Publisher's Notes

It has been a few weeks since my last blog posting....I'm so sorry.   Without going into detail, let me just say that my life has changed rather drastically.  This summer, my time for painting and blogging will be very limited. 

The good news is that I hope to continue to write on my blog and share thoughts, designs and ideas with you.  The bad news is that  I am going to have to put my Coffee, Tea & Me project on hold for a few months.   It is so discouraging to have to put it aside but I know I won't be able to give it my "all" right now.  I promise to get back to it in the Fall.   With the little bit of time that I have available for painting this summer, I will be working on a some designs for the Artist's Club and I am painting a series of "mini's."   I thought that the mini's would allow me to paint and finish some designs and keep me creative and inspired without involving me in anything too detailed or time consuming.  Remember the mini that I did while working out the colors for Coffee, Tea & Me?   I want to continue with some designs along that idea.   I like the mini's because they are simpler in design, don't take as long to paint, and are perfectly sized to group together.  (Quicker gratification - not instant, but quicker).  And for all of those reasons they make great gifts!    I'll keep you updated on how the mini's are coming along.

Changing the subject a little......aren't the flowers just fabulous right now?!  As I drive along hot pinks and delicate whites have been catching my eye.  Maybe it's the deep green backdrop that makes the color pop so much.   During a walk the other day we passed a large bush with yellow flowers (which looked like wild roses).   It was so pretty.  It amazes me how every season has its own color scheme.   We are entering into the summer season which will bring all sorts of bright colors, from purple pansies & eggplant to red geraniums & tomatoes, and everything in between.  

This summer keep your eyes open to the colors..........Tracy

A funny (yet wonderful) thing happened this week.  I finalized my line drawing and decided on a color palette to use for the coffee/tea design.  I even painted a “mini” design with a few elements in it to really work the colors out before attempting the much larger design.  I love the way the mini came out!  (See photo below)  But after completing the mini, I decided that I wanted to alter the colors for the larger design to a softer, lighter palette.  

I chose the base coat color and I mixed it with the sealer hoping to speed the process up, by allowing me to later eliminate one coat of paint. Once it was dry I sanded the surface once again to remove the raised tooth and was ready to base coat the board.  Now for the funny thing……I looked at the board and liked it the way it was!   Mixing the base color in with the sealer created an affect similar to pickling.  Only the color that I mixed with the sealer was Bahama Blue!   After sanding, it looked like a weathered board that had been used in the garden.  It turned into a light country blue-green.  I really liked it the way it was so I decided to leave it, and I transferred the pattern on.   (See background in photo below)

Once again I was exercising my artistic (or creative) license, and I chose to paint the design items in colors that work together, not the colors that they are in reality (because remember, I gathered the items from all around the house so they were in a variety of colors).   In my mind I had envisioned a turquoise/chocolate/white palette with a touch of pink for accents and I still intend to use this palette except I have changed the turquoise to more of an aqua.  I began by working on a tea cup that is in the design.  Many, many layers of colors have been built and I don’t feel that it is completed yet, but I’m going to move on to other elements.  I will return to the tea cup later to create more contrast and add some of the other colors used throughout the design to it.

I'm loving how things work themselves out……Tracy

 I’m happy to report that I worked out a design for my coffee-tea painting.  Here is what I did this week:  I gathered together all the items that I had in my house that were coffee and tea related.   Once they were all together, I looked at the heights and sizes to decide the best way to arrange the items.  Seeing them all together gave me the realization that I was trying to cram a lot of items into one composition.  Also, I saw that the items were a variety of sizes, they went from large (a full size tea pot) to very small (coffee beans).  I concluded that the best surface to design on would be a long one.  This would allow the items to be spaced out next to each other, some overlapping a little, instead of all crammed together into a square or rectangle shape.  But as the items became smaller on the ends, if I used a board that was just a long rectangle there would be too much empty or open space above the items.   So I went though my surface inventory and I chose an MDF surface that is overall 21 inches long.  It has 3 ½ inches on either end that are 5 inches high and the center area (which is fourteen inches long) is 8 ¾ inches high.   I traced the shape of the board on to paper and began sketching the items into place.  As I sketched I used my artistic license by adjusting the sizes of some of the items to make them proportionate to each other.  

Although I like my paintings to have a sense of reality to them I don’t paint realism, so I often exercise artistic license and change things to suit my will.  Speaking of artistic (or creative) license, I intend to paint the items in colors that work together, not the colors that they really are.   I still have to create a transferable line drawing from the sketch.  After seeing the way the items fit on the board, I will slightly change the final line drawing to make a more pleasing composition, moving just a few of the elements a bit.   So my next step, along with completing a final line drawing, is to decide on the color palette and get the surface prepped and base coated.   I hope to have a photo of the final line drawing for you next week.  Keep the coffee coming………Tracy