Snowy Branches

I've wanted to paint this ever since I took the photo last year.  I loved the way the snow looked on these branches.  I don't usually like masking fluid, but branches with snow on them is impossible to do in watercolor any other way.  I did the background wet-in wet, darkening it a few times to make the snow really pop.  I have a lot more photos that I took that day, references for more paintings?

Leaves and Berries......and Yellow Rose with Colorblocking

Both of these involved negative painting, and the yellow rose (the same rose that I painted traditionally in a previous post), involved designing a colorful abstract background.  For the abstract rose I used new gamboge, permanent rose, and thalo blue.  For the leaves, I used new gamboge, permanent rose, sap green and cobalt blue.  Both are 11 x 15 on Arches.

Daisies - Playing with Backgrounds Again

Inspired by a painting of sunflowers by Karlyn Holman, I attempted to abstract and pattern my background using a photo of a few of the daisies that were in my Mothers' Day flowers this year. 

Two New Florals

These two florals were done from photos I took this summer at The Gardens at Wyckoff.  They are each 11 x 14. 

A Journal Page for my Grandchildren

I recently joined an art journaling group on Facebook started by a friend. They decided to do a different "theme" every week. Just what I need is another group to post things with. LOL! This week's theme is to do a page about something we love. I chose to do it about my grandkids, and then spent all week trying to come up with a way to make a page with all eleven of my grandkids on it, and still make it look artistic. This is what I finally came up with.

Springmaid Watermedia Workshop 2014 - Days 3, 4 and 5

On Day 3 Jerry showed us several of his finished collages, ranging from total abstracts, like shape in a shape; semi-abstracts like his hill towns; and realistic, like Monet's garden.  Then he sent us off to do our own thing.  I started three collages and worked alternately among the three of them, finishing this semi-abstract of the Blue-Ridged Mountains with a field of weeds first.

I went more realistic with the Curtis Island Lighthouse, although there are some abstract elements in this one too.

My final collage was a red hibiscus, which still needs a bit of tweaking.  I will post that one tomorrow.

Springmaid Watermedia Workshop 2014 - Day 2

On the second day, the assignment was to do two floral collages by "making flowers without making flowers".  LOL!  Jerry told us that if he saw a stamen or a pistil he would give us an "F".  These were a little harder to do for me, who is used to painting flowers that look like flowers.  But I was game.  My sister Joan and I had prepared for this workshop by purchasing some washi (oriental rice paper) in several interesting textures.  Some had threads or fibers running through them, some had holes or a lacy effect, and one had swirls that reminded me of "Starry Starry Night".  These all came in handy for the floral collages. 

Springmaid Watermedia Workshop 2014 Day 1

Last week I took a stained paper collage workshop with Gerald Brommer.  This was my second time taking this workshop.  I enjoyed it even more this time. 

The first day we did small 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 abstracts in Bridge, T or Tau, and Cruciform designs, using two colors and black and white.  This year Jerry gave us some pieces of black paper to experiment with.  (The colors on these three collages are more compatible than they look in these photos) 

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