Friday, November 16, 2012

Geometry again

Happy
Acrylic and watercolor
Cotman 16 x 12 in. watercolor pad
IKEA frame
There are aspects of this experiment I like and some I don't. That being said, I do like to look at it hanging on my wall. I really like how my plants, flowers, dragon, prey, and scrip came out. I think my mushroom, scroll work at the bottom, and background have issues. The geometry at the top I like, and the way the bugs wings let it show through.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Geometric background

Well, the reflections distort the image a bit, I am sorry about that. But there you are, no one is going to hire me for taking pictures of museum pieces. In this experiment I decided to try out with geometric designs in the background. I like the way they turned out. In this one I used acrylic with watercolor on my 12x 16 in. watercolor pad. I like the way the acrylic repels the watercolor when it is dry.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Painting - Plants

Plants
Acrylic and watercolor,
Cotman 16 x 12 in. watercolor pad, IKEA frame
In this painting I am starting to experiment more with acrylics and using a watercolor wash. In this way I am able to get more sense of depth.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

A redo

God is the flower of life
This one is a redo from a smaller size on copy paper to my Cotman watercolor pad. It doesn't have quite the same free floating, non-grounded feel as the original, but I like the way it turned out. It feels happy. I experimented with watercolor, colored pencils, and acrylics.

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Welcome - Arabic

After painting the two Welcomes in English, I wanted one in Arabic for my friends to whom that language is native. It turned out like I wanted it to (quite unusual for me). When you first see it from a distance the butterflies wings recede and jst the accent marks show, but when you are close the butterflies all have two wings.

I like this one better than the other two, but not all my friends can read this one, so I get to keep them both (well it will be both when I decide which one of the English ones I like best ;) ).

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Welcome... two

I wanted a welcome sign to hang in the entryway, so, in October I painted two. We don't need two, but I haven't decided which one I like better, so one hangs in the entry and one in the living room. Eventually, I will gift one... But for now we have two.

Sunday, November 04, 2012

New family member ;D and a painting

Okay so October flew by like an red-orange leaf in a windstorm. Last week I didn't paint: the family was home over Eid AND we acquired a new family member. It has been in the works for a while and is a promise full-filled to my daughter on moving here (we are still looking for the 'right' cat). Transportation to and from is still a bit of an issue, but we will work it out.
Saba Al Hasa
He is a lovely 2 year old beautifully tempered Arabian. We are very excited to welcome him into our family and looking forward to our new adventures with him.

This is a painting I did in October experimenting with water color and acrylics. I used my Cotman 16 x 12 in. cold pressed water color block. This size fits perfectly in the frames I get from IKEA. As you can see I chose to represent one o my dragons in a pose I haven't exhibited before. The jury is still out, but I think he is a bit too far to the right. He disturbs the symmetry too much, but that is what experimenting is all about - trying new things, making mistakes, regrouping, and moving right along.