DaniLStyle

Took a photo in the yard of St Aidan's Anglican Church in Arouca: wall, lawn and a plant.  I used that photo as reference for this painting. The wall had some dark areas showing up under the paint so I first painted a dark colour : Then I  painted the narrow sky area that was visible and started to add more of the true wall colour:  Next, I added the lawn area.  Painting grass has always been an annoying event for me: Then I started to work on the plant with the reddish leaves which was in the foreground of the photograph: Finished painting: What to say about this painting?  I like the textured effects (wall, grass) however, the veins on the leaves could have been more blended. Practice makes perfect!

Took a photograph of some houseplants at the side of the house and decided to paint from that photo.  I started by drawing and painting the wall in the background: Then I started to add lighter hues on the wall, as well as the plants in the background:  Next, I painted the other houseplants, from the furthest to the nearest: Finished painting: Well I have to say that I really surprised myself with this painting, thought it wasn't too bad at all. However, I don't like those three stupid stalks in the background and I think that the painting was rather dark. In addition, that plant in the third plant pot was really starting to annoy me; at one point while I was painting, I muttered under my breath: this m+#$&r c*#t plant. Well anyway, I am finished now and will continue to practise. Yayy me!

Did another painting this week, of a church very close to Maracas Bay. Here are some step-by-step photos of how I completed this painting: Painted the background first, sky and trees. Then I added more to the 'bushy' areas and the paved courtyard. I left that white rectangle in the lower right hand corner for the front wall by the entrance to the courtyard. Added some lighter greens to the middle ground. Added the church and the wall by the entrance to the courtyard. Finished painting: So this photo was blurry, still having some issues with the settings on my camera.

I am still painting 9" x 12" sized pieces, finished a landscape painting.  This photo shows the sky and mountains... Finished product... Um, this painting sooo didn't come out the way I expected, but that is one of the things I like about art - there is no right or wrong ending. My first Scrapbook! I took my time on this project - making a scrapbook from the greeting cards that I got over the years - and it is finally done! This is the cover:

So I am getting much more painting practice in (because of vacation - yayy me!). My friend and I got together for what I called a 'canvas - stretching lime'.  We got some stretchers, canvas and a staple gun (did I ever mention how much I love to avoid staple guns) and got to work.  I took some photos of what we did that day. Here are some of the stretchers, there are unmounted pieces in the black plastic bag. We were taking off an old painted piece of canvas on this stretcher that I had stored at home for ages.  Then my friend realised that there was water damage (mould - eek) on the frame.  I have my past living arrangements to thank for that *rolls eyes*.  That called for an improptu road trip...  ...to a big old dumpster where we promptly got rid of that mouldy thing, eww.  I am laughing hysterically in this photo because my friend wasted no time in 'flinging' that old frame into the dumpster. We beat a hasty retreat, so we could get ba...