scratching the surface........

so i apply naples yellow paint onto the joshua tree...then i turn my brush around and scratch in the direction of the spines of the tree, for texture.

it has a nice and pleasing effect.

then i painted the sky in with light blue, as seen in the previous post. thats not all i did, (not shown) i also used a transparent purple to the shadowed areas.

i have been working on it. creating easy to follow paintover kits. this is a part sample of how-to do it.

kinda like, paint by numbers for the not-exactly-sure-how-to-paint-the paintover-technique-but-would-really-like-to-try-it person. the idea is that once you follow the directions in my kit and learn to do it to one picture, you will be ready to fly, fly, fly. a lot cheaper that taking a workshop and you can go back to it anytime.

in the kit i explain which colors to use and why i chose those colors and, you know, how to do it. do you like it?

BTW, that colorfulness to the left of my paper is my painting board. it gets kinda nasty and then i turn it over. i know, i know, it could be a background for art. and maybe, if i get the energy....... it will be.

____________________________

tonight:

i had a fine time at the reception and of course i loved receiving my cash award. yeah, baby, cha-ching. bring it on. (little dance)

BUT please learn to pronounce my last name...its only 4 letters...it is pronounced "BEH-BEE" with a short "e" as in debbie. our family really unites in our shared misery with that last name. we get mortified sometimes. rosie hates it when at each and every event at eeach and every swim meet- the announcer gets it wrong.

my husband has it the worse since his first name is gastone. (GAS-STONE). hardly anyone gets that straight either. its a dual mortification for him. (most common mistake for him is GAS-TON, you know, like a ton of gas.

so tonight, my daughter said when the gallery was announcing third place tonight, i straightened up very tall and smoothed down pants in anticipation of receiving the award until they mispronounced my last name as BEE-BYE. rosie said i immediately slumped my shoulders, deflated.

(whispers among the crowd ---they know i get tired of correcting them) then the gallery corrected itself and said BYE-BEE, (whispering and hushed voices again, you could hear a few people saying, "no that's not how you pronouce it". then ahem, cough-- uhhhhhhh, oh, what? BYE-what? oh, BEH? BEE?, oh, ok, ok.

"And third place goes to..... LISA (unsure hesitation) BEE-BEE", i nearly slapped my forehead, GAWDDAMNITTAHELLINAHANDBAG. ugh. grr. dah! aw well.

so, i caved in and went up and got my award and scolded the gallery announcer a little tiny bit under my breath- not that he cared, he was on to the second place winner.

but after getting over the name game, i enjoyed myself very much. the crowd is consistently big in that gallery. always over 300, i would say. the food's always good that helps. last night my husband spotted an unusually voracious eater. the eater was taking food by the handfuls and cramming it all in his mouth. he was about 60 - should know better. for instance at the cubed cheese plater him. PUT HIS HAND (no little fork for him) into the cheese and promptly stuffed a mouthful. must have been 10 cheese cubes in one mouth. we worried that he was going to choke. i think the gallery should put a little sign up that says "limit: only up to 2 cheese cubes in your mouth at once" and i would like to add - "we are watching you".

well, now it is nearly time to take rosie to the cove for her mile open ocean swim meet. i better get to bed. these swim meets are always very hard on my husband and me. we will probably have to have a hard drink when it is over.