Gloria J Zucaro's "Classes & Studies"

This week for Paint Party Friday http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/ I am showing two different areas of study .  Above is an oil painting study of how to do buildings.  Our instructor was Frankie Johnson at Mainstreet Art Center in Lake Zurich, IL.  http://www.mainstreetartcenter.com  We used Frankie's photos for these studies.   

We first toned our background with a washy mix of blue and black acrylic because it dries quickly.

Next we decided on our size and placement of the basic flat front of the building on the left, an old farmhouse.  We measured the height and width, but were free to change them if it would fit our composition better.   

With as a few strokes as possible of our oil paints( size #8 flat), we placed the front of the building in but did not make an outline of the building first. 

Then the dark right edge of the roof line and the narrow roof showing behind it. 

The lower section under the roof on the shadowed side where the small porch extends was put in next in one value lighter than the roof color.  We did not leave room for the porch we just filled the whole area.

On to the bright sunlit roof out to the side, then the wall facing us, which again is another value lighter than the shadow side of the main front part of the structure.  A sliver of the view of the end of the wing of the house.  

Then the roof of the porch went in in a value darker than the face of the building because it is a little recessed, but lighter than the front facing side of the wing which is further back and shadowed by the main part of the building. 

Darken the inside of the covered porch, lighten a little the front of the porch as it extends back.  

Now warm up the face of the house with some yellow, red or orange mixed with white.  Add the windows with a smaller brush.  They can be done with one stroke, and each should be different, having a harder edge here and there, No outlining.

Next we worked on putting different values and colors of the greenery around the building to make it feel nestled.  Frankie emphasized that we should used different sizes and shapes of strokes as well. I think it came out really well!

I won't talk about the smaller building, because the process was basically the same.

My second part is from exercise done for my Dion Dior online watercolor class.

http://diondior.blogspot.com/

done through the Joggles website

http://www.joggles.com/

It is using triads.  I really had fun with it and might use these types of designs in my greeting cards.

Happy Paint Party Friday everyone.

Gloria J Zucaro's ATCs, Journal Page,Tangle Coaster"

Today I have been working on three different projects.  My journal page, my next set of Artist Trading Cards and some experimental stone coasters that I am going to cover with some of my tangled designs.  First is my journal page for Fall Fearless and Fly and Test Driving Jessica Sporn's stencil "Medieval Leaves"

The #6 prompts from Fall Fearless & Fly follow...

Headline Prompt:  Divided by God:  What does "God" mean to you?  How do you access"God" or the divine or the sacred in your life?  

Color Prompt: Metallics - gold, silver, copper, bronze, or all of them!  

Quote Prompt: "This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.  Our own brain, our own heart, is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."  The Dalai Lama

    

My journal page had a drape of gold metallic paint across it left from a  pool of paint from another project.  I covered it with a wash of Silks Olive Green after journaling some of my thoughts about the headline prompt with my Micron pen across the top of the page.  I must not have let the pen dry sufficiently because the wash of green erased some of my journaling.  Then I decided to follow some of the instructions from my class with Dion Dior on various mediums you can mix with Silks paints.  When the Olive Green was dry(I waited two days)I used heavy gel medium to make a design using my new stencil "Medieval Leaves" that I won on the Jessica Sporn Designs site.   I left that to dry for two days, also.  Tonight I used another stencil that I just received from Stencil Girl that is a Church window.  Appropriate to the theme, I think!  Here is the journal page so far.

Above is after journaling, a wash of green, and the "Medieval Leaves" stencil created by Jessica Sporn, stenciled with heavy gel medium.  Below is with the addition of the gessoed stencil of the Church windows.  Funny how different light can change the colors!  The top photo is the beautiful color.

Next is a photo of the stone tiles that I first gessoed to seal, then painted black to make a framed edge around my Zentangle Squares.  I am going to try Modge Podge and Matte Medium to see which seems to work best for adhering the paper to the tiles.  I am hoping the black paint won't show through the Zentangles and the glues won't discolor them.  An experiment!  I may have to either repaint the centers of the tiles white, or completely seal the paper tangles before adhering them.

The next project I am working on is January's ATCs.  Our theme for January is fabric.  I bought a 1/2 yard packet of 5 different colors of fabric.  First I prepared the backs of the cards.  They had already been glued to a map and one side gessoed from last month.  I painted stripes of Silks in green, yellow, rose and orange on the cards which had been sprayed with water and then sprayed on some aqua colored ink and some fuschia colored ink.  I let it dry for two days.  Tonight I lined up the edges of the fabrics and applied a thick coat of Polymer Medium.  Again I noticed that when I use mediums they seem to pull color out.  So I went back over each edge with my brush, cleaning my brush on a paper towel before doing the next color of fabric.  The plan is to let the polymer dry, then coat the other side.  When that is dry, I am going to use a silicon sheet and my iron to seal/melt it all together like you would for paper collage.  If that doesn't work, I have some of that new clear fusible interfacing to hold all the fabrics together.  Hum, I wonder if I can use it to attach it to the cards, or whether I need to stitch it on???  Anyone?  HELP!

 View of one section of back after paint & ink

Below is the fabric that I am gluing together.  I hope this works! 

Well, "that's all folks!"

Gloria J Zucaro's "Favorite Summer Salad"

5"H x 7"W Ink Design with Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils

This is a greeting card with the painted design on the front.  When you open the card out flat, the recipe is on the top half.  There is an envelope to go with this card.  The inside is blank.

Click on photo to enlarge

SOLD

This is my challenge entry into this weeks The Artist Playroom hosted by Jennifer Mclean at  http://www.justaddwatersilly.com/search/label/APR.  We were to pick our recipe and create art to go with it.  This week I am also doing lesson one of Dion Dior's class through Joggles.com titled "Watercolor Pencil Workshop with Dion Dior".  I signed up last Friday thinking it started July 28th, but it actually started June 28th, so I am two weeks behind.  One of our projects in Lesson One is to make a simple line drawing with our pen and then cut it up into sections with a curving line running through it to make a sort of stained glass effect.  So I combined my two ideas.  The recipe and the project.  I am linking this to Paint Party Friday, also.  Go see all the other entries,too!  http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/