Muscaris continued

Some more work on the muscaris.
The composition sketches:

A photograph of the real object I'm working with:

The first acrylic on canvas sketch:

Primroses

Another ink from my sketchbook.
The problem is, as I do not make them quickly enough, these flowers tend to fade before I have time to draw them.
I should take pictures, but it is not exatly the same thing.

Muscaris

Muscaris - ink pen on paper.
From a little pot I bought this week end.
I bought some primeroses too, to be drawn later.

Some Sketches

From a reference photograph in WC! I did some sketches.
I find the head angle difficult to grasp and will continue trying.




Bob Hague did a wonderful watercolor rendition of the same reference in his blog:
watercoloradventure

I plan to do it in acrylics if I succeed in grasping the angle...

Bonne Année! Happy New Year!

I wish all of you a very Happy Year for 2007!
Je vous souhaite à tous une très Bonne Année 2007!

Merry Christmas!!

Digital art.

Glass Sculpting - Sculptures de verre

No digital camera for the time being, a pity by this cold weather and time of year where the light is so beautiful.
So I spend too much time on the blogs and discover unique art.
I have seen on a "A dress a day" blog, a dream of a dress in glass, by the artist Karen LaMonte.
More art can be seen on her blog at : Karen LaMonte
Realy impressive and poetic.

Super Hero chain results

Double P published the list of blogs that participated in the Super Hero drawing chain on his blog. Many thanks to him for this fun idea!

Double P a publié sur son blog la liste des participants à la chaîne "dessine-toi dans le costume de ton super-héros préféré". Merci encore pour cette idée amusante!

Me as a super hero

A few days ago, a belgian comics artist launched a challenge " draw yourself as a super hero ".
Marie-Laure
invited me to join.
Here is my contribution:

I have always loved Wonder Woman attire and old-fashioned style.

Se dessiner en tant que super-héros est une idée de Double P qui m'a été passée par Marie-Laure.
Voici ma contribution!

Lots of poppies

"Lots of Poppies", watercolor and ink, 42cm*29,7cm, 16.5*11.7inches
Click to bid

Playing with flickr...Stone and Steel letters

http://metaatem.net/words/



You can compose any word you like with letters found on flickr by the tool created by
kastner with php and javascript.
I chose stone and steel looking letters.

Peter Callesen

A slideshow is in circulation on the internet with the magical papercuts of this artist.
Here is the link to his site:
Peter Callesen
Some of his installations are very interesting too.

Poppy

Poppy, Watercolor and ink, 11.7*16.5 inches, 29,7x42 cm.
A try at watercolor and ink letting a lot of white surfaces on the paper, to make the delicacy and frailness of the flower appear.

IF trouble

Well, let's say it's friday...

Sunflowers ACEO

ACEO, peonies in a vase.
Watercolor and ink( 2.5x3.5 inches ).

It's thursday already!
So that's just a quick post before Illustration Friday.

Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday is a blog ring of artists that each friday post in their blog an illustration on a certain theme.
http://www.illustrationfriday.com/
I have not joined yet, but decided to begin to post an "illustration" each friday.
This week theme was quiet, and I don't know whether my drawing complies.
It illustrates a little poem about weekdays for children.

Another poenies ACEO

ACEO, peonies in a vase.
Watercolor and ink ( 2.5x3.5 inches ).

Poenies ACEO

ACEO, peonies in a garden.
Watercolor ( 2.5x3.5 inches ).

Boat ACEO

Another ACEO, a toy boat stranded.
Watercolor and ink ( 2.5x3.5 inches ).

Marc Tanguy

I love this painter work. I have put his blog in my link too.
He has several series on his website, very creative and interesting.
Marc Tanguy

Poppy ACEO

I have been lately doing ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions and Originals), that mean small paintings, the size of a trading card ( 2.5x3.5 inches ).
Their small sizes makes it difficult to go into details, that is a good exercise.
These cards are highly collected on eBay.
It is a convenient way to gather an important original artwork collection without it taking too much space on the wall.

At a friend's

Watercolor and ink pen, 25*18cm, about 10*7 inches.
Sketch done at a friend's during a watercolorists meeting.

Super Swap!

Marie-Laure is a young french painter, very creative, who knows how to use strong colors with taste.
She does powerful oils with a knife, cute teddybears and strong flowers in watercolor, and models funny characters from all sorts of medium ranging from aluminum foil to newspaper.
You can find her blog here:
http://marielauremira.blogspot.com/
I'm lucky enough to know her for some time now, and we recently made a painting swap.
I sent her my "Rose et Rosée" watercolor, and received in exchange the wonderful "Cerises et Chocolat" plus a mini "Muffins Choco-Cerises". Yummy!!!
Here is "Cerises et Chocolat", waiting to be hung at the place it deserves in my home.
I love its strong colors and spontaneity, the pale flowers in the background balancing the dark chocolate cake and red fruits.

Thank you, Marie-Laure!

Red Currant Study

A study of red currants from my garden, on A2 watercolor paper.
I have cut a small branch that I put in a glass of water and it seems to keep for several days. It may be a way to keep the berries from the birds, but I don't know whether they continue to mature when the branch has been cut.
I'd love to have enough berries to make a red currant tart.

Stargazer Lily

Watercolor, 25*18cm, about 10*7 inches.
A Stargazer Lily painted in a batik way, zone after zone, and trying to use the lines the watercolor leaves around the shapes when it dries to have a batik like effect.

Rose and dew

Rose et Rosée, watercolor, 31*23cm, about 12*9 inches.
I tried not to use too intense colors on this one to stay in the delicate mood of the rose.

Hollyhocks Postcard

Small format watercolor ( about 10*14 cms - 4*5.5 inches) to play freely with color and water.

Sweet Award

I received the Children's Choice Award for my horse head in a local show.
That's so sweet to be elected by children!

"Au Box", acrylic, 35cm*27cm, about 14 by 11 inches

Tiger

Tiger, watercolor, 25,3x17,8 cm, about 10x7 inches.
Originally from a zoo, this tiger is back into the jungle for the watercolor sake. I hope it will bear the change well...

Back to blogging...

...after an Easter break followed by PC problems...
I just finished 3 paintings for a show. The paintings are to be brought tomorrow and I finished them this morning...
that's called work under pressure! But sometimes I seem not to be able to paint without a deadline.
Hereafter are 2 of them: a horse head in acrylic and marbles in pastel. The marbles are from a WetCanvas! photo library reference.

In the meantime...

I'll show you my palette for acrylics.
It is a pie pan ( is that the correct term in english ? ), non stick, so that the paint is easy to scrape, and its shape enables me to cover it with a film to keep the paint wet longer.
It is also convenient for spraying as the too liquid paint cannot wander outside the palette.

This is a long WIP...

...and it is still to be continued.
I redid some zones that had a "too complicated" color in my opinion with a simpler mix and tried to keep my colors bolder than usual.
I have still work to do but I'm happier with the result now.

wip iris study...

watercolor and watercolor pencils, 18*24 cm, 7*9 inches
My iris heart inspired to try some loose watercolor and watercolor pencils studies. Here is one of these.
I like using the watercolor pencils on a wet surface. They seem to melt into the paper and the line they leave is blurry. Vivid watercolor adds depth and focal points to the result.

wip iris study

watercolor, 18*24 cm, 7*9 inches
To understand the flower better, I did a watercolor study of my iris heart.
It solved some of the problems I had.

wip iris 3

Continued very slowly. This snapshot was taken with artificial lightning and re-balanced with sofware so as to be closer in color to the painting. I'm not quite happy with the painting's colors. I may rework some parts. I think it will take longer than scheduled...

wip iris continued - lilac

Lilac, watercolor, 18*24 cm, 7*9 inches.
A little watercolor done while procrastinating in front of the Iris heart acrylic.
Here is the progress on the iris wip.
I did a violet layer, that seems blue in the photograph, then begun to smooth the transitions in some zones.

iris canvas wip

Step 1

I have begun a relatively big painting of the heart of an iris on canvas ( 55*46 cm, 22*18 inches ).
I first draw the main lines with charcoal then used red and ochres to do the underpainting. The aim is to make the colour vibrate with its complementary when I do the mainly violet overpainting.
step 2

fairy

A fairy with butterflies watercolor and ink, 18*24 cm, 7*9 inches.
On wetcanvas, there is a game in which eBay selling artists each month make artworks fitting a theme. That was to be my contribution to the january-february game. I guess I'm a bit late...

reflets - reflexions

Back to blogging after a hiatus of a week... My computer crashed, was sent to repair and is finally fixed.
I painted this acrylic painting, 46*38 cm, 18*15 inches for a juried show. The theme, not compulsory, is water.
I like the bright colors in this one, and the different greens. Greens are technically difficult for me. They require sublety in mixings colors and patience.

steps

No painting today.
I have been to the seaside last week and came back with a lot of impressions soon to be converted to paintings.
Steps on the sand always make me dream.

still doodling

I kept on doodling. Redhead moods series... a friend told me not to forget to add some of the sweater color in the hair to unify them. Good tip.