Just. Three. More. Days. WOW! This challenge went by fast. And I think it was the group of people that participated. The group dynamic as a whole. The conversations.
With Leslie’s challenge, I would make a point to visit artists blogs. But that was a one-sided conversation. With friends, I may have checked back to read their response, but most often there just wasn’t time for that. It feels like there has been abundant interaction within the group. I think that’s great!
I was interrupted a couple of times while I was working on this piece. There are some things I would have done differently. I was loose in the beginning. But the paint dried, and it became too detailed. Done for now, and moving on. It was good practice!
I goofed. I forgot to add the purple pears. I had already painted most of the pads before I noticed. There was only a small area of clean paper left. And so, only one pear.
If I were to name this, it would be the loneliest number. Haha. I also just noticed, I did not outline this in pen. Hmm. Should I or shouldn’t I?
Inspired again by Carla’s wacky florals. Haha. I found the tutorial after I did the painting. The point, for me, is to loosen up. To not be so tight, so literal. I admire Carla’s playfulness.
I used a stencil with Inktense pencil. Painted with thinned acrylic. Then I used the stencil to outline some of the shapes, again with Inktense. The shadow areas this created are more viable in person. I added the vase, collage, and painted it with watercolor.
I scribbled the blooms with Caran d’Ache crayons. Wet some areas. Added pen details to the purple, and used watercolor pencils on the orange blooms. (Thanks Nelvia!) I added the green, (leaves) which turned out to be too light. So I added scribbles to that. I wasn’t really happy with this. But I added splatter, and now I feel it is not a total loss. Haha.
Trying to be a little wacky and loose. Maybe I shouldn’t have made the Crysanthmums perfectly round. And the green line on the top flower is too light and too close in value to the rest of the bloom. I really like this color combination. I’ll have to use it again 🙂
This looks better in person. The table is deeper, and the flowers are brighter. And the vase looks more blended. I used Caran d’Ache water-soluble crayons, and a LePen. I had fun working on this. The vase was last, and it started out white. But the shadows weren’t working. I tried to give it form, but that didn’t work either. I added color, a touch of shadow, and left it at that.
I met with the nutritionist last week. The 2-month follow up. I’m moving on to the next phase of eating, which basically means I can add citrus and raw vegetables. So exciting! Haha, no really. I have been missing salad! Crunchy, crispy, fresh. Tonight I am having grilled shrimp lettuce wraps, with Butter Lettuce. Mmmm. Hahaha.
At the time of the office visit, I had lost 22 lbs. But I had only lost a pound or two in the previous two weeks. Great news is, it was all fat, no muscle, or other body mass. More good news I am in the normal range as far as weight and BMI. My fat % is 37, but she would like it to be at 32%. My BMI is 25 and under 27 is good. If I can lose a bit more, get to a certain percentage, it is more likely that I will keep it off. True for everyone. That percentage also makes it more likely that you will keep diabetes, heart, and all of those related problems at bay.
I can still only manage to drink about 48 oz. of water a day. I’m not even drinking tea lately. So my goals are to up the water intake, reach that 64 oz. goal daily goal. Lose a bit more, and maintain my eating habits. Which isn’t hard, I just can’t eat much. I think I eat about 1/3 of a cup at a time. And I still have to be careful about what I eat.
She suggested some low cal dressings. Bolthouse Farms. They are made with yogurt, so they are in the refrigerated aisle. They make creamy dressings that are low cal, low carb, low sugar. And you get a bit of calcium and protein!
