The Basics and the beginnings of an artist.

"Calla from the top"
(SOLD)

When I began painting a few years back, as is with everyone

I started with a theme.
I had no idea about what I was good at, and had very little
Self-expression show in my paintings.

I think for any beginner this is the case.
We see a scene, a flower, a sky

and think 

"I would love to paint that."
We have no idea about mixing colours, perspective or shadowing.
We just know we want to translate it onto canvas.

"Dandelions"

One of the first flowers I ever painted was
"Dandelions"
(Sold)
A little canvas celebrating the first bouquet that a child presents to their
Mother with much love, and showing what this gift looked like  to the Mother.


After that I proceeded to venture into different shapes and colours

"Dogwood Blossoms"
SOLD
My first serious foray into shape, form and shading.

"Botanical"
SOLD

This one started my love of the background.

After that I explored colour shape and style.
backgrounds and sizes.
You can see here that I did not allow myself adequate room for the roots coming from the bulb.


"The Wedding is Off!"
A whimsical Painting.
Mr. Froggy is keeping out of the rain.
No Wedding for him today.
This (I think) is the only painting in which I attempted to actually do Rain.
It can be scary, you complete  (at that time)
a perfect painting and you just know
That the first stroke signifying rain has to be perfect
or the whole thing is lost.
I lucked our on this one.

"Cassa"
SOLD
An art Challenge from
a participating forum on "Wet Canvas"
One of my all time favorite florals.
My favorite part is actually the way I painted the
stucco wall.

"Lily"
SOLD
Ruffled Asian Lily
I worked very hard to get depth in this painting.
At the time I thought I had it.
But looking closely, I achieved a good depth on only one Petal.

"Lily2"
SOLD
An all time favorite of mine.
Simple lines portraying elegance.

"Daisy"
There is much beauty in the simplest of flowers.

"Poppies"
SOLD
Again, here I worked on shading and tonal values.

Here I attempted to do a "Red" painting.

While Not specifically a Floral, this painting
is the first that I achieved pleasing results with
a collection of plants.
SOLD

"White Flower"
SOLD
I liked the background of this one very much.

Every step I have taken in teaching myself how to paint

has gone through phases.
And with each painting I learned.
I perfected a certain style and method of application.
I have had many many canvas that I have painted over
(Or as my friend Diane calls them "Wall leaners")
....put in a corner on the floor, leaning on the wall

to be forgotten or painted over.

But with every painting I have completed I have taken away something new.
I have learned when to put my brush down
and
"Leave it alone"

What colours make each other Pop!
How to load a brush with paint

and countless other things.

One fact that I learned very quickly was that I
had no propensity to paint people/faces or animals.
I do not enjoy painting these subjects.
The one exception to this rule was the painting I did of a couple of Pelicans
(But then again birds are not people or animals)

"Pelicans"
(SOLD)

Actually, any attempt in that genre has resulted in frustration, anger
and a feeling of hopelessness.
So I just do not even try them. LOL

I think these things have made me a better Artist.
And hopefully I will continue to enjoy the learning process
of creating art.
~~Kathleen