#14 Goodnight...



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 I've yet to title this one....#14.  It's late and I'm going to bed.  I'll include details about this flower tomorrow when I can fuel up on coffee and not have to hit backspace so many times.

Goodnight!

Happy Valentine's Day

Since painting #14 won't be posted until later this evening, here is a Valentine for all my blogging friends........painted courtesy of my son.

He actually made these for his classmates, but I couldn't resist sharing them with you today!  He did a fantastic job.  What girl could resist a hand painted Valentine?

Hope you have a wonderful day filled with lots of love!

Out and About



"Yellow Rose"
2011© Gretchen Bjornson


I felt a bit rushed on painting #13.  The sun was out and the temps hit the mid 40's today, so we opted to go to the Columbus Zoo.  After our visit we discussed which animals were our favorites.  My youngest enjoyed the Komodo Dragon, my husband chose the brown bears, my oldest was undecided (typical of his personality), and my favorite was the tigers.  It was wonderful spending some time outside without freezing for a change.

I completed this rose this evening and it seemed I was constantly waiting for it to dry so I could paint on it some more.  I think I rushed into the color choices.  I like the yellow, but I'm not so keen on the blue.  I may paint over the background and darken it up some....change the blue into more of a deep, deep purple.

Tomorrow is the halfway mark of my 28 day challenge.

"Crocus" Painting #12

"Crocus"
2011© Gretchen Bjornson

Crocus are said to symbolize cheerfulness and gladness.  Being one of the first flowers to push through the dirt (and sometimes snow) at the onset of spring, I know I will be cheerful and glad that winter is coming to an end.

So here is another painting to get you in the mood for the upcoming spring season!

Tempting Tulips

"Tulip Field"
5"x 7" Original Watercolor
2011© Gretchen Bjornson

Spring cannot come soon enough!  Living in an icebox is not my cup of tea.  We have had unusually cold temperatures this winter and they have managed to linger leaving us no relief from the cold.  I'm sure many of you can relate as it seems the entire country, in general, has been hit with one of the worst winters it's seen on record. 

One can only hope the groundhog's prediction earlier this month was correct.....spring will come early.

The weathermen are predicting temps to be in the mid 40's next week.  (That's 40 degrees Fahrenheit for those of you in other parts of the world.)  Let's cross our fingers for a continuing trend of warmer weather and sunshine to coax those tulips out of the ground.

A Bouquet...

"A Bouquet"
2011© Gretchen Bjornson

It seems appropriate, with Valentine's Day around the corner, to offer a bouquet of lovely flowers as painting #10.  This would be a bouquet I would choose if I were to purchase flowers from the florist.  I love the mix of colors......the purple compliments the yellow and orange really well. 

The sunflower is lacking some highlights.  I was a bit too heavy handed with the yellow.  Other than that, I'm happy with it.

Lavender Memories

"Lavender #9"
7" x 10" Original Watercolor
2011© Gretchen Bjornson
$35.00

Whenever I see or smell lavender I am reminded of my 9 year old as an infant.  Motherhood for me was baptism by fire.  God blessed me with a baby who couldn't be consoled.  He cried from day one and through most of his first 6 months.  I tried it all.....everything from a car ride to a ride on the washing machine.  Nothing worked.  Everyone tried to help and offer suggestions, but in the end the only relief I ever really got was from my Mom.....who stayed with us the first few nights to rock and hold the baby at night allowing me some much needed sleep. 

So why lavender flowers?  One of the many tips I received to help the baby relax and sleep was lavender oil.  I was told to dab some on a cotton swab and place it under the baby's sheets.  Although I don't recall groundbreaking results, I do think it helped some.  I even used the Johnson and Johnson baby bath infused with lavender and believed it may have calmed him.  I admit I dabbed it behind my own ears more than one time for my own sanity.

Well, I survived that first year, as most of us do.  In addition, I was blessed again four years later with our second child who was the best baby a mother could have asked for.....sleeping through the night at just under 2 months of age and a happy baby who seldom cried and was content most of the time.  As I complete this post, I have two little boys peeking in the office at me.....both with smiles on their faces.  Life is good.     

#8....It's A Mystery

Sometimes things just click.  Those moments are simply golden to an artist.  This is one of those rare paintings in which I managed to limit my palette to 2 colors and my layers to one.  What a simplistic painting I created, yet somewhat complex in nature. 

I'm not quite sure of the name of these flowers, but I believe the photo was from one of my Florida trips.  If there are any native Floridians viewing this, please help me out if this flower looks at all familiar.

Photoshop Frustration and #7

"Violets"
4.5"x6" Original Watercolor
2011© Gretchen Bjornson
$35.00

Okay, so I've only had the program a day and I'm already frustrated.  I know, I just need to give it time and play with it....and I will.  I would be interested in hearing how my artist friends utilize Photoshop with their art.  My reason for purchasing the software is two-fold.  Obviously as an additional tool for my art, I hope to be able to manipulate images I've taken and merge things together or remove items that are too busy.  I'd also like to be able to take a color image and make it black and white...enhance the values so I have a better reference image to utilize while painting.  The second reason would be for creating digital scrapbook pages.  We have hundreds and hundreds of digital images stored on our computer and I'd like to start putting them into book form.  How do you use Photoshop?

Here is flower painting #7.  The background ended up being very high key.  I may just leave it alone at this point though.

Super Bowl Workout!



"Solitary Flower"
4.5"x5.5" Original Watercolor
2011© Gretchen Bjornson
$30.00

 I'm one of those people who only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials.  So while I sit in my office updating Facebook and my blog I'm keeping one ear open for commercial breaks.  I then jump up from my chair and run into the family room to check out the commercials.  Once the game is back on, I run back to my place in the office.  It makes for a great workout.

So far I'm not impressed by Budweiser, the TeleFlora commercial was kind of funny, and I get to suffer through another Transformers movie that's set to open July 1st.  (My boys love the Transformers movies.)

Once I finish publishing this post, I'm on to learning about my latest software purchase, Adobe Photoshop Elements.  I've read in a few artist publications about how it's been a valuable tool.  I'm anxious to give it a go not only in my artistic endeavors, but in my photobook creation endeavors as well.

Painting #6 is somewhat abstract for me.  My reference photo was provided by fellow creative mind, Chanda Cook.  She's emailed to me several great images of flowers and this was one of them.  Thanks Chanda!