Thank you!

To those of you who participated in rating my entry for the Aaron Brothers "Show us Your America" contest, thank you! In the end, over 800 ratings were submitted for my painting, "A Day In Morro Bay", so I am absolutely thrilled, astounded, and humbled by your support.

In the end, I was not one of the 10 selected for the final vote. I have to confess, I was a bit disappointed, but I remain encouraged in the fact that there is so much more to life and my hope and prayer is that I purpose in my heart to live each day to the fullest.

Today's Quote...
"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have." ~ Frederick Keonig

Show us Your America...

Hi All:

Today's posting is a little different. I haven't painted all week, but I DID enter the Aaron Brothers "show us your America" contest, and I could use your support. I entered the "Day in Morro Bay Painting" (aka the Morro Bay Collage).



If you would be so kind as to go to my entry at http://showusyouramerica.com/uploads/2068 and rate my painting, it will increase my chance of getting selected to be in the final voting group. The ratings are being accepted through the end of today and the voting will begin tomorrow.


As always, thank you for your support!


From the Jewelry Box...

Although I didn't paint this week, I did make a pair of earrings and a bracelet. They were intended to be made for my husbands niece's wedding, but I didn't complete them in time. The day turned out to be one challenge after another and I ended up attending the wedding without any jewelry at all! Oh well, here's to the simple life!

The earrings and bracelet made this week are silver and red stone (although I don't know what kind of stone).
Quote for Today...
"Nobody says you must laugh, but a sense of humor can help you overlook the unatractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected, and smile through the day." ~ Ann Landers

Morro Bay Collage Update

You probably thought that I had forgotten about the Morro Bay Collage. Well, I just had several projects that captured my attention, but you'll be happy to know that they are now behind me. I was able to spend some time this weekend working on the Morro Bay Collage.

As I examined the painting, I felt like it was just too blue, so I changed the sky color once again and added some of the colors from the sky to make the painting more cohesive. I'm posting the previous version and the current version so you can compare.

Previous version

Current Version

My goal is to complete this painting this week and get the complimentary Morro Bay Collage cards to those of you who voted for the "light" sky previously.

Oh, I just remembered. I harped on the benefits of painting digitally, but found one "little" problem with the whole thing. As I worked on the painting this weekend I painted, touched up, refined, etc. and then lost all of my work -- you see, I forgot just how important the "SAVE" key is when working digitally. Oh well, lesson learned!

Digital Paintings

I know all seems quiet on the blogging front, but I really have been busy. The Morro Bay Collage is STILL in process, however I want to extend a special thanks to those of you who voted on the light vs. dark sky for the Morro Bay Collage. The light sky won out and Jennifer, Amber, Joel and a fourth person, Robin will all receive a Morro Bay Collage card once the artwork is complete.

I was juried in at a gallery in Morro Bay, to add “digital paintings” as an art medium. Knowing that the Morro Bay Collage still had a long way to go, I painted a couple of fairly quick paintings of some sailboats that I had photographed recently…and a view of Morro Rock, from the Morro Bay Estuary. Both were painted using the methods I detailed previously.

Morro Estuary ©2009 Deborah Jeffrey

I also did a quick traditional watercolor painting of Morro Rock. I’m learning that at the gallery, you can’t have enough Morro Rock or poppy paintings = )

Sunset at Morro Rock ©2009 Deborah Jeffrey

I hope you are planning on having a memorable Memorial Day weekend…and if you are looking for a place to visit, Morro Bay is always an option!

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

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.”

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!

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!

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

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