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Wetlands

 Here is another picture that is the result of watercolor “playtime” or a loose warm-up before getting “to work” in my studio. I meant to scan the first layer before I started adding the second layer, but wandered into the studio, saw the painting with my idea sketched on treated acetate, and I started working,…

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Spring Flowers

 Usually my watercolor lessons begin with a “play time,” using colors and brushstrokes in a lighthearted manner, enjoying the way the colors react together on the paper. This past week we used yellows in diagonal strokes, softening the edges and allowing the pigments to blend naturally. Then we added greens to the lower section, also…

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Painting Glass

 My students wanted to learn how to paint a piece of glassware. We started with simple pieces since painting glass involves observing the collection of abstract shapes and values (lights and darks) that make up the whole. One has to stop thinking about painting a specific object and carefully observe all the highlights, the local…

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Over the Dunes

 Over the Dunes, watercolor, 5″x8″ I was showing one of my students how to warm up for painting by playing with a couple pigments. I painted the whole sheet of paper with a variety of yellows, allowing them to bleed into each other. I used diagonal strokes to add some interest. While the yellows were…

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Memories

 Memories are like a strand of pearls spilling out of the treasure box of our minds. We pick them up and finger them, sometimes individually, sometimes as a string of luminescent orbs, tied together by the days of our lives.

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Waiting for Camellias

 Our neighbor has some camellia bushes that are right outside our kitchen window where we sit to eat. Every year they bloom early, so early in the spring that oftentimes the opening buds get hit by snow and freezing temperatures. Right now in February, the buds are starting to swell a little more every time we get a warm afternoon. And as I gaze at them, I am reminded that they will be some of the first blooms of spring. Since they are still buds, I decided to paint them from memory. Are you yearning for spring or still enjoying winter?

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Have My Pie and Eat It, too!

 We’re told to “paint what we know” and often, for me, that may be something from my kitchen. This time it’s blueberry pie. Blueberry Pie, watercolor, 8″ x 10″ Now my husband likes pie, especially apple, peach, or blueberry pie. And he gets dismayed when he sees a pie go from the kitchen into my studio (as a painting subject) instead of onto his plate! This time I managed to finish baking the pie in time to get an initial sketch done before we wanted to eat it, so I got to paint my pie and eat it, too. What’s your favorite kind of pie? How would you respond if…

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A Fresh Look

 I am participating in a local art show and was looking through my current inventory for pictures to take. “Nothing Says Love like a Rose” has been hanging above my work table for a while and as I have been looking at it, I have been thinking that extending the rose out onto the mat…

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