Virtual Paintout 13: Vevie Goes to Venice!

As the year came to an end, for December the Virtual Paintout     gang went to a gorgeous and romantic place... Venice, Italy. Vevie had a blast riding a virtual gondola along the canals. 

Since I was sick ALL of December, I'm tickled I actually finished this painting, even though I'm late getting it posted here.

Here is the original location, looking into the restaurant Trattoria Sempione. I loved the glow of the chandelier, which actually showed up better in other photos, and the greenery and flowers. (click on any pics to enlarge)

I played in photoshop, and decided on this treatment (Vevie had a dinner date with a suave Italian Gondola Cat, and you can see her up above, peeking to see if he has arrived yet):

I didn't get too many wip photos (work in progress photos), but here are a few:

This is a close up of the some of the wrought iron, old bricks and flowers:

And that lovely chandelier:

We can't forget Vevie:

And the finished painting:

"Are You Here, My Love?"

Calla di San Marco,

Venice Italy

9 x 12 acrylic on

wrapped canvas

As always, anyone is welcome to join the Virtual Paintout gang. Each month Bill Guffey leads us somewhere new in the world, via Google Street View. All the details are HERE, so come, join us for 2014!  

Happy Painting,

Retta

Vevie (rhymes with Stevie)

Virtual Paintout 12: Vevie Goes to Iceland!

Echoes In The Sky

Echoes across time

Whispers of adventure

Sagas retold

Hearts burning

Dreaming

Echoes in the sky

(poem by Retta Stephenson)

November is now Vevie's 12th outing with the Virtual Paintout gang, led by Bill Guffey (HERE).  The year has flown by! One more month and Vevie's travels are over, for she has decided to retire and curl up in her snuggly warm bed. 

Vevie (rhymes with Stevie)

But for this month of November Vevie traveled, via Google Street View, to Iceland. Brrrr! We ended up in Northeast Iceland, in a place I have no idea how to pronounce:

Noroausturvegur. 

Having been first settled by the Vikings in 874 AD, Iceland is the unofficial protectorate of Viking poetry. Though known as fierce warriors, it surprised me to learn that for Vikings, POETRY was a way of life! They considered it a gift from Odin, and to tell a good poem was to earn one's Viking name.

For my November painting, I chose the following view. It was so typical, with a lone tree and house, a large expanse of land near water. And of course, I couldn't resist adding some Northern Lights!

I played in Photoshop and chose this color scheme, flipped the house to face inward, and added the Northern Lights...

First I toned the canvas with yellows...

Here's the underpainting...

Decided I didn't want the yellow that strong, so washed it over with purples and blues before I went any farther...

Okay, NOW I'm liking the sky! Also worked on the next layers of the foreground and house...

Vevie has joined the scene, the Northern Lights are glowing, and Lo! there are ancient Viking symbols and Rune lettering in the sky. Vevie looks up, dreaming of times gone by...

Though the land is open and sparsely populated, this close up shows the windows of the little house glowing with a friendly welcome to travelers...

Close up of a few of the Viking symbols...

Close up of Vevie, sitting quietly under the night sky, listening... remembering...

And the finished image (can click any pics to enlarge):

"Echoes in the Sky"

Northeast Iceland

9 x 12 acrylic on 

wrapped canvas

Happy painting,

Retta

Virtual Paintout 7: Vevie Goes to the Azore Islands!

For the month of June, Vevie and the Virtual Paintout  gang sailed off to the Azore islands in the North Atlantic Ocean.

(can click on any pics to enlarge; 

I kept most small to enable faster page loading)

They are simply gorgeous! It was delightful to "travel" around the islands via Google Street View. In fact, it was so beautiful, it was hard to choose a spot.

Azore Coat-of-Arms

It was between a pastoral scene with black and white moo cows, the ocean in the background... and the one I chose below. My husband happened to walk by and peeked over my shoulder, wanting to know where we "went" for June. He happened upon me as I was "driving" past a crumbling little chapel, with an old 3-wheeled mini-truck in front. Naturally, that's the one he "voted" for! 

When he was in the Navy he was stationed in Spain and got to travel around Europe. He said he saw lots of these little trucks all over. He guessed this one might have been over 50 years old!

So... the old crumbling chapel, and the hard working little mini-truck. The tales they could tell!

Here is the final location Vevie and I chose:

After playing with it in Photoshop, I came up with this basic color scheme... notice I moved the little truck forward, to allow more of the chapel front to be seen:

And on with the WIP photos (work in progress)...

Since I DO love the Fauves*, I chose Vermillion for my underpainting; I even toned it down with some white... or so I thought! Then sealed it with matt medium:

*The short Fauve movement started about 1905, and basically blew the door off the vault holding color captive, freeing it to be used boldly, expressively and wildly. The term "Les Fauves" in French means Wild Beasts. Visit HERE  for more interesting info and paintings. While the movement didn't last long, it's effects can still be felt, over 100 years later. Here are some New Fauves I enjoy. 

Sketched it in with vine charcoal, then when satisfied, sealed the lines with Burnt Umber:

Still painting with (and enjoying) Atelier Interactive Acrylics, by Chroma. Chose a limited palette of: Cad Yellow Deep, Vermillion, Phlalo Blue, Diox Purple, Forest Green, Titanium White, Paynes Gray; and made black from Pthalo Blue + Cad Red Medium.  Started the sky here:

Continuing sky, and started blocking in the foreground; you can see the sides here, where the painting continues around all the edges:

Continuing on, adding layers and details; starting in on the little truck:

And here it is, drying on the easel:

A close-up of the chapel and mini-truck:

And Vevie would let me know if I forgot her close-up; here she's walking on the wall to check out the little chapel:

"Memories 'neath A Lemon Sky"

The Azores, Portugal

9 x 12 acrylics 

on wrapped canvas

I hope you enjoyed seeing the process. I sure enjoy traveling the world with Vevie and the Virtual Paintout gang, led by our fearless leader, artist Bill Guffey.  As always, anyone of any skill level and almost any medium is welcome to join us each month. Watercolors, oils, colored pencils, acrylics, pastels, ink, ballpoint pen... I think I remember one guy did a picture in crayons one month!!

No airline tickets to buy, no hotel reservations to make... it's free! Come on along! Here's all the deets. 

Vevie 

Happy painting,

Retta

Virtual Paintout 6: Vevie Goes to Italy!

For the month of May Vevie and the Virtual Paintout  gang went to Italy! 

Specifically Lido di Jesolo, a province of Venice. Yes, the place famous for all the canals and romantic gondolas.

(click on any pics to enlarge; I kept them small here so the page will load faster for you)

I must have been in a romantic mood for this one, and chose my title from an old Celtic hymn "The Water is Wide". The CD I have is by David Arkenstone called Celtic Hymns, and I like this version of the lyrics:

The water is wide, I can't cross o'er

And neither have I wings to fly

Give me a boat that can carry two

And we shall sail, my love and I

"And We Shall Sail, My Love and I"

From Google Street View in 

Lido di Jesolo, Italy

9 x 12 acrylic on canvas

Here is the original Google Street View scene I chose to use:

As usual, I dinked around in Photoshop, trying out color schemes, etc. Settled on the one below for my mock-up. You'll see in the finished painting I made a change by leaving out the street lamps. They just made for too much clutter right in front of all that ships rigging. I like it better without them, but retained a bit of warm glow by keeping the last remnants of a sunset in the lower sky behind the ships. 

For a value check and to help me see the ships rigging better, I also made a black and white version:

I settled on a limited palette. I set the tubes out, then put the rest away. This time it consisted of:

Pthalo Turquoise (and a little Ultramarine Blue)

Cad Red Medium (and a little Permanent Alizarine)

Indian Yellow (currently my favorite yellow; so warm and glowing)

Dioxazine Purple

Titanium White

                                               

For my black, I mixed together: Thalo Green + Napthol Red Lt; 

and a little Payne's Grey mainly on the ships and Vevie.

(Don't remember if I mentioned this, but I've been using Chroma Interactive acrylics for this series; will talk more about them next time; I'm really enjoying them).

So here we go, the "making of" photos:

I enjoy texture, so started by putting a layer of gesso on my canvas with a palette knife. When dry, sealed it with matte medium; that made it easier to draw the image and adjust the lines as needed, with vine charcoal. I tried the vine charcoal once before, and hated the smudgey mess! But discovered that sealing the dried gesso first with the matte medium made a huge difference in the mess factor.  :-)

Underpainting colors; decided to add the Permanent Alizarine along with the Indian yellow and Dioxazine Purple:

Started the block of of basic colors and shapes:

 Background done:

Alas and alack, I forgot to take more photos... so here we are, finished!

You can peek at the image wrapping around the canvas here:

Still wet on the easel, before a thinned coat of gloss medium, with the ref pic next to it:

A close up of the ships:

And can't forget Vevie or I'd never hear the end of it!

And the finished gloss coated large version of 

"And We Shall Sail, My Love and I":

Hope you enjoyed visiting Italy with Vevie and me. Happy painting!

Retta

PS: Anyone interested in joining the Virtual Paintout excursions is welcome. Almost all mediums are acceptable; check HERE for all the info. It's fun!