I am working on the oil layers now, over the acrylic underpainting.
- First, making the flowers REALLY red,
- then knocking back that unrealistically blue sky.
- Next, the greenery - lighter and sunnier, and less detailed to keep it in the background. 

So far, I am happy with it. next highlights and shadows, then work on the butterfly, which is still in dull acrylic.

My next painting is already in my mind: "Migration"  = Monarch butterflies high over a farmland landscape. Let's see how that goes :)
​

First - to prove that a broken right arm will not stop me: the "Left Hand Sisters"!  A new oil painting of my favourite mountains (the Three Sisters east of Canmore, AB) done with a palette knife in my left hand. 16x20"
and then a sketch of a person sitting really still :)

Then, a big challenge for my newly healed right hand - 18x36" canvas with acrylic paint!  The work sequence is below, along with a zodiac message that means the stars really are watching over me!

Another long break with occasional little paintings... and now I am back again. What got me going again? A neighbour who paints and demands that I do it too. Thanks! That worked. 
​These first ones are not award winners, but I will keep trying: two 6x6 acrylic on cradled board "Sunflowers", a 12x16 oil on canvas of a swimmer,and  a 16x8 oil on foil/board of a mountain brook.
Oil paintings still waiting to be finished someday are three 12x12s of a body builder, a 16x16 piano player and two 8x10 Irish bridges. 

Well, that was an unexpected pause - blame it on Covid-19. 
Onward and upward - I have 4 oil paintings in progress. One of them has been 'in progress' for several years so it is fortunate a very patient person commissioned it. After several drafts to combine several photos into one picture, I think I might have a better layout now. We'll see.
The paintings that have one good reference photo work way better for me, but I need the brain challenge of making my own images. This one reuses a horizontal oil painting (sunset on water) as a background for a vertical landscape of a foreground tree in autumn. Nothing of the underpainting left though. Maybe I don't entirely get the concept of background...

Home Game:
   OK, paint a little and walk away -  6 times today. This photo below shows it colour balanced as close to the actual painting as I can get it right now.
   Decision time - Do I like it enough to finish it? Do I like it enough to spend $400 to double mat and frame it?  Or should I treat it as a practice for an oil painting? Or put it away for a few months and then see what I think of it?  

Away Game:
And here comes the next community art program! Covid19 compliant and FREE!  Register online:
https://www.nicolavalleyartscouncil.com/events-and-programs/public-arts-programs/here-and-now-sketching-program/

Home Game:
It's dark enough now, but looking a little coarse, so next the details. Cattails, branches, bushes on the near bank, and the interesting colours of the icy shoreline. Carry the near-shore shadow up the hillside to show that it is the last ray of sunshine coming through a slot in the hills. Change the colour of Nicola Nose to bluish and rocky, maybe a little sunlight up there. 
   I notice that my studio's yellowish lighting is changing the photo colours a lot, which might be affecting my paint mixing too. I will need to find lights that are more natural coloured. The next photos will be taken outside, weather and wind permitting, to get more accurate colour. 

Away Game:
The "Here and Now" sketch program was just posted yesterday and already 8 are registered! Most are people who have taken my 'magic hand drawing' session. We need to make the instruction video asap so the new students can get started too. Wonders of modern technology, yet again!

Home Game: 
- Looking at the photo and why I wanted to paint it - the contrast between the dark sky and hills and glow of the yellow/orange grasses in the last rays of the sun. Now how to get that...
- First darken the sky, hills and water so the lights will stand out.
- Then correct the yellows so they are not so spring-like in this fall season. 
- Start detailing the grasses and trees, but smudge the water reflections. 

Away Game: 
- There is great work showing up on the Facebook page from the watercolour class. I am simply amazed.
- That strong interest has me thinking of starting a new program to get more people involved. True to my usual form, the trigger is a new grant that was just announced and it would be perfect for this project. Stay tuned...

- Home Game: 
OK, finally back in action:
- I softened the edges of most of the hard white spaces left by removing the masking. Since all the paint colours in this work are transparent, the hard edges would have shown through. The straight lines would have been a problem in a landscape.
- Second layer is putting the bright yellows in place. These will be mellowed with Quinachrodone Gold glazes later.
- The third layer starts the many layers of dark dull greens and purples that make the clean yellows pop. 

This is about the time I get discouraged with the amount of work left (just like the middle of an essay) and I want to quit. However, making it public like this - it's harder to just give up with everyone watching.

Away Game:
- Facebook is still working for us with several painters posting their work. Several are now going beyond the textbook! Yea! That is the point of having a homework-based course - artists learn to solve the work issues without follow-the-leader classes. The skill levels immediately go up from then on - great work, people! 
- And some are even running out of paper :) There are some extras left from stocking the initial kits and some pre-purchased at a sale for the next course (now cancelled) , so give me a call or text or email to get restocked.

Home Game:
OK,  a lot of thought about the steps needed to get this painting to mid-point.  I have decided to paint with pre-mixed colours rather than paint layers of single pigments, to reduce the problem of multiple lines in the large wash areas. Either way would work, but I am not so confident with this very large paper, so I am going with the less risky and faster-drying method. It will take a lot more paint than I usually use to swish over these big spaces - and finally get the paper wet!
- First, 4 containers with about 2 tablespoons of paint of each of the main colours;
- A selection of larger brushes, one for each colour to avoid contaminating the colour pots;
- A large wash brush for wetting specific sections with clean water, to avoid uneven lines in the large areas;
- 2  buckets of clean water, paper towel, extra small containers for mixed colours.

Ready, set , paint! The layers below took 2 hours and this is about the mid-point of the painting. Next I will wait overnight for all to dry, then remove the masking fluid.