In My Studio This Week – Happy Couple Part 2, a Hummingbird, and a Dragonfly

In my studio this week, I lost a few days due to other tasks vying for my attention. I did get back to the HUGE “Happy Couple” painting and believe it is now finished. I took the splatter canvas and frame from last week and painted a hummingbird on it. I was able to get away with a friend and go to a mosaic class where I tried to put a dragonfly on a tile with questionable results.

Happy Couple Part 2

I moved into applying the next layer using oil paint and glazing techniques. I worked on softening the shadows on the face and around the eyes. I also added more color to the shirts and the wine glasses.

I ended last week’s blog discussion by asking you whether to put glasses on the woman’s face as is shown in the reference photograph. I ended up going for it and am waiting for the oil to dry so I can add more highlights, but think they turned out okay. What do you think?

Splatter Hummingbird

I followed a lesson on the Milan Art website on painting a hummingbird using acrylic paint. I had a plan to do this using the splattered gold-leaf canvas I had created the previous week.

I painted in the hummingbird and think I did the overall shape well, but the colors looked dull.

I went back and reworked the colors and added some highlights but see that the painting on the hummingbird blends too much into the background colors, making the hummingbird nearly disappear into the canvas. I’m not sure how to move forward with this one. Chalk it up to a vision gone wrong? Try to add some lighter colors around the bird’s body to make it stand out more? Do you have any thoughts or recommendations?

Mosaic Dragonfly

I had a Groupon for three people to attend a mosaic class in downtown Tucson. I’ve had this since the end of last year and trying to get three people’s schedule to work out proved to be a challenge, but we finally pulled it off.

I had taken this same class in the fall and thought I knew what I was doing. Turns out, I made exactly the same mistake I did previously, and the result was similar to the problem I had with the hummingbird painting – the focal point blends into the background.

I haven’t grouted this yet and think that will help bring out the dragonfly. I like the tactile feel of doing mosaics and hope to do more and gain proficiency in the future.

Takeaways

I’ve still been dealing with resistance and distractions this week. I hope to gain more focus and clarity going forward. I learned that visions take work to have them turn out as expected. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Maybe more often than not!

Thank you from the bottom of my creative soul for being with me along the way.