July 26, 2012 July 27, 2012

I am trying to get my art ready for the Indiana State Fair. I am entering 3 “experimental” paintings (i.e. my abstracts), 3 drawings and 3 traditional watercolors. I finished my last piece, a drawing, yesterday.

At the Duckpond

I actually started this probably two years ago but didn’t like it because it looked too manicured so I pulled it back out and did some major revisions. Much better now. I am using a set of Cool Gray markers. I think these create a very interesting look.

The site is near a culvert at the end of the Duckpond at Ft Benjamin Harrison State Park in Indianapolis and it is much more overgrown today than it used to be. Now you cannot even see the water channel. Maybe I’ll try it again…the drawing is about 9″ X 12″ on cream paper.

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July 18, 2012 July 19, 2012

It has rained small amounts all around but so far we have got virtually nothing. Indiana has lost 30 percent of the corn crop and some farmers are thinking about cutting beans and using the stalks as fodder. The drought is classified as “extreme”. I don’t even worry about my grass anymore. My worries just seem petty.

I finished a new painting. Once again my thoughts are consumed by this horrible weather and our 100 degree summer. We may get a break today and tomorrow with slightly lower temperatures and the sky is cloudy but that really doesn’t mean much. This painting is 100 Degree Summer – 6. It is a half sheet of 300# Arches torn lengthwise. It has lots of green and teal and shots of orange and red. I think I was torn between cool water and wanting to see some green grass. Everything got jumbled up but I think it made a pleasing painting. May it cool and refresh you!

100 Degree Summer – 6

July 12, 2012 July 14, 2012

Well friends…it is only 94 degrees today! Oops – make that 95! Hottest, driest summer on record in Indianapolis. We are in an extreme drought and under watering restrictions. This is very tough for the farmers and I have two in the family.  Very nerve wracking time for everyone near and dear to me.

I did complete a new 100 Degree Summer painting – BOY do I have inspiration! This was fun and a real challenge. It is my first ever full sheet painting. It was done on Crescent Watercolor Board which has a very hard, smooth surface so my process had to be modified slightly to allow for this less absorbant surface. I also worked with some new colors that I have never used before – teals and aquas – colors that I really like.  The inspiration was the rapidly disappearing water in the rivers, streams, fountains, ponds and pools. The warm surface layer and the cool underneath. The swirling and the ripples as swimmers move through it and children splash.

100 Degree Summer – 5

July 7, 2012 July 8, 2012

In Indianapolis, we hit 105 degrees yesterday. I have finished another 100 Degree Summer painting – hmmmm, can’t imagine what inspires me! It is not quite up to snuff. I lost control of the bottom section and it got too drab and uninteresting…As I do more to recover it only gets worse.

100 Degree Summer – 4

This photo was taken at the stage when I thought I was done and SHOULD HAVE STOPPED TINKERING! (I’m shouting at myself.) I didn’t like the red section in the middle at the bottom so tried to add some additional interest and now it looks even worse. Anyway – that’s how we learn, right!???

This is a half sheet of Arches 300# CP paper. I think knowing when to stop is one of the most challenging of all decisions for an artist. I usually put a painting through a “living with it” period. I didn’t give this one enough living with it time. I just knew it wasn’t up to my recent standard and I jumped right in. I think I needed the extra time to do a better job of figuring out what to do to add interest. If I had it all to do over I might have added some Masa or paper collage to the bottom section. This would have allowed me to lighten the area and add texture.

July 2, 2012 July 4, 2012

This very, very, very hot weather has motivated me and I am painting again. Last summer I started a series inspired by the hellaciously hot weather…and its back!!!! This is my latest in the 100 Degree Summer series. I don’t know what it is like where you live but we have already had two days that registered over 100 degrees and they are projecting more for later this week. Thank goodness, the humidity is lower than Indiana normally experiences.

This is in watercolor and was painted on a half sheet of 300# Arches paper.

100 Degree Summer – 3

June 30, 2012 July 1, 2012

I love to draw and I try to enter drawings in the Indiana State Fair each year. I just completed (at least I think its complete!) a drawing so I thought I would share it. We have a giant oak tree in our neighborhood and it is really magnificent. It has a huge circumference and the branches swoop down and almost touch the ground. They feel like arms trying to embrace me as I walk by with Baxter and Buffy. Here is my drawing and I don’t think I’ve really communicated the LARGENESS of the tree but I know what I’m going to correct in a watercolor I’m going to attempt. Enjoy the shade on this HOT day!

The Giant