Painting without a plan

August 19, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

While I’m sad that vacation is over, it is nice to have some quiet time to paint. What amazes me about these three paintings, is that I had no preconceived ideas until I sat down to paint – I just went with it. All three were done yesterday and they are all so different!

The first one I painted was the flowers in the container. I looked around my patio and picked the container just as I started painting.

The second painting was the hearts. I started painting the background, decided to leave the dry areas dry and filled one of them with a heart. Then I started adding more hearts and the word love. It is my favorite of the day – and I have no idea where it came from!

The third painting is the watercolor background with the ink flowers. I decided as I was painting – to make a colorful background and add ink to it. As I chatted with an old friend on the phone – I added the flower doodles. I looked around my yard for inspiration.

I am excited for another quiet day and more painting!

Painting in Paradise

August 15, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Painting in Jamaica. Trying to capture the colors of the sea. Just beautiful!

Swim Team Cards

August 7, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Summer swim team is coming to an end! I made these cards for the swim coaches. In the past, I would have never followed through on my idea. I lacked the confidence to show others my work. But now that I have shown you – the good, the bad and the ugly, I followed through with my idea and am happy to give these cards to the coaches.

Practicing Watercolor Portrait

July 28, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

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Today I practiced painting a portrait. I think I am making some progress in adding in shadows without making the skin look blotchy. [Blur the edges!]

Beach girl is a character I have been trying to illustrate. She is inspired by my daughter (when she was younger). I’ve struggled with painting beach girl’s face. So, I selected a photo of my daughter to work from. I figure when I’ve mastered painting her face, I can then, work on a less detailed, more illustration style version. I am finally starting to capture some of the elements that resemble my daughter.

Here are some of my steps:

This one looks like an alien!

Watercolor Rose of Sharon Flower

July 23, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I’ve been working on this watercolor flower – a Rose of Sharon, I believe – since last week. I was walking by it, after my run, and took a bunch of photos. It’s funny how you notice things when you are walking or running, that you wouldn’t notice when driving by. It was a “stop and smell the roses” moment. That’s one of things I like about running. It’s a time to think and notice the things around you.

I’m happy with how the flower came out. Especially when I reviewed the stages the painting went through:

Progress on my portrait painting lessons

July 20, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Halfway through my first lesson and I’ve learned a lot so far! Here are the key things:

Skin color is a mixture of many colors. You don’t pick a tube and say this will be the color. For the demonstration I’m following, I started out using a Yellow, a Rose and Cobalt Blue.
Work wet with light washes. I first painted a wash of the yellow and then added the rose to it. In certain spots I dropped in the Blue.
One of the most important things I learned was – soften the edges! Whenever I added a “shadow area” I would soften the edges. This was one of my main mistakes in the past. I would paint a shadow area, not soften the edges and the result would be blotchy looking skin.
Painting skin is a gradual build up of colors. Before, I would paint the face a solid and then try to add in the shadows.

I am excited about my progress so far! Watching TV last night, I was noticing the shadows that make up the face.

My “lesson” is from “Realistic Watercolor Portraits: How to Paint a Variety of Ages and Skin Tones,” by Suzanna Winton. I picked one of her demonstrations and I’m following along, trying to recreate it.

Here are my steps:
His face looks like a rainbow.

The “crevices” aren’t black shadows.

Even the lips have soft edges and are made up of different colors.

Thank you to all my followers!

July 8, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Last week I decided to try my hand at lettering. I love the look of painted words in a watercolor. I kept painting “thank you.” I think I was hopefully anticipating one more follower which would bring me to 100. A goal I couldn’t even fathom when I started. Since last week, several new followers have pushed me past this goal. So, I want to thank all of my followers! Your feedback is an amazing source of motivation to me!

Watercolor Shell

July 6, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Any advice for me?… I struggled with getting the shell to pop and look 3D, as opposed to smooshed in the sand. I know some of my problems were because: I painted this from a real shell and the background was made up. I used colors in the sand that I should have used in the shell. Since I didn’t want the shell to blend in, I used brown paint and it became a dark muddy mess. I sat down to paint at several different points and the shadows were probably changing.

Why is it that “struggled” is one of the most common words I write?! lol. Oh well, you paint and you learn. 🙂 Not sure I want to attempt a redo on this one. Hoping to hear your comments!

The Cottage out back

June 29, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I’ve been wanting to paint this watercolor for a while. The “cottage” looks so pretty with the flowers starting to bloom. I often imagine turning it into an art studio. In reality it is the garage – lol – and it is filled with bikes, the lawnmower, gardening supplies, beach chairs, sleds, and all our other stuff! Not to mention scary jumping crickets.