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.

Amaryllis Sketch

This is the latest page from my sketchbook, showing an amaryllis that I did from an old photo. I had purchased an amaryllis in December, thinking that I would grow it right after Christmas. I waited too long, and my house was too warm, and the plant started growing in the box and was too far gone by the time I realized it. So today I bought a new amaryllis, and planted it as soon as I got home. I plan to sketch it as it grows with the expectation that I will eventually have a beautiful amaryllis in full bloom to paint. Keeping my fingers crossed.

First Sketchcrawl of 2012

It was barely 20 degrees and snowing hard this morning, so I did the sketchcrawl at home. I only got three sketches done because when you are at home, you get distracted by other things. First up is a sketch of my breakfast along with the view from my kitchen window. Next is my "snow removal guy", my son Kevin. And last is a view of my street going North. By this time it was late afternoon and the plows had come through and the street was clear.

Merry Christmas

Maine Trip and Pumpkin Festival

I recently took a trip to Maine with my sister Joan. We sketched at some of our favorite spots, like the Curtis Island lighthouse and a park near Boothbay Harbor. We visited the Colonial Pemaquid Historic site, and sketched in the cemetery. We discovered the Oven's Mouth Preserve, and did some hiking along with sketching. We enjoyed the Damariscotta Pumpkin Festival, and stopped at Marginal Way on our way home. It was a quick and fun trip and I got to add several pages to my Maine journal. I also did a few sketches of the Pumpkin Festival from photos after I got home.

I did these last four sketches from photos after I got home. The chef pumpkin and the lobster pumpkin were huge, and two of many decorated pumpkins outside the businesses in downtown Damariscotta. The regatta sketch was done from several photos taken quickly while the race was going on.

A New/Old Collage

I started this stained paper collage a couple of years ago during a Gerald Brommer workshop. It was on the last day, and I didn't get to finish it, and never got around to working on it again after I got home. Recently one of my painting buddies saw some stained paper collages in a magazine and suggested that we try them at our weekly painting sessions. I told her that I had one that was already started, but didn't know whether I could get anything good out of it. I ended up finishing this one successfully and starting another one. This collage is based on a photo I took of the Junipero Serra Museum in San Diego. 11x15

Two Florals With Fun Backgrounds

I worked on these two at my Thursday painting group for two weeks. They are based on a book called "Watercolor Without Boundaries" by Karlyn Holman. I liked her backgrounds, and tried to incorporate them in my work. The rose (from my garden) is 15 x 15 and has a white border all around. The rose of sharon (courtesy of my friend Anna) in a vase is 11 x 11, also with a white border all around. These were really fun to design and I like the effect, so I will probably be doing more of these in the future.

Painting With the Grandkids

I spent the month of July with four of my grandchildren. They each had a week with me, and we had fun swimming, painting, taking photos of animals, mini-golfing, movies, and playing ball. In addition, my granddaughter and I made some beaded jewelry. Here are some of our paintings. Justin did a painting in primary and secondary colors (after making a color wheel) as a requirement for his Cub Scout art belt loop. Ethan did a watercolor of a red tailed hawk, and Joe did a painting of a bald eagle. The boys were very into photographing and painting animals on our trips to the zoo and nature center. Jadyn did a painting of the turquoise and shell necklace that she made. And since that week, the WetCanvas journalling forum was doing gems and minerals, I did a journal page of some of my own specimens.

Two New Paintings on Masa Paper

Both paintings watercolor on masa paper approx. 11 x 15

Latest From My Flower Journal

I've been keeping a flower journal during the month of May, but even though May is over, I still see new flowers in my backyard just begging to be painted. This is my latest page. I have a shrub rose that looks like it might be very prolific this year. The flowers are a lovely dark red, but they have really short stems and are not suitable for cutting unless I want to cut several buds along with the flower. I really enjoyed painting these today.

Going Digital

This is a digital painting that I did as homework for an online class called "Layering in Photoshop Elements" that I've been taking on WetCanvas. It will never replace watercolors, but it can be fun (and frustrating) in it's own right.

Lots of Yellow Tulips

I've worked on this one on and off for several months while I was more focused on sketchbooks and journals, but I finally completed it yesterday. Originally I had planned on a dark background, but I really like the way the tulips look on the light background too much. I think it has a delicacy that I would not be able to keep with a dark background. This was done from a photo I took at the Philadelphia Flower Show two years ago. 15x22

Two More May Journal Florals

Continuing with the May journal. I received a beautiful Mother's Day bouquet from my daughter Karen, which was the subject for both of these sketches, and hopefully more to come.

May Sketchbook Page

I have been working more in sketchbooks recently than on larger paintings. After painting a lot of red rocks in my fake journal, I had the desire to see color, so the theme of my May sketchbook is flowers and plants. These are done in my 9 x 12 Aquabee sketchbook.