Mary B Spires Watercolor & Art Stuff

As most of you know I teach a step by step technique, by starting the student with a line drawing and photograph of the finished painting. Over the years I've heard the comment, "Isn't that cheating?". The general public believe that you are born with the GIFT of painting. I truly believe that painting is a SKILL! Sure some people do have talent, but so do pianoist, but you must practice to develope the talent! It is truly about training the person to see and understand the process of painting. By understanding the process, by practicing and visually seeing the transformation of a photograph to a line drawing the brain begins to understand how you draw. A lot of it's about the hand, eye, and brain working together. One of the most popular art books, Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, goes into great detail explaining the process of the right brain (creative side) and how you can make your brain shift over to this creative side. While surfing my...

8x10 Oil on Canvas Board Another pic from Alaska! This was the day before we had a digital camera, so we took about 36 rolls of 36.....guess how many pictures I have!!!! Of course I can find several things wrong with this one, but it's about the practice, not what you get.

8 x 10 Oil on Canvas Board I painted this from a photograph that I took in Alaska about 10 years ago.....can't believe it's been that long. I seem to struggle with landscape......the Plein Air class is a way for me to paint landscape on a regular schedule. I have taken several Plein Air Workshops over the past few years, but didn't follow through with going out on a regular schedule.

8 x 10 Oil on Canvas This is the painting I did Friday in the Plein Air Class.....Robert helped me get the angles of the bridge right.....it was a little chilly!!!

It's been a crazy week!!! I finished the article and it will be in the mail on Monday. Yea! Yea! I have painted every day; finally got one today that I will post later. I keep telling myself the reason for the "blog" is to make myself paint, not just to have something to post. I've been working 8x10, so it takes me a couple of days to finish. So I will change my New Year's resolution to 3 painting per week, if they are 8x10 or larger. Pressure is OFF!!!!!! Went to the Minature Show yesterday afternoon! WOW! What a wonderful show....over 900 pieces including sculpture. It's at the Gulf Coast Art Museum. It's a must see.

11x14 On Watercolro Paper

I'm working on an article for the National Society of Decorative Painters Magazine......I will post the step by step pictures later this week.

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board I'm not happy with the photograph of this one, but even in Florida we have rain days.......It's been a crazy week, I had a friend down from Ohio, we painted, but I didn't get anything to Post. I started this one in Pumfrey's class on Wednesday afternoon. I went to the Plein Air Class on Friday, this is going to be a really good class. I've been trying to paint in Plein Air for the last couple of years, but haven't done it regularly . Hopefully I will get something in the next few weeks that I'm able to post!!!

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board This paintng was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers Carol Marine, I finished this one this morning also.......the paint had just become tacky, so it took the second layer better. Of course you should see the one she did.....it's pretty wonderful!!! It's about practice.....plus studing a painter that you admire!!!! They are the best teachers!!!!

8 x 10 Oil on Canvas Board I think I've found the best way not to overwork the paintings. I did the block in with the local color, let it dry over night, then finish the next day. I will take another look at this one tomorrow, may need to add a few more brush strokes!

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board This is the first step of blocking in the local color. I forgot to take a photograph of the lifting out step, but hopefully you understand the process from the White Picture with Oranges.

Original Photograph of Still Life

I blocked in all the local colors, plus some of the shadow shapes. I'll let this dry overnight.

8 x 10 Oil on Canvas Board I decided to try working on two paintings at once. I'm hoping this will keep me from overworking them. I first cover the panel with a mixture of Cadmium Red Light, Cadmium Yellow and French Ultramarine Blue, this is a Red Brown Mixture. I will be using this Red Brown with the other mixture to create color harmony. This was a Color Theory exercise we did this fall in Michael McEwan's class at Capital University.

Photograph

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas I have labored over this little painting for 3 days!!!! I could do more, but I've decided that's it just too much stress!!!! It's about learning to paint!!!! So I will move onto the next one and call it a day!!!!

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board This little still live has been a tought one!!!! I've wiped it off 3 times.....started it in class on Wednesday afternoon.

11" x 14" Oil on Board Well, this has not been a very productive week......I taught on Tuesday & Wednesday, went to class on Wednesday Afternoon & Friday Morning.....and did not produce a THING!!!! I did paint every day, but wiped off 3 painting. So I'm posting this painting I did last summer of my granddaughter Brittney....who got married in May, plus she is expecting a little girl at the end of March.

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board After taking Michael McEwan Color Class I decided to try and use the theory of using "Double Split Complementary Colors" in this case Blue Green, Red Violet, Red Orange and Yellow Green. I only used a little Yellow Green as the reflection on the cup....but I think it works OK

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Well, it finished!!!! I think!!!! Never again with the red stripes painted first......... I do like the reflections on the cups.....

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board OK, you're saying she didn't post yesterday, what happened to the 5 times a week? Well let me tell you, do not do RED STRIPS, what a chore!!!! It bleeds into the white, it takes a long time to dry.......so next time I'm doing them last!!!!!! I still need to do the cups reflection.....and the tomatoes.....so this may be another days work........I've got about 8 hours in this little baby already....hope another 2 or so will do it.

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board This is just the beginning of this project........I painted the red stripes with Cad Red, plus a little Alizarin Crimson. I add a little Cad yellow for the lighter "Red" on the tomatoes. Hope to finish tomorrow morning!!!

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board Now that I've posted the painting, I see I didn't add the stem on the far right cherry. After painting the cast shadows on the background, I decided to paint the background in a middle value of Gray that I added a little Alizarin Crimson too.

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board Step 3: I mix a warm color of white, plus added various values of Gray, plus a little Coeruleum Blue and a l ittle Alizarin Crimson.

10 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board Step 1: this is just the base in of local color. I mix a medium value of the local color. Next I will start building up the layers of paint, adding darker values .

10 x 8 Oil on Paper I painted this in a workshop with Michael McEwan. We had a specific palette, with specific values and layout. It was a wonderful workshop, learned a lot!!! thanks Michael 2008/1

As we start a brand new year I want to start the year off right!!! I plan on painting and posting at least 5 times a week. I had a good start last year, but as usual I let the day to day get in the way. We're back in Florida, I start teaching next week........so let the games begin~!!!!!!