Outdoor Cafe, Watercolor batik
A couple of years ago I took a workshop in watercolor batik painting. I loved the class and the look that is achieved using this process of using melted wax as a resist and then cracking it when it has cooled in order to put on your dark paint to get the batik look. The part I didn't like was using an iron over newspapers to melt the wax and absorb it out of the painting. It took a long time over a hot iron to get all that wax out. I've never been fond of ironing. I did manage to paint another batik painting and thought I would do more but I haven't. Now I wonder if I could remember the process.
Anyway, I found this painting when I was looking through my stash. I decided to frame it and put it in the art sale our local art league is having this week end. I'll be at the sale with my paintings and cards for sale. It ought to be fun.
Geranium Card and envelope, watercolor.
While I was painting outside the other day I also did a painting of my brave little geranium plant. I call it brave because it came through the summer even though it was sorely neglected. Before I left Florida for the summer I put it in it's pot in the landscaping where it would get irrigation and rain whenever it was provided. Geraniums don't like wet feet so they don't usually make it through the summer here. But, this one did. It looked pretty awful, scrawny stems and tiny leaves. So, I watered and fertilized and even though the leaves are still small it is blooming like crazy! It adds a pop of color to my lanai and it deserves being painted onto a card.
Gerbera Daisy Card and Envelope
I decide to paint some cards for an upcoming art sale at our local art league. I do these quickly and don't worry too much about accuracy. I just concentrate on getting the paint on the paper without drawing my subject. I'm painting on Canson watercolor greeting cards, they come with envelopes so I put a little matching design on the front to make a complete set. It was a beautiful day to sit out on the lanai and get some painting done.
Two Young Burrowing Owls- Watercolor and Ink
Hootie In A Palm Tree- Watercolor and Ink
Where I live in Florida we have these little creatures called Burrowing Owls. They dig a burrow in our sandy soil during the dry season (winter) and raise their young. It's fun to walk by their home in a vacant lot and see the little ones lined up outside their burrow under the watchful eye of their parents. The adults mate for life and both take care of the young. They are in constant danger from hawks, raccoons, and other predators and they are loosing their habitat as more people build homes in the area. As a result they are a protected species. We have a Burrowing Owl festival every February to inform the public about these delightful little birds. Our art league is sponsoring an art show with birds as a theme and is working in conjunction with the Owl Festival. I've been trying to come up with some ideas for painting these little birds. These are little ink sketches with watercolor that I'm using as a springboard for something a little less conventional. I'll be posting whatever I come up with. If anyone has an creative idea I'd love to hear it.
Pears and Apple 9x9 watercolor
This little painting was stuck in my portfolio for weeks because I didn't know what to do for a background. Then one day I was leafing through an older copy of one of my watercolor magazines when I found an article by Ann Abgott. She's the one who inspired me to paint the fruit in the first place. She had a still life of fruit with a really dark background. It made the fruit just pop on the page. So, I decided to try it. First I tried Payne's gray on a wet background. Not only did it look dull, the paint started to seep into my nice pristine fruit, and they were dry! I sat a babysat it, dabbing away at the seeping paint until it dried enough to stop. When it was completely dry I went around all the edges of the fruit with a masking fluid. Then I mixed my own dark with Windsor green and alizarin crimson. I was much happier with this color, it just seemed livelier than the Payne's gray. The next mistake I made was painting the background down to far on my painting which caused the apple to look like it was floating. I had nothing to loose so I decided where the line should be and started scrubbing all the dark below that line, 3 or 4 inches. All those staining colors were very stubborn, I attacked with a Mr Clean Magic Eraser sponge. I got off as much as I could, burnished the poor bruised paper and coated it with Aquacover Liquid Watercolor Paper. You have to be really close to see the correction but I cropped the painting quite close and into a square shape to minimize the visible amount of correction. Who says you can't correct a mistake in watercolor?
Christmas Tree 5x7 acrylic on paper
Nice, gentle snowflakes falling softly on Christmas eve. That's the ideal picture in so many minds. That may happen in some part of the country this year. A fresh snowfall is hard to beat when it comes to a beautiful sight in December. To wake up in the morning as a child and to look out the window to that sight of all that white stuff covering everything is an amazing thing. Children don't think of shoveling or scrapping car windows. It's just the wonder of the change in your world overnight; from dull gray and brown one day to pristine white the next. I do miss it just a little living here in Florida, especially this time of year. However, I don't miss the cold or wearing heavy coats, gloves, boots, hats and scarves. Wherever you are, cold climate or warm, enjoy the blessings of this season of Christmas and the wonder of it all.
Coconut Palm acrylic on yupo 12x15
...is frightful, so that song goes. Maybe in some parts of the world it is but here in Florida beautiful, warm weather greets us each morning. Not that we don't get an occasional "cold snap", perhaps even some freezing, but that's not the norm. I painted this palm while sitting outside the gallery a few weeks ago. The parking lot did not make a very good background so why not a beach instead? I used my liquid acrylics like watercolor to get the loose, watery effect along with a quick spray of water. On a cold and dreary winter day come and sit under my palm in the sun.
