Learning As I Go

Painting Sunday, a nice break from the work week and a marvelous distraction from anything that causes grief,despair and stress.

Saturday morning,bright and early i hit the local library determined to pick up Flower Painting in Watercolor by Charles Reid. In doing so i ran across a few more books that peaked my interest. In painting this picture, I thought about the contour drawings of Reid and the brush strokes he advocates. Then i thought about the artist in the best of watercolor Splash 8, Mckibbin and who talked about putting his watercolors in the shower for half a day and scraping and stenciling them.

His painting was beautiful and full of texture and light. I loved it.

After all of that inspiration i went through some references determined to loosen up ,and well, as you can see i need a bit more practice which is fine because I'm enjoying the ride! Happy Painting.

Flowering Quince

I believe this is Flowering Quince,my moms favorite. The article from this reference discussed bringing in branches from flowering bushes and forcing them to bloom in January. I have forced branches in late February but never in January.According to the article the process is slightly more involved. Our weather has been bitterly cold lately the highs have barely reached 14degrees F.Flowering branches would be such a treat.



After photographing this i added a bit more color. Fuchsia of course. I am trying not to over work this!

Football Sunday

I managed to paint a few paintings before today's games. Yes I'm a fan.I can't believe it myself.

Last night i went to a painting class,Painting With a Twist. It's a new franchise in our state. The class isn't billed as serious art, everyone paints the same painting. We painted an acrylic painting called,the dancing sunflower,one of the better choices in my opinion. The Twist is you get to paint with friends while drinking wine and eating treats ! It was a lot of fun. I will post my painting soon.

Happy MLK day and of course Happy Football!

Calla Lilies

This painting began with my new Christmas tube of paint. Yes i was disciplined at the art supply store and only bought a single tube of paint. The color is Holbein vermilion. So i played and am enjoying a mix of vermilion and magenta. This is a much larger painting that i didn't really care for.... composition issues. The winter is a good time to start working on sketching again. Try out some new ideas. Happy New Year.