The Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge for January was "3 random colors". I used watercolor, and blindly pointed at three corners of my watercolor palette, which is arranged by color/temperature. By aiming at three different areas of the palette, I knew I was getting a bit of variety. I chose vermilion, sap green, and cerulean (see picture). My first instinct was to pick again, but I wanted to maintain the integrity of the challenge and learn something. Here are a few thoughts from this challenge
- None of these colors is very cool, so I needed to adjust my temperature scale
- The most yellow I could achieve was with sap green with a little vermiliion.
- I could make beautiful neutrals, browns, grays, using these three colors.
- The darkest I could get was a charcoal-ish blue gray but if I pushed it a tiny bit beyond its neutral balance, I was into an orange or green or blue (not really neutral anymore, and not as dark as I wanted.)
- I adjusted my buildings to look a little terracotta colored, so maybe Italy or Spain, based on the colors I could achieve.
- When I used vermilion on its own, as a color option, it was much too strong and overpowered the other options. There is nothing in this composition that I wanted drawing your eye that much, so I neutralized all the vermilion I used.
- I enjoyed the challenge, and will randomly choose three colors again to see what happens
Take a look at all the Girls Just Wanna Paint interpretations of the theme by clicking the link.
My husband likes to get to church early on Sunday morning to organize his thoughts, conduct book study, and get settled in before the congregation arrives. We drive together, but I like to hang outside and draw somewhere nearby. This winter, I noticed the shadows cast up the street on the Old Ordinary, home of the Hingham Historical Society. I posted my five hundred fourth drawing of the building using ink and markers a couple of weeks ago, with its beautiful shadow pattern. Today I used my watercolors for the same view. There is a snow storm predicted for tonight, so the clouds were encroaching, but I could see the shadows intermittently and took advantage.
You can see my in process photograph below, taken from the dash board of my car as I painted this morning.
This is my five hundred eighteenth daily drawing. Thank you, as always, for looking.
This afternoon we stopped by our local wood-fired pizza shop, and waited for our order. I love these chances to draw and usually have a sketchbook in my bag. But, I had left the book at home, and there was not another paper in the car. I needed to find something to draw on so I pulled a newspaper from the magazine rack in the pizza shop and found a page with enough white on it to do a drawing while we waited. I sort of like the juxtaposition of the pizza staff over the newsprint, in the "Wicked Local" section of the paper. By the way, CP's Woodfired Pizza is fantastic, if you are near Scituate, MA. Check them out.
This is my five hundred tenth consecutive daily drawing. Thank you, as always, for looking.
I have been experimenting with gouache, opaque watercolor. It has an interesting matte texture, and I am learning to mix it as well as to pull it thinly over other layers. This is a copy of an oil painting I did a number of years ago. I like its backlit quality against the window.
This is my five hundred seventh consecutive daily drawing. Thank you for looking.
There's a small pub across the street from where my husband worked years ago. He was a frequent customer, at least weekly, maybe more often, when he worked nearby. He still pines for their buffalo wings so we took a day trip up there during my vacation this week. He loved the wings as usual, and we each had a burger... I think the adventure was more about me watching him revisiting his beloved wings, a culinary delight lost on me.
This is my five hundred sixth consecutive daily drawing. Thank you for your continued interest, and for commenting.
The city streets provide ever-shifting light and shadow patterns. I see them as caverns of light cascading down through the buildings. Boston's Downtown Crossing makes for beautiful shapes, with pedestrians in the middle of the street casting shadows. Every few feet creates a different view, all exciting.
This is my five hundred fifth consecutive daily drawing. Thank you for your continued interest and your comments. I appreciate all of them.
My husband and I went to dinner at El Sarape on Valentine's Day. Very pleasant evening, and always great food. We finished the meal with churros and coffee. I am carrying some blank coasters with me and drawing on them when out at pubs or restaurants. This is my coaster art at El Sarape, and my five hundred first daily drawing. Thank you for looking, and thank you for your continued interest. You know I love your comments.
I have been experimenting with gouache, and have a lot to learn. I like the opacity, am getting used to the matte finish, and am working with the quick-ish drying. This is a gouache painting of an oil painting I did a number of years ago. I like the deep darks I can achieve, and I can carve with the paint as with oil paints. I can drag dry paint over other paint, and the rapid drying on the paper is different, but interesting.
This is my 500th daily drawing. These five hundred days have passed quickly! I am enjoying looking back over the last year and almost a half. I have decided to put some of the daily drawings on my web site under a new sketchbook tab. Take a look.
As always, thank you for looking at my daily endeavors. I enjoy your feedback.
Sometimes I get to church early on Sunday mornings, hang out in the parlor and read, or grade quizzes, or draw. This Sunday morning, the sun was casting beautiful shadows on the sanctuary wall I could see from my seat on the parlor couch. New North Church in Hingham is a beautiful building, erected in 1806. It has a long and interesting history. I enjoy sitting inside, thinking about those who came before.
This is my four hundred ninety-seventh daily drawing. As always, thank you for your interest.
I spent this morning with a friend from our church making soup in the church kitchen. We made a giant pot of minestrone, which we will serve as part of tomorrow's after-service potluck lunch. It was a nice morning of conversation and the sound of chopping; tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, cabbage and parsley... all landing in a pot with white beans, water and chicken stock. We'll see how it fares over night, as we heat it tomorrow morning to be ready for a potluck. Our church picks up almost expired flowers and baked goods from the local Trader Joe's on Saturday mornings. Trader Joe's is clearing the shelves for newer products, most of these have a sell by date of today, or a couple of days from now. Our church congregation leaves with flowers and baked goods for themselves, or to share with a friend. Today, we had a surplus. We have a shelter in town, with mission of transitioning people and families from homelessness. I called them and dropped off a big box of baked goods, which I will try to make a regular weekend visit.
This is my four hundred ninety-sixth daily drawing. Thank you for looking. You know I love your comments, too.
After a very busy week of school, my husband invited me to the local pub for a late lunch for him/early dinner for me. We headed to The Snug, great little pub with terrific food. I love the atmosphere there, enjoyed a Friday pint. I don't drink a lot in general, but am discovering I enjoy an occasional beer, especially when they have a little citrus flavor. Today I had Jack's Abbey Blood Orange Wheat. Yummy. I like drawing inside restaurants, the layering of people from front to back, and the shelves of bottles in the back.
This is my four hundred ninety-fifth daily drawing. Thank you for your continued interest, and your comments. You know I love them.
Today we had a full day of professional development at school while our students began a 4 day weekend. It was a good day with my colleagues covering safety, formative assessments, grading, and providing a chance to spend a little social time with my co-workers, which is rare in our busy, busy days. It's good for us to have time to talk about how to do the best for our students. I had time for a few sketches during our faculty meeting this morning.
This is my four hundred fourth daily drawing. Thank you for your interest and attention.
Today was the Hingham Arts Walk, a beautiful fall event during which artists are on the street, and in many of the businesses and galleries, showing and/or creating their art. My Girls Just Wanna Paint group gathered to paint in the round at the community center. Though we paint to a theme each month, we rarely paint together as a group. It was lots of fun, with tons of visitors. We painted around a still life in the center of the table, lit almost from the top. Each of us has a
different style so the paintings each have a different feel. I began by washing in the shadow areas, then painted into the shadows, holding back on the light areas until the last half hour or so. My finished painting will be posted later, after I tweak it a little bit.
This is my three hundred seventy-ninth daily drawing. I enjoyed doing a quick sketch of today's event, and enjoyed the event immensely. Thanks for your continued interest.
Tonight I attended the reception of a friend and artist, Gail Nathanson. She has a show of oil paintings, titled "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" at the Hingham Library. It is a vibrant show, filled with animals with distinct personalities. As I left, I looked back through the library window and saw this scene from the parking lot. I love the vibrancy of the art lighting up the night as seen through the large windows. Check out the show if you have a chance. Worth the visit.
This is my three hundred seventy-fifth daily drawing. Thank you for your continued interest.
My daughter and I volunteered at Rosie's Place in Boston the other day. We worked in the food pantry for a few hours, waiting on the clients. Each gets a number and we escort them through the pantry one on one. They get to choose what they want, and they leave with a couple of well-packed bags of food. While the clients wait for their number, they eat in the dining room, where my daughter and I eventually had dinner as well. This is my third time volunteering at Rosie's, first in the food pantry. I plan to make it a regular gig with my daughter, perhaps every two weeks. When I put together this drawing, I was very intentional about not including any of the clients. Each of the red aprons indicates a volunteer. Some volunteers have worked weekly for years, and for some it is the first time. Wonderful organization.
This is my three hundred sixty-ninth daily drawing. Thank you for looking.
Yesterday I finished my first year of daily drawings! Thank you for following my year, for your comments and thoughts. I am celebrating by hosting a giveaway. I will choose a winner at random for this 8 x 10 drawing.
To enter the giveaway:
Follow me on Instagram, @jodypaints
Leave a comment on my Instagram GIVEAWAY post.
Deadline is Friday, October 5, 2018.
Winner will be chosen at random and notified via Instagram direct message.
Again, thank you for following me on my daily drawing journey. Let's see what this year brings!
This summer, we spent time every morning on our farmer's porch, drinking coffee, watching the birds, chipmunks, and squirrels move from feeder to feeder in the yard. It is a wonderful space. Now that school has begun, I am finding about 10 minutes each morning to sit on the porch and collect my thoughts before heading off to my day. I made sure to grab some time out there this weekend despite it being moving weekend for our daughter into Boston. I love the reflections of the yard into the vintage mirror hanging on the wall above our daughter's succulent collection, which will follow her into town within the month.
This is my three hundred twenty-ninth daily drawing. Thank you so much for your continued interest. I began a brand new sketchbook with this drawing, and labeled the inside cover with my name, and "September - ". Both my husband and daughter wondered aloud about the year, and the rest of the date. I will fill it in when I finish the book. It has 60 pages. Sometimes I put more than one drawing on a page, so we'll see how long this book lasts.
This year began what might be a new tradition. The night before school starts for me, we went out to a movie and dinner. My room was ready, my plans ready, my head back in the game... if we stayed home, I would keep reviewing plans for the days and weeks ahead. Instead, we headed out. We went to Plimouth Plantation, which has a nice art movie house and saw "Puzzle", a quiet, interesting movie about a woman who changes her life, prompted by a birthday gift of a jigsaw puzzle. I liked it. Then we headed to downtown Plymouth and ate dinner on the second floor of a restaurant. When I looked over my shoulder out the window, I saw a pair of birds, sitting on the ledge, looking down upon the passing tourists. I'm sure they were interested in any crumbs or more that hit the street, but I loved the point of view.
This is my three hundred twenty-third daily drawing. Thank you for looking.
More quick sketches from the Marshfield Fair. We go almost every night to walk around, look at the festivities, visit with friends and perhaps have a meal. I decided to leave the sketchbook home and just brought a folded piece of sketch paper in my pocket. The first drawing is from the stools at the Fair clam shack, and the second through the door down in the Horticulture area of the Agricultural Hall.
These are days 320 and 321
of my daily drawings. Thank you for your continued interest.
I love the Marshfield Fair, and volunteer there frequently each August. It is enjoyable to watch the activity increase and the buildings fill during the weeks and days ahead. In the Agricultural Hall, country arts and crafts are submitted upstairs, and quilts are hung from wires strung among the rafters. Each year, a table of quilters works during the fair, piecing together quilts from squares entered to the annual themed contest. I love the dimensions built by these beautiful hand made treasures hanging throughout the building.
This is my three hundred nineteenth daily drawing. Thank you for your continued interest.
