Golden Goose Watercolor

I'm still having a ball with my watercolors.

Home Portrait for Realtor

I got a call the other day to do a home portrait for a realtor that I have worked with in the past. It's been a long time since I have done one of these. Yah!
This is the finished painting, I think he'll like it.

Lighthouse Trip Part 3

Here is White River Lighthouse, which is located in Whitehall, Michigan, on Lake Michigan.

We stopped in the parking lot and made sandwiches for lunch, and I had a Starbucks Frapachino to drink, yum.

We whatched a sailboat going by while eating, pretty cool.

And this is the painting that came of it. White River Light

http://brendathour.com/Lighthouses.html

Then it was on to Little Sable Point Light, in the Silver Lake State Park, Michigan.

I have to admit, this one is my absolute favorite. I love the rustic look it has, and the brown bricks with black trim, sitting among the sand dunes. Then to top it off, there's the beautiful aqua-marine colored water behind it. Did I do a painting of this one? Oh ya!

And here it is.

Little Sable Point Light

This painting was purchased by a very dear friend of ours for his Pastor at one of my art shows.

Lighthouse Trip continued

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan was beautiful and rugged. We saw very few cars, if any. Except for the police officer who pulled us over for speeding. He was very nice about it, and let us off with a warning. We didn't even realize we were speeding at the time.

We saw Saint Helena Island Light from the shore near the Mackinac Bridge. It was a beautiful evening!

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge, to the lower part of Michigan and found Mackinac Point Light a little before 8 pm.

Then we came to Holland Harbor Light. It's a boxy red lighthouse among the sand dunes.

Paul, my sweet husband, walked around taking pictures from various angles and distances for me. He did that alot.

This trip was in April, and back in August I had another disk fused in my back. Most of my spine is fused because of scholiosis. I have one disk left that isn't fused at the base of my spine, and 3 or 4 disks at the top of my spine that isn't fused. (Isn't that terrible, I don't remember if it's 3 or 4?) So I was feeling quite stiff and kinda sore still.This was the first time I had ever seen sand dunes. Very cool!

I still want to do a painting of this one sometime. I think I did a

sketch of it...gonna have to check my sketch pads.

Now on to Grand Haven South Pier Light and Pierhead Inner Light.

Look how choppy the water was. It was Windy!

These next two, I don't think I even got out of the car.

This is Muskegon South Pier Light

and this one is Muskegon South Breakwater Light.

The goal of this whole trip was to see and photograph as many lighthouses as possible. It was a blast!

Broke out the Watercolors

Boy, it's been about 1 1/2 - 2 years since I last used my watercolors. I've done some in the past, some I even really liked, but was never real comfortable or proficient with this medium.
Yesturday I got out my reference photos, found pictures of an Indigo Bunting and apple blossoms. I've been wanting to paint with wc for a while now, and have been inspired by other artists' work, especially bird paintings.
So, here's my first try. I like the flowers, but the bird rather sucks.

Then I decided to try one that I had a detailed reference of, and did just the bird. It's an indigo bunting...he kinda looks hairy and am not thrilled to say the least. But better than the first.

Last night I brought up Youtube.com and searched for watercolor painting demonstrations and watercolor painting lessons. I found a bunch and marked quite a few as favs. I think that really helped.

So this morning I couldn't wait until I could paint, and I did this one.

This one is of a bluebird (reference photo by Pat Otten) and I liked how he turned out. So I added the fence post, the background, the grass and hint of flowers. This one I really like.

I'm thinking I will call it Bluebird Song

Lighthouse Trip

I thought I'd share with you a fun trip that my husband, Paul and I took back in 2003. We went on a long weekend with the main goal of taking pictures of as many lighthouses as possible, we had a blast. Many times we would grab a hotdog for lunch and drive while we ate. I know it wasn't the healthiest thing to do, but boy did we have fun. My dad would have hated a trip like that!


Our first stop was Menominee North Pier Light in Michigan, located at the north side of the entrance to the Menominee River from Green Bay.

Our second stop was at the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse, located in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan on Lake Michigan.

Next was Suel Choix Point Lighthouse in the Upper Peninsula in Gulliver, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. This lighthouse was one of my favorites. I love the Tall white structure with the dark railings and redish roof.

They had a bird feeder in its likeness, what a cute idea.



I thought this was a cool snapshot I took with the sun peeking behind the lighthouse.
Seul Choix Point Lighthouse is apparently believed to be haunted.

This is the painting that I did of it. It is from the other side of the lighthouse looking towards the lake. As you can see, I took some artistic license and added the flower beds and walking path.

Suel Choix Light
16 x 20 Oil on Stretched canvas

http://brendathour.com/Lighthouses.html

More on our lighthouse trip coming soon.

Time to Create

It's funny, but it seems like I spend all my time on the computer and very little time painting. So my goal is, when it's time to create, I will just walk away from what I am doing and paint.

I've been wanting to do a bird aceo for a quest for my DAWG group (Designing Artists Women Group). So Finally, I went downstiars to look through my reference photos, got out the watercolor pencils and colored pencils and this is what I came up with.

I call it Blue Parakeet aceo.

When I was little we had a green parakeet like this, his name was Chippers, and I swear he taught me to whistle. I was probably about 5 and was trying to learn to whistle. So I sat infront of Chippers cage, he whistled all the time, and I practiced and tried until I finally did whistle. So my parakeet taught me to whistle, and no one will convince me otherwise.

He also was a little escape artist. I remember coming home from church and finding him flying around the house. We had to put a twist tie on his cage door so he couldn't do that anymore. He loved my mom. We had a huge mirror hanging over the stiars, and he liked to sit on that. He also loved cheetos, ya, I know it probably wasn't good for him, but this was in the early 70's, who knew?

Twitter Training

If you use Twitter, here are 3 great videos on Twitter Training, how to make the most of Twitter to connect with people and marketing. Awesome videos. I am on the third video and have bookmarked the site so I can easily watch them again. Here's the link http://renegadeproblog.com/twitter-training/ the videos are by Mark Klingler
I found out about these twittering videos from Chika at http://twitter.com/TShirtMarketing

Check it out to learn something new.

Featured Artist - Jean Levert Hood

Jean Levert Hood is an artist that I greatly admire. Her paintings are full of color, vibrancy, and are just beautiful to view. She works in both oil and watercolor and her style is all Jean.She is a Proud member of the Design Style Guide , and WWAO (World Wide Women Artists Online)

This is what she has to say

"I paint with bold, clean strokes, thick with rich, sometimes surprising, colors that express what I see and feel when painting. My hope is that in the end I have engaged the emotions of those who view my work.
I begin long before I pick up my brushes using design and composition principles to outline the work. I then paint with abandon and joy. The resulting work shows my personal application of impressionism with a minimalist quality. "

Oak Creek Fall

"After a visit in beautiful Sedona, Arizona, I drove north along Oak Creek. The fall colors were stunning. This is one painting created from many photos taken that day. Oak Creek Fall is a 12" x 9" oil on canvas."

Heron - Original Watercolor

"Inspiration came because the game camera finally caught a heron at Lake Jean! I often see them flying towards the lake and around it, but this is a first. I was so excited to see."

Chicken Strut

"This is from a photo of one of our chickens. We have chickens because we just love fresh eggs, and the chickens and roosters are often part of my blog and art. I love painting animals!"

Moon Bunny Number 6 ACEO

"This Tiny Bit of Fine Art is sized to ACEO, 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. This is from my Bunny Moon Series."

Rio Frio Series - Twilight Landscape

"This original oil painting is of the Frio River in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. It is a popular spot for summer "tubing" and play. This painting is from an area just before the entrance to Garner State Park."

More from her bio:

"Often inspiration comes from what I see walking on my ranch on the historically rich, brushy edge of the Texas Hill Country. Here daily, I encounter constant contrasts and variety in texture and color - the dichotomy of harmony and discord; lushness and barrenness; serenity and energy.
My challenge is to show the complexity of creation by painting intimate, personal portraits of nature. Whether choosing a landscape or still life, close observation reveals the ordinary as extraordinary."

Jean Levert Hood's paintings would spruce up anyones Home Decor.

Make sure you check out her blog, it is amazing!

http://www.jeanleverthood.blogspot.com

and her Etsy shop: http://www.JeanHood.etsy.com

Don't forget to check out her Website:

http://www.JeanLevertHood.com

CafePress face lift

I have been spending this week working very hard on my cafepress shop, giving it a new look, complete with a new cool banner. Adding section teasers and descriptions (for search engines), and many more products. I also finally figured out how to send out a newsletter since they changed things around. I now have 11 more subscribers than the last time I looked. Thank you so much, whoever you are.

I have this t-shirt but with my Hiding image on it and I just love it. Wears and washes well.

http://www.cafepress.com/brendathour