Although Spring is officially a few weeks away, I get Spring Fever when I look a this happy lady. I definitely get lighthearted when I look back at the year so far and realize all that I have accomplished.
I have had many art teachers who've said "You can take workshops and classes till the cows come home, but if you don't practice the techniques, you won't progress" or something along those lines! So far this year I've kept to my goal of art everyday, and learned by doing how not to repeat my same mistakes over again. (If only life were that simple... well, maybe it IS!)
Lessons learned from my wet-into-wet studies were applied to the underside of the parasol, and the workshop "Master Disaster" really came in handy when working the sunlight across her shawl! I've used stenciling, blending, pulling, (and praying!) and I'm pleased with  this Springtime Attitude painting. Now, ON TO THE NEXT ONE!  :)

I'm taking advantage of the long weekend to work on several projects at once. I'm practicing the wet-into wet technique on smaller studies then using what I learned on my larger painting with the parasol. I try not to fall back into by old habits of painting first then deciding  the best way to get the effect I want. I guess I need to have a clearer image in my head of the results before I put layers and have to scrub out. On the parasol painting, I wanted a light and airy painting with dapples of sunlight dancing on her dark sweater. The plan was to paint around the drawn shapes, but they looked too much like objects on her sweater rather than sunlight, so I painted over and used the spray bottle to create a texture.
After playing around on other paper, I came up with a stenciling technique where I can rub-out the sunlight spots in the shape of a stencil that I use for notecards. Now I wish I had done this from the beginning! I am enjoying the painting again instead of struggling to finish it.
I have also used today to keep up with the shows I want to enter this year. I have a stack of prospectus that are now arranged according to month so that I can decide which paintings can be submitted to what show. This way, I won't accidentally commit the same painting to a show, if it were to be selected by both organizations. This also motivates me to get more paintings finished so that I can enter more shows!
I am experiencing battery issues with my camera, so the inages below were taken with my phone. Technology is amazing! (The only issue with the phone images is that the resolution probably wouldn't be enough to have a good image for a digital submission.)
HERE'S WHAT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS WEEK....

In an effort to keep my resolution of doing something art related everyday this year, I've been doing studies of some petite pears we had around the kitchen.  One of the advantages of digital photography is that you can see a bowl of fruit, be inspired, and begin painting from a photo in minutes! I really try not to just have a million photos on my disc that I never see. I am learning from each painting and trying to "fix" issues on the new ones. For instance, while I had masked out the bumpy texture of the glass bowl, I think I might like it better if I don't use masking on the bumps. I am also trying to do more dramatic lighting effect on the next bowl. I like the pears, and it is good to keep going!

I'm not sure if French Creek Freddie saw his shadow today, but Steven's Run is an Ice Rink. This gives a good excuse to hide out in the Cubby and play.  ( of COURSE I'm doing laundry too!) Right now I'm working on two paintings- The Parasol and a barn scene with the embossing powder enhancing the trees. I'm really liking the little detail the metallics add to a painting.