ONE PART WATER, THREE PARTS COLOR

Saw this new challenge offered by michelle.. http://followingthemasters.blogspot.com/

I thought ok, i can try this lol.. i hadn't painted flowers in awhile , as i been concentrating on portraits, so this was a fun .. however i realized as i was painting.. georgia okeefe's, red poppy.. that it appears it breaks so many rules i have tried to learn...

coi right in the middle..

instead of going past the edge or bringing it in a bit .. so as not to cause tension.. she has tension all over..

and the stem going off the page is centered also..

hmmmmm?? guess the "learn the rules, so you know when to break them" applies here... big time!! LOL

Wow~~~ this one was a good stretch for me.. have been wanting to try folks with different skin tones and this gave me the push, to give er' a try!!!

i want to thank karin, for providing the photo and the challenge.. 'this painting was done from a photograph provided on the blog, Different Strokes From Different Folks, where artists are encouraged to paint or draw their own interpretations.'

also need to thank roger for the ideas on skin tone!!!

over all ,i'm pretty pleased with the painting.. except i got so excited about making the color sing on the face, i forgot about the features.. and they were kinda a last minute scramble.. sorry sir.. you got a mini face lift!! lol oh well there is always next time!!!

saw this darling puppy on http://laurenspaintpalette.blogspot.com/and went to look and found out it was part of a new challenge on, http://windowstothewords.blogspot.com/ looked at the other pups offered, but just fell in love with this little guy.. had so much fun painting him..hes such a cutie!! thanks to Maggie Mayer, for letting us use the wonderful photo!!

I noticed liz holm's wonderful painting on her blog and went to windows to the words(http://windowstothewords.blogspot.com/ )and noticed the challenge was over.. darn!!!

but, also noticed that liz had offered this photo for the challenge.. so i wrote her and asked if i could have permission to use this photo for noras and my wishy washy challenge, on Painting Friends!! she was a sweetie and said yes!! nora and i have been exploring portraits. we started with young children and are working our way up... we wanted to try wrinkles this week..... this ladys sweet face is stunning.. and has the perfect balance of light and shadow.. so we decided to go for the gusto and put the colors in we see and see what happens..?? we both seem to have difficulties taking risks with color.. i haven't seen her's yet, the unveiling is tomorrow.. but i am really pleased how this turned out... i think the only thing i would change, is maybe her hair.. i forget to misket a lots of strands for highlights.. so went in after and used the exacto blade to give a few more highlights...and it left some dots...ARGGGGHHHHHH!!! but other that that, had a blast!!

Hope you all had a fantastic 4th...

Looking at stephies blog, she had a wonderful tiger, and she said go for it Cindi ~~you can do it.. and i thought ok, i'll give er' a try...

Remembered i had photo of a lion, from my colorful art teacher, Tom Tiedeman.. i hadn't used it yet cause i missed the class!! Wanted to try and see if i could get the wonderful bold colors he gets...

This is on arches 140, the colors used: yellow ochre, fum blue, brown madder and a bit of indigo to get the darks.. really dark!!

Hope everyone has a great 4th of july.. Filled with families, fireworks, lots of food and giggles...

A great big THANKS to all the men and women , who have gone the extra mile, so we can celebrate this day with our loved ones!!

Enjoy your day!!

ps...Don't forget your suntan lotion!!