Phoenix, AZ - 7/8 Oil Painting Class

I have finished what I want to do now with these two paintings. I am going to allow them to dry for about a month and then put on one more treatment. I spent time putting shadows and highlights on and may need more next week. We shall see after the paint dries.  

The conversation is delightful. We often talk about Travels and where people are from and where they’ve been and where they would like to go. We talk about whatever and what would you do, do plastic surgeons have plastic surgery done and is a polite to ask? We talk about paint, famous artists, artist no one‘s ever heard of, And events around town. We have snacks, sometimes fine pastries made by one of the other students in the class and sometimes cookies from the box which taste just as delightful. We drink tea and contemplate a little bit of wine and if it would help. Music plays in the background and we listen to everything from French passion to blues and closed with the song last night song by Pavarotti and James Brown on the same stage.  Edna, our artist guiding light, gives advice and keeps the conversation going. 

One more night left for this session. We have critiques in the last half hour so I am interested to see how this goes. 






Ladee
Travel info and photographs: 
"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport."
Fun stuff here: 

Prescott, AZ - Watson Lake and Granite Mountain

We had dramatic skies and cold temperatures for this weekend's shoot in Prescott.  A meetup group (Beth Ruggiero-York's Arizona Night Photographers) decided to see what the winter day in Prescott had to offer.  We weren't disappointed.

Watson's Lake and the trees around the edge.

 These were taken from the pull-off.

 I turned around to see what was happening in the direction of the sun and saw the clouds behind the subdivision on the hill.


 Earlier in the day we took a drive to Granite Mountain and the horse corrals.

And we went to see sunrise on the lake.  This rowing team of five ducks came by several times. Karen Martin thinks that the white one was the crew chief because of the timing of "quack (row), quack (row) quack (row).  It was a fun day and worth the drive.  Stayed at an AirBnb that borders the forest at Thumb Butte.  Friday night dinner at Rosa's was very good with pizza.  Saturday brunch at Waffles and More before the crowds showed up.  And a quick soup and salad after tonight's shoot at Panera.

Phoenix, AZ - 6/8 Oil Painting Class

Last week I had worked on the underpainting of this piece. I let it dry for a week and tonight my job was to put the gold accents and shading all around to give it depth in three dimensions. It was a lot of fun. I think I still need to let it dry and try again next week for the finishing touches and I can bring it home to hang on the wall.

I spoke with the teacher Edna tonight and told her that I had two more things that I needed to learn in this session. Number one is how to paint fabric folds to make them look 3-D and beautiful. Number two is skin tones. I have a really nice photo of a fair skinned young lady along with a girl with darker tones.

Someone had asked where I'm taking the classes. I am attending Phoenix Center for the Arts on 3rd Street south of McDowell Avenue. There are a lot of classes listed on their website. I really enjoyed it and plan to consider and take another eight week course.

The first one is pre-gold highlights, followed by a completed version and close-ups. 




here are some close-up so that you could see the details.








Ladee
Travel info and photographs: 
"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the ladeetravels.blogspot.copages of a passport."
Fun stuff here: 

Phoenix, AZ - 5/8 Oil Painting

Tonight I started work to paint two black and white canvas prints. This has the first layer of paint. 



Ladee
Travel info and photographs: 
"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport."
Fun stuff here: 

Phoenix, AZ - 4/8 Oil Painting Class

We finished our learning still life. I learned to put on thick palette paint and loved it. I also learned how to make a glass object with transparency. The instructor Edna is a rock star artist!!











Ladee
Travel info and photographs: 
"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport."
Fun stuff here: 

Phoenix, AZ - The Workshop

A lot of paint and paint brushes. And cleaning supplies. 














Ladee
Travel info and photographs: 
"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport."
Fun stuff here: 

Goodyear, AZ - Goodyear Balloon Glow

The Arizona Balloon Classic, complete with a hot air balloon race and festival, was held at the Goodyear Ballpark.  The winds picked up a little during the evening, so the glow had fewer balloons than expected.  The webpage has the details.

There were food booths and balloon souvenirs for plenty of entertainment while we waited for the balloons to arrive.  A cycling team performed stunts to kick off the evening.  They decided to do their tricks between the flames of two balloon baskets!

It was a fun event to photograph.







Phoenix, AZ - Ikebana at Japanese Gardens

The Japanese Friendship Gardens held the 7th Annual Ikebana Exhibit in January 2019.  The Gardens are beautiful and serene, in the middle of Phoenix.  And the Ikebana Exhibit had a wide variety of styles.  I spoke to two little sisters and they showed me their Ikebana that they learned to make.

Here are my photographs of a few of the Ikebana flower displays, a feel of the beauty of the garden, and my friends the koi fish.  I had to really work to get food to them and away from the lightening quick ducks!

My favorites were the BBQ Grill and the Embroidery Hoops.

Link to Japanese Friendship Gardens
Link to Exhibit Information












Phoenix, AZ - 3/8 Oil Painting Class

Tonight we worked on the next layer of the painting. I put some some highlights and reflections on the black vase. I added my bright yellow flowers along with some bright red ones. I also laid out the background to the pinkish rose. The instructor told me to raise the neck of the vase (on the right side) just a little bit to give it a longer slicker look. And also maybe try to straighten it out. It is not supposed to have a neck that tilts to the left. I lightened the vase on the right and painted in the books. Will finish this one next week with the top layer in some details and then start on another piece of work. I'm learning a lot. 

Who squished my lemon?  Haha!! I need to fix that!!!













Ladee
Travel info and photographs: 
"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport."
Fun stuff here: 

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