Flamingos

Today is my last day at the Red Barn Studio. It has been a good two weeks, both restful and productive. The atmosphere is very conducive to creative inspiration. I worked every day in front of this huge window overlooking the brick enclosed courtyard.

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I also worked in the presence of several Lester Raymer pieces awaiting auction day the end of this month.

One of my projects while here was to do some small works series.  The first series that I did was inspired by tubes of acrylic paint in a new to me Charvin brand. I have to say it is very rich and creamy and beautiful! This may be a new favorite!

The colors made me think of retro flamingos! First came lovely bits and scraps of paper, then paints to blend.

The beautiful canvases reminded me of something artist Bob Burridge says, “every good painting begins with a good abstract.” I am a strong believer in the importance of a good background. It is as necessary as building a foundation for a house.

Then came some flamingos after making some trail sketches in my sketchbook.

After using my new tropical leaves stencil to add some foliage to each piece, I called them done!

I love how the colors turned out on these!

If any of you want a tutorial on using CitraSolv, I am excited to have Julie Balzer of Balzer Designs repost a tutorial I did for her blog some time back. Visit it here!

I have also been continuing with the inktober challenge and have been keeping up with my sketches. There is just nothing that compares for artistic development to practice, practice, practice. The daily word prompts keeps if fun, and fresh each day.

Day 16 – angular

Day 17 – swollen

Day 18 – bottle

Day 19 – dragon

Hope you have a great weekend!