Jeff, The Tavern Keeper

I rarely say this, but "I like this painting." I see things that I should fix and I probably will go in and deal with the background and some other areas, but overall, I'm happy with the way this turned out. I never asked this guy if I could take his photo, but I figure if you are dressed in costume - you are fair game. I didn't even realize I had a picture of him until I went home and downloaded from my camera.

Here was the reference photo. I had to lighten it in Photoshop to see him.

Wire Baskets

These baskets presented a challenge - I figured I would use a stick and ink to draw them in. It didn't turn out exactly as planned, but what ever does? I took liberties with the background cloth and just used bits of pattern and color that I wanted.

What a Grind...

It seemed like a good idea at the time - to paint something other than flowers in Jeanne's class....

(Coffee grinders courtesy of Sally Young) I'm ok with the way the coffee grinders turned out, but the composition bothers me. I think I would focus on fewer items next time. The squares in the background were not actually there - I just painted them in. Painting objects like this is unfamiliar to me - so I guess it was a good exercise to do.

Jeanne's Class 4/15/13

Poppies are my favorite flower, but these were fake - so a bit lacking. I used a bit of pattern from a cloth that was nearby for the background. 'Still experimenting with the Chinese ink.

Jeanne's Class 4/8/13

'Loved the colors in this pot. I used watercolor pencil scraped onto wet areas for texture in the pot and some Chinese ink for the black lines in the picture.

Casual frames

'Added a "casual" frame around these portraits to fill up the space a bit. I used watercolor pencils (grainy part is where I painted water on the paper and scraped the pencil with sandpaper).

Jeanne's Class 4/1/13

Jeanne brought some tulips in on Monday. I liked the curvy shapes that they made so I decided to do a closeup. One of the girls in the class gave me some Chinese Watercolor ink to use (applied with a stick) which I thought made a nice effect.