Friday, March 15, 2013

Bird's Eye Bottles

'Bird's Eye Bottles' 
6 x 9 inches, watercolor and gouache on paper
$100 plus $7 US shipping, or $15 International


This is another painting that I started last spring then abandoned later on. I started painting this as a demo at an 'artist's night' at our local high school. I brought a bunch of my paintings and several of my sketchbooks and there were a lot of kids that just loved art that stopped by to talk to me.

My sketchbooks seemed to be a big hit with them, I think they really liked seeing the less than perfect scribbles and drawings. I don't even show you guys those. ;) But I felt like it was important for young artists to see that not every painting or drawing will be as good as you want or try for it to be, and that's okay. 

That's how this job works, we are always striving to be better than we are today so naturally some of what we do will fall short. Especially in sketchbooks, which by their nature are meant to be quick studies, and charmingly imperfect. At least that's what I tell myself. ;)

These are some of those bottles that I showed you a photo of that are sitting in my living room on a shelf. I saw these two at a book store that also sold some small home decor items. They are made by hand, so the glass is thicker, and their shape isn't machine perfect. Which is what makes me love them so much. I think I'll be painting them more. I definitely want to try them in colored pencil next. 

I thought it would be kind of fun to show these very translucent glass bottles against an opaque gouache background. I like the contrast between those two, I think it really makes the transparent watercolors glow.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a happy St. Patty's day! I'm planning a fun green dinner for my kids that night as we speak. :)

13 comments:

  1. These glass bottles are SO beautiful, Crystal.
    You paint glass so well...love the colors and hope to see this in colored pencils!!
    Enjoy your weekend!!!

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  2. beyond cool crystal!! i love everything about this. can't wait to see what you do with pencils. outstanding as always. enjoy the weekend as well.

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  3. A change of pace for you. I love these bottles. Nice point of view and beautiful shadows!

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  4. Love the point of view :) beautiful colors too! I too like the combination of watercolors and gouache!

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  5. Lovely one, Crystal (or should I say two). :)

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  6. Stunning.. And the opaque background really does the trick..

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  7. Dazzling! So glad you chose to finish it, great call on that opaque background, the colours in those bottles are so rich.

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  8. That's an interesting perspective, and with your dazzling, rich colors - lovely!
    I am keen to hear about your "green" dinner!

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  9. 'Charmingly Imperfect'... I LOVE that! I might have to use that one sometime myself ;0)
    Oh this is just SO beautiful! That light is just singing! You have the most amazing talent for light... glass... eyes... sigh....

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  10. very nice ! ..i always love bird's eye views

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  11. Love the opaque background, wonderful effect. It's always a joy to visit your blog and catch up on all your marvellous work.

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  12. I enjoyed this post very much, and the painting, too, Crystal.

    Those less than perfect studies and sketches (are there any, really, that ARE perfect?) don't get seen by many. They're good exercise for us, though.

    I think of studies sometimes like doing barre at ballet class. It's vital for the dancer, but not all that interesting for the audience (unless the audience is a bunch of dancers). Performances are like our finished work... and some are better than others, eh?

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment they really do mean so much to me! Because not all bloggers have their email enabled so I can reply directly through email I will try to reply here in the comments. If I don't please forgive me, life must have been hectic that day! :)) Huzzah!!

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