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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Gloria J Zucaro's "Intuitive Painting"

Well, I wouldn't call this a success, but at least it is a start.  I am trying to learn about intuitive painting.  I have seen beautiful work by many artists who "see shapes" and and are able to bring them out of a background in such a way, it looks mystical. 
My process was to layer some warm acrylic colors and spray them with water to get them to mix.  After that layer dried, I added some blues, greens and purples and sprayed those.  I didn't like that layer at all so immediately sprayed some red, yellow and orange ink on top to warm it up again.  When that dried I searched for the "shapes".  I came up with some very cliche shapes!  A puppy, bunny, bird, angel, butterfly and what I call a "Hippo Bird"   He is probably the most interesting!  I traced them in with a pencil, then painted and decorated them.  I added "Try Something New" in glitter alphabet letters, and "Be Brave"
 in black pencil.  I added a little white pen around a few things.  It was an "experience"!  Oh well, maybe next time!








The final painting in all it's glory below!!
I am linking to Community Thrive and Paint Party Friday.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Gloria J Zucaro's "Too Much to Comment"

Although I worked on both of my unfinished projects from last weeks blog, I received sad news this week about my mother and just seemed to be drained of energy.  My mother 93, was in the hospital from Thursday until Monday evening when she was taken back to the nursing wing of the retirement residence where she lives.  After 2 CAT scans and 2 MRI's we had not been told much.  Finally yesterday afternoon, her doctor called my brother who lives not far from her, and said she has a tumor on her kidney which is cancerous and it has spread to her lungs...hence all the coughing she has.  She refused chemo, radiation or surgery, stating "It is silly at this age".  She told me she is not in any pain at all.  I am planning on going to see her this next week, and to relieve my brother who lives near-by.  We both feel in limbo because the doctor has not told my brother who has the Power of Attorney for health care what her timeline is!  They won't talk to me because of Hippa Laws.  So we don't know, does she have 2 weeks, or 2 years!

I hope you have a better week!  I hope to talk and art again soon.
Gloria

Friday, January 16, 2015

Gloria J Zucaro's "Three Down, Two to Go"

This week I finished three small projects and got two others started.  I finished "Rope Jumper". Here she is below with her rope.  I watched a champion rope jumper on You Tube to see the handles in her hands and how the rope would drape.  I gave her a face and took away her chunky forehead.  I also added more paint all around her.  This painting is Oil on a gessoed board and is 7"H x 5" W.
We finally had our family Christmas on Sunday the 11th.  On Monday I wrote my thank you notes.  I made a special one for my 7 year old grandson, hoping he would take notice.  He called today and he was so impressed!  I got a big kick out of it!  I had drawn with black ink the two presents that he had picked out for me especially.  One was a new wallet.  He had given me one the year before last and it was shot.  he knew that and picked a new one.  He also gave me a little cache pot with a young boy kneeling near a cross.  I printed his note rather than using script.

 
Before I forget..My friend Polly who lives in Anacortes, Washington gave me the neatest "altered" book.  It has 96 multimedia pages and was made by "slow art studio & bindery" on Lopez Island, WA .  It also has two little pockets on the front and back inside covers.  And look at the neat covers!!!  

Front
Inside Front
Inside Back
Some Pages
Back Cover

I also did a Zentangle for the first time in quite a while.  I did it on a 4 x 6 card.  The prompt was from Laura Harms at the "iamthediva.blogspot.com" website.  It is Laura's 200th post and she asked us all to do a monotangle.  We were to use just one design, our pick.  I used a pattern called "Stiricles".


The card is sitting on a journal page that I am doing for Community Thrive, a new group I joined to learn more about journals, collage and art forms other than painting.

One of the two projects I started but haven't finished is a pen drawing of an impromptu music concert at The Clearing Folk Art School in Ellison Bay, WI a couple of years ago.  I plan to finish it in watercolor.  I think next time I will need to use a different pencil for the initial drawing. This one is too smudgy.
The reference below
And finally the last item this week.  An oil painting of a mission church in Arizona just barely blocked in in some areas.
The initial steps of the painting, with the reference below.



Have a good week and check the Zentangles and paintings done on the sites mentioned.

Gloria











Thursday, January 8, 2015

Gloria J Zucaro's "Composition Gauguin"

I decided to do another in the floral series using an "Old Master" painter's work as a reference.  I picked a Gauguin floral still life this week.  I researched his color palette and a little about his technique.

These were the colors mentioned.  They are oil colors.  I am currently using pastels.  Since an oil painter can make many combinations from these colors, I started with these basic pastels but added to them to get the colors I needed.
  • Prussian blue
  • Cobalt blue
  • Emerald green
  • Viridian
  • Cadmium yellow
  • Chrome yellow
  • Red ochre
  • Cobalt violet
  • Lead white
  • Zinc white
  • The basic colors mention in the article on Painting.about.com
  • Typically Gauguin painted outlines of the subject directly onto the canvas in diluted Prussian blue. These were then filled in with opaque colours (rather than building colour up through glazes). The dark outline heightens the intensity of the other colours. 
Here is that original photo of my set-up

The first thing I did was draw my original floral on the canvas in pencil.  I then added some new parts to the composition to mimic Gauguin's composition.  He had put a Japanese woodcut into the background and had a very South Seas looking jug.  Since I had neither, I made up an abstract in the background and added a jug-like vase in the area where he placed his.  I then outlined everything in "Prussian Blue" as the article mention.  Gauguin's painting seemed very flat with no real light source.  He also had some stray leaves pointing up at his still life, so I did the same.  I used many of his colors rather than the Fall colors of my original reference.
Below is my first step

Next starting to color in the background.
.

Then I totally forgot to take pictures until I was finished!

Here is my reference from Gauguin


Here is my final "Composition Gauguin"
8" x 10" Soft Pastel on Sanded Paper Unframed.
Contact me with questions.
gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

I hope you enjoy my paintings :>)  Gloria

I was invited by Valerie & Susi after posting, to join in to Art Journal Journey.  Their site is featuring each artist's version of a "Master" painter that they like, so my current theme series fits right in.  Thank you ladies.  Pop-in to see each artists' rendition of their favorites painter.
I was also invited to share my work on "The Queen of Creativity" by Kate. Thanks so much!


Thursday, January 1, 2015

Gloria J Zucaro's "January First 2015"

Happy New Year to Everyone,
Today my post is some photographs I have taken lately and how I altered them in Photoshop Elements.

Here is a photo of the bench in my back yard and my pesky squirrels.  
It is called "Squirrel's Christmas Party"
Here it is after using Photoshop Elements Filters called Artistic Cutout
It looks abstract, which is kind of neat.
Then below I used Enhance-Adjust Color Curves.  I increased the highlights and shadows, it looks much more dramatic and rich.  So much fun.  You can click on the images to enlarge to see the full effect.

The next photograph captured some crystals I had hanging in the window. 
First the original photo and beneath it, the photo enhanced with a filter called Misc. Effects, Fluorescent Chalk.  People really liked it and I had a purchase offer, but they thought I had painted it!  I told them it was only in my computer...boo hoo!  Oh well, I had fun with these.


   


I am linking to Paint Party Friday, Twitter, Facebook and 

Have a wonderful week,

Gloria