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. 

More Mini's

I have to get the mini paintings done and handed in this month so it's time to get painting. Late last year I posted the 3 orchid paintings. Now I'm working on some tropical fish, but I love this crab. He is so "in your face". If there aren't a lot of people on the beach and you sit really still you can see them come out of their holes and scramble around and then dive back into the hole at any sign of a predator. Painting class is starting this week, too. I'm looking forward to getting out some pent up creativity.

A Man Seated

The Different Strokes picture this time is a man seated on a folding chair. Nothing too interesting about that, or his surroundings. Sometimes I think the challenge is to make an interesting painting out of something ordinary. Maybe I think too much! Anyway, I did the exercise and decided that the painting was crying out for some red so I made the ordinary brown chair red. It works for me! You can check out how other artists painted the same picture at http://differentstrokesfromdifferentfolks.blogspot/

Last Night in France

It seems that the latest memories are the most vivid. We had a morning flight out of France so we were in position near the airport on our last night. As usual the trains were scheduled to go on strike the day we were to leave. Being near the airport is the smart thing to do even if one desires a last night in Paris. Luckily, we had a west facing window in our hotel room or I would have missed a spectacular sunset. It was one of those sunsets that lasts and lasts and the colors just get better and better. Long after the sun had gone down there was still an orange glow on the horizon. The sun peeked in and out of low clouds and at last came out from behind the conical steeple before decending behind the horizon. My painting doesn't do the scene justice but I enjoyed reliving the breathtaking sight.

Painting at Sea

Another little painting that I did when the seas weren't too rough. A melon slice and a lemon. My inspiration was from another blogger, now I can't find the painting and give credit because it was several weeks ago. Thank you, friend. Rather than copy her painting I did it from memory because I thought it looked so fun to do.

I'm getting my brushes wet again, after a long period of dryness, at least for me. A friend challenged me to just paint for a certain length of time, 1 hour or 2 hours, and then just stop for the day. Even more challenging, do a completed watercolor in that length of time. Not so easy if you paint wet on wet, the drying time is too long. So, small and quick it is!

View From the Ship's Balcony

This little painting was my view from the balcony of the QM2 on one of the brighter days at sea.

Our trip across the Atlantic reminded me of the old silly Navy song; "I joined the Navy to see the world and what did I see? I saw the sea!" We had a nice balcony stateroom but there wasn't much to look at. There was a report of a whale sighting and dolphins but not when I was looking. Truth be told, the whale sighting wasn't more that seeing the spout way off on the horizon. Most of the weather was also gray and rather stormy so it was hard to paint with the constant motion of the ship even though it had modern stabilizers. This is not to say it wasn't a pleasant way to cross the ocean, it was; they even had a watercolor class (which I didn't take advantage of). There were many lovely things about it, I just had a hard time getting into the zone for painting.

Brush experiment

I had to sit and mind the gift shop at our local art league (http://www.capecoralartleague.org/ )and to pass the time I decided to try the brushes I bought several years ago that have water in the handle of the brush by Aquaflow. I thought they might be handy for painting in confined places where you might not want to have a cup of water. It was frustrating in the beginning because I'm so used to rinsing my brush frequently in water; with this brush you have to squeeze it to flush whatever pigment you are using out of it before going on to another. It's nessesary to have something absorbent handy to catch the drips and to wipe the brush; papertowel or sponge work well. I painted on a postcard sized piece of w/c paper trying to keep in mind a confined space. It's no masterpiece but it gave me some insight into painting with these interesting brushes. The Aquaflows have a valve in them that keep the pigment from being sucked into the water in the handle which was a problem with another brush that I had. I'm thinking that I might even be able to do quick sketches while riding in the car on long trips.

The Humble Onion

I had a little painting session with some friends today. While they chose to do landscape paintings of the area, I chose the humble onion, three of them. My friend's husband is a wonderful gardener and here in South Florida this is the harvest season while the rest of the country seems to be just thinking of planting things. He had an abundance of onions, and they are an interesting subject with their dried tops and papery skins.

Watery Sunset

I think I've finally come to the end of my long, narrow yupo paintings. It's time to move on to something new. But I have one more to post. It's 26"X5", so it looks small on the uploaded picture because of it's length. I like the way the sun puddled into the water on this one. Sometimes the sunsets do have the feeling that the sun is just dipping down into the water and you don't know if the sun will overcome the water or the water the sun; and then, it just disappears. Perhaps I should do one more painting with a "green flash".

Yellow Daffodil

I've been in Minnesota for the week end and have once more experienced the variety of weather they call spring up north. We had rain, wind, cold temperatures, sun, fair skies; in other words, the whole enchilada! We went to the Minnesota Arboretum in Chanhassen to see spring in all it's glory. We saw daffodils, tulips, magnolias, crocus', all shapes and sizes of trees leaves, from small buds to several inches. It was glorious and many pictures were taken.

I just had to paint a daffodil and then I came up against the problem of painting yellow flowers; what do you use for shadow color? I used a purple which I knew would turn to brown on the yellow, but blue would turn green and red would turn orange, etc. I'm not totally satisfied with the outcome but if anyone who paints in watercolor has a solution I'd love to hear about it.

Sunset, Sea and Sky

This one is a small one, 14.5 x 3.5 inches. It was painted on Yupo. One reason I like Yupo is that the pigment stays on the surface and dries there; doing so it remains vibrant. On ordinary watercolor paper a lot of the pigment is absorbed and it dries at least 20% lighter. If you don't go strong with the color the first time you have to glazed more color onto it.

A Sunset Turns Into A Flower

In my last post I said that the pigment on wet Yupo would continue to move as it dries. I was going for another Sky, Sea, Sand painting with a sunset and discovered that the Quinacridone Red that I used actually pushed the blue almost off the paper. Then I added a Quinacridone Gold and it really pushed. I was left with this big blob of mostly pink in my sky that didn't look remotely like a sunset. But it did look a little like a Lotus blossom. So, with some editing after it was dry I refined the flower and I think it's quite nice. I added some yellow to the now dry blue in puddles to resemble the flat leaves floating on the water.

Sand, Sea, Sky Series

I'm back after some break time on the beach in Sarasota, actually, Siesta Key. The sand there is the most amazing sand you've ever seen. They say it is almost all quartz that has been ground down into fine sugar consistancy by the water and wind. It is almost as white as sugar as well.

I was inspired to do some paintings on Yupo of just the sand, sea and sky. My sand needed some color to it, though. I have one of this kind of painting over my kitchen sink and people never fail to comment on how much they like it. Maybe it's the simplicity or the memories of time on the beach. Whatever it is, I enjoy the way I can get a really watery look on the yupo paper. I wet it first and then brush in my pigment and keep manipulating it until it looks like what I want. It must then dry completely before I can move it and the exciting thing is that the pigments will continue to move until it is dry. If you are a control freak do not try this. After it is dry I can come in with a wet brush and edit if I wish but once I change it there is no going back to the original.

Date with a Grape

Every year I am asked along with my pastel painting husband, to donate a piece of art to the American Heart Society Ball. They have a silent auction for many items as a fund raiser. This year I've decided to donate this painting, A Date With a Grape. I think it would go well in a wine bar, wine store, kitchen or dining room. Some of the vines on the bottom were made by blowing on the wet paint with a drinking straw. You have to be careful not to blow so hard that you get dizzy. Grapes are fun to paint with their lovely orb shapes and shadows. I hope my painting gets a good bid and raises some money for the Heart Fund.