More work on Underwater, this last week, and a little on #2

 Happy solstice!

I'm slow updating this week - got covid the day after I painted, when I was supposed to be packing and driving down to my daughter's in L.A.; and so, I didn't (pack up and load up and drive away).

But here's what I worked on Tuesday:

More work on the creature; I'm not sure the photo is doing it justice, but I like how he's coming along; more work on the woman, and I've finally started to break my anxious avoidance on the dog - who, by the way, seems kind of an Airedale type to me. He's the one who said, in my dream, "I think we must be underwater," which became the title for this painting.

Here are a couple of details:

And a little little work on #2:

Tech tip: do you want to see any of these larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

Recent work on DS #2 and DS #3 - and a title for DS #1

I skipped last week for updating, but I worked on both of these last week. This week I only worked a little bit on #3, and not on #2.

Last week's work on #2:

 

And here's how the whole piece looks, at this point:

More on the horse's face and neck - I like the sensitivity of his face. I like that arcing band of blue and purple above his neck - somehow it feels like it echoes his ears. I also worked a little bit more on both the howling wolf cubs, but am still feeling pretty nervous about working on them.

And on #3, which does have a title - I Think We Must Be Underwater - I did a bit more on the woman last week; this week I just worked some on the creature, but I am finally feeling happier with how that's looking.

 

One other thing: I finally have a title I like for #1.

                                     Infinity Horse Interlaced

 

Tech tip: do you want to see any of these larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

 

Back to work on Dream Surreal pieces: DS #2 and DS #4

 I was still feeling kind of tired, Tuesday, but I picked some soothing stuff to work on. I love painting around the outsides of things. And I seem to be into purple right now... On DS #4 I painted around some of the edges of the foal. Purple + some green and some burnt sienna and yellow ochre.

That's a close up; and this is what it's looking like now, as a whole:

On DS #2, I just filled in a bit among the strands of the horse's forelock, and then played around a little bit, around his ears. I also tried doing some lifted lines in the upper part of the purple. I will probably work a bit more on those.

They almost start crossing the lines in the green, like a lattice, I feel like...

 

Tech tip: do you want to see either of these larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

Some other new stuff

This last Tuesday (the time that the art group I'm in meets, via Zoom), I hit one of those days when I didn't feel up to working on any of my new series. Pre-Thanksgiving issues, maybe - I don't know. Anyway, it felt like time to just bathe in the colors and how the water spreads them on the paper... So this one is from Tuesday. Maybe finished, maybe not, and maybe "finished" is irrelevant, even:

 I do like it, in any case. The time spent painting was sweet, and what came of it feels soothing and healing to me.

Sometime last month (October 24th) was another time when I hit that I-don't-want-to-work-on-the-new-pieces barrier, and reminded myself that I'm allowed to just play with the paint and water and paper; and this is what came of that:

-- I enjoy this one, too.

 

Then there are my Sunday morning noodlings, with my multi-color colored pencils, and sometimes some color sticks. On Sunday mornings I am usually chat host for the Zoom end of my Unitarian Universalist church's services. I show up an hour and a half early for sound check - I figure I'm a good person to do that, as my ears are not great, even with hearing aids, so if I get the sound right for me, it will probably be good for most people - and I like to keep my hands busy. (This is one thing that feels so good to me about doing art: just having a pencil or a brush in my hand, moving it on the paper, making marks, playing with colors and shapes and patterns.)

Here's one that was continuing this last Sunday (I don't always keep working on them more than one time):

Oh, the edges of leaves! I love the shapes, and I love getting to fill in around them with mindless, soothing, smooth color...

 

One from early last month:

This one was going more slowly and thoughtfully than I usually work on these pieces; I was paying more attention to composition, and going one piece at a time. Add a bit; see how it feels; grope around for what next little bit might want to be added - or, is it time for just something I feel like doing (like the circles above), and see if that adds to it or throws it off...

And one from September:

There are things I really get excited about, in this one! What to do with it? Should I try turning it into a finished painting? Or will it just stay in my sketchbook or my files? I don't know. But I'm enjoying it.

 

Tech tip: do you want to see any of these larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #1 Finished, more work on DS #3

 DS #1 is now finished, and dated. I did more new work on it than I'd expected: a string of three more yellow circles in the upper left, to mirror the ones in the lower right; and also softened and extended the orange in the horse's butt. Also a little bit more detail in the wolf cubs and their connection to the blue band.

And more work on the horse in DS #3: around one ear and the side of the face; more on the forelock; and then surrounding with a dark purple.

Still looking for a title for #1...

Tech tip: do you want to see either of these larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #1: Just. About. Done.

This is an actual stage in my paintings and other art: Finished - Just About. Meaning that I think it's finished, maybe - sometimes I'm more sure, sometimes less - but the piece needs to sit a few days or a week or so, and then I'll look at it again, and ask all the parts of me - my gut, my heart, my feet, my left elbow - listening as closely and clearly as I can: is there anything unsettled? Anything that feels like it's missing? Does it have all the energy and balance it needs? Has it completed the circle?

Considering that I often don't know what my pieces mean, or are about (I just (hopefully) feel strongly that they are trying to say something), this is not an easy thing. And it may be years, decades, before I consciously understand a painting better...

So, here it is, DS #1 (which now needs a title), all-but-finished; untaped, signed, and partly dated:

This is not the well-photographed image I'll end up with, but a just-for-now pic.

One of the things posting it here will do for me is help me see it more clearly.

Now it needs a name. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm open to suggestion...

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

Recent work (on a bunch)...

 I've gotten behind on posting! But here are some updates.

On #1: I've been working on this batch of little howling wolf cubs. Last week - a little outlining of throat on two of them; this week: more rendering and details, and the two are getting much closer to finished. Once I finish them and the lefthand one, and do one more (currently secret-surprise) element, I think this painting will be done. And will need a name.

 

On #4: I've been working on the sleeping foal, and liking the way it's going; also did a little more on the magenta curl. Again, I'm thinking about how much more this painting needs before I feel like it's done; I would say, a fair amount more, but it's moving along...

 

 

 

On #2: I've been working on the woman - and her hair! And a bit more on the tree, I think; and some on the dog. I am liking what's happening with the woman!

With this one, clearly the dog needs to be developed, and the fishy creature also needs some unknown additional work; and I feel like it needs something else, but I'm not sure what, yet; but I feel like the painting is just about in sight of being finished.

 

And, on #3: I've done lots more work on the horse, and like what's happening, but there are things I'm not sure about. And, of course, more work to do on little howling wolf cub #1, and all of the work on the second one; and then, again, some unknown stuff. But (is this getting boring? or maybe exciting?) this one, too, feels like it's maybe 75% finished?

 

 

And so then, I'm thinking maybe it's time to go looking through my older work and sketchbooks again, and start planning another two or three or four of these... Hmmm.

Tech tip: do you want to see any of these larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

More working time this week; updates on DS #2 and DS #3

 Got some time in today to work some detail into horse, on one, and the woman and her hair, on the other. I am liking how these are going. Here are details of both.

Tech tip: do you want to see either of these larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #3, Update 5, and DS #2, Update 6

Worked on both of these today.

 DS #2: did some on the tree, quite a bit on the woman - and her hair, which is going to be swirling and swaying in the currents of the water; and a bit on the dog.

I feel like it's going somewhere promising, but still very much in the tentativeness of it.

The same is true for DS #3: good progress, and yet I'm not sure how I feel about it. Which maybe basically says that it isn't done - which I knew - but it's an uneasy, though kind of excited, feeling all the same...

Worked on horse, who is shifting back into a chestnut color, not just that rainbowy - or, more like, sunset - coloring, and I like how his face is emerging... and the wolf cub is taking on color and shape. I like it. And yet - nervously moving forward, nervousness and uncertainty.

Tech tip: do you want to see either of these larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #3, Update #4

 Yesterday's work:

Working on the horse. Liking it... kind of... a bit nervous...

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #3, Update #3

I am really enjoying this, at the moment. Here's the latest, from Tuesday...

 Some more of these delicate lines, now trying to imitate the color effect of my multi-color pencils; and the beginnings of one of the howling wolf cubs. And, though I haven't done any more work on the horse, I am feeling more confident at the thought of working on him.

Here's the drawing that I took the horse from:

In the drawing, he has no particular color (as in, bay, chestnut, gray, etc.), but in the painting he's starting to emerge as a chestnut. His face feels very sweet and gentle and soulful to me, and I hope to keep that feeling in the painting.

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #3, Update #2, plus some more on DS #4

Some work on these Tuesday:

 A little cleaning up the edge of the arch; some more delicate blue-violet lines, and edge-squiggles on the arch; more smudgy stuff for the horse (still unidentifiable). Oh, and a deeper yellow-orange in the circle.

And on the other:

A rosy curl, and the foal emerging.

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

First paintbrush-to-paper for DS #3

 This is the one I've been putting off starting. The horse (which, since I lifted most of the transferred lines before starting to paint, has become nearly invisible) was making me anxious; as a drawing, it has such a sweet and tender feel, which I wanted to bring out, but was worried about getting it right. (The horse shows up here as just some red-brown smudges.)

Then, when an extra session of painting time got scheduled in this week, right before my appointment with  my accountant to do taxes, I was feeling very tired (from getting tax stuff ready!!!) and didn't feel up to doing any sensitive, picky work; but I've kind of used up my easy, broad, fun spaces in the first three - and didn't feel ready to tackle the horse in this one. But then I realized this has a bunch of large areas that I could relax and play with. So this is what I worked on.

I've been looking forward to working on this arch, and its what-might-be-bricks - or, the idea of bricks - and I enjoyed working on that, though this is on a different paper - Canson, rather than Arches - and it behaves quite differently, so it was tricky to get the smooth fade out at the edges; and I didn't quite manage it; but then, it becomes something else, which I'll be exploring what to do with, as I go along.

I also enjoyed working on the delicate lines.

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #1, Update #8

 And worked on this one too, today:

Today, mainly I outlined the blocky strokes coming down from the tree on the right, in bright light green, and partly filled with yellow. I think I like it! And I started doing the little howling wolf cubs.

A detail of the wolf cubs and the outlined blocky strokes:

 

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #2, Update #5

 Here's today's work on this:

 

Some detail in the creature's tail, and some pattern in the "quilted" fin; more work on the woman; some heightened background between creature and tree; and, that golden sandy color coming up from the bottom. Which I'm not sure how I feel about, yet.

A detail (above); another detail, below.

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #2, Update #4

 Tuesday's work on this one:

Okay - now what the heck is going on with this creature? (My sister calls him a humpback/alligator...) Now he's got one front fin that looks like a kind of quilted thing, and the other looks more like a stuffed toy. I meant that, I meant that... but hmmm. We'll see what comes of it.

I started work on the naked woman and on the dog. As with the sleeping foal in DS #4, I'm moving forward very cautiously at the moment. Also added more ripples to the bubbles.

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #4, Update #4

 Tuesday's work on this one:

Not easy to see, but if you look closely (lower right): I've started working on the sleeping foal. I am going very cautiously on this, at the moment, not sure yet how I want it to go.

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #4, Update #3

Tuesday's work on this one.

 

Added the green bits around and sticking out of the scribbly stuff along the upper curve.

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #2, Update #3

 Tuesday's work on this.

 

Hmmm... what is going on with that fishy creature? What is he turning into... I don't know. Does he know???

I also added some bubbles in the water.

Tech tip: do you want to see this larger? Click on the image to make it almost-full-browser-window size. (This is not the same as "full screen...")

DS #2, Update #2

 Today's work on this one:

First, I just realized I could resize the image. I'll see what kind of difference it makes... Oh, yes, I like that!

I had so much fun with this one today. I'm playing with outlining, edges and ripples, around the tree, and then decided to put some currents in the water - greenish and purple-ish, my favorites! And I cleaned up some edges. There's some improvisation starting to come in, here.

I also added some bright yellow just inside the edges of the big circle.

Maybe next I'll start working on the body of the big whale/fish/crocodile creature... and I have in mind some bubbles...

Update #7 for DS #1

Yesterday's work on this one:

 Some very small changes, but I enjoy them. I added some orange dots to the buds, in a curve from lower left, up, and down to lower right. Then I added to the background green and yellow among and behind the branches; and then (which might be too hard to see here), I did some radiating strokes in another circular pattern, echoing the outline curve of the buds, in green shifting to yellow.

I am starting to do more improvisational work, dialoguing with the planned out design, and having fun with it.

DS #4, Update #2

 Tuesday's work:

More work on the leaf; had a lot of fun with that. And then, the scribbly stuff along the upper curve: I was trying to duplicate both the scribbly look of it, and the texture and color shift of what I originally did with one of my multi-color colored pencils. Both of these are a challenge, but I also know that what's important in the end is not that this match the original, but that it look right in itself, and I think I'm happy with that.

Someone commented that the scribbles made her think of a map, and I like that response, because, along with horses and trees, I also love maps.

I'll probably give a little more detail to the leaf, but not a lot more. And then there'll be an overlay of sweeping curves...

And an update on DS #4

Progress on DS #4:

 Started on the leaf - so much fun! I don't know yet how much I'll fill it in with surface and details; a little more than this, but I think not a lot...

I also painted the dashed line around the top of the curve.

Comments are welcome! I love comments. And questions, which I'll do my best to answer.

DS #2, update #1

 Work on DS #2, whose working title is, I think, "I Think We're Underwater:"

I've added the tree, which I call the snake tree, and filled in some lovely blue around it and around the woman, with a kind of halo around her. I am having fun with this!

And, again, I hope you'll feel free to comment, if you'd like to. I love getting comments. Questions, too! I'll do my best to answer...

DS #1, Update #6

 The latest progress on DS #1:

I've added more to the tree, the laciness and buds, and some green background behind the branches; and given the yellow circle a thin green corona.

Oh - and please feel free to comment, if you'd like.