Day 2 Leslie Saeta 30-30 Challenge

"Lazy Creek"

Day 2 

Little Country Cottage

I don't have many photos that I have taken myself that are paint worthy.  I am so glad that the
Paint My Photo has great copyright free photos that you can paint. That's the point of the site. There are some really nice photos in this site can can be painted exactly as is or modified with cropping etc. This is one of those photos. I did modify this one because in the foreground were rows of lavender and after painting all those rows I decided it was just too busy so I painted over it to let the little cottage be the focus.

St. Catherine's--30 paintings in 30 days

I won't make 30 paintings in 30 days but if I can get 3 a week I'm doing good!  This is St. Catherine Laboure right across the street. I have always admired this little gazebo so I decided to paint it. 

Painting #3 for 30 Day Challenge

Very month I get together with my painting friends, Rynda, Betty and Sylvia and we paint a picture for an artist we like. This painting is inspired by the great Florida artist, Roger Bansamer. Since this was painted from his painting, I don't sign it and can't sell it and give the painter credit. It was fun to paint and hopefully I can go out and paint something like this in plein air.

Thank you Roger Bansemer for your great paintings and TV show too.

Waipu Cove

The Road to Glenville, NC

Last night I went to a very special presentation at our Cummer Gallery by local artist Jim Draper.   I really enjoyed seeing all of his huge paintings of Florida and have always wanted to meet him. I got an opportunity to pick his brain a bit about his process and he was very willing to tell me but I felt like I was on "The Bachelor" with people coming up and stealing him away from me in mid art sentence.
His paintings inspired me to pick up a brush today and paint a landscape. I don't have any wonderful FL pictures like he does (I do not like snakes, alligators or chiggers --nor do I like to sweat).  I will never be a successful plein air painter will I?  Well, not here in FL anyway. So I decided to look through my pictures from my trip to Cashiers and on up the Glenville when I went to our girls reunion last year. This view was breathtakingly beautiful and I tried to capture the beauty of these Blue Ridge mountains but that beauty is hard to capture.  My paintbrush is no match for God's paintbrush! This was just a quick photo I took as I pulled off the little mountain road. It took my breath away. This is a small 6x8.

Just a few more landscapes...

The two larger ones are on an 8 x 24 canvas and the other is on an 8x10. They are fun to do. I might paint a few more because I could hang them in our favorite lunch spot. There is a blank wall just waiting for me but I better hurry because Stellers Gallery might beat me to it.

Daytime--Nighttime

These are small ones---4x6.

More tomorrow!

Michelle Brown Class Poppies 2

We really do have so much to be thankful for! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! God is good!

Here is another watercolor Poppy picture using all those great techniques for lots of layers. I am loving these backgrounds. Hopefully I can move into another flower but for now, it's POPPIES!!

POPPIES Again---BUT WITH GESSO

"POPPIES GALORE"

This actually is a bigger painting on a 10 x 10 piece of Arches Hot press 140lb. paper. WOW--it was a clean white sheet with nothing on the back and not even a scrap! I must be doing better. Actually I was trying out my new M. Graham watercolors. They are made with honey so they stay soft if you keep them covered. I think I am really going to enjoy them. Don't know why I put the swirls in the background but they were done with a white gel pen. I kinda like it but did it as a whim. Sometimes my whims work and sometimes the don't. I enhanced it just a bit in Photoshop but not much. I enjoyed this piece---in fact I painted it so late that I had to leave it for this morning and I couldn't get it off my mind last night thinking how I would finish it up this morning. I am crazy that way---what can I say---art is my magnificant obsession!