Sea Shells

Last week in Art Class we painted seashells.  We put frisket over the shells to preserve the white. We then painted the background and  added some salt, when the background was still wet.  Once it was dry, we removed the salt and then dipped a toothbrush in paint and splattered the background.  This was all done to create the effect of sand.  After the paint splatters were dry, we removed the frisket and then painted the shells.

Oranges - Rookie Painter challenge

I did this painting over the weekend for a painting challenge blog called rookiepainter.  I had never painted oranges before, so it truly was a challenge for me.  It was fun, although I had some trouble with the shadows.

Mason Jar...a value study.

This is one of my earlier paintings.  Maria had us do a value study where we could paint with only one color.  This was a lot of fun and is one of my husband's favorite paintings.

The Lot

I created this painting for my husband's 50th birthday present.  This stream was on "The Lot" that his dad purchased when Bill was a boy.  Bill used to swim and fish in it.  He loved this property so much and still enjoys going there today, that I wanted to recreate it in a painting for him to hang in his office.

Vintage paintings

Maria had us take an old photograph and create in watercolor a vintage painting.  I chose my Great Aunt Mary as a child.  This photo was taken in 1909.  I had so much fun with this painting that I did another the following week.

This painting is called Pop's Basket.  This is Bill's great-grandfather Peter Haney.  This photograph was taken in the late 1800's.  I really enjoy painting from vintage photographs and hope to do more!

Deer and Donut...

I painted this deer for my son in Art Class.  This is my first and only animal (other than the birds I have done). 

I painted this donut for my daughter.  We did this in Art Class and after we were all done...we were able to eat it!  Fun!  I plan to frame these and hang them in each of their rooms.

Common Yellowthroat

I painted this bird right before Christmas.  I used it to make note cards and gave them out as gifts to my family for Christmas.

Pears, pears and more pears...

This is the first still life of pears in watercolor that I did back in 2008, when I first started painting again.

My second still life of pears done in 2009.

This pear was done in acrylics.  We spent about a month working with acrylic paints.  It was fun, but I prefer to work in watercolor.

Snow Scene

This week in class, we were able to choose our own landscape to work on.  Since I had never done a snow scene, I decided to give that a try.  I had a great time working on this scene.  Working with snow doesn't seem so scary anymore!

Art Show - A Sight For Sore Eyes.

I entered my first Art Show with this painting done in watercolor.  This painting is based on a black and white photograph taken of my grandmother with her friends in the 1920's.  I gave the painting the title "A Sight For Sore Eyes" because that is what my grandmother wrote on the photograph.

Rob's Challenger

This is a belated Christmas present for my brother Rob.  He collects old cars and I wanted to paint this for him as a surprise.  This is my first time painting a car.  I still have to do some more work on it before I give it to him.

Skies and Trees

In Class, we focused on painting skies in a landscape using the wet-on-wet technique.  These were small 4x6 paintings. 

We also worked on trees, which is something I need to do extra work in.