I have always been fascinated by concepts and enchanted by certain words or groups of words. In 2008 I stumbled on the concept of the “Golden Mean” and started trying to think through interesting ways to use this concept. The painting below  was my first try and the first painting I sold in a gallery.

Tree – 2008

I started with the silhouette drawings used to differentiate different categories of trees in one of my landscaping books (for example; pyramidal shaped deciduous tree). Then I used a free form diagram of a landscape plan as the back ground. I have always been fascinated with calligraphy and oriental art so I integrated the word Tree and tried to give it an oriental look (today I could write TREE in actual calligraphy!) I had enormous fun with this and am still pleased to look back at it.

I was able to complete two more postcards.  On the first one I worked with greens, which are always hard for me…how do you get strong value differentiation? This one I punched up with red and a little yellow.

Postacrd 4

The second postcard used my favorite blues, violets, greens. I applied much less crayon than usual in order to determine how much was enough. Usually I apply crayon very heavily because it gives a nice, glossy, almost mosaic like, quality when dry.

Postcard 5

I got a nice, soft look on this one. Still haven’t “cleaned up” the edges on any of my postcards. It’s faster to do several at one time.

I started by sketching a draft of the composition I chose. I always move things around and reorganize the components – at least a little.

BC Lesson 1 Sketches

Then I worked on planning the color scheme and got a sketch I liked the first time .

BC Lesson 1 – Color 1

I did two more color sketches. The first used the warm color scheme that Barry uses so much in his “set ups”. I just blocked in the shapes and the colors were OK but didn’t grab me this time.

The final color sketch used primary and secondary colors. Once again I blocked in the shapes and I wasn’t dazzled with this color scheme either. All of the color sketches are done in my AquaBee sketchbook. I probably won’t have time to turn these into a painting but completing all of the sketches has been excellent practice for me.

BC Lesson 1 – Color 3

With both of these little pieces, I enjoyed the look of shattered glass and the interesting paterns. The surface of the postcards is smoother than the notecards and gives a different look.

Postcard 3

I haven’t touched up the edges yet. I am using Dr Martin’s Bleed-Proof White to touch up the edges.

Indiana Autumn 2 – Cropped

As I’ve mntioned, one of my struggles with this series is that the main color scheme is made up of mid-value colors. The struggle for me has been to add diversity and excitement with darker values.

Notecard 6

I wasn’t kidding when I said I started doing postcards. I found an old pad of Cotman postcards that I took to Mexico on a vacation several years ago. The paper is 4″ X 6″ (slightly smaller than the notecards) and I am taping off a 1/4″ border. The colors were applied in organic shapes and are pale colors such as flesh, spring green and pale peach…I wanted a soft gentle look. The postcards are smoother than the Whatman notecards which have a rough surface.

Postcard 1

Notecard 8

I did something slightly different with this one. I usually use my Caran d’Ache crayons to color shapes in organic, random patterns and then spray with water and apply shrink wrap. This time I colored square and rectangular shapes – every shape was geometric. Then I used the same process of spraying and sealing with wrap. I was trying to use darker, deeper colors. I think the results are interesting.

Notecard 4

With this notecard I wanted to use darker, more dramatic color.  I like the mix of the gray with the three greens.

Notecard 5

Once again, I was trying for deeper, more dramatic color but what a difference the reds, oranges and yellows make.