Merry Christmas

I spent several days during Christmas at my son and daughter-in-law's house.  I took my watercolor sketching stuff with me, as I expected to do a bit of sketching with my seven grandchildren.  But with seven kids and three adults, assorted presents, cookies, food prep, etc., there wasn't enough room to do much.  Plus, the kids had choir practice and someone always had some activity they had to go to, not counting video games and nerf gun chaos.  So I only got one sketch in, and only two of the kids painted with me.  I did have a lot of fun though, and didn't eat too many cookies. 

In the Maine Woods

I did this painting from a photo taken at Oven's Mouth Preserve while on a hike with my sister Joan a couple of years ago.  I liked the view of the water looking through the trees.  15 x 11 on Arches rough.

White Bird of Paradise

This one is from an old photo taken on one of my Hawaii trips.  I found the plant on one of my walks around the Air Force base in Honolulu.  "White Bird" 11 x 15

Playing with abstract backgrounds

I decided to play around with making an abstract background and these tulips looked like they would be a good subject to try it with.  I picked a color scheme, sketched the tulips in my square vase, added the pattern of lines in the background, and printed out several copies of the drawing.  Then I played with colors and values until I got something that I liked.  I don't have a title for this one yet.  Any ideas? 

Award of Excellence!

My painting, "Summertime Blues" (which you can find if you scroll down on this page) has won an Award of Excellence from the North East Watercolor Society members show this month.  It's been a while since I won an award, and it feels really good.

Winter Stream

This is a snow scene that I completed today from a photo taken at the Wildlife Center last winter.  Appropriate, since it was only 4 degrees this morning.

My New Sketch Blog

I recently started Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Sketch Challenge, and today I posted the first 10 sketches to my new sketch blog:  www.iSketch4fun.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas!

I'm late getting my Christmas cards out this year.  Well, okay, I'm always late, but this is the latest I can remember.  They are printed, but not mailed yet.  I've done something a bit different this year, and instead of having one of my many grandchildren pose for the card, I used an old black and white photo of myself and my sisters and brother on a visit to Santa.  That's me, the oldest one, in the green hat. 

Wishing all my art friends a very Merry Christmas!

Les Belles Artistes - New Show

My friends and I - "Les Belles Artistes" - after hanging our current show at the Gallery at the High Mountain Presbyterian Church.  The seven of us have been together at classes and workshops, and have been showing together for several years.   To see photos of all the paintings see : www.lesbellesartistes.blogspot.com

An Early Morning Walk

This is from a photo I took at Springmaid Beach, SC early in the morning in March.  My sister, Joan, woke me up every  morning for a walk on the beach, and that morning the bright orange sun was just hanging there waiting for us.

"Summertime Blues"

I've been working on this one for a while, and now it's matted and waiting for a frame.  The painting is 15 x 30, double matted with a dark blue liner to 21 x 36.  The reference is one of my photos from a flower show taken a few years ago.  I loved the colors in the flowers and definitely wanted this to be horizontal and BIG!  (Well, big for me anyway).

Finishes and Re-works

A week or so ago I went through my stash of paintings and found that I had quite a few, okay, many unfinished pieces, or ones that still needed work. So I set out to finish some of them off. Here are a few that I've completed so far.

"Star Gazers" 11x15
"White Magnolias" 11x15
"White Orchids on Masa" 11x15
"Rose on Masa" 11x15
"Lilacs in Glass" 15x15
"Lavender's Blue" 15x11

Calla Lilies

These calla lilies were fun to paint with their orange background.  11 x 15 on Winsor Newton hot press

And Finally.....

Today I finally finished the second of my Mothers' Day bouquet paintings.   It had been sitting in my painting bag for quite a while as I finished up some other florals.  15x11

Mothers' Day Roses

I received two lovely floral bouquets this Mothers' Day, and started paintings of them from life that day.  I got a good start on both of them, but did not complete them before the flowers wilted and died.  I worked on them from time to time, and finished this one on Thursday during my painting group.   I really enjoyed painting these lovely deep red roses.
15x11

African Violets

It's been a while since I completed a painting that I liked enough to post.  This was done today of my friend Anna's African Violets, with a a somewhat abstract geometric background.  I was aiming for a cruciform design.  11x11 on Winsor Newton hot press.

Everything's Coming Up Roses

When I had finished painting my Peace Roses, I added some dark geometric shapes in the background.  I felt that the painting still needed something.  That's when I remembered the Watercolor Artist Creativity Workshop challenge to add words or lettering to a painting.  I found some songs that had roses in the titles, and I wrote the titles freehand in the light negative spaces. 

"Everything's Coming Up Roses" 11x11

The Bride and Groom

This is a sketch of the wedding my of son Kevin, and his bride, Flor, in Punta Cana. It was an awesome wedding!

Punta Cana Sketches

Saturday my son Kevin got married in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I was there for five days and got in a little sketching, along with swimming, sunburning, walking, eating, drinking and shopping, and of course, the wedding! Here are a few of my sketches.

......And the New One in Full Bloom

This is a sketch of my new Amaryllis Minerva. I love the bright red and white flowers, so exciting to look at, especially on a gloomy winter day.