A snail's pace.....

Sure wish I could show more progress on my painting, but with the holidays upon us......!! I actually am baking some bread for my Thanksgiving table right now- we women certainly multi-task, don't we?
Back to my painting- I've been adding more detail throughout, and the motorcycle is gradually coming together on the paper. I need some long stretches of uninterrupted time to lay in the larger green sections. Bright greens are really difficult to use, and they are very unforgiving if you "mess up" so I'll need to work on those sections when I know I'll have the time. Watercolor is certainly a medium that requires planning, sometimes many steps ahead- like playing chess, for example. Using staining colors definitely requires pre-planning! Hopefully I'll be able to complete this before the end of the year. I sure was right when I talked about it being cold and snowy when I finished! I'll especially be thrilled if I can say I completed it in 2oo8!!

Bluebirds...

I went out for a brisk walk this morning, and even thought it is quite chilly with a cold, cutting wind, I saw four bluebirds flitting around a bare tree, looking like they were having a wonderful time! I think they're my favorite bird. I never saw one until just a few years ago, when I spotted something blue like a sparkling jewel darting around the yard. I was so excited to see one, and later that December, I saw 2 fluttering around my birdfeeder, seemingly oblivious to the bitter chill.
I would love to get some photos and do a painting of my own, backyard bluebirds. I think capturing the elusive beauties will prove difficult, however. Nevertheless, since I saw these today, I'll keep my camera at the ready!

Busy, busy....

Here's the latest on the motorcycle. I haven't had as much time as I would like to work on it. I'm an election inspector, so on election day I worked from 5:30 in the morning until 9:30 that night. Coffee is a wonderful thing!! Loved the outcome, too! Afterwards my hubby has come down with the flu, and I guess this flu is a tenacious one- he's been sick for a while now. So painting time has been scarce, understandibly. I've been gradually adding more detail to the painting. I do need to do the large, green areas, but I'm waiting for a large block of uninterrupted time to tackle those! On an earlier post, I was jokingly wondering if it would be snowy and cold when I finished the painting. No kidding! It's really cold today. I would like to get this done this month, if at all possible. If I get this flu, it may not get done until the new year!

Back to work.....

Halloween has come and gone, so now it's back to motorcycles! I've been slowly (obviously) adding more and more detail to the painting. The actual bike was painted using such a vibrant, bright green, and green in watercolor is a bit tricky. Windsor Green and other pure greens are very bold, staining colors; certainly colors not to be used by the faint of heart! Handling a large section of a painting using a staining color requires a lot of concentration....and certainly taking the phone off the hook is a requirement! A lot of artists shy away from the staining bold colors at first, understandibly so. However, paintings such as this one require strong colors and values, and you just have to jump in and go for it!