Painting with Coffee part 2

Maybe you remember my post last Fall about painting with coffee? Well, I never got around to painting anything on my coffee prepared paper. And then I did and forgot to share.

This is the house where I grew up. (Not the best photo---taken with my iPhone---sorry). I was going to frame it for my dad for his birthday, but it just wasn't working. The coffee made the paper too dark and when I tried to lighten it with white (read frustratingly opaque) it just made the whole thing muddy. So I chose to not overwork it, leave it in an unfinished state, and sew it to the front of some card stock for Dad's birthday card. 

I still have a few more coffee treated papers that I will try to come up with better subjects to paint.

A Kosher Day

We made it to the Griffith Observatory today. Parking was no problem. We couldn't figure out why these CHiP's officers were there though. And why they were allowing the rabbi, his children, and everyone in the Asian tour group to take their pictures on the bikes. It was quite a sight!

After the photo op, we were the next attraction. Everyone stopped by to see what we were working on. One woman asked us what university we were from. Maybe I'm not as old as I think I am.

And we thought the cops were there to tell us that we couldn't sit on a blanket on the grass. Lucky for us they were occupied with the tourists. Just another gorgeous January day in Los Angeles.

Chasing Sunsets

On Saturday, after a week of wonderful rain DD and I went in search of some sun. We packed our painting supplies and headed out for a new park. We set up shop, and the ground wasn't too wet. We know because apparently it is against the rules to sit on a blanket.

DD

Me

DD painted a tree. She finished. I was inspired by a parking garage. I didn't finish. We stayed until the sun set behind the huge buildings behind us and the wind became frigid. (Sunset #1). A fun afternoon.

Then we decided to try to catch the sunset from the Observatory since the air was super clear. We never did figure out what exactly was going on up at the Observatory, but there were sooo many people up there. And a huge traffic jam with everyone trying to find a park. So we drove up one side and down the other. We missed the sunset (Sunset #2), but decided to stop at the park at the bottom of the hill. We did some sky flying---our new favorite photo trick!

We laughed hysterically! And then we did some star spinning. Very dizzying!

By this time we were freezing, and we headed home.

I forgot I was a painter

One of my goals for the new year is to work on my talents. It has been 10+ years since I have done any painting. I watercolor because my mother watercolors. I tried oil painting in high school and didn't like it. Too messy, too smelly, and it takes too long to dry. Plus, I've been watercoloring all my life. Be forewarned! I am not as good as I used to be. Rusty, would be the word. And I definitely need new paint. It's all a little crumbly. I was lucky to even find my pallet. All my paintbrushes seem to have disappeared. I picked an oil painting by Claude Monet to copy as my first practice piece. First, the original (not a very clear copy).

Sailboats on the Seine, 1874

I already know that oil doesn't translate well to watercolor. It also doesn't help that the picture I was looking at was 2 inches wide. I'm not making excuses. I already told told you this was practice.

Some parts were looking overworked, so I stopped. After some more practice I want to take my stuff out on location. Stay tuned.