Taking a Look Back

Taking a Look Back

Sometimes we just need a reminder to be motivated,

the why and the how can be elusive.

I find motivation in my studio.

Today, on Motivation Monday

I'm going to bring up a few Motivation pieces

for you to read, 

mull over,

and consider,

all on one page.

Click HERE if you want to make some changes in your life. 

Click HERE if you struggle with fear. 

Click HERE to learn my word for 2017 and it's influence. 

Click HERE to learn to live in the moment. 

Click HERE if you suffer from insomnia. 

So there you have 5 Motivation Monday posts

without having to hunt, scroll, or query.

Art Camps are forming for this summer.

This is the first one up for the summer.

We are going to learn about these 4 major artists,

several 19th-20th century artists,

and artists in this part of the country.

Your student will paint a different painting each day

in the style of the 4 major artists we'll study.

Sign your child up today.

Click HERE to see all 5 camps and sign up.

 

 

Motivation Monday - Keep On Keepin On

Keep On - Keepin On

I am going to get this -

Some Day

Isn't this little guy too cute.

This is my youngest grand child Josh.

 

Sunday I had some time so I decided to try drawing

him, again.

I've drawn him and painted him, several times

 with moderate success.

 

You know I'm always saying, keep working at it.

Don't give up!

Try again!

Practice, Practice, Practice!

 

So I took my own advice and tried again.

 

 

It's not a bad drawing, but it's not a great likeness.

 

But it is the best one I've done so far.

 

This morning when I got up I took another look

at the drawing and the photo.

As I compared the two,

I saw some things that weren't correct so 

so I set about trying to make some corrections.

 

Here's them next to each other.

 

 

 

1st attempt

With some corrections to the mouth and chin.

This is a better likeness, but still not close enough.

But I'll keep working on it.

Maybe I'll work on his sister Karen first.

The point is, to keep at it.

Just because you don't get it the first time,

try again and again and again.

I learned something new every time I've tried to draw

one of my grandchildren.

You will too!

And finally,

yes, I'm going to say it again.

It's all in what you see.

You have to keep looking at your drawing or painting,

and what you're rendering it from.

Step away from the project and come back in a day or so.

It's amazing how quickly I saw a few problems

when I slept on it for a night.

When I looked at it this morning,

it was almost like having a neon arrow

pointing to the problem area of the mouth and chin.

Thanks for stopping by today,

and keep on keeping on.

Click HERE if you have a child who'd love art camp. 

Click HERE to learn about my online painting course. 

 

Painting an Heirloom - Motivation Monday

Painting an Heirloom

I love painting furniture,

so last week I painted a piece that's been in my family

for years,

and the scene has also been

 rolling around in my brain for years.

 

This is a cedar chest my uncle who is 87, made for my mom when he was in high school.

My mom would have been 90, so this piece is about

 70 years old.

We had a huge rain storm 2 weeks ago and water got in our basement where this has been.

So, I thought it was a perfect time to take it out to my studio

and get started on it.

So after all the sucking up water with shop vacs, carpet cleaning, removing and replacing baseboards, and running industrial fans for 72 hours,

I emptied it out and we took it out to my studio.

I had it sitting up on a table so it was almost at eye level.

 

It's a large cedar chest and I cannot remember a time this wasn't in my home. 

 My mom gave it to me about 70 years ago when she moved to Florida.

 It has been painted all sorts of colors over the last 70 years or so.

 

 And here is a close up of the finished product.

I guess this proves that we're never too old to be useful.

We're never too old to try something new.

We're never too old to shine!

And this 70 year old cedar chest does shine!

If you would like to learn to paint in acrylics?

Click HERE to go to my website,

scroll down to the bottom and sign up for the FREE Daisy Painting Class. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Motivation Monday to ya!

 

 

Seeing is Believing

Would I Be a Reliable Eye Witness?

And the answer is NO!

Rose-breasted Grosbeak by jaynegulbrand/Shutterstock

 

Last week a rose-breasted grosbeak showed up at my feeder.

I had never seen one before and didn't know what it was.

My bird loving uncle taught me to make mental notes of size of bird, color of beak, color of legs, and markings.

I was talking to myself describing this bird.

But, while I got the yellow beak, and the color of the legs right,

I was totally off on the color of the head.

I saw much more white on the head and back

 than was actually there.

This bird has white bars on its wings

 and maybe that's what threw me off. 

 

But I was sure it had a white head also.

About an hour later, it came back and I was shocked

at what I got right but more so about what I got wrong.

 

Which tells me, even though I was concentrating on what this bird looked like, I still didn't see it or remember it correctly.

 

I also learned that maybe what I think I see,

is not exactly what I see.

 

So, how does that pertain to painting?

As I try to remember what something looked like to paint it,

I may not always be able to trust my memory.

It's important if I see something I want to paint,

to take notes and pictures and more notes

if I can't paint it immediately. 

 

Learning to see is critical when painting,

particularly when painting plein air, or on location.

But remembering is also pretty important.

I definitely need to work on both those skills.

 

Facts about this bird - 

According to the American Bird Conservancy, 

the rose-breasted grosbeak has a sweet song similar to a robin,

and it's call note is like a gym shoe squeaking on a gym floor.

Unlike other birds, these grosbeaks, male and female, share, incubation, brooding, and feeding duties at the nest.

It Breeds in North American forests and second-growth habitats; winters in forests in the Caribbean and Latin America.

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

If you're interested in learning how to paint,

I have an online painting course you might want to check out.

Click HERE to look over my class or full course. 

You can scroll all the way to the bottom and sign up to take a FREE class painting daisies.

 

Do you have a child who you think would benefit from an art camp this summer?  I am offering 5 different camps.

 Click HERE to learn about art camps in my new art studio.  

 

Want to host a painting party?

Click HERE to get the scoop on being the hostest with the mostest.   

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