Afternoon Wine in the Garden

Watercolor, 8 X 8

I painted this from one of the many photos I took at Butchart Gardens when we visited a few years ago. It's another watercolor that I intend to mount on a gallery wrapped canvas and apply wax. I really like the looks of the presentation and I hope that buyers do too. The Primroses I posted a few weeks ago were also from that collection of pictures and have been waxed and look great. 

Finally Home

Summer Bouquet

Watercolor 11 X 15

August was a month of travel seeing friends and family "out west and up north". It was good to get away and be out of the heat and humidity for awhile. In between trips I worked on this little watercolor, first laying in a very wet background of cobalt blue, quinacridone gold and opera rose, and some salt for a little texture. After it was dry and days later I found flowers and a vase in it that needed to be further revealed. I probably worked on it over a period of 6 weeks, whenever I was back in town and finished it last week. Well, maybe it's finished, we'll see.

Eve's Garden

                                     Eve's Garden Watercolor 15X 22

I've been working on this painting for several weeks; it's one of those painting that is hard to stop, you want to keep on adding and subtracting. I was still putting in finishing touches on it today as I was framing it. Once I get it in the frame I have to say it's done. I started this as an experiment on the back of another painting on 300# paper. I laid tissues, rice paper, coffee filters and other papers on the top, wet it a little and then poured watercolor on the papers so that it would soak through to the watercolor paper. It got really wet so I soaked up the excess water by rolling a roll of paper towels over it. Then I let it dry. I took the papers off and then decided by the shapes that were on the painting what to paint next. I started with the flowers on the left, put the figure in next to that and surrounded her with fruit and vegetables. Notice, she's not working in her garden but basking in the bounty and not a weed in sight.

Oregon Flowers

This was just a little 20 minute watercolor sketch I did in my Moleskine while we were at our daughter's house in Oregon. I picked the flowers from her garden and arranged them in a small vase. I've started to collect art supplies at her house so that I can paint while am there and not have to bring things with me every time. We are always so busy sight seeing when we are there that I often don't take time to paint but it's good to squeeze some painting time in if I can. We are still getting organized for our move back to Florida so painting time is scarce these days.

Little Originals for Cards

Sometimes, for a warm up or just a quick painting session I'll paint some small flowers without using any reference. These are fun and rewarding and can be glued to card stock for an original card. They are about 4 1/2 X 3 1/2 inches depending on how much I crop them. I was cleaning out a nearly empty tube of paint and didn't want to waste all that paint on my brush so all my flowers were bright primary red which I allowed to explode on the wet paper. When that was dry I did negative painting around the flowers with the blues and greens and made the petal shapes.

Finish those paintings month

Midnight in the Garden 13.5 X 10.5

Last week I resolved to finish some old paintings that have been languishing in portfolios for who-knows-how-long. They are just beginnings, some with no real subject or direction in mind. Times of play when I just splashed on color and various tools to make texture; saran, filter paper, rice paper, wax paper, salt, alcohol, bubble wrap, etc. When these were dry I didn't continue with them because I didn't "see" a composition in them. So last week, armed with various sizes of mats I moved them this way and that until I found some compositional possibility to pursue. This is my first completed painting from my resolve. It was fraught with many difficulties. I wish I had taken a picture of the underpainting before I started working on it. One of the difficulties was that it had lain so long that mold had hidden itself until the water made it show up in spots. The spots were on leaves, though, so it didn't matter too much. In one area there had been damage to the paper, I suspect from too heave salt residue. When I tried to gently scrub in this area the paper came off in sheets and almost made a hole through the middle of the painting. Since it had become a mixed media painting anyway, I repaired it with white acrylic front and back and collaged on it. It was an interesting challenge and I'm going to start the second one, tonight, I hope. I have four to go.

Birthday Bouquet

I love to paint original birthday cards for close friends. Sometimes there just isn't time to get it done and get it in the mail on time. On those times I have to settle for a print of a painting. That seems to work OK, too. People are happy to receive a "real card" in their mailbox instead of an e mail card. So this one was done earlier this summer of some flowers I had from the farmers' market. It got painted on time but also copied so that I can use the bouquet again and again. I like to tell friends and family members that I am glad they were born. Whenever your birthday, I hope it is a happy one.

Deck Flowers

It's been cool and windy in Minnesota lately. We could use a little warming, global or otherwise. Some friends and I tried to do our artwork out on the deck, it was sort of sheltered and just enough sun to keep us from heading indoors. I had a good sighting of a colorbowl of flowers and added a few pieces of pottery for a nice little still life. I wanted to do the cat but he was unwilling to join us. I decided a little ink caligraphy would add some pizzaz.