Painting with Yarn by Colleen Sanchez

A lovely throw in Noro Yarn

I kind of got carried away with this gorgeous Noro Yarn in making this throw. It helped to have something to work on while at the clinic with my husband. It kept my mind busy thats for sure and I really enjoyed designing it.

It even fits over a queen size bed

Painting or lack of it Update

Taking a little time this morning to send out a Thank You to all my followers and everyone who has peeked into my blog and sent me personal messages in regards to my paintings. I have so appreciated the communications and some of the friendships I've made online with other artists and my clients.

I have been unable to complete much in the way of paintings for a while now. My husband has been very ill for some time and has sometimes been unable to function much. We were hopeful because he seemed to get better for a while, but now he's getting worse again. Over the past year we've spent quite a bit of time in Dr's offices and treatment centers and it looks like that will continue for a while yet.

I probably won't be posting too often at all and mainly the fiber arts and crafts that I can take along on appointments to work on, so I hope my painting fans will bear with me. The paintings just are not coming right now. I started a separate blog for the fiber arts and photography, but then realized its just too much right now and shut it down. My focus now has to be helping my husband and looking after all the day to day things he can no longer do.

Again - Thanks so much everyone for being interested in my work.

Aloha,

Colleen

Colleen Sanchez - Finalist - International Artist Magazine - Jan/Feb issue #88

Promise Me
Watercolor

I'm so honored to have been selected as a finalist for the Dec/Jan #88 issue of
International Artist Magazine in the Favorite Subjects competition.  To have one of my paintings published along side these exceptional artists is indeed a great feeling. Its on the newsstands.

The Cover

I have many ideas in the works for several large watercolor paintings and some graphite works. I'll be working on them over the next few months. I'll try to post some in process and some completed pieces as I work through them. I'm so excited to keep on exploring.

Thanks so much for checking in with me. I really appreciate the comments too.

ORIGINAL CONTEMPORARY STILL LIFE DRAWING IN GRAPHITE BY COLLEEN SANCHEZ

GLADS IN GRAPHITE
ORIGINAL CONTEMPORARY STILL LIFE FLORAL DRAWING
GRAPHITE ON PAPER 22 x 14.5BY
COLLEEN SANCHEZ
AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

See under - Paintings and Drawing Tab

Finished this complicated graphite drawing a few days ago, but, I needed to let it sit to see if I was really done before posting it. I gave a lot of thought to background, should I put in some shadows or some texture? In the end though, I thought the flowers, buds and stems were better showcased on the plain off-white paper. 

It is so rewarding, slowly seeing the shapes build up into volume to become something recognizable. One thing I also discovered - it is very difficult to photograph graphite, some of the darks in my drawing are really darker than you see here, and some of the lights are really lighter. Even with editing, this is the closest to the real thing I could get. I loved this one so much that I have a plan to do another large glad still life, but it will be a very unusual composition. Who knows I may have a series in the works. You may not see it here for a while - I have some other paintings and drawings in process too.

SLOW ART UPDATE FROM COLLEEN SANCHEZ

ORIGINAL GRAPHITE DRAWING IN PROGRESS
Hope to finish in a few more days so I can work on my other ongoing projects.

I'm thinking lately this is turning into a slow art blog. Even though I've been devoting many, many hours to my art work, the drawing is slow. I'm loving it though. All the painting plans I thought were so important to me earlier this year seemed to get moved to the back burner. This very detailed gladiola drawing is very involved, very detailed. The work in shading to create the volume is something one must have lots of patience for, and I do. 

I found another gorgeous bunch of pink glads the other day and thought of getting lots of photos in different set ups, some small sketches and color notes down before they die off. So with the pencil work, the studies of the new flowers and my rose color pencil/ watercolor piece I've completely filled up most of the hours in each day lately.

With the painting I was kind of stuck at some kind of plateau, so maybe going back to the basics of drawing for a while  will be a good thing. Might even help my work with painting move forward a bit when I next pick up a paint brush.

Sometimes the problem with artists is we just have way too many ideas rolling around the gray matter and never enough hours in the day to work on everything. I guess thats why I'm hoping to stay healthy in order to work on art for the rest of my life. I can't imagine doing anything else now, either making art or reading about art. Thanks for visiting and happy art gazing or art doing.

The blooms are starting to fade already so I'm trying to work as quickly as I can .

Trimmed off the dead ones so I could focus on final color notes for as many parts of the plant as I can before the whole bunch has died out.

PAINTING AND DRAWING UPDATE FROM COLLEEN SANCHEZ

Whew, the best laid plans don't always work out. My summer painting plans just didn't come off as anticipated. My husband and I have had one challenge after another to contend with this summer, thats for sure. I won't go into details here because we all have our stories, but I'm feeling fortunate to have a few close friends and family who are so supportive. Sometimes there might also be another plan for us and we just need to work through whatever life throws our way.

Here is an update on what I'm trying to  work on lately when i can, its just less than I thought and slower. Good news though - 2 of my paintings have been juried ( Robert O'Brien ) into the Hawaii Watercolor Society 2012 Open Show. It'll be a great celebration too - its the 50th Anniversary of our society so we'll be having a great party for opening night, September 27th at the Main Gallery of the Honolulu Museum Art School. Can't wait to see the show set up next month.

When I can work on my full sheet portrait again I'll update that too. I really need a good block of time to work on that painting so it works out the way I want.

DRAWING IS A COMFORTING ACTIVITY
THIS IS A MIXED MEDIA WATERCOLOR AND ARTIST COLOR PENCILS
I'M TRYING IT ON FABRIANO HP WATERCOLOR PAPER, NEXT I'LL BE  USING THE COLOR PENCILS FOR THE FLOWERS AND MAIN LEAVES. THE CHALLENGE WILL BE SOFTENING SOME OF THE COLOR PENCIL INTO THE WATERCOLOR BACKGROUND. THIS WILL BE A SLOW PROJECT.

STILL WORKING ON THIS LARGE GLAD DRAWING
THE LEAVES, BUDS AND STEMS ARE FINALLY COMPLETED. NEXT I'LL BE WORKING ON THE MAIN BLOOMS. ANOTHER SLOW PROJECT THAT CAN BE DELAYED FOR OTHER THINGS. I AM LOVING THE PROCESS ON THIS ONE,  GRAPHITE IS ONE SIMPLE PLEASURE TO USE.

HEADING HOME SELECTED FOR HWS 2012 OPEN SHOW

WHITE RAINBOWS SELECTED FOR HWS OPEN SHOW

ORIGINAL PORTRAIT WATERCOLOR IN PROGRESS - UPDATE BY COLLEEN SANCHEZ

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I got sidetracked with some important issues and also am working on a very big job as a co-chair managing the entries for an upcoming show. I belong to the Hawaii Watercolor Society and call me crazy, but this is the second time I offered to manage the entries. It's a big job, but I kind of like it. Lots of entrants need some help with understanding how to enter digital images and its also a great way for me to chat with other artists. I still have lots to do on this project, however, I managed to find little pockets of time to work on my watercolor portrait.

IMPROVED SKETCH 30 X 22

When I came back to this piece I knew the facial features needed some corrections. I think this adjusted sketch is much better. Sometimes its good to step away for a bit, you can spot your problems before you go to far.

FIRST WASH

This is where I dared to start a first wash all over the painting to get my feet wet, as it were. Kind of scary when you don't normally paint people. Yes, I know the paper is wrinkled. I just don't like what happens to my paper if I stretch it, and this way I can tilt easier to get the paint to flow only where I want. By the time the painting is finished its usually flat again. And in the rare case that its not, I just spray the back with clear water, put a heavy piece of plexi on top and the next day, voila - a very flat painting.

MORE BACKGROUND WASH 

I do have a plan for how I want this painting to look, but I also know myself. If I don't get started on the background very soon to start tying it all together I always mess up. Many artists who paint portraits or figures get a lot of work done on the actual figure first, so I guess I'm a little backwards, but this is right for me. I look at this piece as a lab experiment so I'll be all over the place. Here, I worked the background wet into wet, let colors flow and merge and before it was dry, lifted some lights. 

MORE WASHES

For this step I started to put wet into wet washes for the beginnings of the form/folds of the T-shirt. Next I started on some flesh tones on one arm, just to see how it goes and put in a darker background wash by the right side. I'm using small bits of paper to try out washes prior to laying them in too. So far its close to the way I want it to go. Wish me luck with the rest. Hopefully after my Imaging work is done, I'll do some more on this painting and post another update next week.

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND

Large Portrait Watercolor Painting in Progress by Colleen Sanchez

Full sheet for watercolor painting in progress

I've had this really tiny photo of my husband that I just love and wanted to paint for several years. It took me till now to really think I could try it, even though the photo was shot from an old poor quality film camera. I think now is a good time to attempt it. I've been drawing more often and have a few years of painting experience that will help. I'm up for the challenge and it really will be a fun painting. The giant papaya Juan is holding was grown by him too. It 's the largest one I've seen so far. So, I'm going bold and doing this watercolor painting on a full sheet. I will take my time, I have some ideas that I'll test on small pieces of watercolor paper as I work through the painting. Here is my basic sketch on a full sheet 30 x 22 and I'll try to post updates as I go. Wish me luck!

ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR PAINTING 30 X 22 BY COLLEEN SANCHEZ

WHITE GINGERS
ORIGINAL CONTEMPORARY WATERCOLOR PAINTING
30 X 22

CONTACT EMAIL FOR INFORMATION

I finally finished this full sheet watercolor painting. I had to put it aside for several days and then come back to it to complete it. I don't know why, but I always seem to set myself some very difficult challenges and this really was one. I knew white flowers are very difficult to paint, I've done a few now, but I also wanted this one to be a little more subtle than my usual floral painting. I had lots of struggles and had to stop often so I wasn't temped to tear it up at one of the ugly stages. I think my personality type is such that I learn more with the most difficult work. And crazy me, the next couple of large paintings I have planned will be even more of a challenge - they'll be attempts at figurative works. Stay tuned.

ORIGINAL FULL SHEET WATERCOLOR PAINTING IN PROCESS

Still more progress on my ginger watercolor painting

Spent quite a bit of time today working on this ginger watercolor painting.  I'm actually working with glazes which is unusual for me, but I realized I needed to be careful with the color otherwise the flowers won't look white:  I think I may need to do some lifting later.  I still need to work on some more mid and dark values, then I'll work on the last blossom grouping which is my main point of interest.  I've been doing some negative painting for the background to carve out the flowers.  Had to do small sections at a time so I could soften my lost petals before the paint dried.  Even though I am fabulously lucky to live in Hawaii, watercolors dry very fast.  Hopefully I'll be able to finish tomorrow so I can get started on some more big ideas I've had.