Painting and Sketching

This morning I managed to wake up early and do errands, leaving the afternoon of this beautiful day open for me to work outside. I probably should get back to the gym, but I didn't want to miss the clear sky which was perfect for the long-term painting I've been working on. I first sanded the first layer of gesso on my 36x36" canvas I'm preparing and painted the second and third layer on it. I'm excited to paint on it sometime soon!

Canvas and gesso on my "work" picnic table. I'm all set with my diet coke!

Where I started today!

So this is a pic of the painting I've been working on for some time. But I'm not sure if I like it anymore. It was one of those paintings I started because I hadn't been painting and when I started I had told myself "Its okay if it doesn't turn out well, I just need this to start painting". Well, unfortunately I've now worked on this little thing 15+ hours and I am still not too thrilled about all of it.

Here is where I stopped for today

The sun and lighting had been different on occasion. I'm still not done but I think I'll move on shortly.

Painting and my landscape

Also, last night I decided to do a quick 15 minute self portrait in watercolor pencil. I was relatively happy with it, given the amount of time I allotted myself, but then today I decided to go ahead and paint it, which, as usual, I am not happy with. I probably didn't put enough pencil marks/pigment down to begin with, nor do I have the subtle hand when it comes to washes, despite practice I have had on woodblocks the past two semesters.

Here it is before I painted it

I liked it for the soft subtle feathery look.

Here it is after I used water. Oops. Oh well!

The shed with my painting on the ledge