Sandy Breckenridge

Stepping Into the Foreground

March 15, 2021 By Sandy Breckenridge 2 Comments

Wheat stalks in the foreground — A picture with a grassy foreground of a farm and Mt. Baker’s snowy cap in the background. I took this picture in Mt. Vernon in Washington state.

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” Vincent Van Gogh

The foreground of a painting acts as an invitation to allow the eye to move comfortably to the focal point.

In a way, it is a promise that the viewer will enjoy the journey. An inviting foreground is like an eye-catching welcome mat against a front door. It makes one eager to ring the bell, gain entry, and explore the internal spaces.

If the foreground is out of balance or lacks harmony with the other planes in the image it can be compared to a home lacking curb appeal. If there is too much clutter upfront the viewer can get lost in the distractions and lose interest before discovering your intended feature of the painting.

Two Brights and One Dull

Painting palette, mixing foreground colors — 2 Bright Colors + 1 Dull Color mixing examples for creating foreground colors.

When choosing the color hues for this first visual field two bright colors and one dull color are blended, adding a little white or black (if needed) to match your reference scrap. This process ensures the foreground has the necessary intensity.

The foreground color choices are richer in value and intensity than the middle ground or background. The percentage of detail increases, too. Additional warmth can act as an invitation. Another option is even larger brushstrokes to suggest to the viewer’s eye the foreground plane is closer.

Too much detail in the foreground can also distract the eye from establishing an enticing relationship with the focal point.

Increasing Color Values in the Foreground

We previously learned the color’s scale percentages in the background are best between 20 and 35. In the middle ground, the range is between 40 and 55. In the foreground, we step up the percentages between 45 to 70 percent.

Some compositions may defer from the suggested values. They could be as much as 100 or as little as 10 percent which depends on the reference scrap.

Layering the Foreground

The painting’s foreground usually includes natural elements like tree mounds and roots, rocks and boulders, textured soil, varied grass mounds, water, natural vegetation like weeds, grasses, and flowers. Sometimes a man-made element like a swing, bench, or bicycle is added for interest as long as it does not take away from the focal point.

In our next post in this series, you will learn how to lay down a base foreground foundation to give the impression of texture, color harmony, shadow, and atmospheric depth. After this step, additional layers of detail bring the foreground to life.

Be sure and check back soon for our next tutorial lesson.

Table of Contents for the Perfect Palette Series

A Squirrel with Pearls

March 9, 2021 By Sandy Breckenridge 2 Comments

“Sometimes big trees grow out of acorns. I think I heard that from a squirrel.” —Jerry Coleman

My husband made an observation during our many years together. I think it started watching me enjoy the movie “Chicken Run” for the third time. I kindly dismissed him to go and work on one of his varied projects, while he chuckled and graciously accepted.

His observation: Sandy loves movies with talking animals!

Fluke, is a movie about a man who died and came back as his family’s new dog. Babe is about a sweet little pig who narrowly escapes becoming Christmas dinner. And the claymation movie, Chicken Run is about the inhabitants of a chicken farm wanting to escape their evil owners. All three are favorites. There are numerous other movies with talking animals on my favorite movie list.

Can’t Forget Rocky the Squirrel

Did you grow up enjoying cartoons? I sure did.

Who could forget Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocky the Flying Squirrel? Maybe this is when my love of watching films with talking animals started.

I don’t remember a time where the humanification of animals combined with storytelling didn’t pique my attention. The same holds true as an artist. I enjoy illustrating animals and including sweet quotes, sayings, and heartfelt messages.

Little Girls with Vision

Squirrel Dreams is the name of a recent digital painting I was working on the day of Ruth Bader Gingsburg’s passing. It’s not easy to bridge from talking animals to the seriousness of the lifelong accomplishments and inspiration of RGB. But I had to try.

Ruth was a short-statured woman with enormous power who was an effective advocate for gender equality, women’s rights, and many other issues. She would wear a symbolic collar made of pearls on the days she’d write a dissenting opinion.

She was often quoted. The messages she imparted were deep, thought-provoking pearls of wisdom.

So, on the day of RGB’s passing, my Squirrel Dreams piece was transformed. She became a dainty, kind, pearl-wearing squirrel with tremendous power. She chose to serve as an example for little girls to dream, and dream big. Leave it to a squirrel to remind us that even a tiny acorn can carry much more than its weight, and take us to places we can only imagine.

If you know someone who might enjoy the message in the painting, click > Squirrel Dreams Merchandise & Posters

Driving Through Oso to RockPort, WA

March 3, 2021 By Sandy Breckenridge 3 Comments

“Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination” – Drake

At the end of the summer of 2017, Kirk and I took a car trip to the Kootenay region in British Columbia, Canada. We had several overnight stops planned on the way. You will learn about all our destination in future posts.

After we left our home on a late September morning, our first stop was a couple of hours away in Oso, WA. We wanted to pay respects to those who lost their lives in the historic mudslide of 2014.

For more information, click > Oso Mudslide

In March of 2014, the little town of Oso experienced record rainfall, two hundred percent of the average rainfall for that time of year. The mudslide smothered forty-nine homes and structures. The devastating event ended the lives of forty-three people.

To understand the devastation to the small community, the tsunami of mud swept over one of the largest unincorporated neighborhoods located on the south side of the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. The entire town’s population in 2010 was only one hundred sixty people.

Highway 530 runs through the area and east over the North Cascade Highway and the destroyed highway running through Oso had to be completely rebuilt. GeoEngineers had to reengineer this destroyed section of the highway and reconnect surrounding communities following the Oso landslide.

We spent quite a bit of time at the memorial. Small tokens and personal mementos can be viewed by the gate blocking the area so no one can trespass. A tree was planted as a placeholder for each life lost. They were decorated with treasures that connect to memories of those who lost their loved ones. We were touched and felt honored to pay our respects.

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I Scream for Ice Cream

After the sober and touching experience at the memorial, it was time for a pit stop.

Lucky for us, the original Cascadia Organic farm was just up the road! We heard about their roadside stand with fresh homemade ice cream located just before heading over the North Cascades in RockPort, WA. The Rockport National Park is another tourist stop which is close by in this sparsely populated region.

At Cascadia’s first farm they still grow blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, sweet corn, and pumpkins at this location. We were lucky to see the pumpkin harvest at the end of summer’s growing season. As you’ll see in the pictures a farmer was loading trucks for the market during our visit.

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Of course, we had to have some of their homemade ice cream from the little roadside stand and small store. Other items that were made from their various harvests were also for sale.

We enjoyed the views of the pollinator flower gardens, pumpkins, the river, and glacier-covered mountains visible from the outdoor seating area next to where we purchased the delicious ice cream.

What a treat on such a beautiful day. Our next photo stops are several breathtaking scenic areas as we drive over the pass and include: views of Ross Lake National Recreation area, Manama and Stehekin mountain regions. The next overnight stop is in Twisp, WA where we will include photos of a friend’s straw bale house.

Hope you will check back soon, or a better option is to scroll down and subscribe to the blog. This way you’ll receive an email when the next post is published.

Something Old Becomes Something New

February 25, 2021 By Sandy Breckenridge 4 Comments

Fabric Upholstery Samples and Remnants — Visiting the discount fabric store looking through remnants for the perfect color and size.

“I am always doing that which I cannot do the I may learn how to do it.” — Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973)

Did you know that nine million tons of furniture go into landfills every year?

That number continues to rise. From 2005 to 2015 the number grew from 7.6 million tons to 9.69 million tons. That stat was from 2015, so it’s probably increased each year by a sizable amount.

The EPA stated furniture is the least-recycled household item. Many of our landfills are reaching maximum levels. It’s past time for our communities to wrap our minds around “repurposing” (adapting for use for a different purpose) and creating innovative recycling programs.

We also need to support and invest in “upcycling” (reusing discarded objects or material in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original) businesses, like Second Use in Seattle. Second Use offers classes on repurposing all types of used materials and furnishings and they promote a couple of craft fairs each year supporting artists who upcycle.

Three Old Armchairs

The old salvaged armchairs — The three old salvaged armchairs I found to upcycle.

We sold all our furniture when we moved to the Pacific Northwest from Kauai, Hawaii. Then we bought our current home, a cosmetic fixer with good bones. It had not been loved and was in dire need of remodeling, what the real estate listing referred to as “deferred maintenance.”

We did a little work before moving in, enough to get by, and budgeted to buy some furniture to get our household livable. We decided to hold off on acquiring additional furnishings until we were further along.

One day I was doing some research looking for some affordable building supplies on OfferUp, a resale app. Sometimes a person can get a great deal by buying unused materials from private sellers.

I noticed a listing by a business that was giving away three sturdy, high quality, but very worn upholstered armchairs. I responded and they offered them for free if I would pick them up. I was happy to discover they were in great shape except the fabric was completely worn out.

I had never reupholstered anything before, so this was a new challenge. I knew I had a place for each armchair and the savings of making them like new again would be remarkable. I stuck them in the garage to sit or throw stuff on for about a year and then it was time to attempt this upcycle project.

200 Staples Later

Vibrant UpCycled Chair — I chose a patterned multicolored fabric with green, yellow and blue tones. This way I could easily change the home decor or bedding color scheme seasonly.

The first chair was going to go in the upstairs bedroom. The room was ready for additional furnishings and I had a perfect spot to place the our new upcycled armchair.

First, I needed to take the chair apart with my tools and remove the tattered upholstery fabric. I must have removed 200 staples! It was more complicated than I first imagined to remove the wooden arms, legs, and seat base with springs.

Once I was done taking it apart I carefully removed the fabric so I had a pattern to follow. The back of the chair had spiked tack strips holding on the back panel that I had to carefully remove so I could reuse them.

“If more designers had bad backs we would have more good chairs.” —Ralph Caplan

I was thrilled with the results after completing the first chair. It was so comfortable and looked like it came from a designer’s showroom. I spent less than $50 on materials, plus my time. I learned so much and I was now confident I could do the other two chairs without any problems.

1 Down, 2 To Go

Upcycled armchair salvaged before it was discarded and thrown away. — I chose a warm gray tone nature pattern to complement the placement by the window.

After we finished our living room remodel, we found the perfect sofa to accommodate the size of the room. Now it was time to complete the remaining two chairs. I choose a fabric that would complement the sofa. I’ll let you judge the final result!

If you learned anything from my experience, I hope it was to take a risk and try a repurposing and/or upcycling project on your own.

The trick is to carefully take the object apart while noting each step. Save your materials to make a pattern, and don’t wait too long in between steps.

You can do it!

“You can’t change the past, but you can change the future, so always remember to recycle.” —unknown

If you enjoyed this post you might also like to learn how I created an Affordable Beachy Countertop out of rough construction materials.

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