Lemon up

I had to force myself to s l o w d o w n on this one.
      I wasn't happy with it at first and now I like it better.
so
     yeah.
For sale on dailypaintworks.com
 http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/karen-stitt/lemon-up/170032
Oil on canvas 8x10
Cheers all. Hope you are thawing out.
ks

Credit for a wonderful photo by a fellow who goes by samygpunkt on deviantart
http://fav.me/d4gwj6x

Strawberry Ice

I will not rant.

I will not rant

I will not rant

I had to go back and reread the recent post on muddycolorsblogspot about 10 Things...Word List that Greg Manchess (brilliant artist!) wrote about "rehearsing" to be an artist. He is so right. It doesn't just happen, right?  

 http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2013/04/10-thingsword-list.html

UPDATE: THIS IS FOR SALE ON DAILYPAINTWORKS.COM AND I WILL BE THE ONE MAKING THE DONATION (because I feel strongly about this :)

And I would love to send this off to someone who is willing to make a donation to Children's Hospital or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I know a family whose second oldest child was down to 20% lung capacity. 20%! Things were looking very grim for him and lots of prayers were being said. He was in the hospital nonstop for close to a year. Then word came through that donor lungs had been found. Donor lungs. A double lung transplant. 

That hit me when Mrs. Farrell, who taught his younger brothers and sister for sixth grade, discussed it with her current class and one of the kids made the connection...out loud... that that meant someone else had lost a loved one. So to see him...at church...on Palm Sunday...was...incredible. He looks great and his mom looks like she's aged a million years. I may get incredible discouraged by mine sometimes like I'm sure most mothers do at one point or another, but they're healthy (knock wood.) 

So if any of you would like to have this in exchange for a tax deductible donation, please contact me to discuss.

Now back to work....and make time for it! 5x7 Oil on canvas panel 

Happy Spring all!  Karen :)

http://www.cff.org/GetInvolved/ManyWaysToGive/MakeADonation/ (for information)http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/164295

Tomato with new paint

Hi and hello,
Ah, Spring. Trees bursting, the roses bushes already have a bloom or two. Planted the garden and now to wait in anticipation for the first tomato of the season. Yum.
A few weeks ago Graphaids had their annual 40% sale and I had to get over to pick up what never really goes on sale, namely oil paint. Yeah, it goes on sale, but I mean on sale. The good stuff. So I arrived after the huge crowds had descended and left, leaving the place quite picked over and a fellow painter and I start to talk. Next thing I know I'm buying Williamsburg Turkey Umber and Italian Yellow Ochre. I had no intention of buying these colors when I went in, but he proclaimed their virtues and I succumbed. Like shopping when you're hungry. Ok, he was right. They are most interesting. And then also I bought what I intended, Cerulean Blue and Alizarin Crimson. For these last two I opted for Sennelier.  So, like any time you buy something new (earrings, shoes) you have to try them on for size, right? What if they're just not you? So I grabbed some of the paper canvas I had already prepped, taped off the edges, got my pallet in place, squeezed out a dollop of Turkey Umber (OK, nice), squeezed out a dollop of Italian Yellow Ochre (OK, nice), opened the tube of Sennelier Cerulean Blue and SPLOOSH! About two tablespoons of just oil - no pigment - all over the Umber and Ochre. Wow. I promptly went online to wetcanvas.com and got the answer in a snap. Sennelier is made with safflower oil and separates. The word on the street is, "Store them upside down. Should be OK for the long run." Who knew? They did. Now I do and you do too.

On paper canvas (thank you Azra!)  about 7x9
Cheers all! Gods blessings!
Karen

Vernal equinox

This is from Monday night's drawing class, 

my five minutes.

Two twenty minutes (didn't quite come together)

Now a break from class for three weeks. We are going onto perspective.

Vernal equinox (or) enjoy the first day of Spring! 

Cheer all! Karen

Every Picture Tells a Story

Well I think the cosmic block has moved on for me. If it affected you, I hope its moved on as well or at least that it doesn't hover over your neighborhood. I am full of random thoughts today, trying to reorient myself (I dislike time change to put it mildly.) 

Started this little one here by just putting down charcoal strokes and then cutting in with my kneaded eraser.

 Re-darkened some areas, a bit of white charcoal and felt reinvigorated. Huzzah!

Then on Monday night's drawing class we had a stunning fellow to draw. 

Here are my five minutes,

 then my first two twenty minutes. 

 He had piercing ice blue eyes - I mean just crystal ice blue! He would go into his pose and mold his face into this fierce look and if I had been on a bus with him and he stared in my direction with that look, I would have gotten up and moved. Then he'd relax and smile and light up the room. Chris said to mix it up a bit and break out of my comfort zone, so I did a bit along the same as my dapper man at top.

Ok, fun to share. Back to work and then hopefully some painting tonight.

One more thing that gave me a real chuckle. My brother H (his wife calls him that and it so fits him) texted me, saying he had a dream I was married to Brad Pitt and Brad was mean to him. HA! I read it to my husband whose response was "Well, tell him he'll appreciate me a bit more. I'm not mean to him like Brad." The more I thought about it, the more I realized it would depend on which Brad Pitt, the Brad from Meet Joe Black? Well, alrighty then! The Brad from Kalifornia? No thank you!

And have you seen this? Its hysterical!

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/celebrities-normal-people-gallery-1.1113180?pmSlide=3

Alright, enough of my randomness for one day. Cheers All!

Karen

You can't get there from here

Just like I've read from the blogs of so many of you lately, the end of February and the beginning of March have been jammed packed for me as well. No time for fun - meaning for me drawing or painting. Extra time spent at work is good for the pocketbook, bad for making Art.
So I was especially looking forward to Monday night's drawing class to be able to just concentrate on nothing but. We've been having life drawing with alternating male and female models. This week we had Carson who looked about fourteen and was really about eighteen. She models frequently and really knew how to hold her pose. I hope we use her again. Chris suggested I add a bit to the back of her head, narrow her neck and then gave me a compliment that made my evening, telling me, "There's not much I would correct here." He walked by me three times after that and just nodded. I have to say I had really felt I was capturing her face, but that sealed it. All the cards fell into place for drawing her that night. Next week, who knows? My hand may have a mind of its own.

Ok friends, let's hope this cosmic block moves on to another galaxy. I want to draw! Live long and prosper.
ks

Tasty

Hi!
There will be chocolate everywhere (especially at work) today. But this one won't be a moment on the lips, forever on the ..... everywhere.
Oil on Canson Canva Paper 10x8 (Still liking it, Azra!)
Hope you all have a sweet day!
Karen

Messed around with it a bit more, so here is the update. Not much of a difference, but..... still tasty!

End of the Beach

So my friend, Azra (everyone says Hi Azra!), posted a painting of roses and an apple on canvas paper and she inspired me to give the paper a try. So out I went and bought some Canson (my personal fav paper company) Canva Oil paper in a sheet and cut it up (from Michael's Art and Crafts cause I was near one and had a 40% off coupon-Yeah!). The first, a small study of a rosette echeveria succulent, felt like it sucked up the oil. So for the second I gave it a coat of gesso (no sanding), then an under-painting in acrylic before moving on to oils. Fun to try something new.

Thanks Azra!

http://azraiqbal.blogspot.com/2013/01/roses-and-apple.html#comment-form

Cheers all!

February Model

Hi and Hello,
Chris had a head shot of this beautiful girl, so I drew her. Don't know if she is one of the usual models over at CalArtInst (or even her name???) Tonight we are supposed to be working from a live model if Chris remembered to line one up. Should be interesting.
 Charcoal on that darn newsprint. Cheers all!
    Karen

SunPower

Hi. Worked on this quite a few days. Like it but I'm open to critiques. I really wanted to make the petals pop forward. (Reading a fictional thing about Van Gogh and got inspired to paint a sun flower - go figure.)
Ok, ever learning.
Hope all is well in your world.
Oil on canvas 8x10
Cheers and God's blessings.
Karen