Woman With a Blue Cropped Jacket - Acrylic on Canvas

Finally I decided to take pictures DURING the painting process so that it is possible to see the picture develop. What fun! This painting is a lot larger than the last two I did, measuring 18x24.

Here you see the outline of the woman worked out in a light yellow. I already did the first layer of skin colour followed by two progressively darker shadings to get some shape in her face. It almost looks like she has her eyes closed here!

The entire background has been filled in with light yellow and I blocked out her jacket as well as her hair. No changes have been made to her face.

Now you can see that her shift dress has been blocked in and the jacket has it's first layer of shading. Two corners have been shaded with blue to start the background and her eyes have been blocked in. The hair has been darkened and some style lines added. Also preliminary work on the lips has begun.

View #4 has the eyes and eyebrows as well as some of the final shading on the jacket. I re-blocked her hair as the shape and shading just weren't what I wanted. Here the lips have been defined more but are not yet completed. White highlights were added on the nose, forehead and cheekbones to add definition to her face.

Here we see that some scrollwork has beed added in the background. The bottom lip was repainted to give it a fuller look and some highlights were added.

Scrollwork has been added in all four of the corners now. The face has been shaded slightly around the nose, eyes and cheeks as well the side of the neck is darkened. The hair has three layers of shading at this point and I have started on her ear. Still a lot of work to do though, we'll see how much more I can accomplish before I go back to camp.

Tower of CHEESE!

Some of you may already know this but I tend to be a bit frugal... I also really love my Bosch kitchen machine! (My Christmas Present last year). We always buy our cheddar cheese in the huge economy size blocks as they are MUCH cheaper. Of course it would all go bad before we have a chance to eat it which is why I grate the entire thing and freeze it in ziploc bags.

We only do this with our cheddar though as it is used on things like sandwiches, nachos, pastas and the like. Any of the specialty varieties that we purchase are in smaller quantities and stored in the fridge for freshness.

I thought this cheese looked quite humorous as I was cutting it up to be grated.

It's the leaning Tower of Cheeza!

Lame, I know.

City Block In The Rain - Acrylic Painting

As in my last post on painting [Old Woman With Blue Kerchief], this was painted during Christmas holidays at my mum and dad's place. I just felt like painting this winter I guess.

It turned out pretty nice. My sister took it home to her place (after my mum claimed the Old Woman she was complaining that she didn't have a painting of her own so I gave this one to her).

Another view from the dining table. Neither of the pictures are that good, maybe I'll get a new camera....

I always have a good time when I am painting. It's quite calming, and unlike with sewing, if you don't like what you see you simply paint over it again!

The Old Woman With the Blue Kerchief - A Funny Painting

I love to make stuff or do stuff and at times I get an overwhelming urge to make something. I am sure many of you other artsy people have experienced this at one time or another as well! This Christmas seemed to be an exceptionally artictic one for me. Aren and I spent the holidays with my family and while my dad was getting something from the freezer he noticed this wooden plaque with a painting on it. Suffice to say that it was not a picture my mum wanted hung in her home and it had been left in the laundry room presumably by the homes previous owner. As soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted to paint a new picture on top of the old one. In my excitement I forgot to take a before picture but it doesn't matter that much now. I primed the plaque with white to cover the picture and then proceeded to paint this rather comical grandmother in a blue kerchief.

Her extra large nose and curly lips add to her charm, don't you think? Haha. My mother claimed her but I have yet to see where her new home is. In this photo she is just propped up on the piano. As with everything, this was a lot of fun for me. Hope it gives you a smile!