black, the ocean has been a shocking shade of turquoise since yesterday.  

I have no idea why it's this colorful but it's spectacular.   

  

ICAD's 43-49. The Ocean Series.

I've noticed when looking at ICAD blog posts where people have grouped their ICADs together that mine area always very diverse.  I think it's so neat to see someone else's post and see the cohesiveness of their cards.  They might be linked by style or subject or color. 

 

Mine are a jumble of everything and anything.  This isn't a bad thing.  I am happy to try to push myself to try different things and to me art is creating whatever I'm in the mood for.  This week I thought I'd push myself to keep to a theme and since "ocean" was one of the prompts I knew it would be easy enough to stick to it since painting the ocean is one of my favorite subjects.

Day 43.  Acrylic paint.



Day 44.  Acrylic paint.

Day 45.  This didn't photograph so well, there is much more texture in person.  Watercolor and acrylics.

Day 46.  An abstract of moonlight on the water.  Wax resist with crayon and watercolor.

 

Day 47.  This is meant to be the way water refracts in shallow tropical waves.  It's not exactly where I want it to be but I think it's very pretty.  It's many layers of watercolor, acrylic paint and acrylic ink.

Day 48.  Wind and Water.  Acrylic paint, then watercolor, then Sharpie, more watercolor and acrylic.

Day 49.  I had to get some doodling in!  Acrylic paint, then watercolor splatters, Sharpie doodles.

 

All that being said, and having seen my 7 representations of ocean I think it's safe to say that although I stuck to a theme my style is still all over the place. 

I have always been trying to figure out what my signature style is.

Most artists in blogland, in the world in general, in history have a style that is if not recognizable, at least consistent. Not so for me. Never so for me. And I have felt lacking for it. But maybe I have gotten it wrong. Maybe I need to embrace my chameleon style. Maybe I should even be proud of it!

 

 

 

Kauai Sky

I tried something a little different this week.  I gave myself one hour and only 4 colors while painting.  This is a view of the sunset sky in Kauai.  Painted from memory and my vacation photos.  Normally when I paint California scenes I use Cerulean Blue, Hookers Green and Titanium White to create my water and sky.  When I paint Kauai ocean and sky and I can't get the right colors using my "California palette."  Here I used Cobalt Blue, Naphthol Crimson, Yellow Light Hansa and Titanium White.   I was tempted to add something else...but I tend to over mix and use too many colors and end up with mud.  I'm very open to constructive criticism and advise and tips.  :)

 

Painting in the living room instead of at my art desk these days

I ruined my manicure (OPI Into the Night)

Sharing on Illustration Friday and Paint Party Friday.

Happy Friday!! 

 

The Fog Lifts

Living near the ocean you get used to the fog.  All of us lucky enough to live in coastal neighborhoods will tell you we don't mind the fog but the truth is, we are all just waiting for the fog to lift!  Here is a view of the Santa Cruz Island as the fog lifts. 

 

 

Happy PPF and happy birthday to me.  Yes, it's a shameless plug for birthday wishes.  :)

Finally, I have had a very challenging time photographing my art lately.  I have a great digital camera, a tri-pod and still not happy with the results.  For instance, the dark corner on the bottom right of the top photo and the way the white edges look pink.  Also, there are lots of brush stroke details lost in the photo.  Any suggestions and tips would be most welcome!

Curls

Here is what I worked on this weekend...it started as a watercolor but ended up an acrylic.  I can't even guess how many layers of paint I have here and I'm still not sure about it.  I would like the water to look more translucent and I wish the breaking part of the wave wasn't as wide.  I messed with it and messed with it and eventually decided to put the brush down.  So here it is.  I tried to capture the way a wave curls.