Friday, January 27, 2017

Forest Textures

I really like the russets and maroons that I see this time of year. In my classes we've been experimenting with different textures. So, in this piece I decided to use the colors that I see around me with differing textures. For some of the colors I used orange and perylene maroon. I like perylene maroon because it fades to brownish instead of pinkish like permanent rose. It also goes really well with greens and it looks really great in the background. This piece really started working when I added the large tree on the right. I pretty much left the foreground and background alone but added darks in the middleground. The texture in the foreground is interesting to look at and adds to the piece.
"Forest Textures" • watercolor on 100% cotton paper • 11" x 15"
If interested in this piece click HERE.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Snow in the Mountains

This is one of my class demos of snowy mountains. Demos have to be fast and they are unrehearsed. I didn't want to draw and mountains are fairly easy to represent, pointed triangle shapes with one side darker. The lighter side is just white paper. When I start out this way, I outline with water, which is really awesome because you can't make a mistake because it's just water. It's also really challenging to see since the water is the same color as the paper! As I worked down from the mountains, I added the bright oranges and reds into paint that was still a little wet, making soft edges. I darkened the foreground and added the sky last grading from peach to blue. I added a couple of things after that, but mostly left the painting alone. I had no desire to lose any of the freshness of this piece. I really love the colors and the freedom of the paint!
Thanks to Jim for donating the reference photo that I used as a jumping off point for this piece.
"Snow in the Mountains" • Original watercolor on 100% cotton paper • 11" x 15"
If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Saguaro Home

We had a LOT of snow! Well, a lot for us! Snow made me think about the desert and those thoughts turned into a painting. I really tried to pay attention to the changes that happen with color as it moves into the distance. This adds a lot of depth to this piece. Saguaros are very neat cactus. When you see them with arms, they are very old. Some of them have a lot of really big arms and those are the oldest of all. In the distance they look like they're marching up the hills. Enjoy this peek at the desert!
"Saguaro Home" • Original acrylic on 1.5" gallery wrap canvas, painting continues on sides, ready to hang • 8" x 8"
If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Friday, January 20, 2017

Tiny Beginnings of Spring

This piece really takes advantage of the texture of the handmade Shizen paper. I really like how the tree bark turned out. I added just a little green in the tree branches, tiny new leaves!
The handmade paper has deckle edges all the way around, so I photographed so you can see that.
"Tiny Beginnings of Spring" • Original watercolor • 12" x 9"
If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Dreaming of Summer

We've been buried in snow for a week! Not buried, precisely but a week is a REALLY LONG time for snow to hang around here!!!! It's melting now, YAY!!!!! What a GREAT time to paint COLORFUL flowers!!!!!! And think about long warm days and the smell of the roses along the pathways with all the bees buzzing around and the birds singing! All those feelings are in this rose painting. I really enjoyed using the peaches, pinks, greens, purples and yellow-white highlights. The colors just flowed onto the canvas in slightly different ways than usual. A wonderful thought in the midst of winter.
"Dreaming of Summer" • Original Acrylic on 3/4" wrap around canvas, painting continues on sides, ready to hang • 6" x 6"
If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Monday, January 16, 2017

World Along the Waterway

This piece has been in process for awhile. It's based on a photo of an area close to my house. This is a little waterway with really wild, tangled up plants and trees happy to live close to the water. It provides habitat for lots of birds including a great blue heron and many ducks. In the evenings during the summer you can see the little duck families roosting along the bank, cuddled close together. It's a little world and it's beautiful.
"World Along the Waterway" • Original acrylic on 3/4" wrap around canvas, painting continues on sides,
ready to hang • 8"  8"
In interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Friday, January 13, 2017

Waiting for Winter

Everything is ready! The leaves have fallen, the bushes are bare, the air is getting colder, the geese are flying—all is just waiting for winter. I wanted to portray qualities of a riverbank on the cusp of winter.

This piece is painted on handmade Shizen paper. I photographed with the edges showing so you can see how they look.

"Waiting for Winter" • Original watercolor on handmade Shizen paper • 9" x 12"
 If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Winter Snow!!!!

For everyone who is used to snow all winter, this post won't seem too interesting. Gladstone is the banana belt and for snow to stay more than a few hours is unusual! So in our latest winter event during which 4" to 6" of snow fell and then stayed, it has been a reason to take snow pictures!!!!!! It's truly AWESOME to walk among trees and bushes covered in snow, to hear the geese as they fly up the river, to look for new patterns and shapes, to see branches silhouetted against the sky covered with snow, and to see what the light is like whether cloudy or sunny. I have been privileged to go walking in the snow and enjoy and photograph—maybe for new paintings, maybe for future class projects, always for reference. (What does snow look like on a tree branch, anyway?) Below are a few of these photos. If you're in the middle of your own snow event, I hope that you are able to take time and look at what happens when millions of very tiny white snowflakes fall and stick and cover the earth. (I know it's really much nicer when you don't have to go anywhere!)



Monday, January 9, 2017

Wisteria Splendor

I tried to use some of my richest colors in this piece. The cascading purples came out really beautifully and the greens are lovely and rich. I also left some white areas and tried to keep some of the spontaneity of the first wash. Some of the colors have granulated and some sparkle. The paper is handmade textured St. Armand. You can see the texture in the photo which makes a pattern within the design of the painting.
"Wisteria Splendor" • Original Watercolor on handmade St. Armand paper • 14.5"  21.5"
If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Snowberry Potpourri

This piece began with a lot of acrylic inks squirted all over the paper. I pressed leaves and other texture items into the wet ink, covered and waited for everything to dry. I had a really cool piece of paper after that!!!! I also had no idea what to do with it!!!!! It was so gorgeous that I was tempted to just leave it and call it done!!!! I felt the need to make it more, though. I decided to make it into snowberries. I have used acrylic inks, watercolor, gesso, absorbent ground, and white gouache in the creation of this piece. A lot of the inks are iridescent, so in certain lights parts really sparkle. The texture is really wonderful and I managed to actually leave some of the original ink texture. I really like that this piece invites you to see what's in front of you and imagine what is in the distance.
"Snowberry Potpourii" • Original mixed watermedia on hotpress paper • 22" x 30"
If you're interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Dressed in Purple

I'm not sure how I got so interested in wisteria since the year changed but that is what I've been painting. This piece started out as a way to make awesome purples. I recently purchased a couple of new purple paints and wanted to see how they worked with my existing colors. When the wash dried I went back and defined the flowers and leaves. There's a little orange and some pinkish brown to balance all the purples and greens. It looks like Spring, something to balance the snow outside on the ground!
This piece is painted on handmade Shizen paper and the photo shows the edges of the paper which are beautiful in themselves.
"Dressed in Purple" • Original watercolor on handmade Shizen paper • 9" x 12"
If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Thinking of Flowers

Happy New Year!!!!!!!
It's like winter outside!!!!! So I'm inside thinking of flowers!!!! I think that might be because I bought some new purples and wanted to try them out and what better subject than wisteria!!!!! I really like this piece. I like the colors, the shapes and the texture of the handmade paper.
 
I left the edges of the paper showing in the photo because I just couldn't bring myself to crop them off!

"Thinking of Flowers" • Original watercolor on handmade paper • 12" x 9"
 If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.