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Finding something to celebrate, appreciate and be thankful for every...single... day !

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Springtime and Sunsets

Happy Spring to YOU!

No design or decorating today -- just appreciation of springtime and sunsets! 

These lovely little miracles finally popped up in our own back yard and started dancing in the breeze -- they stood still long enough for me to take an almost non-blurry picture!












Monday, April 6, 2015

Are you an Easter Feaster?



Are you a Easter Feaster? Did you have an Easter Feast?

We did!

It is my sincerest hope that nothing I ever post on this blog ever comes across as bragging in any way. It is my wish that that the only thing this blog does is spread joy and serve as a reminder to celebrate every moment.

I can clearly recall past Easters where life had not been so kind and we could not fit an Easter Feast into the budget or I had simply lost the ability to celebrate or appreciate much of anything -- we just skipped the holidays. Those were very dark days.

The things that I write about in this blog are like a Spring celebration -- coming back after a long winter hibernation.

Back to the celebrating! Spring is here again.

This year our dining table converted to spring on the first day of spring. 

Overnight on Easter eve, the Easter Bunny did his own special magic and left us Easter treats at each of our place settings.





This year the Easter Bunny left us each our very own Chocolate bunny in a bed of Easter grass. 

We also received adorable little foil wrapped chocolate chicks, pink bunnies, and solid chocolate eggs! 

There were jelly beans set in silver dishes and lets not forget the Peeps! 

He also left us a little silver dish of After Dinner Mints. They are so pretty and pastel and I think I have only ever eaten them at Easter time!



We also found our Smithfield Spiral Ham at Aldi, and it was delicious!

Peggo says it was the best ham she ever made. It was not at all fatty, no bone, no waste, easy to cut, perfect size, easy to cook and easy clean-up. It even came in a festive foil  wrapper that had spirals on it. I mention the wrapper because I appreciate the detail. 

Our Easter Feast was the above mentioned spiral ham, delicious steamed carrots and red potatoes seasoned with rosemary and thyme. 

For dessert we had scrumptious mini eclairs and cream puffs. So so so yummy!
This Easter and every Easter, we always seem to be just a little bit behind schedule and the coloring of the eggs seems to happen on Easter Eve.

We bought 4 dozen for coloring. Is that excessive? I always wonder how many eggs other families color for Easter. 

It seems wasteful to use the color for less than 2 dozen, and anything more than 4 dozen and I don't think we could ever possibly eat them all before they spoil. 

We'll be up to our ears in egg salad as it is! 


For our 'egg party' we ate warm soft pretzels and jelly beans while we brought out our great storehouse of Easter egg coloring kits. 

I have been saving the dippers from Easter egg coloring kits for MANY years now. 

We have an egg dipper for every color now (and then some) and it makes the coloring so much easier!






Though many aspect of Easter tuned out picture perfect, there were a few poorly hatched plans that did not quite turn out as expected, and some downright silly substitutions were made.

I had hoped to create one of those lovely pineapple covered hams -- the pretty ones with the pineapple rings and maraschino cherry centers.

We kind of forgot about that step, so I had a bunch of pineapple rings with no place to go. 

Honestly, the rings turned out way too big for the ham anyway, so it was no real loss, plus now we'll have fresh pineapple with breakfast for a week!

Our silly substitution this year comes in the form of an onion! 

I was hoping to have some fresh flowering bulbs for Easter, but I never got around to buying any. 

At the same time, one of our onions decided to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight as our Easter plant.

I swear, just seeing the greens coming out of the bulb makes me feel happy!

We plan to plant it in the garden along with the potatoes that grew eyes and now have mini leaves growing out of them!! 

It may still be cold outside, but spring sure is sprouting in our kitchen!

That sums up our Easter celebration! I'm going to go relax on the couch, watch The Ten Commandments and eat my yellow Easter Peep!

Happy Easter!!!

















Friday, April 3, 2015

Eagle Painting Tutorial with Sneetches on Beaches!



All too often I have seen artists that take themselves far too seriously. 

I imagine these people as Star-Bellied-Sneetches (by Dr. Seuss) with their Sneetch snoots pointed up in the air as they snort and guffaw at art or artists that they don't think are artsy fartsy enough, or whatever it is that snooty-snoots look down upon.

I'm not going to put either of us through any of that in this article. 

Sit back and relax -- let your guard down -- this is a pretension free zone where I am going share my mysterious, highly classified art secrets how I made some art stuff. 

This is a digital painting, and despite what some of the snooty-snoots whisper to one another at their exclusive star bellied parties, digital painting is every bit as valid an art form as traditional paint on canvas.

Some people seem to think that digital painting is manipulating a photo in some way -- or some sort of magical computer generated hocus pocus. It's not.

It is a nearly identical process to painting on canvas -- it is using the same skills that are developed over a lifetime of experience and practice. 

One great difference is that it's FREE! FREE canvas and FREE paint! Starving artists rejoice! We can finally paint whatever we want without plunking down 95 bucks for one measly itsy bitsy tube of Cobalt Blue!

Enough of my ranting -- on to the show!

Before we start, lets look at the brushes I used for this painting. This is a digital painting, and the 'brushes' are just the shape of the pointy-thingy that you paint with.

I used the basic brushes. One with a hard edge and one with a soft edge (top picture).

The brush below that is the one I use for moving the 'wet' paint around and blending work (we'll get into that later).



1. On it's own layer (separate from the background) -- I drew the rough shapes. 

This is quick and rough and just for basic placement, but it really makes the painting take form right away.

Sometimes I practically close my eyes so that I am looking through my eyelashes -- this makes it impossible to see the details so it forces me to focus on basic shape and form without concerning myself with anything else -- it also lets me take a micro-nap so that I am well rested for the steps ahead (hardy-har-har).


2. More blocking in shapes, but a bit more refined, and bringing in more colors. 

When painting a living creature, I find it best to refine the eye as quickly as possible because that is the most important part of the face and it's a great anchor to work around. 

It also causes the subject to magically come to life just like placing the magician's top hat on Frosty the Snowman. Happy... Birthday!

This stage is bold and quick as well -- squiggly scribbles and bright un-blended color everywhere with a hard edged round brush.

3.Now it's time to do some real painting,blending, shaping and contouring using the paint laid on in the last step.

This stage is like gliding your paintbrush through the wet paint on a canvas.

I used the wet media blending brush (pictured below) for making soft wet painterly strokes (bye bye squiggly lines).

Here is an example of one stroke through solid color. 

See how it moves the color like gliding a paint brush through a blob of wet paint on the canvas? 

This is a wet media brush (on smudge) with strength set at about 50 percent.



4. Then back to the paint brush again, adding in more colors and washes of color while blending on the fly.

More and more refining, adding details, adding more color.

Back and forth painting and blending, over and over, adding color and working with the 'wet' paint.
5. Usually I am working on the background or at least laying down the main color for the background while I am painting on another layer. 

Unfortunately I did not capture that in these screen shots. 

I don't know why I thought the steps would be clearer for a tutorial with the background removed -- especially when the background color and the subject have to live together in the same space with the same light source.

So, contrary to the pictures, I do not recommend working on the background layer after the fact. It should be (and was) created hand in hand but on a separate layer.


Also, I do not recommend inviting a large bird of prey into your art studio, asking him to pose for a portrait and then foolishly slipping a bald joke into your polite banter. You can see in his eyes just how angry this made him. Stick to light conversation about the weather -- and jokes about ducks. Eagles LOVE duck jokes.

There is always lots of work(and fun!) in refining the details, painting and accentuating the light and shadows, adding unexpected pops of color.

This is truly the most satisfying part of the process for me.








Details like feather edges are a pleasure when working on a separate layer.

You can glide the brush through the 'wet' paint to create wispy feather shapes and edges, pushing and pulling the color without fear of ruining the background.





That about sums it up. 

This tutorial is just a basic overview of one process used by one artist on one painting.

Take this information for what it is worth. 

Please don't ever compare your art or your skill level to other artists, and don't ever let those with 'stars upon thars' make you feel like you are less than you are.


You are unique and beautiful. Put a piece of yourself on canvas and let it shine -- If all else fails just paint a star on your belly.

And now for some shameless self promotion!

If you'd like to own a print of this eagle painting, or you'd like this image on a mouse pad, postage stamps, collector plate, mug or tons of other awesome and easily customized goodies, click the links below for my Fine Art America page as well as my Zazzle shop.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a GREAT Day!



Sell Art Online


Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Fog

There is something so mysterious and awesome about fog. It can transform the landscape so dramatically that you can get lost in your own back yard.