MERRY CHRISTMAS

Contemporary Art

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

WallPapersLibrary

Heliconias - Painting Demo

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos
Contemporary Art

Oil Painting on Canvas by Beatriz Socorro
 Heliconias
30 x 40 cm

As I have mentioned before, some of the photos vary in color, depending on the time of day or whether I have photographed them indoors or outdoors. The true colors are the ones you can see on the above photo (the finished painting).

If this is your first visit, please go to OIL PAINTING LESSONS and read: "Art Notes" and "Oil Painting Tips" and be sure to read through at least the first 3 demos (preferably the first six).
There is important information in the previous demos that I don´t repeat in the subsequent ones.

STEP 1

Background: On your palette mix three different shades of:
Cadmium Yellow Deep + Cadmium Yellow Pale + White
- Remember to add to your paint the appropriate medium for each layer.
- Notice that the darker shades are below the foliage.

In the following photos,  you can see how the colors are totally off. I took these photos at night with the existing indoor lighting. 
So, be sure to use the topmost photo as reference for your colors

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos - STEP 1

If  you're not messy like me, you can proceed to the next step. I you´re messy, wait for the background to dry before you proceed. I waited for it to dry.

STEP 2

Next, block the flower and the leaves.

Flower: Cadmium Red Deep + Cadmium Yellow Deep
Leaves: Cadmium Yellow Deep + Thalo Green  + a pinch of White
Yellow: Cadmium Yellow + White

Notice the blank space. That´s because, after letting the background dry, I decided to make the top leaf smaller. You don´t need to leave that space blank. Fill it in while your doing your background.

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos - STEP 2

ALLOW TO DRY WELL BEFORE GOING TO THE NEXT STEP.

STEP 3

On you palette, mix Cadmium Yellow + Cadmium Yellow Deep and add the highlights to the flower as in the following photo.

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos - STEP 3

STEP 4

Next scrumble the edges of the yellow highlights into the dried red paint.
You don´t want to cover all the red but only along the edge to soften it.

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos - STEP 5

Using a lighter shade of the same green mix, add the highlights where needed.

ALLOW TO DRY WELL

STEP 5

With the original red color mix (Cadmium Red Deep + Cadmium Yellow Deep) make a glaze  and glaze the entire flower.

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos - STEP 5

STEP 6

Finally, using green,  fill in the center of the immature fruits at the base of the bracts.

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos -STEP 6

You´re done!!!
I hope you enjoyed it.
God Bless!!!

Free Photos - GAZANIAS 2

Free  Photos
Gazanias 2

FOR THE LOVE OF IT...

Contemporary Art
Art Lessons

I was having one of those moments when we question the purpose of life and why we are here.

What´s the purpose? Why even bother to create all this? Why do we even exist? Was God lonely and in need of company?

An answer came, in the form of a thought:

"Creation is an Act of Love. 
 For no other reason than for the love of it."

Wow! I don´t know if that really came from God or my subconscious mind or from where...but the insight makes sense to me.

Why did God make all this?

For no other reason than for the love of it !!

Perhaps we should have the same attitude when we paint.

BE YOURSELF

Contemporary Art
Art Lessons




"Be yourself. An original is always worth more than a copy".   - Unknown.

ALPINA - Oil Painting Demo

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos

by Beatriz Socorro
Contemporary Art

Oil Painting on Canvas by Beatriz Socorro - 30 x 40 cm - Alpina

As I have mentioned before, some of the photos vary in color, depending on the time of day or whether I have photographed them indoors or outdoors. The true colors are the ones you can see on the above photo (the finished painting).

If this is your first visit, please go to OIL PAINTING LESSONS and read: "Art Notes" and "Oil Painting Tips" and be sure to read through at least the first 3 demos (preferably the first six).

There is information in the previous demos that I don´t repeat in the subsequent demos.

This is the photo I used as a model for this painting:

Photo by Beatriz Socorro - Alpina

STEP 1

First, fill in the background. Once that is done, I prefer to allow it to dry to the touch before I fill in the flower and the leaves. If you´re not a sloppy as me, you can try to fill all of them in this step.

Background: On your palette mix three different shades of :
Cadmium Yellow Deep + Light Yellow + White

Notice that, in the background, I apply the darker shades at the bottom (below the leaves).

Flower: Grumbacher Red + Carmin + Light Yellow

Leaves:  Emerald Green + Lemon Yellow + a pinch of  White

The colors you mix should look like the color on the uppermost photo (the finished painting). Use that photo as reference when mixing your colors.

Oil Painting Lesson/Demo - STEP 1

ALLOW TO DRY WELL BEFORE PROCEEDING TO THE NEXT STEP.

STEP 2

Flower Highlights: Grumbacher Red + Carmin + White.
Flower Shadows:  Grumbacher Red + Carmin.

Leaves Highlights: Use a lighter shade of Emerald Green + Lemon Yellow (notice that this time you don´t add White)
Leaves Shadows: Emerald Green + Lemon Yellow (no White)

In the following photo, the bottom petals on the flower show how the paint is applied before it is scrumbled.

The top petals show how it should  look after being scrumbled.

Do the same with the leaves.

Oil Painting Lesson/Demo - STEP 2a

Oil Painting Lesson/Demo STEP 2b

Once you have added all the highlights and shadows where needed, allow to dry well.

STEP 3

Using the same color mixture that you used for the flower in Step 1, make a glaze and glaze  the entire flower.

Congratulations you´re done!

I hope you enjoyed it!! God Bless!!

AMAZING ART

Contemporary Art
Art Lessons

Truck Art
Bruno´s Art & Sculpture Garden
Rice Fields Art
Eckman´s Paper Sculptures
Driftwood Sculpture - Heather Jansch
Eric Grohe Murals
Ancient Art and UFO´s
Kurt Wenner
Voss - Di Badende
Nail Gun Art
Stone Balancing Art
Hand Jobs The Art
Breathtaking - Youth Olympics

and we cant´t forget the amazing sand and ice sculptures and the street art.  There are too many to post but you can find them in Google images.

Van Gogh´s Perspective Frame

Contemporary Art
Art Lessons


To learn more about the great and famous artists who used a grid and or camera obscura to draw their sketches, go to:

• Van Gogh Museum
• Everyone Can Paint

God Bless and Happy Painting!!

Beatriz Socorro

AJIJIC, MEXICO 3

Contemporary Art
Ajijic, Mexico

FLASHBACK...

Photos by
Beatriz Socorro

Photo by Maureen Seewald

Photo by Maureen Seewald

IMPATIENS DEMO

Contemporary Art

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos
by Beatriz Socorro

Original Oil Painting on Canvas by Beatriz Socorro - 30x40 cm

As I have mentioned before, some of the photos vary in color depending on the time of day or whether I have photographed them indoors or outdoors. The true colors are the ones you can see on the above photo (the finished painting).


STEP 1

If this is your first visit, please go to OIL PAINTING LESSONS and read: "Art Notes" and "Oil Painting Tips" and be sure to read through at least the first 3 demos (preferably the first six).

There is information in the previous demos that I don´t repeat in the subsequent demos.

To see the photo that I used as a model for this painting, go to: Flowers A1


After transferring the sketch to your canvas, fill in the flowers and leaves.

Since I am not applying an underpainting ,I started with the pre-mixed medium: Layer 2.

Flowers: "Hot Pink" is a color that I don´t have. So for the petals, I mixed: 
Grumbacher Red + Carmin + White.

White Stripes: White + barely pinch of the same pink mixture you used on the petals.

Leaves: Mix Ultramarine + Lemon Yellow + a pinch of White.

Background: Mix on your palette different shades of Viridian Green + White 

and then fill in your background.

ALLOW TO DRY WELL TO THE TOUCH.

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos - STEP 1

STEP 2

Remember to add to your paint the appropriate medium for each layer.

Highlights: Once your painting is dry, use White + a pinch of the same pink mixture used on the petals and add the highlights as shown on the following photo:

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos - STEP 2a

and then gently and softly scrumble....only in those areas that you wish to lighten up.

Shadows: If you see that you need to deepen some areas follow the same procedure with a deeper shade of the same pink.

Veins and Buds: Mix a lighter shade of  Ultramarine + Lemon Yellow and paint the veins on the leaves. Also fill in the buds.

Don´t be a slob and do what I did. There´s  a saying in spanish: The lazy man works twice as hard. Trust me, it is very true.

Do the veins carefully the first time and you won´t have to work twice as hard like me.

If you enlarge the picture below,  you will see what a sloppy job I did on the veins.

 So, I had to mix some green and go along all of the edges....  :(

Oil Painting Lessons/Demos - STEP 2b

ALLOW TO DRY

STEP 3:

Using the same colors as before, add more highlights and shadows wherever you feel they are necessary and finally add the pistils. 

As I have mentioned before, some of the photos vary in color depending on the time of day or whether I have photographed them indoors or outdoors. The true colors are the ones you can see on the first photo, which is the finished painting.

CONGRATULATIONS....You´re done!!!

I hope you enjoyed it! God bless!

MY TRAVELS

Contemporary Art

Travel

At age five, my father took us to NYC. I remember Central Park and seeing and playing with snow for the first time...eating icicles...iceskating (or trying to) and of course the Carrousel. 

The subways were so much fun!! 

Coney Island and the wicked parachute ride that my insane father put us on...

Note: I went back to Coney Island as a grown-up and the tower for the parachute ride was still standing but it wasn´t running. I asked one of the employees why it wasn´t running anymore and he informed me that they had to close it down because people had died of heart attacks.

I returned to NYC, on my own, several times. NYC is definitely one of the most exciting cities in the world!

In 1959, my father flew us to Madrid, Spain, and from there we drove to Paris, France, and then to Rome and Naples in Italy.

I was nine at the time, so I don´t remember the exact route we followed but I still have some memories:

Spain:  the Escorial and the tombs of the Kings and Queens, El Retiro where we rowed a boat and where my brother bent a pin and tied it to a string hoping to catch a fish, the Flamenco dancer at las Cuevas de Luis Candela, the abundance of quartz crystals scattered all over the fields around the caves in Pamplona, the vineyards along the road.

France:  I remember the Eiffel Tower, the children playing with boats at Versailles, Champs Elysee and the old-fashioned elevator at the hotel with which we played every time we got the chance (without getting caught). I don´t remember the Mona Lisa at the Louvre nor any of the other master pieces there but I sure remember Venus with no arms.

Italy:  I remember the Coliseum. There were no lions but there were a lot of cats. I still bear the scar left on my hand by one of the cute little kitties that I wanted to pet. I didn´t know they were wild.

At the Vatican, I clearly remember Michelangelo´s Pieta and the huge cupola.

I remember the statue of Moses and how worn out its toes were from people touching them (I am one of the culprits, but I was just a child who didn´t know any better and at the time it was allowed).

I also remember they sold to the tourists relics of Jesus' cross.  Looking back, that must have been one huge cross!!! They also sold rosaries with beads made of pressed, rose petals. Those were nice and they smelled so good. I wonder if they still sell them.

At the catacombs, I remember the abundant skeletons and skulls in their niches along the walls and specially when the tour guide blew out all the candles just to spook us out (which he did).

And, last but not least, the amusement park in Naples.

In 1968, Joan Bragan, the English teacher at Colegio Americano, Caracas, was going on a road trip with her two sisters during the summer vacation. The trip would be from Pensacola, FL,  to San Francisco, CA and back. I was invited. My father gave me permission and I went.

In 1971, I drove with my dear, college friend, Michelle Strohl, from NJ, USA, to Montreal, Canada, and then down to Florida.

I guess, by then, I had acquired a taste for road trips.

In 1974, I quit my job as a tour guide and, along with my two dogs, took a trip around South America which lasted for 2 years. Most of the roads, even along the Pan-american Highway, were dirt roads at the time.

There was only one road through the Amazon Jungle. So, I had to drive to Belem de Pará (at the mouth of the Amazon River) and load the car, myself and the dogs on a barge with a push boat. The barge was used mainly by the trucks heading to Manaus.  From Manaus, I continued the trip on what was, at the time, only a dirt road under construction: the Transamazonic Highway.

I chilled out for a while, but in 2002 the bug bit again.


CANOE TRIP

With my two dogs as travel companions, I paddled a canoe across the state of Florida. I started in Ft. Myers (on the Gulf Coast), along the Caloosahatchee River, Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie canal (known as the Okeechobee waterway) to Stuart (on the Atlantic) and then up to Ft. Pierce and back down to Stuart, where I finally met a retired marine, Jerry Reattoir,  who became a very dear friend and who not only built a beautiful leeboard for the canoe (so that I could finally sail ) and replaced all the metal rigging with rope (to help remove some weight)  but also followed me along the way from Stuart to Lake Worth until he was sure that I could sail the canoe on my own from Palm Beach to Key Largo, via the Intracoastal waterway.

He encouraged me on my journey (when I was full of doubts) and wrote two notes that I still hold and treasure and in which he said:

"I pray that nothing bad ever happens to you. But a little risk and danger are like seasoning that gives life its good flavor....and try to remember - the real honor is in the effort - whether you reach your goal or not,
you´re already a champion."

**Dear Jerry, wherever you are, you still bring tears to my eyes...you have no idea how much your words encouraged me and gave me strength and hope. I love you.

Besides Jerry, I met and was helped by other wonderful and amazing people in Stuart...but that will have to wait until I continue writing about this trip. Otherwise, this post will never end.

I had started a diary on geocities but, since I was travelling during hurricane season, my notes got damaged with so much rain. By the time I had access to a computer again, yahoo had discontinued geocities. But, believe it or not, the first pages of that trip are still online.

If you would like to see it, go to: The Adventure Begins...

It took me a year on the canoe to make it from Ft. Myers to Miami.

I did finish the trip, even though there were many who thought I´d never make it and once I reached the Florida keys there were many who rolled their eyes and didn´t believe I had done it...until they saw the evidence.

When I started the canoe trip and sailboat adventure, I was disillusioned with the human race. However that all changed during this trip. I met the most generous and amazing persons (from all walks of life, social status, race, religion). People who generously took of their time and effort to help me accomplish my dream, expecting nothing in return. I hope God blessed you abundantly for everything you did for me.

SPECIAL NOTICE: I want to take this opportunity to thank you all once again and to tell you that I vividly remember each one of you and what you did for me. I hold you not only in my mind but specially in my heart. Without each one of you...it would not have been possible. This wasn´t my trip. This was OUR trip. THANK YOU!! And if perchance you land on this blog and read this, please drop me a line at BeatrizSocorroCastillo@yahoo.com, I would love to hear from you again!!

My friend, Cherie Anderson, and her son, Sean, helped me rig up the canoe in Ft. Myers.
I definitely could not have done it without them
nor without the help of those who lent a hand along the way

After crossing the State.
Photo  taken in Stuart, FL

April

Alice

The blue line shows the route traveled by canoe.

The Catalina with the mast down after needed repairs due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina

CENTRAL AMERICA

When I reached the keys, my original plan was to continue on a sailboat to Venezuela. I bought a used sailboat and fixed it, but just as I was getting ready to go I noticed a crack across the hull. The previous owner had had an accident with it and had not repaired it properly.

Bill and Jeannie Stroemel, who owned the marina at the time and who had sold me the Hunter (also unaware of the previous damage), felt bad and gave a me 25 ft. Catalina that needed some work. So, I had to start again from the beginning.

As a result, I lived in a tent for a year on a 46-acre island while I worked on the boats.

The island had been donated to the Presbyterian church. The pastors wanted to build a rehab center on the island but the government wouldn´t give them the permits. Rev. Rubens and Rev. Williams allowed me to camp there for a year, besides providing me with food and most important of all: their love and friendship.

To tell you about everyone that helped and all the adventures lived will require that I continue the diary. I will probably continue to write the story little by little, if I can find time between painting and working on this blog.

When the second sailboat (the Catalina) was ready, I sailed it from Key Largo to Big Pine Key. Even though Captain Kenny taught me how to read charts and navigate, I really didn´t have much sailing experience. My friends were concerned that I would not make it. But I was going to go ahead with it anyways. To tell you the truth, I was terrified during this leg of the trip. If you´re wondering about my sanity, you´re not the only one. I wonder too...

But I did make it, sand bars, storms and all.

While at Big Pine Key, Katrina hit. I met and was helped again by so many kind and generous people. I love them all and what is most important, they restored my faith in the human race. Some day, I will tell you their amazing stories.

My now best friend and sponsor, Maureen Seewald, who sheltered me after Katrina, offered to drive me to Panama. While on the sailboat I always said I was going to put a sticker on it that said: "I rather be driving".

She and the other friends I made in Big Pine Key were convinced I would not make it across the Gulf Stream to Cuba. And they were probably right. Like I said, I am not much of a sailor.

But a ride from Florida to Panama is not like a ride to the supermarket. I told Maureen that if she was serious, first it had to be something she really wanted to do for herself and not just for me. I told her that  I didn´t want to travel with someone who would be whining along the way. I warned her that a road trip to Panama would entail some wonderful moments and experiences but some hard ones too.

So, in 2005 after some back-and-forth, Maureen and I got on her CVR and hit the road. We traveled for a year through central america.

Some day I´ll tell you all about that. That too was an awesome and unforgettable adventure!

Maureen, Bitsy, Alice and me

So, all in all, this is a rough sketch of the road trips I have taken. Looking at the map now, there´s still a lot for me to see. Only God knows if I will have another opportunity in this lifetime.

The truth is right now I am pooped and I just want to chill out and paint.