A new (not original) painting

I am attaching a photo of a painting that I COPIED from a wonderful artist, Catherine Grawin.  I saw this painting in her studio and loved it!  When I told her, she said, so paint it!  I am not going to reproduce it or sell it - it will just be for my own enjoyment.  I haven't copied paintings in a long time -- it's a great way to learn to paint in the beginning - the composition is already there and you don't have to figure out colors.  It can be overwhelming in the beginning - at least it was for me - so much to figure out.   Lots of teachers use copying as a teaching tool to beginning students so you can get comfortable with the media.  Anyway, I love the painting and here it is . . .
Linda

 

Chianti

The hardest thing for me with painting is not to have expectations when starting a painting -- and to not be disappointed when it doesn't turn out the way I expected.  I guess that applies to life also.  In today's class, our lesson was to learn how to paint glass.  We used a Chianti bottle and a wine bottle.  Let me tell you, glass is not easy!  I am attaching a photo of my painting.  I guess in life, as in painting, lessons are for learning - and in that respect, today was a success. But I may have to do a few more paintings of glass to get the hang of it (and maybe drink a little Chianti while I am at it)!
Linda

Farm on Old Milky Way Road

I had another very fun painting class today.  I painted a farm - always good practice to paint architecture and the landscape.  And I have a couple ideas for paintings percolating in my brain!
Here is today's painting:  (11x14)

Camellias

I absolutely love flowers, but I don't feel that I have been super successful with painting them.  So, today in painting class, we painted a vase with white camellias - I painted them very loosely and infused the background with lots of color.  I had a lot of fun painting them!  So, tomorrow I will try again - will post any attempts.  My painting is 11x14.  Here is a photo . . .

Plein Air at Torrey Pines

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day - perfect for plein air painting in San Diego County.  I took a 1-day workshop at Torrey Pines State Park - in the morning we painted a view of the coastline and, after lunch, we painted a view of Penasquitos Marsh looking toward the Torrey Pines headland.  I will post a photo of the view and then my painting.  For me, painting is about my expression of what I see - I do not want to ever do a photo realtistic painting - I can take a photograph for that.  I want to express what I am feeling when I look at my subject matter.  As you can see, I infused the scene with a lot of color . . .
so, first the photo:

now, my painting:

Linda