This Week in a Nutshell - or Bean

Wanted to work on my art so this week I have been drawing beans. Twenty-six beans yesterday, 17 beans today, and many more to come - I am sure. I am trying to get better at figure drawing, which helps with drawing anything in space. So beans it is. I also went back through my photos and worked on picking photos that I want to consider for paintings. And, I keep walking past that acrylic painting that I did right before going on vacation. I am trying to decide if that needs to go into a file folder marked "Fix It Later." I am certain that I will eventually figure out what to do with it even if it is gesso and repaint. I wanted texture, but am wondering if the bubbles from the Acrylic Flow Improver, combined with the smooth panel, may have given a little too much texture. It does work well for the bricks or rocks on the bridge and ground. I'm going to have to experiment some more. It should eventually morph into something.

I am trying to keep up with both painting and drawing so that I don't lose ground in either. I am going to temporarily switch from drawing beans to gesture drawings. I still need to practice that, and I still need to wrap my head around the combination of twisting and bending put together that you have to think about with the beans.

At any rate, just so that you have something to look at, here is a photo from video footage that I took on July 4, when we visited California.

Cabrillo National Monument

And, by the way, I am still working on this.

San Antonio Japanese Garden Bridge - revised

It Was Tough Duty - But Someone Had To Do It

Just got back from vacation and as the title shows, it was tough duty, but somebody just had to do it. As you can see from these 2 last blogs, the food and beach were regimens that just had to be done. I mainly kicked back and absorbed the sights, sounds and smells, but also used my handy camera to capture scenes that I would like to paint. Probably the most "work" I did was in trying to keep up with my gesture drawing. It was fun to just relax. I will try to post some scenes later (either painted or photos).

In the meantime, I had started a painting with my new supplies from Jerry's Artarama that I had ordered. I had gotten some new acrylic medium that I wanted to try out, along with Ampersand's "The artist PANEL" primed smooth. As usual, it was an experiment. I had to stop and go on vacation (sigh) and now I am at that stage of "What do I do next?"

So here is the latest and, no I don't think that it is quite finished yet.

San Antonio Japanese Garden Bridge

Working Really Hard On My Art

Working really hard on my artwork. More to follow next week!