Painting #81 - "Sailor Sam"

This is 'Sailor Sam', an image I found at Wet Canvas.  I got into a 'painting people mood'.  When I find an interesting expression on someone I am immediately drawn to them and feel the need to paint them.

Painting #78 - "Homer"

I found this image on Wet Canvas and his face is so interesting I wanted to paint him.  He just looked like a Homer to me.

He is squinting into the sun and I like the play of shadows but I was on the way to seriously overworking it so I quit.

I am trying to improve my shading for more depth.

Painting #33 Coffee Lady

I painted this 'coffee lady' from another photo that my daughter took in the Dominican Republic (same place that the red ginger flower came from).  The lady was explaining the making of coffee and looked interesting so I decided to paint her.    

It was a lot of painting, waiting for that part to dry, then painting, then drying, and I finally finished this long process.  In fact I painted two other sketches in between.  I get so impatient when it doesn't dry fast enough.  Painting something else really helped (as Laure suggested).

Painting #28 Plein Air Sketch

Last Sunday we went to a Fiddler's Contest in an open air park so it gave me a chance to do some plein air sketching.

We go to this every year and I always do some sketching.  The difference this year is, I did not use ink lines first but rather pencil to lay things out.  As I look at this I wish I would have used ink first.

I was intrigued with all the things this boy had laying around him and it became quite a challenge to get it all in.

Painting #21 - Singer

I have had this image from Wet Canvas for at least a year and finally felt I could tackle it.  He is such an interesting-looking character and my haiku challenge made him perfect for 'hymn'.

I am putting my first session below because it shows me how important a background is.  After I put the background in I darkened everything else up and like it much better.

I saw Krista do this 'before and after' on her house and found it so interesting that I had to do it also.

Here is the haiku I wrote for the image:

Look at him singing

Putting heart and soul in it

A hymn of beauty

'Airport Girl' and Introduction - Teri

I am always amazed when serendipity hits my life.   While spending Christmas in Wisconsin (I am a snowbird in Arizona) I happened to read Krista's Blog and noticed the "100 Paintings Challenge" so I came right over to look.

Then I saw the announcement on Laure's Blog and I knew I had to do this - pure serendipity!

We got back to AZ today and one of the first things I did was sign up!

I thought it would be fun to start with my 'Airport Girl' that I did while waiting for the plane.   It really tells where I am.  I love to do an illustrated daily journal but I am finding that all the painting I do is fast, too fast sometimes and fairly small.  When I painted 'Airport Girl', I thought of what I had read and decided to do a better sketch.  I think I got her 'waiting' posture okay and I did paint her on the spot but I want to

IMPROVE!

Laure suggested 'Improve' must be my word for the year.  And so it shall be.

 I intend to improve by taking more time when painting and painting larger.

One thing I am going to work on is landscapes.  I find them very difficult and tend to avoid them.  I also know that I will be inspired to try new things during this year.

Thank you Laure for being so innovative in helping us struggling artists!!