Journaling on iPad mini in March

I know it's May, but I just realized that I didn't post my digital pages for March or April. Not that anyone will miss them, but I count this blog as one of my journals, so I need them here. I also hope that they might inspire you to do some digital journaling too (if you use any type of notepads).

Just glancing at these pages shows me how life was rich in March. Nothing big, just regular home stuff - sicknesses and birthdays, flowers and snow, lazy mornings, long walks, work, art.... My March was 32 days long, not 31. Our son ran his first half-marathon and I was so proud of him that I decided that I can choose to add a page just for that (as he was sharing the "real" date page with some furniture that we got on the same day). One of the pages shows that there was a school lockdown, when someone with a knife hid in my daughter's high school (or maybe not - it ended without the police finding anyone). 

I tried my hand at digital painting using app called Procreate. I love that app because it allows the option of layers, which can then be combined in many interesting ways. I used it as the background for my 03.02. page.

Played with a different app to desaturate the image. Love the way it looks like that. 

There is one more page that I want to share with you, but this post is getting too long, so I will leave it for some other time.

Big painting finished :-)

It is done! 73" x 43" - the biggest painting I've done so far...

This is how it began: I didn't want to use stretch bars for the canvas, as they are not well suited for the way I paint. After some thought, my oh-so-handy husband asked if it would help if we temporarily stretch it on a hard surface. So it started with a visit to Home Depot, measuring and attaching the canvas to plywood. That is temporary thing, as the canvas will be sent rolled up and framed later. 

Where do you start when so much white is staring back at you? It took me two days to make myself begin. Then I started bravely with brushstrokes of dark colors and covered the whole surface. 

After that it was easier. I just attacked it. Day after day, after day. I didn't rush to finish it. I knew that the colors were supposed to be brown/tan, the background muted, three angels as the focal, so I worked in thin glazes of color to give it depth.

You can't see it here, but there were many textural elements added at this point, and it was interesting to see how the colors interact and glide over them.

Before the faces above turned into faces below. I had to ask for help.

So many times I do something with the eyes that I don't like, and I don't know how to correct it. Luckily, my daughter sees the problem with one glance.

I asked her if she can correct it, and without hesitation - she took the paintbrush and did. I was so happy with the result that I promptly asked her to help with the angel on the right too. What will I do when she leaves for college in couple of short months?

I might stick to textures, colors and other things I know how to do.

 

I'm holding my head here because I was waiting for my husband "forever" to push the button and take the picture, and I was extremely uncomfortable. Unfortunately the colors didn't turn right and I didn't want to repeat posing, so it is what it is. At least I have a document of it.

I loved painting big a lot. I also loved the calm, almost monochrome palette  But now I'm very ready to go back to many happy colors and my journal, birds and other regular stuff. Thank you for following this painting from the beginning to the finish line and for cheering me along the way!

xoxo

Working on it...

101 BIRDS - Painting #27

Preparing for the BIG canvas #2

Lately I can't seem to find words, so I stopped posting hoping that they will return. As they are not showing up, I decided to go just with the photos for now...

- 18"x30" mixed media on watercolor paper -

xoxo

Preparing for the BIG painting #1

Thank you for cheering for me yesterday! The comments came so quickly that I was able to start with a big smile on my face. The first layer is down, but what I'm showing now is not the big painting. Actually it is pretty big (18"x30") but it's not "the BIG" painting.

 The lady I am painting for asked for angels, but not in my usual bright colors. She is going to reuse a frame that she likes, so the measures have to be precise. 

I did a trial painting on watercolor paper, using a ratio that is adequate to the BIG painting, to see if I understood what she likes.

 And she did. She liked the angels, the colors, the feel of the painting.... the only thing that wasn't good was - that in my head I turned the measures the way they suited me, not the way she wrote them.

 It is supposed to be a landscape painting... which is a completely different story. Time to rethink the composition, size, everything... Good thing that I am in a mood for challenges!

- Original Painting available on ETSY -

big, Big, BIG painting

 How do you start a big painting? I had to climb up really high to get this picture :)

This is 73x43 inches of white looking at me...  It is a commission and I am excited to paint it. But where do I start? Where is that first splash of color going to be?

Would you take a deep breath and just jump in?
Or would you think it through and carefully start painting? I think I need moral support for this one, so if you don't mind, I'll imagine you all cheering...