Page One of The Sketchbook Project "Kitten Dance"

Hello!  Thank you for all the comments that I did not reply to last week, I will try better this week..  This week I am starting in my 2019 "The Sketchbook Project" book.  My Theme is "Things I Love".  That can encompass a lot!  My first page is about loving dancing and kittens!  It is a mixed media.  I am posting to Paint Party Friday.  I hope you check the site to see the artwork from artists all over the world.

Click on image to enlarge.

Have a good week,

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "One Day In March"

My painting today has gone through a complete transformation.  It was much more intense in color, as my paintings seem to be.  But I wasn't satisfied with it because although I love strong color, it wasn't saying what I wanted to remember and tell you about.  

One day last March I was out on some rural back roads taking photos of barns and fields. It was our typical very gray, cold, damp and windy March day. Suddenly I came upon a patch of exposed dried grass and a beautiful old barn with several coats of peeling paint. I loved it immediately because I am partial to pale aqua/blue.  The warmth of the layers of paint brightened up the whole field! 

I am posting to Paint Party Friday.  Thank you Eva and Kristin.  

If I don't see you again until the new year, have a wonderful Christmas, or Holiday of your persuasion. 

"One Day In March"

Oil on Gallery-wrapped Canvas

16"H x 20"W

Gloria J Zucaro's "Snow Queens Four"

Hello!, Happy Mother's Day to all.  I just finished a mixed media piece that I really enjoyed making.  I did a lot of collage , paint, and scribbling underneath the portraits of my snow queens.  After they were dry I used a stencil and modeling paste to create the dimensional snowflakes around the fur of their hoods.

Thankfully most of our Winter has disappeared into blooming Spring flowers and the Robins return!  Have a good week, and thank you for visiting! :>)

I am posting to Paint Party Friday, so check all the wonderful artwork displayed there!                              Paint Party Friday

"Anselm Kiefer Abstract and Jodi Ohl Birds"

Tonight I have a couple of different projects. 

My first two photos are of practice birds  that were a homework assignment to do in my journal given in Jodi Ohl's "Dirty Flirty Birds" workshop. I can see a lot more practice is needed to make the birds come alive. I have a story going on but the birds are just OK.

"Secrets"


Eagle,Fly the Flag

The second project is the Anselm Kiefer project inspired by Nathalie Kalbach for Creative Jumpstart 2016. She did an abstract and attached organic elements to it. I started with black gesso, then put on crackle medium. When that dried, I added dryer lint for the bird, ink in black and white, a touch of burnt sienna acrylic paint over the crackle, some red paint mixed with gel medium and some aqua ink mixed with white gesso, then I added two ball bearings to the aqua "pools". I wrote in German, because Kiefer usually wrote something, my words meaning "Go fast, fly away!"

"Wegfliegen Schnell"

Have a great day,

Gloria :>) happy PPF!

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

"Picasso, Scanlon and Tulips!"

Tonight I am posting my project from the demo by Catherine Scanlon, with Creative Jumpstart 2016. Catherine did a watercolor floral inspired by Picasso. I thought I would do watercolor, but ended up using my acrylics and inks again as well as some Silks on the flower petals.

The final painting below.

Steps 1 and 2

Starting to fill in

Hope to see you for my next Picasso creation!

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "No More Fish"

Today I am posting my mixed-media project led by instructor Jodi Ohl.  I love Jodi's art and will be taking her "Dirty Birds" on-line course starting January 20.  Anyway, Jodi is one of the artists with Creative Jumpstart 2016 who is demonstrating to us her project inspired by Jean Mikel Basquiat.  I had a lot of fun with this the last couple of days, fitting it in around dentist's appointments and other LIFE interruptions! I was at Hobby Lobby and they were having a 50% off sale on wall decor.  I found two box like art pieces and got them each for 10.00  I decided to use one for Jodi's project. The first thing I did was gesso the tops last night.This afternoon I started the paint application, the text underneath and scribbles and scratches into the surface for texture and interest.  There were also some paint pens, and pastel watercolor crayons used. The last detail was to add a couple of Basquiat-like figures to the more abstract background.  I really hated to do it because I loved my straight abstract painting, but hey, it's the assignment!  The individual steps are below. Please click on any image you would like to see in more detail.

The Final Piece

Straight from the store

Gessoed

Adding color

This was my favorite stage.  I normally don't do abstract paintings, so it was a thrill for me.

I am calling this project "Fish", because that is what the cat is asking the king for, but the king ran out!

Have a nice day., and leave a comment if you are so inclined, thanks, Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "In A Nest Of Leaves"

8"H x 8"W Original Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

$55.00 Framed in Floater 
To Purchase- PayPal Through Daily Paintworks

This is my little bird figurine from my sister-in-law.  He is sweetly seated in a little pile of leaves. I again use orange and aqua as my choices for a crisp Fall day.  

Gloria J Zucaro's "Changing Season's"

8"H x 8"W  Original Oil on Raymar Panel

$55.00 Framed   S&H to your ZIP
To Purchase-PayPal Through Daily Paintworks

I painted this from life.  It is a bronzy orange metal pumpkin that is open in the back for a candle, and has a beaded stem and some embedded rhinestones or beads in the pumpkin body, along side a large lush sunflower.  The sunflower closes out our summer season in Illinois and welcomes in the Fall.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Quit Yolkin' Around"

8.5"H x 10"W  Original Soft Pastel on Acid Free Archival Sanded Paper.

$65.00  Shipping $8.00 USA

Click on image for more detailed view

Auction

The is my painting in response to Carol Marines' "The Broken Egg Challenge" on 

the Daily Paintworks.  Since I just got back from a pastel workshop with Bonnie Paruch at The Clearing Folk Art School  in Door County, Wisconsin and still had all my pastels within easy reach, I thought I would use them, instead of my oils.  I love my new appetizer plates so chose a color that I thought would go well with the colors of an egg.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Plump & Juicy"

    

6" Square Original Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel
SOLD

Why do painters love pears?! 

I am no exception.  They are so interesting in shape and a multitude of colors, too!

In this painting I used transparent colors for the block in, and tried a more impressionistic layer of color over that.  I love the way it turned out!  I used a flat bristle brush  for the whole painting.
This is my entry for this weeks Paint Party Friday.  Happy PPF! go see everyone's art work at
http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

Gloria J Zucaro's "Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?"

6"H x 6"W Original Oil on Panel

Questions?

On our third workshop day, Dreama did a chunky demo of a teacup.  Then we had the choice of using her photographic reference or our own photo.  I had been wanting to paint my cookie jar for a while now so I used my own photo. I used the transparent oils as the block-in.  Under the lid I used Indian Yellow and I think Sap Green and Rose under the body of the jar.  You can see the difference in warmth.  My cookie jar sits on my green tile kitchen counter that I just love and have put in several of my pastel paintings. You can see them on my website.  www.gloriajzucaro.com   There were cookies for us at the workshop, so I added those to the composition.  My cookie jar at home sits empty most of the time, because if I baked or filled it from the grocery, it would soon be empty anyway!  I love cookies!

Gloria J Zucaro's "One Potato, Two Potato...."

8"H x 8"W Original Oil On Raymar Panel

Questions?

I had done an earlier version of this and changed the colors on this one.  I like the complementary blue with the orange of the sweet potato and the greener blue background with the red potato.

Gloria J Zucaro's "By the Sea"

Original Ink Drawing with watercolor on 5"H x 7"W watercolor greeting card.

Comes with envelope.

SOLD

Click on image to enlarge

This painting is based on the challenge for the month of June on the "Shoot and Paint" website. http://shootandpaint.blogspot.com/    Ria Hills and Pamela White Murphy are the hosts for the site which offers all artists the chance to express their own style by painting Ria's and Pamela's photograph.  Come join us!  And Happy Paint Party Friday Also!
http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

Gloria J Zucaro's "Color My World"

OOPS!  If looking for Diva Challenge check further down the linky list, I put the wrong link!

4"H x 6"L Greeting Card done with Luminarte's Silks and Twinkling H20s, 

which are both luminescent acrylics.

$4.00 starting bid on Daily Paintworks auction

http://dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/73666

darker version- click to enlarge to see the glimmer!

Lighter Version

Although I am still very much "coldey" and have to go to the Doc in the A.M. because of fevers, I wanted to get something in to Jenn's Artist Playroom this week.  Jenn's prompt was paint something in your favorite color.  Well, picking one would be impossible!  I find I usually use an array of colors from the warm side of the color wheel and a few from the cooler side.  I tend not to like earth tones or very muted colors.  I am most happy with orange, yellows, roses, aqua, lime green, and emerald green. I also love sparkles!  I just got new paints listed above and they are a wonderful pigment filled with mica.  The originator of these fabulous paints is Leslie Ohnstad and the paints can be found here, LuminArte.  The picture doesn't do the card justice as far as the richness and sheen of the paint.  You can see it better in the darker version but the lighter version is more true to the brightness.

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Fairy Godmother"

11.75"H x 9"W Original Oil on Black Canson Paper

Unframed 

This painting is for sale in the Daily Paintworks auction site for the Challenge, "Every Mother Counts".

All proceeds from the sale will go to Heather Armstrong's(aka Dooce) Team.

I am starting the bid at $50.00 plus actual shipping to your location.

I was ready to paint this little fairy one morning and realized that I didn't have a canvas available in the size I wanted, so just decided to paint her on a piece of my black Canson pastel paper.  I think the dark background really sparks up her vibrant colors.

Gloria J.Zucaro's Ten Minute Pumpkin Challenge

Two side-by-side 6"H x 6"W Raymar Canvas Panels

These may be bought as a set or individually for $35.00 each.  The money from the sale will go to Feed the Children Challenge on the Daily Paintworks site after this weekly challenge ends next Saturday.

These pumpkins are the second 10 minute challenge from Carol Marine.  The object is to paint one still life object 8 times.  Each time you do it you are allowed 10 minutes to paint the subject.  When your timer rings, you must stop.  As you can see from my pumpkins, each time you paint it, you have made decisions about what you want to accomplish or change in each one.  I started quite large and ended large.  I changed some colors along the way, too.  By the end I pretty much knew what I wanted to say.  Does this mean I must paint everything 8 times before I get a satisfactory painting??  No, it means though that I should paint as much as possible and really analyze my still life for its' shapes, colors and values before I jump into the painting.  I mixed my pools of color before I started the timer so that I wouldn't waste time experimenting.

Gloria J Zucaro's "String Cheese Salad"

7"H x 5"W Original Oil 

$95.00    Framed in black floater frame

S&H to your ZIP

To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com  

Here is another one of my Summer lunches.  I always have some string cheese available for my 3 year old grandson Enzo when he comes over.  So if I am in a hurry, it is great to grab some cherry tomatoes, the cheese and a little shake of salt on the tomatoes for a quick snack.  I love my salt and pepper set that were handcrafted with wire and blue & red  glass drops.

Gloria J Zucaro's Abstract "One Turquoise Egg"

8"H x 16"W Original Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

Email me @ gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

I love the strokes of texture in various colors under my eggs.  

Their little chunky nest reminds me of a log and it's splinters.

Shadow Stack

11 1/2"H x 9 1/2"W  Original Pastel on Sanded Paper.

$100.00 Unframed  $150.00 Framed with double mat, glass, frame.

$125 with Double Matt and Plexi , no frame.

S&H to your ZIP.

Unframed/Framed

Option 1-Unframed $100.00 Option 2-Complete framingg $150.00 Option 3-Mat,plexi $125.00

           This is a pastel I did  at The Clearing Folk Art School in Door County, WI in July in a workshop with Frankie Johnson..  The object was to place a fabric with design into the back and foregrounds and show how they changed both in perspective and color value.  We each set up our own still life arrangement with our choice of fabric.  Of course, I had to choose a fabric with aqua/turquoise!  These circular boxes came from Ikea and stack within themselves from about 8" diameter down to a one incher.  They are each a different jewel tone in color.  I like things a little off kilter and a large contrast between light and dark.

"Just A Jug"

6"h x 6"W Oil Framed in plain black wooden frame. n $95.00.   $7.00 S&H

This is one of my pitchers or jugs.  It is of simple design with little ridges up the sides.  It is one of my favorite colors, aqua.     .To Purchase,email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com