February 30 in 30 Days Day 3

Bloomin'

Liquid Watercolor on paper 10.5 X 7

The third try in my wet in wet liquid watercolor experiment sort of ran together. After it dried I did some quick outlining with pen and ink and I like the effect for this piece. Just another way to make it work. The liquid yellow that I used for the centers is more opaque so that it didn't run. I was very pleased with the result because I had put the purple centers in first and I thought that maybe I'd be making mud by adding yellow on top. Since it was opaque, it just sat there and didn't mix with the purple at all. I call that a happy accident. 

February 30 in 30, Day 2

Autumn Reflections

Liquid watercolor on paper

This painting almost painted itself. I misted some clean water onto my paper and started dropping in color and let it run. All I needed to do was wait patiently for the paint to settle and begin to dry, while it was still damp I added the shore line. I love the vivid colors from the liquid watercolor. 

February 30 Paintings in 30 Days Day 1

Orchid Tree Blooms

Liquid Watercolor on tinted paper

Here we go again with a 30 day challenge. It's good to have the holidays behind me, the decorations all stowed away and now I have time to paint and collage to my heart's content. 

I have a collection of Dr Martins liquid watercolor that I hadn't played with. I got them out and got a couple of paintings that are fun. The liquid colors are very concentrated and bright. I painted with them in a wet on wet manner to begin with, I may try a more traditional approach later in the month. We'll see where the muse takes me. I'm being nudged to collage again so I'm sure there will be those, too. Here's a link to the web page. http://www.saetastudio.com/february30-in-30-blog

See you tomorrow!

Lone Turtle

Lone Turtle

Watercolor 16 X 20

I've been enjoying painting these underwater turtle scenes . I start out with a background painting using a lot of texture techniques especially on the bottom. These give me a starting point for the scene I have in mind. I will lay pieces of wax paper, plastic wrap, gauze, tissue paper, rice paper, bubble wrap, or netting into the wet wash and let it dry. This gives me a foundation for all the coral and rocks in the bottom of the painting. The trick is to not do too much or too little. 

The 30 in 30 Challenge starts in February this year. I've signed up for it but it's a very busy month for me with multiple art shows and workshops.  It's time to get organized and have an idea for what I want to work on. Endless possibilities have to be narrowed down. I think the word for the month will be "Focus".

Merry Christmas!

The Holy Family

Watercolor

May you all have a wonderful holiday and time to reflect on what this time of year is all about.

Many times in history

a baby has become a king.

Only once in history

has a King become a baby.

Watercolor Without Glass

Undersea Turtle

7.5 X 7.5 Watercolor

Waxed and mounted on 8 X 8 Board

I visited a gallery in Salem Oregon and saw some amazing watercolors that were displayed without being under glass. The gallery owner said the artist sealed them with wax. They looked so nice without the reflection of glass that I knew I had to try it. The neat thing about living in this modern time is that anything can be researched on the internet. I found out that artists can use Dorlands Wax Medium to permanently seal their watercolors. It stays clear and does not yellow. This is my first attempt at it and so far it's looking good. I first sprayed the watercolor with workable fixative, let it dry and and applied a coat of wax. I will apply another coat of wax and see if it's sealed sufficiently to hang. I think it would be good to use a UVA spray before applying the wax so next time I will try that. If anyone has tried this, I'd like to know how it worked out for them.

Four, Maybe More

Watercolor on 300# Paper

15 X 22 

On my last post a comment was made to make my image larger. I don't know why I haven't been doing that. So, thanks for the comment and suggestion, Paris Breakfasts! By the way, she is my favorite blogger and one of the reasons I started to blog. She made it look like fun, and it is! 

This painting just started as a random background, I did have an underwater theme in mind but with backgrounds you never know what is going to show up. I was inspired to do turtles, rather fanciful turtles in glorious color. It was a fun painting to do.

I found I loved working this way on 300# paper! It is so forgiving and easy to change and rework. It's funny how you get stuck in doing things the same way just because that's the way you were originally taught or have done it. I've always done these backgrounds on 140# paper in the past and still have some to finish but in the future I think I'll work this way on 300# paper.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow bloggers and readers. Keep on creating! 

Sharing

Morning Has Broken 

Mixed media collage, 7.5 X 7.5
Mounted on a cradled 8 X 8 wood panel

A friend asked me to show her how to make acrylic transfers like I do on my collages. There are several methods to do transfers on other kinds of artwork, but the heat sealed transfers are unique to the heat sealed collage. I needed something to demonstrate on so I found this collage that I always felt needed something. My initial thought is always to "put a bird on it". What can I say? I needed to do something! So out came the birds, I found the right size and direction. Once that was on my friend wanted to see how to add a word, so I found the word "Breathe" in my supply box and we added that. Then she tried some on her own piece and was thrilled with the process even though there are quite a few steps to the finished product. As I looked at my piece I decided to add the tree like branch. As I looked at it, I thought it looked like dawn breaking and the lovely hymn, Morning Has Broken.

Christmas Cards, Already!

Holiday Nest

Watercolor 5 X 7

Holiday Decorating

Watercolor 5 X 7

Holiday Lights

Watercolor 5 X 7

There's nothing like a deadline to make you get down to business. Our local art group is having a holiday card contest with a deadline the end of this month. I put my ideas on paper the last couple of weeks but I can only enter one. The consensus has been for the top painting, Holiday Nest. I rather like the Flamingo card, Holiday Decorating, because it's so colorful. If you have a favorite, let me know. I will probably offer them all on Fine Art America if I have the time to get them posted, and also at my local art gallery, so even if I don't get chosen in the contest, it won't be a wasted effort. I usually paint a Nativity card for my personal card sending. I still have that yet to come, although it is started. 

More Pouring

 Rolling Tide

Acrylic on canvas 8 X 8

Blue Wave

Acrylic on canvas 8 X 8

These were done on the same day as the last one I posted. I contacted the artist who had demonstrated the process and found out I had missed a key ingredient for getting the "cells". I still haven't purchased it so I guess I'm on hold until I find some or order some on line. Since I have plenty of other art to work to complete, pouring is on the back burner for now, but I will be doing it again. It's way to much fun not to. I'd like to do some bigger canvases now that I've gotten the hang of it. I just need a bigger container to catch the excess paint when I pour. Where am I going to put this extra equipment? There are always things to consider when you jump into something new. 

Trying Something New

Green Wave

Acrylic on  gallery wrapped canvas 12 X 12

I've wanted to try pouring acrylic for a long time but didn't know the process and didn't have the courage to really go for it. While I was in Eden Prairie, Minnesota in September I was able to go on an Art Studio Tour with a friend. At one of the stops we made an artist was doing a demonstration of an acrylic pour and she got a lovely bubbly effect. They are called "cells". I didn't get as much cell effect with my pour, I need to adjust my recipe of ingredients, but I like what I did get anyway. It was very messy but lots of fun. I will try it again in the future.

Still Practicing

 Cassie

Watercolor 6.5 X 7.5

Kingfisher

Watercolor 11 X 7

When I haven't been dealing with tropical storms or traveling to see family I get to keep practicing the loose watercolor style of Jean Haines. Mostly these sessions are when I go to my local art league for Open Painting. Artists of all mediums and skill levels meet once a week and work on their own projects. We thrive on the creative energy that is generated by a room full of artists. The more experienced offer suggestions to the novice, we find out about new products and share our passion with each other.

The little dog, Cassie, also comes to our Open Painting sessions. She is very well behaved and sits on a cushioned chair next to her human, Gini. She is somewhat of a "princess" who expects to be petted and adored by all who pass by. The Kingfisher is from Jean Haines book World of Watercolor. The blue and yellow was a random background textured with plastic wrap, the bird was added after the background was dry.

We survived Irma!

I have no images yet, I just wanted to post that we survived the mega storm, Irma; our property is OK, we were among the fortunate ones that didn't loose power for any length of time. We evacuated, as we were told to do, and by the grace of God and a persistent son were able to stay in a safe, comfortable hotel in Orlando. My heart and prayers go out to those who have lost so much and have so much to do to get their lives back together. We were just connected to internet yesterday afternoon so this is the first time I've been able to send out a blog. Thanks for all the prayers and support for those impacted by this storm.

Vacation Painting

Red Flowers

Watercolor 9 X 6

Red Flower Card

Watercolor 4.25 X 5.5

While visiting Minnesota I tried some cheap pan watercolors just to see what kind of results I could get with them. I also had some watercolor paper that I hadn't used before. I've been practicing a looser type of watercolor after watching videos by Jean Haines and reading her book, Jean Haines World of Watercolor. As always, things are more difficult to achieve than they look! Especially when you are working with not so great materials. I have this theory, though, that a good artist should be able to paint with and on anything (because I've seen it done by good artists). Considering all of that, I'm not too unhappy with my results. I wouldn't have them framed but the card would please a non-painting friend, I think. 

Now that I'm home again, I'm painting with my usual materials and paper, still trying to achieve a similar look to Jean's paintings. I Hope to have time to post them later on. Until then, check out Jean's work on the internet.

Playing Around

Brusho Sunflower

Watercolor

I started playing with a product called Brusho a few weeks ago. It's a dry crystallized watercolor that comes in little plastic bottles. If you poke holes in the caps it can be shaken out like salt. That's what I decided to try. If you wet the area you want to paint and shake the colored crystals out they dissolve when they hit the water. Sometimes you get  a speckled effect. Some colors like orange and purple are a combination of primaries so if you leave them alone, they will stay unmixed on your paper. You can also use a brush to mingle the colors together. 

I've looked at some tutorials on line since this painting and have seen some interesting things to try. One of them was using spray starch. 

Summertime is a good time to try new things so I've been watching some Jean Haines Videos too. I love her loose, watery style. She makes it look so easy but it really takes a lot of control and practice to get the mix of water and pigment just right. If I get a practice piece that looks like anything recognizable I'll post it. I find it hard to carve out painting time in between summer travel and activities but I get a little in here and there. 

Travel Postcards

Scenes Along the Rhine River

Two weeks ago we were on the Rhine River in Germany. We tried a river cruise for the first time and I loved it! Most days we were at a port city and we were out touring or exploring, but one of the days was a cruise day so that we could see all the picturesque towns and castles from the river. It was a glorious day and when I had my fill of castle picture taking I got out my little travel paint kit and did some very quick postcard sketches. I had to take a mental picture and work quickly because there was no time to think about details or perspective. I think they keep the trees trimmed so that a view of the river can be seen, thus the cute "lolly-pop" trees. I used a postcard pad, Intense pencils, waterproof pen, and a  Winsor and Newton watercolor travel kit. 

Out of Sight

Handsome Rooster

6.5 X 9.75 Mixed media

"Out of sight, out of mind" the saying goes. It was true in my case. I grabbed and old painting block from my art closet on my way to an open painting session at our local art league. When I opened it, there was this rooster staring at me with unfinished eyes and beak. Poor thing has been languishing for so long I don't even remember starting it. I laugh about getting old and forgetful, I guess this must be proof. His lovely red comb and wattle has collage as well as some collage on his white feathers. He is drawn with ink and painted with watercolor. I finished the piece with a light yellow-green background. 

Small things

 3 X 3 Collages on canvas panel with easels 

 4 x 4 collages on canvas panels with easels

Postcard prints

and 

collages on canvas

I worked most of the month of May getting together some small things for the gallery where I show some of my work. I had all those collages from 30 day challenges laying around so I used the best parts of them to make small canvas works for travelers to easily take home with them or to give as gifts. Some of the small pieces I put on card stock to make original cards. It was fun but time consuming to pick out the best areas then measure and glue to the canvas boards. Some needed a few extra touches to make them special, a little bling. We'll see how well they sell, it's sort of late in the season but there are still tourists coming here well into July. 

Featured Artist

I was asked to be the Featured Artist at the community theater for the month of May. The wall space is limited but is a good, visible space. I chose to hang my series of three mixed media paintings of birds on the charcoal pour background. It's nice to have my paintings in a public place besides an art show. 

The Third in Bird Series

Green Heron

Mixed media 11 X 15

This is my third bird on a charcoal pour since learning the technique in Karen Knutson's  class a few months ago. Getting a good charcoal pour is trickier to achieve than I thought. I got a good photo of this bird while waiting for a tour boat to take us out to Cabbage Key one day last spring. Don't ask me why he's called a green heron, I don't see any green on him either! Except for his beak and eyes he is all collage paper attached with acrylic matte medium. The post he is resting on is also collage papers. I used a variety of printed papers and napkins and even some birch bark in the post. It's a different style from the heat fused collages that I do. All the rest is watercolor and, of course, the charcoal that remains on the paper after being splashed with water. 

I wanted to make the technique work on a Florida scene and I think I've accomplished that. I look forward to trying to paint and collage some more birds from my area using this method.