Thursday, April 30, 2009

Your Opinion Matters

Work continues on the Morro Bay Collage, but I need your help. I am playing with two sky colors and would like to know which you prefer -- the light sky or the dark sky?


I want you to know that I value your feedback, and the first three people who provide me with their input will receive a FREE Morro Bay Collage card (once the artwork is completed of course.)

As always, thank you for your continued support!

Deborah

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time...

Well, a few of you have asked how I’m coming along on the Morro Bay Collage. My response is, one dab of paint at a time.

After getting the Gallery at Marina Square up and running, I had some things to catch up on, so painting got pushed to the backburner. Well, I can say that I am now looking forward, instead of behind, and painting is once again in my line of sight. So, I dabbed some digital paint on my digital paper and have an update for you. If you will remember, this is how the collage looked at last posting…




I worked a bit on the woody, the egret reflection, the surfer and the sea otter and here is the latest version…



There is still much to do, but I will continue – one brush stroke at a time. Until my next post, have a great day and remember, “The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.”

Monday, April 27, 2009

Edible Art

I just had to post this, because art comes in all forms! Yesterday at church (Shoreline Calvary Chapel in Morro Bay), an announcement was made regarding a cupcake sale to benefit an upcoming China Missions Trip. My husband and I were expecting someone over for lunch, so we thought the cupcakes would make the perfect dessert. When we got out to the cupcake sale table, we saw that the cupcakes were not ordinary in any way –





nope, they truly WERE edible art =)

Friday, April 24, 2009

Gallery at Marina Square

Sorry for the lack of posts lately -- I have been working on a new blog for an art gallery in Morro Bay.

There are still a few minor edits to do, but now that the major elements are completed, I will continue working on the Morro Bay Collage and Tribute to Francis.

Stay tuned!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Making Progress (on the Morro Bay Collage)...

I have now painted the essential elements for the Morro Bay Collage…

- the water/land/sky
- the Egret

- the Surfer
- Morro Rock (& surfboard)
- the Woody
- the stacks
- and the Sea Otter

Each element is painted on a separate layer, so essentially they can be moved around prior to finalizing the painting.

In their current state, each element looks rather cartoony. The next step is to determine the direction of the light and start defining the elements – in other words, add highlights, shadows and detail.

This is where the fun begins! I’m off to paint some more, so I’ll check back with you later!

Todays thought, “Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.”

The Egret and the Surfer...

I worked a bit more on the Morro Bay collage painting. I have got a very rough draft of the egret in…


And the surfer…

I decided to get all of the elements in and THEN go back and refine it all.

Keep posted…I’m on a roll!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Morro Bay Collage

This is to update you on the process of the Morro Bay Collage (see April 6 blog, “Silent No More”). In my head, this collage looks great – in reality, it doesn’t look like much at the moment. I’ve started to lay in the sky, land and water.




Once I’ve refined these a bit more, I will start adding Morro Rock, the Woody, the Power Plant Stacks, the Egret, the Sea Otter and the Surfer. Check back again soon for another update!

Until then, we live our lives one moment at a time...Make the most of every moment!

Deborah

Thursday, April 9, 2009

A Tribute to Francis

I met Francis one year at my friend and mentor, Deb Festa’s Open Studio Art Tour. Francis was out in Deb’s courtyard, greeting everyone and making them feel welcome. I didn’t know Francis well, but I know that he was a warm, generous man with a huge heart. Over time, I got to know him better, as Deb would share with me about her Dad. Francis was a very creative man – he was a photographer, writer, gardener, and he loved making and improving upon things.

Francis is on my heart today, because he is no longer with us on this earth, but his memory lives on today in a single flower – an iris. Francis evidently had a love for irises, because he had a huge iris garden. After his death, his daughter Deb, dug up some of the irises from his home, and brought them to her home to plant. Deb in her typical generous way, shared some of the irises with my husband and I, and we planted a special Iris garden in the front of our home. The first iris just bloomed, and it is a beauty. It’s funny how a simple flower can spark so much thought and emotion. I’m thankful for my friend Deb, for her open arms and open heart. She drew me in and captured my heart. I’m thankful for Deb’s family – they truly are an amazing family, and I’m thankful for Deb’s Dad, Francis. I think of him and I feel lifted up. He lived fully, encouraged much and was so very warm and kind.

I will be painting this iris as a tribute to Francis. As I proceed with the painting, I will post it so you can see it.



For today, I encourage you to express your heart of gratitude to our great God who gives us life…and love.

Deborah

Monday, April 6, 2009

Silent no more...

I’ve been silent too long! I ended up getting that flu/cold that is going around. It is now week 3 and I’m still battling a fuzzy head…oh yeah, and I still have to complete our taxes...definitely not a great combination!

With numbers dancing in my fuzzy head, I’ve forced myself to think of something pleasant…like making art! I haven’t painted in quite some time now, but I think I would like to take on a digital painting project – it has been awhile since I’ve painted a digital painting and thought it would be the perfect medium for creating a Morro Bay collage painting.


Here is my preliminary drawing…





For those of you who are unfamiliar with digital paintings, I’d like to share the process for making a digital painting.

First, I work with a software paint program called Corel Painter (version 11).

Wikipedia’s defines Corel painter as “a raster-based digital art application created to simulate as accurately as possible the appearance and behavior of traditional media associated with drawing, painting, and printmaking. It is intended to be used in real-time by professional digital artists as a functional creative tool.”

Translation…Corel Painter is a paint program that allows me to paint directly into the computer. I start with a photo reference and my line drawing and paint a painting, just as I would if I were using watercolor paper, brushes and paint. The program offers greater diversity though and I can paint in watercolor, oil, acrylic, pastel, colored pencil, or a number of different mediums. It also offers a number of brushes specific to each medium. There is a palette that allows me to select my colors and paint and mix them directly on the computer screen, or I can mix them prior to application – again, just like if I were painting with paper, brush and paints.

There are three things I absolutely love of about creating digital paintings:
1. I don’t have to wait for the paint to dry between layers.
2. There is an “undo” key, so if I do change my mind (or make a mistake), I can press the undo key and no harm no foul.
3. I can save the painting at different iterations. This allows me to be more experimental with my painting process, and I can try different backgrounds, color schemes, etc.

I could never pull off painting digitally using a mouse – why that would be like trying to paint with a bar of soap! Instead, I use a Wacom Intuoso 3 tablet.



The tablet comes with both a mouse and a stylus, and I use the stylus to draw and paint directly into the computer, via the tablet. The stylus and tablet are sensitive to hand pressure, stroke speed, etc., and it really does mimic the painting experience.



Once the painting is complete, I print out the finished artwork on an Epson R2400 printer. I print onto watercolor paper and the paper and ink are archival quality, with time studies stating that with proper care, the artwork is expected to last 100+ years.

Another advantage to digital painting is that you do have the option of printing additional copies of the finished work, with each “copy” being an exact color and quality replica of the “original.”

I learned how to paint digitally a few years ago, when I took an extended workshop from Fay Sirkis. Fay is a New York artist and she is one of Corel’s Master Painters. She is a wonderful lady and I found her to be very generous and encouraging. Her work is beautiful and I encourage you to check out her website: http://www.faysartstudio.com/.

Well, April 15th is coming soon, so my first priority is getting our taxes done…then it’s on to painting. I’ll post images as I work on the Morro Bay collage painting.

Bye for now…Deborah