February 30 in 30 Days- Day 24

Little Green Heron

Watercolor 5.5 X 7.5

My painting got a little more detailed in the background on this one but it sort of frames the bird so I decided to leave it alone. Sometimes when I look at my photo I get carried away by the literal. I could improve this painting by making the background behind the head darker so that it becomes the focus as it should. It takes time away from a painting in order to see the obvious. I've known artists who have taken a painting out of a frame to "fix" it, maybe more than once. Ah, well, 6 more to go.

February 30 in 30 Days- Day 23

Rocky Shoreline

Watercolor 9 X 11.5

The last of the paintings done in the Elaine Charney workshop. Elaine did a quick demo of this while waiting for paint to dry on her other piece. So, while I was waiting for paint to dry on one of my pieces I did this one very quickly without any drawing. Had I drawn, I would have made my rock shapes a little more believable. The idea was to work quickly and let the paint flow. It would be a good warm up exercise in loosening up. 

February 30 in 30 Days- Day 22

Lacy Flowers

Watercolor 11 X 15

Another painting from the workshop. The flowers were kept white by using masking fluid. We dipped a sea sponge in the fluid and made flower shapes on the paper. When that dried, we applied our dark, rich colors of alizarin crimson, mineral violet  and indigo. I came in with some quinacrodone gold after the initial wash dried. The paper has to be completely dry before the masking fluid is removed with a mask pick up. Then one can go into the floral shapes with shadows and touches of color. Stems and leaves are also added. I plan to do this one again with different color background.

February 30 in 30- Day 21

Magnolia

Watercolor 11 X 16

This was also painted in the workshop I attended with Elaine Charney. I don't usually like working with masking fluid but that was the assignment with this painting so I followed instructions, masking the flowers before painting the very wet background. It is possible to do this without masking fluid but a little trickier. I like the results and will try this one again.

February 30 in 30- Day 20

Red Riding Hood

Watercolor 11 X 15

Our third exercise in the Elaine Charney workshop was to paint a path in the woods. We were painting fast and furious, and pretty wet. Her method of painting tree trunks was a new one to me. She made vertical lines of little brush widths of alternating mineral violet and burnt sienna. Then with a wet brush barely touching the wet paint we drew the brush down starting skinny and ending fatter at the bottom. The wet paint spread into the water from the brush stroke and made a tree trunk dark on one side and light on the other. While it was still wet we drew in branches still using the wet paint from the edge. It was magic! I could still put in some more grasses or flowers in the foreground but before we knew it, it was lunch time and the afternoon was another painting.

February 30 in 30 Days- Day 19

Gold Finch

Watercolor 11 X 15

This is the second painting from the Elaine Charney workshop. We carefully painted the finch first and then added the loose background. I kept my background green so that the bird wouldn't be lost but in the original photo the background is quite golden brown and the bird disappears. An artist can make these choices, leave things out or add things. It's all part of the creative process. That's the difference between painting and photography. Each painting in the class was so varied, yet from the same photo. We all see things differently. 

February 30 in 30 Days-Day 18

Sailboats Returning

Watercolor 11 X 15

Yesterday I completed a three day workshop with Elaine Charney. She's an accomplished artist from Sarasota, Florida. The workshop was at the Cape Coral Art League in Cape Coral, Florida. There were 10 students so we had a lot of one on one assistance when needed and plenty of room to spread out. 

This is one of the paintings from the first day. We painted wet, loose and fast. I love painting that way so it was a treat for me. Those who like to paint more slowly and methodically were challenged. 

We began this painting by wetting the paper and painting a halo of light leaving a bright center. Yellow on the inside, red next and then blue on the outer edges. When that was dry we put in the tree line and the boats. A very fun and simple painting but very effective with techniques that can be used in a variety of situations.