Thursday, March 30, 2017

Sunset watercolors

Finally got out the watercolors again after way too long of a break. My Artist Way friends were wanting some directions with watercolor and I thought some sunsets would be a good jumping off exercise. Loosely based on my Sunset along the River painting,  it was not anything planned out, just some spontaneous painting.  We experimented with blending colors wet on wet, lifting color to create clouds, as well as creating silohettes: mountains, trees, birds.
This one was based on a photo from a thank you card. It was suppose to be a lighthouse, and even though it didn't turn out quite as I had wanted, I liked the colors I was able to create in the sky. The Artist Way is about removing the creative 'blocks' we impose upon ourselves and to just let the creative spirit flow through us. Sometimes just playing around without the pressure of creating some masterpiece is just what we need to inspire us.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Mural project

I have finally completed the mural for our elementary school. I know that murals seem to be the "in" thing in oue area these days, especially since the Sacramento Mural Festival that we had here in August 2016. This is the mural project I have been working on for a while. It started out as a sketch based on some ideas the principal showed me (see above). Then we coordinated colors based on the school colors and stretched it to fit the space. Then the execution of painting it into the ball wall was done over two days, thanks to several teachers volunteering their time on a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
The ball wall is 12 feet tall and 30 feet wide...enormous! This has definitely been out of my comfort zone, at least 10 times bigger than anything I have ever done (except for painting a bedroom). I hope the community enjoys it!