Lucy in the Air, with Diamonds

Aural Allure

What to Paint?

 I have three blank canvases size 18x24.  These can be a series, or 3 different subjects.  Some subjects might work better in a larger 30x40 size.  HELP me decide:

For the three existing 18x24 canvases should I paint

A Three Taylor Twins in Marin Paintings (ie top 2 candidates above plus 1 more tbd)

B Three Ocean Gull paintings (ie 3rd photo composite above + 2 more tbd)

C Three Flower Fantasy paintings (ie 4-5 photo composites above + 1 more tbd)

D One of each:  Photo 1, 3 and 4 

E One of each:  Photo 2, 3 and 5 

 

OR should I buy two more 30x40 canvases and paint

F  Two large Taylor Twins in Marin paintings and use the 18 x 24 canvases for B or C above

G  Two Flower Fantasy paintings and use the 18 x 24 canvases for A or B above 

Please Pick A, B, C, D, E, F, or G and help me decide!!

Two More Quilts for 2020

 The perfect snuggle size 56" x 72" each.  Last two quilts of the year! They are always more work than they appear!

Top:  Crow, Flamingo and Dodo birds in red, black and blue

Bottom:  Funky Birds and Bugs in purplish blue, and yellow

Flannel backs for both (not shown here.)  Made for two very special people!

Thanksgiving Hike along the Trails above Rossmoor in the East Bay

Thanksgiving day socially distancing hike with family.  Clear blue skies, fabulous views, unique terrain, steep uphill - well worth the effort!

Two New Bird Quilts in Process

 Top two birds will make their appearance in a Crow, Flamingo, Dodo Bird Quilt; bottom 4 Funky Birds are set to show off in a Funky Bird and Bug Quilt.  My Style continues to be messy, creative and imperfect- just like the birds!

New Large 36 x 36 Oil Painting

 Boat in the Water with the Taylor Twins.  Oil painting on stretched canvas 36" x 36".  Background from a photo shot in Bolinas during a King Tide event; swimming Taylor Twins referenced from a Marriott swimming pool photo taken during the weekend of Rachel and Court's wedding in Oakland.  

Playing with Photoshop's New Sky Replacement Tool

 

Always in the mood to learn something new, while not wanting the end result to to be like anyone else's, I decided to experiment.  Photoshop's new Sky Replacement tool has a number of nice sky presets.  But when I use them, I'm using elements I didn't create, and that anyone else can use, which is never my first choice.  So, I figured out how to insert another image into one of the Sky Replacement layers to create something that is all original. 

Top to Bottom:

1.  The original, edited photo, of a king tide shot in Bolinas, California in Jan 2018.

2.  That same shot with one of the Photoshop sky replacements.  

3.  A photo of mold growing on one of my lemons.

4.  The original photo with a close up of lemon mold replacing the Photoshop sky.  Looks like the fire sky we experienced for too long this past summer!

In the Studio

 Top to Bottom

1.  Finished oil on canvas 18x24 "Fleeing the Fire Ash Sky"

2 and 3:  In process 36" x 36" oil "Boat in the Water" very early stage underpainting

Playing Around With Old Photos, Patterns and Neural Filters in Photoshop on a Gray Day

 Top to Bottom

Photo shot in Seattle, September 2011 with Amber, Cole and Wilson - as shot

Same photo with B&W filter and some Photoshop Beta Neural face smoothing

Same photo with a different Neural filter and a pattern overlay of a repeating self portrait painted by my father, the late, great E.A. Autrey

Same photo toned down a bit by re-layering the original photo over the 3rd photo.

Since I am no longer travelling up to Seattle on a regular basis, this makes up for it a little.

New Fabric Designs and a Contest Entry

I'm back doing more fabric designs, which are available in my Spoonflower shop here:  https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/lucy_autrey_wilson. 

 Some of the new designs are not yet available but will be soon.  They can be seen by clicking on the "designs not for sale" button.  I have to buy test samples before I can sell.   Some of what's new is described below

 Top to Bottom

1.  New coronavirus repeating fabric design.  The viruses were created with Illustrator and Photoshop, then layered on top of a photo of a chain link fence in front of a garden which was modified to more closely appear like an electron microscope scanned viral specimen.

2.  I painted a Dodo with pen & ink and watercolor, put it on a watercolor rainbow painting and added scanned cheesecloth. 

3.  An old fabric design of a bacteria.  Face masks made with bacteria and/or virus image fabrics seems like something that makes perfect sense.

4.  Last, but not least, I created a Poster Tea Towel image (to be printed on linen) as my entry into a Spoonflower contest.  I painted the image (actually a larger version of it) while on one of my many Ibiza vacations.   Voting starts Oct. 22.  You can vote here:  https://www.spoonflower.com/design-challenge

 

Painting Mock-Ups

 Trying to mock up a few future paintings and can't decide.  Any thoughts on preferences would be very helpful!  Choices below:

Top to Bottom:

1.  Dodo Over the Rainbow

2.  Dodo in Distressed Natural Environment (global warming theme)

3.  Dodo in the Forest 

4.  Durer's Nemesis Angel of Fortune at the Beach with Raven

5.  Durer's Nemesis Angel of Fortune with Rainbow Background and Raven

6.  Boat in the water in Bolinas

Painting Fruit with some Fernando Botero Influence

 Top to Bottom Two New Original Oil Paintings on Cradled Canvas:  5" x 5" x 1 1/2" 

1.  Fat Lemon - with final color glaze 

2.  Fat Pomegranate - with final color glaze 

3.  Lemon, before the final glaze, with the original model.  Like Fernando Botero's paintings, the final product seems to have expanded!  Link to Botero Museum in Bogota, Columbia for examples of his work (which I love):   https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museo-botero-bogota 

4.  Pomegranate with its model

Collaborative Painting

Top to Bottom

1.  Finished still life "Brayer with a Jar of Paintbrushes" oil on stretched canvas 16" x 20" x 3/4"

2.  Sketch of Cole Taylor June of 2016 which Wilson painted

3.  Sketch of Wilson Taylor June of 2016 which Wilson painted

4.  Sketch of wall with outlet and window July 2016 which Wilson scribbled on

5.  Sketch of Cole and Wilson July of 2014 where Wilson added the bodies and did the coloring

The bottom four pictures were the inspiration for the top oil painting.  I loved doing art with my grandsons where I would get to a point and they would take over.  Often the results made the pictures much better!  So, without the benefit of having my grandsons around, I pretended my Brayer had a life of its own, and it got into the action after I finished my still life painting, by smearing blue paint on the finished canvas.  

Upping my Game with New Product Designs at Zazzle

 Lucy Autrey Wilson Redcrow Art on Zazzle

October Oil Painting Progress

 Top to Bottom

1.  Pomegranate:  Needs one more thin glaze layer

2.  New birds escaping a raptor against a fire haze sky.  Underpainting stage 2

3.  Paintbrushes in bottle with some refinements.  At least one more pass coming up

4.  Bird in a tree with a Full Moon.  Underpainting.