FINDING THE DEPTH OF A BACKGROUND

Here I am painting negative shapes to create the illusion of  depth behind the leaves and stems. This is a wet into wet process, with the thought of negative shapes around the leaves and stems in the furthest background,  paint in the transparent yellow and then I drop in the mixture of burnt sienna, winsor green (bs) and winsor blue.  Yum! it is the best combination.   The background is fun to paint and I know it will be a great lesson, so in May I will be teaching this in a 3 day workshop.

The Stems of the Iceland Poppy

Now I am moving into the background to paint the stems; 

I glazed the stem with a transparent yellow while the pigment is wet, I then add in pure burnt sienna, to enhance some of the reds in the stem. For the shadow side of the stem a mixture of winsor green (blue shade) and burnt sienna. The light side and dark side will help create the roundness of each stem.

CHA Convention with F&W Publishing

Here I am at the CHA Convention in Anaheim CA, I was invited to be a part of F&W Publishing's author to do a book signing, and here I was being interviewed for DIY television. Very fun weekend!

Iceland Poppies

The third iceland poppy I painted in the gray shadows and now I am gently painting in the pistils with transparent yellow and a hint of quinacridone gold. And the center is a mixture of Winsor Green (blue shade) and Permanent Alizarin Crimson.

The iceland poppy is taking form, added the yellow using transparent yellow over the grays all ready painted in.  Also painted the dew drops.  For the poppy in shadow I glazed the petals with a mixture of permanent alizarin crimson and thalo blue

More folds for the poppy

Painting in the grays and getting ready to lay in transparent yellow next, also you can see I did draw in the dew drops.

painting the delicate folds of the poppy

The delicate folds begin with a grey mixture of Permanent Alizarin Crimson and Winsor Green (blue shade)  I use a 1/4" square brush to paint the thick to thin lines of the folds

Iceland Poppies

Step one of my Iceland Poppies - I am beginning with the stems working to keep the highlight and shadows.  The stems are painted with transparent yellow, and while the stem is wet I dropped in the dark shadow pigment, winsor green (blue shade) and burnt sienna mixture.
The leafs are a funny shape when painting them I think of a cartoon characters hand.

Lecture at the Metropolitan Club in San Francisco

Set-up for the lecture, this building was just beautiful, each room in this club had an elegant setting. Behind me on the back wall was a fireplace tall enough for me to stand in.

Test Test yes the microphone is on

Here is my friend Guy Magallanes, he has just received his proof of his chapter to be published in "Splash in Action" in October 2009.

Over whelming to say the least when all your hard work is finally before you

30 kids in this class whew! Set-up took about 45 minutes. Lesson 3 hours.

Michelle Larson's 4th Grade Class,

Redding California. We painted an african scene, called "The Elephant Walk at Sunset"