Day Trip Down To Winona

The Hubs and I decided to take a day trip last Friday to take in some more fall color and just enjoy the day.  We ran across a curious thing.  It was like a little community of floating houses on the Mississippi River at Winona, called Latch Island.  You can tell that there's been a drought.  Many of the little houses had rain barrels, but they appeared to be empty.  We aren't sure if these are just weekend cabins, or if people stay year round~if so I think it could be really cold.  Anyway, I thought it was strange enough to take some images.

A Beautiful Day In Sunny Florida

Here we are again for our annual venture to sunny Florida.  I've been remiss in posting, but I have been keeping up with the class at Digital art Academy--this being the last week.  I've put together a couple of paintings, one of which I posted to the class.  However, I will be working on another, more comprehensive painting hopefully incorporating everything we've learned so far in class.  Hats off to Karen Bonaker another wonderful Open Studio.

The second painting is for a Mini Challenge at Retouch Pro.

I hope everyone is having an awesome day.

Weeks 2 and 3 Class at Digital Art Academy

I just realized that I forgot to post the second week, so today I'm posting weeks 2 and 3 of class at Digital Art Academy.

Record high temps here, but in two days we'll be going for our annual trip to Madiera Beach, Florida.  Hope to take lots of pics to use for new paintings.

Hope everyone is having a great day.

Today's Painting

We are coming out of a snow storm.  More snow in the last two weeks than all winter.  It's a very pretty snow.  The kind that coats and sticks to all the tree branches.  Looks like a winter wonderland out there. Luckily, I didn't have to drive anywhere and spent the day making prints for an upcoming boutique. 

I hear snow plows as I'm writing this. Have a nice day!

Watercolor Painting of A Beautiful Lake Home

Busy day today. Watched the grand kids play soccer and had lunch at Noodles.  I'm reorganizing all my small delica beads so I can catch up on some bead weaving projects. And making more prints for an upcoming boutique.  Had a chance to do a little painting, too.

The only bothersome thing is that I woke up this morning with a very painful crick in my neck. Ouch!  Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Still Learning

Wanted to make sure that you knew of a couple classes coming up...some you may be interested in these.  Karen Bonaker at The Digital Art Academy is having an Open Studio Session coming up in March on Painting Street Scenes.  You can get information HERE.  Also, Scott Deardorff has a new teaching DVD out, his second in a series, "Portrait Painting Techniques in Photoshop".  This artist creates the most beautiful portraits and he does it exclusively in Photoshop.  You can read about both of his DVD's HERE.

Here's a few pieces I've been working on.  Still working on watercolor techniques using Photoshop, Topaz Adjust and Simplify.

This is what I love about digital art.  You can reuse your photographs over and over and over and over.......Have a great day!

Practice, Practice, Practice

I've been spending a lot of time recently on trying to perfect my digital watercolors, using older images to play with.  I'm getting very antsy not being able to get out and take pictures of anything.  Not really enough snow to take any decent winter shots. Mind you, I'm not complaining after last year's record snow falls. But I'm restless and need some new images to work with.

Three totally different treatments here, but watercolors none the less.
I hope every is having a beautiful weekend.

More Watercolors

I wanted to post some of the watercolors I've been working on.  I think I'm starting to understand the concepts much better, while not losing my style of saturating with color. I'll will be test printing some to see how they work out.  Hope you enjoy!

I do love doors and windows and fences and trees!

And stairs and bushes!

And awnings!  Have a wonderful day!

Saturday Roundup

I've had a busy week with the Holidays looming, working a part-time job and completing commission work as well as continuing to build a body of work that I hope to be able to print and sell on my own.  This first painting came from a total of 12 different images that the client sent to me...all different resolutions, sizes and qualities.  I was able to arrange the family in a collage around the grandmother. The families were all cut and pasted together to make it look like they actually posed that way.  All in all, I'm quite please with it and so was the client.

I've been putting together a body of work that I hope to be able to print on my own and sell from my blog as well as some local shops and possibly art shows in the spring. Here are a few of what I've been working on.

Be sure to stop by my friends over at Artists in Blogland and catch up on the wonderful artistic endeavors of these very talented group of artists.  I'm also hoping that everyone has a beautiful weekend.

Monday, Monday

Have you ever been glad for Monday's and a normal routine?  Weekends this time of year can be hectic. Just driving in the weather that is thrown at us this time of year can be stressful...the tune, Slip, Sliding Away (Simon and Garfunkel) is so appropriate when navigating the roads here.  But, enough about that stuff.  I was able to spend more time on paintings form our Thanksgiving trip to D.C.  At some point I need to take my camera and start shooting snow scenes...but shoot...it's cold out there.

A sweet little house on the corner near the Eastern Market where artists set up booths each and every weekend to sell handmade items.

Port City Java is a quaint little coffee shop where people sit and people watch those visiting the Eastern Market.  In addition to artists, there's a building where you can buy fresh meats, fish and bakery goods.

The Art Village is located next to Port City Java.  I noticed that it looks vacant.  I would love to set up shop there!

Walking the streets of D.C. is such a treat.  Each little row house has something to offer...eye candy!
I everyone has a happy week.  Christmas is just around the corner!

Pushing The Envelope

I've spent the last few weeks attempting to take my art to another level~~pushing the envelope, so to speak.

I've been utilizing the many digital programs available. Sometimes using 4 or five programs and plugins on each image until I find something I really like.

My favorite programs are Corel Painter 11/12, and Photoshop CS5.  And I'm using other programs as well: Topaz Adjust/Clean/Simplify, Tintii, Fractilius, DAP, Postworkshop and FotoSketcher.

Boosting those colors is a most favorite thing to do.

I can't seem to help myself.  Tintii is very helpful in isolating certain colors and saturating them.

Topaz is coming out with an updated version of Adjust in just a few more days.  It's an incredible program.

Be sure to check out the wonderful talent over at Artists in Blogland for Show and Tell Saturday. There you will see some incredible stuff.  Find then Here. 
Anyway, I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend.

More Fun

I'm continuing to experiment with several programs and plug-ins and really trying to push the envelope with my paintings.  I'm finding that a lot of pre and post processing is also necessary.  My newest toy is DAP.  If interested you can find them here.

This image was taken on a little back road just east of a little town called Stillwater.  We are fairly lucky that we still have fall color here.  Usually by this time, all the leaves are on the ground.

This is from a local cemetery.  Mark's mother is buried in the this cemetery.  It's quite a beautiful place.

I love this effect.  It's almost has a paint chip look to it.

As we get close to Halloween, I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!  BOO!