Added a bit more color and shaped the peppers a bit more to give them more dimension. This is on watercolor board. Takes a beating and still is okay.
Papaya for breakfast (from a friend who lives in Hawaii who sent a photo and I copped it and painted this). Haven’t heard from him in a loooonng time - hope all is well in his part of the world.
Rosehips.
A reworked painting from long ago I found in the pile.
I’ve been pulling out okay paintings and trying to add a bit of color or more dimension to make them better.
Have a few to share and this is one.
A winter’s evening sky.
We had a little dusting of snow for Christmas Day, which is plenty.
A card - stormy and wet to wash the snow away.
We are having strange changeable weather - one day it’s 50 and sunny, then a cold front blows in and it’s 30 and snowing, then back to 50. Guess it doesn’t matter as we’re all inside anyway.
Painted this one without drawing, just put the paint on while looking carefully at the photo reference. Leaving it without a background because I started another with a drawing and the background...
Just another couple of wrapped presents for you all to enjoy. Wonder what’s inside? Whatever you want!!
I hope your holidays are peaceful and that you are safe and healthy. And I hope your loved ones are still near you, even if you might not be able to be close to them this holiday season.
Thank you to all my blogger buddies who have stuck by me these years and still check in once in a while. It seems I’ve lost some followers to FB but I think Blogger is better because you can take time with your posts, and I think more people will take time to read them here instead of look, like, and quickly move on like is done with FB. Just my opinion, but I think FB has made us all ADHD.
New paintings to come soon.
These are not new paintings - but found them when sorting through paintings to trash or keep in a large folder.
So, in case you don’t get any prettily wrapped presents this year, here are a couple for you today (more to come later).
I am just about done with FB other than a quick peek now and then so may be more active here in the coming year.
Just needed some color. From a photo reference taken in Florida of a plant growing in front of the rental house - not sure what the plant is but it was full of the red/yellow/orange leaves (no flowers).
Using Daniel Smith Lunar Black pigment for the penguins “fur” works really well. Just a few colors in this small painting (smaller than fourth sheet when cropped down although it began as a fourth sheet of Arches paper).
Just a little squirrel, getting ready for winter. She’s taking a break from gathering and storing nuts to rest a bit in the crux of a tree.
What are you doing to get ready for winter? Does your weather change a little, a lot, or not at all where you live?
Then I cut it down to glue onto the front of a blank card = voile! Holiday/Christmas Card!
These two are my favorites due to a new technique and medium taught by Angela Fehr in her online workshop = dark dark dark colors, then shaping the trees, etc and then brushing or splattering a bit of Schminke Aqua Bronze pigment (it’s dry in the tiny bottle) to get the shiny snow look. Pretty cool and I know I’ll use this technique again because I bought 2 bottles of the Aqua Bronze (one in silver, one in pale gold). What fun for traditional holiday cards.
We are going to have our first snow the season here in Northern Kentucky. Time to hibernate until spring.
Just another small warm-up painting, trying to get the 3D look to this. A simple bulb (onion or flower bulb, I don’t know). It did not look right until I added the shadow shape behind it.
Using Daniel Smith walnut ink to draw the garlic cloves and ties, I then put some color on with watercolor - not too much - wanted to keep the whites in there for a lot of them.
Every year, I made a few holiday cards for family and close friends. I’ve made a few this week and will be making a few more. I have some left over each year, too. These are on Strathmore watercolor blank cards for watercolor and work well for little projects.
If you can’t be with your loved ones this year, send them a personal card. I guarantee they will tuck them away after the holidays and keep them to be displayed next year - when you can all get together again.
Many years ago I heard of Mike Bailey and followed his blog. He went into working in a series and that became his thing. Now, not just 3-5 or 7-9 paintings, he challenged a student of his to do dozens of paintings using the same still-life set up and see where it took them. She stopped at the required number (I think it was 25 paintings) but he kept going...and going...and going. Now, he talks about that series and shares the paintings that came out of that experience. I’m afraid I don’t have that determination, but, in the Angela Fehr online class (Watercolor Mastery), she talked about working in a series and what you can learn from it. So...I got out a photo I liked and did a few...just a few.
A strong value study (Notan) followed by a value study with minimum color.
Then going in with lots of colors, then more muted colors (my favorite one).
I think I did 7 in all and then had to move on to something else. Maybe if I had started from a still-life, I would have had more enthusiasm for a long series...nah, probably not! ha ha
Bringing in the last of the autumn leaves, wetting them and pressing them, then using them to make watercolor prints. Simple the easy and you often don’t know what you’ll get, depending on the pigment you use and how thick it is on the leaf.
We had about 20 Halloweenies come by from 6-7 Saturday, socially distanced (for us, not the Halloweenies, who were running around in groups with Moms and Dads - none of whom wore masks). It was a beautiful day - warm and sunny and a gorgeous full moon coming up by 7:30 pm!
Just a little card I made of October leaves. So pretty this time of year, but almost have hit their peak and are browning or falling now.
Worked a bit more on the middle yellow onion to give it more dimension. Better now.
Sometimes you just need to play and enjoy the paint doing it’s thing. October brings out the yellows, golds, oranges and reds and that’s what I played with here on a half sheet from my Strathmore Visual Journal (140# watercolor cold press).
This little painting was made after watching the latest Strathmore online lessons (free) about watercolor and lettering. My lettering is not beautiful or elegant, but it’s the way I do it. The saying comes from Angela Fehr, who gives online lessons, too and I’m signed up for her Watercolor Mastery course right now - a 3 month course to try to break through into the next level!! And lots of play and experimentation. So, I may be absent for a while unless I have little things to share.
Take care, enjoy your fall (or spring) weather and stay safe, wherever you are. Keep painting, writing, creating, living!!
Just a little something to keep me painting something while I’m waiting for something...
Gouache on watercolor paper.
Tried to make the photo match the real life painting more (the previous photo was too warm all over). Added some darks here and there to make it better.
A small painting using gouache (except for watercolor background) on Arches 140# cold press paper. Just using a different medium to play for a while. Other than a bit more darks in the leaves close to the pod, it’s done.
After the experimentation with the background, I chose this purple color and went with it. Changed the top to a branch, too, to make it more natural. Not done yet - I made sure I had a light hand with the green of the chrysalis itself and will go back in and glaze darker areas over and then put in the yellow/gold.
I like it better so far but think I could have gone even darker in the background. This may be just one of those paintings you never like, no matter what?
I started this painting of a monarch butterfly’s chrysalis. Ruined it. Threw it away. Started another. This is what I ended up with. Hated it. Thought about why it wasn’t working for me = background color choice? Maybe. So...thought about purples and reds behind the chrysalis instead (darker, too).
I experimented with a few colors I have. Knew right away the dark purple on the left top was what I wanted. Sometimes you just have to start over.
Will the third time be the charm?
We shall see!
Darkened the wooden slats and the background, then added some dark interest in the petals.
Done.
