flower garden bouquet

Today I continued painting the robin, darkening the tummy, reworking the breast patterns, going over the branches making dark purple lines in the shadow and lavender and green yellow lines in the light and then speckling little spots of lichens and bark patterns.

I don't usually do this outlining stroke but I was teaching it the other night so I am trying to stretch myself. I was trying to build this confused high contrast area in the very bottom a weighted part of the painting and then lift it up with light airiness floating way out the top.

Then because it was so futzy to work on the robin and I just ordered 25 new eight-by-ten gesso boards, I splurged and started a new painting. I found a photo of a bouquet from someone's mother's flower garden on paintmyphoto.com. It is so full and sloppy and lots of roses. Midway through the phone rang and Delta art of Edmonton said that Ampersand hasn't fulfilled any of their orders since November seven months ago. They only had seven to sell me. I don't know what I'm going to paint on when I run out. I think I will switch to canvas paper wait and see what happens.

Happy Birthday painting

 

Yesterday was my daughter's 17th birthday! I woke up at 7 to bake her a white cake her favourite and one that I have made almost every birthday. Well there was a time when all she wanted was ice cream cake but now she's back to the white cake. It took 12 egg whites! 

In the evening I taught a Zoom class on how to paint Robins and simplify the patterning of the background. My Robin I made like it was in a birthday party with confetti like colours and patterning all around. I chose this Robin from paint my photo website. I loved it because the bird is open mouthed eating the berry.

 It's a work in progress I'm trying to concentrate on and finish it. I seem to be starting lots of work these days and slow down when finishing. There's such freedom when I start a new work and such fussiness when I end it.

When I came out of my class at 9:30 I saw this on the kitchen table, what a fun surprise! My two daughters had iced the birthday cake!