Tuesday, February 28, 2012

New feather paintings

These were both painted with my new feather brush [the small one] and a duck quill with a sharpened point. By the way hats off to our ancestors for writing with quills...it is very challenging to say the least.
I am having fun [the main criteria for anything as far as I am concerned]











Haven't decided if these paintings are keepers but they caught my attention and who knows.......

Friday, February 24, 2012

Brushes

I know people agonize over brushes and have a large collection of them .... me to.

Several years ago I took a fascinating 2 day workshop on making brushes... mine looked good but fell apart when I got home. A master Chinese brush maker taught the classes and even though my brush was not very useful I gained a lot of knowledge and respect for people who make brushes by hand. Last fall I wanted to paint with feathers [one of the brushes at the workshop was made of feathers] ... just wanted to try it out. I fastened several white feathers that I had bought on to the failed brush handle and voila a useable facsimile of a brush. I created this painting with my feather brush and it is now in a new home.

The Wave


This is another painting created with my feather brush. 

And then my brush fell apart [I think the handle is jinxed]





Anyhow today I decided that I enjoyed painting with feathers so much that I would make some permanent feather brushes. And here they are..... painted with them today, had fun getting use to them.

Feathers, bulrush stick and masking tape makes a very useable and sturdy brush. Note the 3 different sizes! By the way they are no longer white feathers.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

The Dragon

 Happy year of the Dragon.
This is my painting ... this year is a water dragon ... a gift for my dragon.

....I found it a real challenge because what does a dragon look like? 



I think this is a happy one and ready for a good year!