Tiny Self Portrait in Oils

"Here form, here colours, here the character of every part of the universe are concentrated to a point; and that point is so marvellous a thing..." (pg. 19)

The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci are thick with knowledge and exercises for artists. I've been on Vol.1 for longer than I care to admit. I keep stopping because I want to experiment with these suggestions he supplies. For example:

"Experiment [showing] the dilatation and contraction of the pupil, from the motion of the sun and other luminaries...The pupil of the eye, in the open air, changes in size with every degree of motion from the sun; and at every degree of its changes one and the same object seen by it will appear of a different size..." (pg.23-24)

I began with the idea that I would just paint the eyes over and over again, changing the light each time but I got wrapped up in just finishing a portrait instead. It was the right thing to do for the composition on this tiny canvas, even though I'm told I'm not this "pointy." 4"x6", oils, wet-on-wet.

Dill Gone to Seed

You can stop the dill from flowering, so that it will continue growing the spiky leaves that do so well with cucumber salad, fish dishes or soups. But the yellow bursts of their flowers are difficult to resist. Plus, the seeds are easy to save if you just let the plant run it's course. This one was tough to do so small. 4"x6" in oils, wet-on-wet.

Cucumber Salad
1 sliced cucumber
1/8th of a red onion, minced
2 dashes of fresh dill
1 1/2 cups brown rice vinegar

Mix the ingredients in a bowl or shake up in a jar. Keep refrigerated for a cool, summer salad.

Nasturtiums on tiny canvas'

Nasturtiums are a complex flower. These bright bursts of beauty are like a cross between a morning glory and a tiger lily. They grow in any kind of container, wrap around any object nearby and despite their weed behavior, they have a lot to offer.

My mother gave me seeds over a year ago and I finally had an extra container to plunk them into. As they grew, I learned that they are an effective deterant for aphids. Plant these beauties next to your nibbled on roses and those tiny green guys will be gone in no time. Although they are an effective pesticide, they are edible to us humans. Put the flowers in your salad to beautify your meal, they add a fairly intense but sweet flavor.

It is these things and the way that the plants exploded on one side of my container garden that has fascinated me. So, per the usual, I painted them in oils. All I have to paint on right now are these little 4"x6" canvas boards.

Restoring an Old Watercolor

I don't usually do this but a friend of a friend had some water damage on an old watercolor that they wanted fixed. It took me a lot of time blending, dry brushing and manipulating watercolors on a very old piece of paper. I was unable to use any water, which would inevitably pull all the paint up off the old paper. Here is what I was given to work on:

And here is what I was able to do to fix it:

I might still try to do some more blending, but we'll see. I'm about ready to move on to something more creative.