My Work featured on Carrie Wallers Blog

 An artist from Art Colony has featured my work on her blog.
Carrie Waller. Check it out, plus look at her beautiful watercolors while you are there!

http://carriewaller.blogspot.com/2013/03/friday-feature-suzy-pal.html

February and March Watercolor Class

We had our monthly class yesterday.  The Acrylic  Red barn Thelma Cheatham did last time, and I failed to get it posted, as well as some of the others.
This collage is from the students yesterday.
They all did a super job. I had to put the photo of the two little palettes! Good friends were sharing, and I love that photo too! They all have such different and unique styles. It is so exciting to see what they do.
 The other red barn Kathy did last week.
I am so proud of what they are all doing! I still get excited when I finish a painting, so I know they are too!
Each one got a small drawing of an old car or chicken, and we traced them off onto a 5x7, and they had 20 strokes to paint it. It was a fun challenge, it helps us not to over paint and piddle with each stroke. It also teaches us to use our whole brush, not just the tip, or side, etc.
 They can go back and put the finishing touches to finish them out and hopefully they will remember they don't need too many strokes.

Turn Your Radio On

When we went to Canton, I took all kinds of pictures of stuff just piled up.  This really caught my eye. The red behind all the old antique microphones! I did a sketch and loved it, so thought I had to do the painting. For some reason, I liked the way the edges were in the sketch so I tried to do it similar.  I added a couple more mics than what is in the sketch. I was afraid to use the trademark name behind the microphones, so i just made up some swirls.
This is done on 300 lb hot press Arches paper. I am thinking I like it! The 300 lb.paper is what is required for the workshop I am going to next week, so I had to practice!

 

Ink Sketch in sketchbook

The Pruners

Last year a friend and I went out to Newsome Vineyards and took pictures of the women pruning the grape vines. I love hands and got several good shots of their hands.  This is just a sketch, and maybe it will be a painting someday.  I am still sketching each day, and this was one of the photos that came up!
Those women worked really hard, and their hands showed their strength.  They had a bag strapped on that was full of twine ties. I don't know the measurement...6-8 inches maybe, and they tied the vines to the wire after cutting back a bunch of the runners. I am sure this is not the correct lingo for grape vines, but it was an eye opener for me to see what they do each year.
This is done on handmade paper, and the paint sometimes just blobs on, but makes an interesting texture.