Something different

This first is a stained paper collage - that is, I took several kinds of rice papers and stained them with watercolor in yellows, oranges, reds, purples, blues and greens, and then tore them and adhered them to watercolor paper. I did have a loose drawing as a guide. There are some gold "strings" in the vase and the background that do not show in this photo. I can see great possibilities with this technique.




It's been a week for doing something different, and yesterday I decided to play with a piece of Yupo, that interesting plastic/paper. This is "Pemaquid Point" approximately 10 x 12 on Yupo with watercolor. The watercolor floats around on this paper for quite a while after you put it down, making all sorts of surprise textures. I also spattered some clear water on the rocks and grass to help it along.

God Bless Us All This Christmas

This is the painting that I used for my Christmas card this year. It shows 6 of my grandchildren last January acting out the Nativity scene right after the youngest was born. It was a challenge trying to get a likeness for each of the kids, especially for Joey, the little blond guy on the right who refused to be in the reference photo. The original painting is 11 x 15.

White Poinsettia

I do a few poinsettia paintings every year around this time. It gives me that good old Christmassy feeling. This one is 5 x 7 and was painted for my swap partner - I belong to a group of watercolorists who trade small paintings a few times a year. I enjoyed "finding" colors in this all white flower.

Painting With Grandma

All of my grandchildren love to paint. This Thanksgiving my littlest grandson, two year old Brandon, painted this masterpiece for me. It took him a while to learn not to rinse all the paint off his brush before putting it to paper. My job was to get more paper and more water when needed, and to tell the budding artist how terrific his paintings were.

My Latest Dahlia

This is my latest floral - another dahlia. They are a challenge to draw and paint with all those petals, but I love the shadow and light patterns, and all the "colors" I found in this essentially white flower. The size is 15"x15".

Monhegan Lighthouse

I painted "Monhegan Lighthouse" a year after I took the photo. I "collect" lighthouses. I've loved them ever since I can remember. I found this sentinel on my first trip to Monhegan Island, sometimes known as "the artists' island", since everywhere you look you will find someone painting, and the tiny island is home to a good many galleries. I enjoyed hiking to various cliffs and doing small paintings while I was there, and have a nice collection of photos for future reference.

Watercolor Shows

This is the time of year when many national and regional art societies are having their annual shows. My painting "Dahlia", 22x30, is currently showing at the NorthEast Watercolor Society's annual members juried show in Middletown, NY. I love participating in these shows, as well as meeting the other artists and seeing their work.

More ACEO's

Last night I was painting some little floral ACEO's (2.5 x 3.5 art collectable cards) in watercolor when I got the idea to try collaging a few. I did these with scraps from my mulberry and rice paper stashes. I put them up on eBay. It will be interesting to see if any of them get bids. I think they turned out rather well.

White Irises

I painted this today for a project in WatercolorWorkshop, a Yahoo group for watercolor artists. The object of this project was to paint something white without using white paint, and to see how many colors could be found in a "white" object. For my irises I used cobalt blue, permanent rose, burnt sienna, permanent yellow, and a little scarlet lake in the centers.

Lighthouse Collage

I've been reading the collage books written by Gerald Brommer. I like the way he sometimes leaves some vertical whites and adds linework to make his subjects a little abstract. This is my original painting of the famous Pemaquid Lighthouse, done with various types of rice paper, based on the methods suggested in Brommer's book "Watercolor and Collage Workshop".

Port Clyde House - from Camden Workshop

After not posting here since Christmas, I have managed to put up three paintings in one day. I started this painting in August at a workshop in Camden, Maine. It was my second painting of the day and I had only managed to get in the drawing, the sky and a few green washes before it was time to quit for the day. The barely started painting lay around in my studio for months before I picked it up last month and decided to finish it. "Port Clyde House" measures 11x15.

Abstract Rocks

My Thursday painting buddies and I decided to have some fun doing abstracts. This is what I came up with after wetting the paper and dropping in quinacridone gold, permanent rose, and Winsor blue. I laid some Saran Wrap on the initial wash to texture the paper. When it dried I "found" rocks. I have to say that I have not been very successful with my previous attempts at abstracts, and I was surprised and pleased to watch this one almost paint itself.

The Red Amaryllis

I started "Red Amaryllis" (15x22) in January, but got sidetracked and just finished it recently. I used just about every red I had on my palette, plus a couple of yellows. This was the first year in a long time that I did not have a new amaryllis for Christmas, so I had to make to with one of the many photos I have taken of them thru the years - easier to paint this way, but not nearly as much fun.