Puerto Vallarta Coastline

This is a painting from a photo I took in Puerto Vallarta about 20 years ago and I've painted these cliffs before using transparent watercolor. This one is done with gouache. For my non-artist friends, gouache is opaque watercolor. I haven't painted with gouache since my 2D design class back in college which was a few years (uh, decades) ago. I wasn't crazy about it then because when I used it in large areas it was streaky and chalky looking. Now, I really like that chalky look but refer to it as being a velvety, matte finish. That sounds much nicer, don't you think? The gouache was really fun to paint with and a much more relaxing experience than when I use the transparent watercolors because areas can be covered with additional paint if I want to change anything. I can't wait to use it again. So many mediums, so little time.

Puerto Vallarta Coastline
Image Size 7" x 7"
Gouache on gessoed wood
Unframed - sides are painted - can be hung w/o frame
$100.00

Mexico Fruit Market

This month's virtual paintout location is Mexico City. I was really excited when I saw December's city because I love Mexico with it's bright colors and charming towns. It took a long time to find something I wanted to paint though. So much of what I saw looked so depressed and ugly to me and I wanted to portray Mexico in a positive way. I was excited when I found this fruit market. The actual scene was much busier so I really simplified it. I can't believe I put THREE people in this painting. This was not a fun painting for me and I'm not sure how I feel about the finished project but I'm proud that I've tackled this virtual paintout challenge for 3 months now. I wonder where January will take us.....

Mexico Fruit Market

Image Size 11" x 14"

Oil
Unframed
$100.00

Silk Clivias - Silk Painting

Aaahhh...I'm back to silk painting. I haven't painted on silk since August. Silk painting is like a drug and if I go too long without doing it, I start having withdrawal symptoms. I'm making up for the hiatus this week. So far, I've finished this one, painted two freeform scarves 14" x 72" and have put the resist on another silk that is the same size as this one.

My intention when I started this painting was to do a background that had leaves painted without resist so that they would be fuzzy and give a sense of foreground and background but after painting the flowers and leaves I felt that giving it a plain black background would give it a dramatic, more graphic quality. Once I had that in my mind, I knew that if I tried to do the dimensional looking background I would probably mess it up because my heart wasn't into it any longer. I was also afraid to use the black because my resist lines on this were really thin because my bottle of resist was almost gone and it was a little thicker than usual and I used a really small tip to apply it. Usually that means that I'm going to have lots of places where the resist didn't fully penetrate the fabric and the dyes will break through. The scarf would have been ruined if the black broke into the yellow flowers. Also, sometimes when steaming the silk after it's painted, the dyes migrate to places where they shouldn't be. I was lucky neither of those things happened and I'm very happy with the finished piece. This can be worn as a scarf but I like to frame the square silks because I have so much labor into them and they look really good hanging on the wall. Some of the tactile beauty of the silk is lost behind the glass but I use the glass because I want them to be protected.

Silk Clivias

Image Size 21" x 21"

Silk dyes on silk

Unframed
$425.00

Pink Bracts

This was such a fun painting to do. The surface is Aquabord, made by Ampersand. A few weeks ago, I finished a painting on Claybord, also by Ampersand which was really hard to work on. After finishing it, I discovered that it isn't a surface meant for watercolor. Well, no wonder I had so much trouble! I still had to use a different style of painting on this because the paint sits on the surface and easily lifts so when adding the darker values I had to be careful but since I knew that when I started, I had a different mindset going into it. It was fun to be able to completely lift out color and I love the brilliance of the painting compared to paintings on paper. It doesn't really show in this photo but this really has a glow to it. I do love vivid color!

Image size 5" x 5"

Watercolor on Aquabord

Unframed
$100.00

Peggy's Cove

I painted this one for Bill Guffy's virtual paintout blog. Each month he posts a location and artists pick a spot to paint using Google's streetview maps. This is the second month that I have participated and I am really enjoying it. I almost missed getting one done this month because of travel and the holidays but I barely squeaked it in before the month ended. I can't wait til Tuesday to see where the next location will be. This is done in oils which is much easier and faster for me to do than watercolors. My oil paintings are very simplistic because it's a fairly new medium for me but as I get more experience I hope to develop more depth, detail and interesting color. I still feel like I'm fighting with the paints because of their thickness. I'm so comfortable with the fluidity of watercolor and silk dyes that I'm feeling a bit out of my element with oils.

Peggy's Cove

Image Size 11" x 14"

Oil

Unframed
$150.00

Pink Hibiscus

First, I apologize for the blurry picture. I didn't have my regular camera with me on our vacation. We've been in Mexico for the past week and I painted this down there. I took many reference photos with me so I could paint a lot but I was so busy doing absolutely nothing that I didn't have much time to paint. :-) I painted this for an artist friend of mine that works at the resort where we stay so I don't have the actual painting here with me to take a better picture of it. Over the past few years, Vidal has given me several sketches that he's done so I thought it was about time for me to paint something for him. A few years ago I was painting out by the pool at the resort and he was watching what I was doing for quite a while from about 6 feet behind the table where I was working. I could tell that he had more of an interest in what I was doing than most people that watch an artist work so we started trying to converse. He speaks limited English and my Spanish is extremely pathetic but with the help of sign language we got our ideas across to each other. A couple of hours later, he brought me a sketch of a rose that he did for me on the back of one of the hotel's paper coasters using just a ballpoint pen. Since then, I take him art supplies every now and then because he doesn't have access to any in the small town in which he lives and he gives me artwork in return. I don't expect him to do that but you should see the sense of pride on his face when he sees how much I appreciate his work.

Three Hibiscus

Image size 4" x 6"

Watercolor

Reach for the Sky

Wow, I'm really on a roll. Here is yet another project that was left unfinished for several years because my frustration level reached it's limit. This is a watercolor on watercolor canvas which, at the time, I thought was a brilliant new surface. That was until I tried it. I like to paint watercolors by building layer after layer of color, gradually achieving value contrasts. With this surface, when I tried to add another layer I lifted the previous one so it was hard to add dark values. I'm sure these canvases work well for many artists but it's not for me. This painting has been staring at me in the studio for far too long and I have been pushing myself to not give up on paintings so I decided to finish it. All I can say is that I'm glad it's done. I have one more of these watercolor canvases in my stash of art supplies but I will probably paint it with acrylics or oils unless I have a day where I'm feeling really adventurous.

Reach for the Sky

Image Size 14" x 11"

Watercolor on Canvas

Unframed

Three Birds

I finished another unfinished project this week. I started this one in March and was very frustrated with it because it is painted with acrylics and I was really fighting with them. I put the painting aside and planned to finish it with oils but hesitated to admit defeat with the acrylics. I'm becoming much more comfortable with acrylics now and this was almost a joy to work on this week. Will this medium become my favorite? It probably won't but it does have it's place in my arsenal.

Three Birds
Image size 24" x 24"
Acrylics
Unframed, gallery wrapped canvas, no framed needed
Sold

Magnolia Duo

I decided to push my frustration level this week and finish this painting that I started about 5 years ago and which, after much cursing, I had put into my unfinished pile. It is small, 5" x 7" and is painted on clay board. That surface is very unforgiving and working on it is so different than the way I like to work. I worked more loosely (which is a good thing) and actually enjoyed it. Will I buy more clayboard in the future? I probably won't but I do have some aqua board, also made by Ampersand that I'm excited to try. I does feel good to finish another old project.

Magnolia Duo
Image Size 5" x 7"
Watercolor on Clayboard
Unframed

Belfast Shoreline

This is my first attempt at painting from Google's "street view" maps. I am submitting it to Bill Guffy's Virtual Paintout. The first day of each month, a new location is posted and artists are able to 'stroll' through the streets of the chosen city from home and choose a scene to paint. This painting took me out of my comfort level for a few reasons. This felt almost like painting a plein air painting which I don't really do. It's hard for me to edit things out of a scene. I also have never painted a figure or animal so I'm afraid these look pretty amateurish. I tried to make the man hunched over against the cold with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. I also tried to capture the feeling of a cold, dreary day by using muted colors, definitely not my favorite palette of colors. And finally, I painted this in oils, a medium I'm not completely familiar with yet. I think it's good to push out of our comfort level and try new things so even though I wouldn't count this as one of my best paintings, I am happy that I did it and plan to participate in the virtual paintout challenge each month.

Belfast Shoreline

Image Size 12" x 16"

Oil on canvas panel

unframed

Rice Paper Koi

I started this painting about 2 years ago and I'm not sure why I didn't finish it before now. This is 150# Arches cold press paper with a piece of rice paper attached over the top by using a 50/50 mixture of matt medium and water. It gives such a great texture and surface on which to work. The matt medium seals the paper and the paint sits on the surface a bit which makes it easy to move the paint around but unlike some other surfaces where the paint doesn't get absorbed, it is easy to build up dark values with this surface.

This koi design may look familiar to you if you've looked at my silk painting catagory on my website. I used the same drawing for both mediums. My plan was to paint the same design in each medium in which I work but I think this is as far as it's going to go. On to new things!

Rice Paper Koi

Image Size 21" x 28.5"

Watercolor on rice paper/watercolor paper

Unframed

National Watercolor Society Exhibit

The National Watercolor Society exhibit is open now. I said I would post it when it opened and I forgot. It opened last weekend and will be open through Dec. 10th. As usual, it is an inspiring show and if you are in the southern California area, I highly recommend seeing it.

Here is the link for info:

http://www.cityofbrea.net/article.cfm?id=2182

Paradise Lost V - watercolor

Finally, the last painting in my Paradise Lost series is finished. This painting is a re-do of the very first painting that started this series in 1995. I wanted to show how the beautiful orange groves have become 'groves' of houses. I painted smog on this one as I did in Paradise Lost III. I can't believe I finally finished what I started 14 years ago. I'm sure my friends and family that think I never finish anything are shocked! After the first 3, I admit I started losing steam, especially since the last 2 paintings in the series used ideas that were not new and fresh, but I knew that if I took a break to paint other subjects, I would probably never finish the last two paintings for this series. I must say that I'm really tired of painting oranges, leaves and houses. The original painting that I painted in 1995 is shown below.

Paradise Lost V
Image Size 22" x 30"
Watercolor
Unframed

This is the painting that started it all in 1995.

Paradise Lost IV - Watercolor

This is the fourth painting in the Paradise Lost series and is a re-do of one of the paintings that I did in 1995 when I first thought of this idea. The original painting is shown below. My idea was to show how Orange County's original crop and namesake has changed and now we have a new 'crop'. In the painting that shows the oranges growing on the tree, I used pure, clean colors to show nature's beauty and in the painting with the houses 'growing' I used a more muddied palette to give a sense of a less clean, more man-made environment.

Paradise Lost IV

Image Size 11" x 11" each

Watercolor

Unframed

The above painting is the original 1995 painting.

Paradise Lost III - Watercolor

They are getting weirder! This is the third painting in the Paradise Lost series and it's a bit strange but I think its message is maybe clearer than in the first two paintings. Of course there is still plenty of room for interpretation. I would love to hear what this painting says to you. I had a lot of fun with this one. I don't know if my smog shows in the photo but I'm pretty happy with how that turned out and how it changed the painting.

Paradise Lost III
Image Size 30" x 14.5"
Watercolor
Unframed

Paradise Lost II - Watercolor

Here is the second painting in my Paradise Lost series. Can you tell what is in the background (the brown part of the painting)? Only about half of the people I ask get what I was trying to portray. Of course, it seems really obvious to me but that's because I painted it. I would love to hear your feedback on this one.

Paradise Lost II

Image Size 22" x 30"

Watercolor

Framed

Paradise Lost I - Watercolor

I am one very excited artist right now. Last night was the reception for the 41st Watercolor West exhibition and I was awarded 3rd place for this painting! Watercolor West is one of the major international juried watercolor shows. This year they got almost 700 entries and from those, about 100 paintings were juried into the show. Getting a painting juried into this competition has been a goal of mine for a long time. I was so thrilled when I found out that my painting got into the show back in July. I didn't post that news then because this painting is the first in a series that I'm doing and I was going to wait and post all of them once the series was finished. But since I received 3rd place I can't wait any longer!

This series is my statement about how Orange County has changed in the 25 years that I've lived here. Even though this is a rather negative view, I really love Orange County. I just hate how every square inch is being covered with houses. When I went driving around to take reference pictures of orange trees, I drove all around OC where I knew orange groves were before but they have all been destroyed. I finally found a small grove in a person's yard so I went up to their door and asked permission to take pictures of their trees. They probably thought I was nuts!

I actually started this series back in 1995 while we were living in Anaheim Hills. I was very affected by seeing the smog as I would drive over the hill and into AH. I painted 2 paintings back then and I'm repainting them now as part of this series. As I post the new ones, I'll post the original ones also so you can see the difference. Those will be #4 and #5. I know 14 years is a long time to take to finish a series but I wasn't painting very much back then and so my motivation disappeared. Now that I'm doing a painting each week, my motivation seems constant and I get excited about new painting ideas almost daily.

Here is the information in case you are interested in seeing the exhibition. If you are in the So Cal area and love watercolor paintings, I highly recommend seeing the show. 

Watercolor West

EXHIBIT DATES: September 12th - October 24th

Riverside Art Museum

3425 Mission Inn Avenue

Riverside, CA 92501

Paradise Lost I

Image size 22" x 22"

Watercolor

Under Pressure

Luckily I had this painting almost finished and was able to finish it up for this week's painting because my studio is still a mess. There are still no flat surfaces available so I painted this on an easel. In fact, the room looks worse now than it did last week. The new tables are built and I painted the last one today so I will be able to start organizing tomorrow and have a clean studio with a place for everything in a couple of days.

Under Pressure
Image Size 20" x 20"
Acrylics
Unframed-gallery wrapped canvas, no frame needed
Sold

Silk Mandalas

I'm organizing my studio and of course it looks worse right now than before I started. Every flat surface is covered and I barely found room to work on these 6" silk mandalas. I found 6 of these pre-stretched silk circles amongst my stuff and thought making mandalas would be a good way to use them. I've always loved patterns and repetitions of color. Probably my 20 years of making stained glass windows has something to do with being attracted to them. I'm intrigued by how different the colors look on both of these. They are exactly the same colors and intensity and the resist lines are the only difference. The one on right looks like it was painted with much lighter colors, doesn't it? I love optical illusions.

I would love to hear whether you prefer the black or white resist lines.

Silk Mandalas
Image Size 6"
Silk dyes on silk

Silk Fuchsia - Silk Painting

This is the silk painting that was supposed to be last week's post. I added more color and am happy with it now. This is on a beautiful piece of silk satin which has a really nice sheen to it but I think I will go back to my silk habotai for future work. The resist doesn't penetrate this fabric as easily.

Silk Fuchsia
Image Size 21" x 21"
Silk dyes on Silk
Unframed

Echinacea Trio

This is a quick pastel sketch that I did today because the silk painting that I thought was finished needs to be worked on some more to intensify some of the colors. I'm not thrilled about that because I have to put the resist back on and repaint because I already steamed and washed it. It will be almost like doing it all over again. Arrggghhh!!! Anyway, it was fun to do another pastel. I always enjoy the feeling of spontaneity that I get using pastels. I don't know why I don't use them more often.

Echinacea Trio
Image Size 4" x 6"
Pastel
Unframed

Honorable Mention

I received an Honorable Mention for my painting "Silk Birds" at the Orange Open. This is one of my favorite silk paintings. Sorry about the reflections in the picture. If you want to see it without reflections, hit the 'home' button at the top of the blog page and click on 'Silk Paintings'.

Lake Powell Abstraction

I tried something new this week. This is a mixed media on paper. The background paper has various rice papers attached to it and then acrylic painted in an abstract manner. Then I added pieces of paper on top and painted a more representational image of Lake Powell in watercolor. Finally, I attached the pieces with gold thread in the corners of the pieces and where they intersect. It's very different but I am really happy with the outcome.

Lake Powell Abstraction
Image Size 15" x 22"
Mixed Media
Unframed

Orange Open Competition

Three of my paintings were just juried into a local show called the Orange Open which is organized by the Orange Art Association. This show is one of my favorite local shows and always has a good variety of quality art. If you live in Orange County, California and you like viewing art, you may want to stop by. The reception is this Saturday from 7:00 to 8:30 and the show will run through August 16th. It is held at Chapman University in their Guggenheim Gallery.

For more information, you can go to the website at www.orangeartassociation.org

Burano, Italy - Silk Painting

We went to Venice, Italy a few years ago and Burano is an island off of the coast there. I was amazed that it was so different from Venice. The buildings are all painted bright colors there and not a gondola in sight. I thought that silk dyes on silk would be a good medium to try for this picture. I may also do it in oil later.

Burano, Italy
Image size 20" x 16"
Silk dyes on silk
Framed
$400.00

Acrylic Wisteria

Wisteria flowers are one of my favorite subjects which you may have noticed. This one is painted in acrylic - always a challenge for me. When I started painting the background (my first step,) I was fighting with the paint because I was treating it as though I was painting in watercolor. I know better than to do this but each time I paint in acrylics, it's as though I'm doing it for the first time. I guess I'm either a slow learner or I'm stubborn and determined to do it MY way. However, the paint always seems to win.
The canvas that this is painted on is rather unique. It is a gallery wrapped canvas but instead of having sides that are perpendicular to the front, the sides angle toward the back at a 45 degree angle so the painting can be hung in a corner of a room at a 45 degree angle. It can also be hung on a wall in a traditional manner and then looks like it is floating. It's a fun concept.

Acrylic Wisteria
Image Size 12" x 12"
Acrylic

Running on Water

"Running on Water" is my first attempt at an abstract in watercolor. I'd been planning to do one for a long time. I found a piece of paper in my my art supplies that was a cream color which was interesting because I've never seen a watercolor paper that color. Well, after starting to paint on it I realized that it is probably printmaking paper because it is very absorbent and didn't seem to have sizing in it or on the surface. That made the paint react differently than usual which made it a challenge. It was hard to get the dark colors dark enough because the color kept absorbing into the paper. I ended up using the black straight from the tube which is a weird feeling with watercolor because it doesn't flow.

Running on Water
Image Size 15" x 22"
Watercolor
Framed

Sunflower vignettes

This is a painting that I did about a year ago so it's not my weekly painting. I did it for the Tustin Garden Club yearbook for this upcoming year and wanted to post it with the paintings below so that you can get a feeling for this project. If you visually divide it from top to bottom down the middle, you can imagine what the front and back of the book will look like. The three pictures below are my weekly painting project.

Azalea

This is a very small painting that I've been playing around with for awhile and finally finished this week.

Azalea
Image size 4.5" x 10.5"
Watercolor
Unframed

Acrylic Abstract IV

This was an experiment combining abstraction with realism. There are some things that I like about it and some that I don't. I used a black gesso to prime the canvas which has a very matt finish which I do like contrasted with the varying shine of the acrylic paint so I decided not to spray a finish on it because I would lose that effect. I like the idea of combining the two concepts within one painting but I think I need to make them relate to each other a little more.

It has been accepted into the Orange County Fair and will be on display from July 10th-August 9th. For more info on the fair, go to www.ocfair.com.

I would love to hear your feedback on this painting.

Acrylic Abstract II
Image size 20" x 20"
Acrylic
Unframed-gallery wrapped canvas, no frame needed

Acrylic Abstract III

This is a small abstract done in acrylic on a board coated with "Absorbent Ground" acrylic medium that is manufactured by Golden Acrylics. When I heard about this medium, I didn't think that it would really have a use for me personally. It's purpose is to give the artist a support with the same absorbency as a piece of watercolor paper. So I thought, "why wouldn't I just paint on a piece of watercolor paper instead of going through the extra work of prepping a support that would give the same effect?" However, after having painted on this medium I can see that by applying it with varying textures I will be able to achieve some nice effects. This piece is fairly smooth though. The experimenting will come later.

As I started this painting, I was trying to paint a representational subject. That didn't work for me on this medium so I just started playing around with it in a much more free manner (a very difficult thing for me to do) and I am very pleased with the result. It looks like an abstract forest to me.

Abstract Acrylic III
Image Size 7" x 9"
Unframed

First Figs

Our figs are starting to ripen and I'm fighting the local wildlife for them. I love how colorful and textural the insides are and wanted to capture that. I have a lot of small mat boards that I have prepared with pumice gel just waiting for a pastel to be applied. I haven't worked with pastel for a very long time but I thought that medium would make this subject translate well. I like leaving the rough strokes when I work with pastels which is very different from my style with other mediums because I usually like everything to be blended. For those of you that work in pastels, you can probably tell that I'm left-handed because my strokes are going the "wrong" way.

First Figs
Image Size 4" x 6"
Pastels
Unframed
Sold

Spanish Style Wisteria

I took the reference photo for this painting at a house down the street from our house but I wanted it to look like it was down in Mexico. I don't even know if Wisteria will grow in Mexico but in my mind they can. I love the power we have as artists to alter reality, even if it's only in our minds and on paper (or canvas). Wisterias are so beautiful but for such a fleeting amount of time, I wanted to capture their beauty and my love of Mexico at the same time.

Spanish Style Wisteria

Image Size 16" x 12"

Watercolor

Unframed

I've been painting a "painting a week" for a year now and I think it has really improved my paintings. I'm not ready to take on the challenge of a "painting a day" like so many artists but I wanted to share why I think doing a painting a week has been valuable for me for those artists out there that are thinking of taking on a painting challenge.

1) I am more likely to take risks with a painting because I know that if it doesn't turn out the way that I want, there will be another chance to correct my mistakes on the next painting, next week. Each painting is less "precious" to me and I don't agonize about trying something new.

2) If I decide to do a series (I'm working on one now but won't post the paintings until the series is finished), I know that it will be possible to complete it within a reasonable period of time. The one I'm working on now is an idea that I originally thought of in 1995. Because I wasn't painting consistently, I lost my momentum.

3) My energy and excitement levels stays high. I love when I can't decide which medium to use for a subject because so many of them would be fun.

4) By keeping painting and art at the forefront of my daily thoughts, I feel that I am moving forward in my artistic career. It has motivated me to enter contests and contact art galleries where before I would say to myself, "well, maybe next year I'll be ready to do that".

5) Blogging is fun! I look forward to posting my paintings each week and am thrilled when I get comments from viewers.

As I enter my second year as a "weekly painter" I plan to push myself even more and hopefully you will all see some really exciting paintings and explorations.

Monster Kumquats

We have a small kumquat tree in our backyard and the first two years it had regular sized kumquats on it. Since then, they have been about 3" long and 2" in diameter! I have never seen another one like it. I've asked a couple of people at nurseries if it is possible for it to have cross pollinated with the meyer lemon next to it but they claim that is impossible. Whatever caused it, I just glad it happened. They are great sliced thinly in salads or just to eat by themselves. That way, I can get rid of all the seeds since I really don't like crunching on those. It also makes a great conversation topic since nobody can guess what kind of fruit it is.

Monster Kumquats
Image size 9.5" x 7.5"
Watercolor
Unframed

Florence Flowers

This is painted from a picture I took several years ago in Florence, Italy. I love how they have little pots of flowers in so many of their windows. It was fun to try to get the effect of the old chipping wall with the silk dyes.

Florence Flowers
Image size 19.5 x 15.5"
Silk dyes on silk
Framed
$375.00

Magnolia

.
I love the dark green leaves with their rusty colored backs in contrast with the huge white blossoms on the Southern Magnolia trees. I've got to get a couple of these trees for our yard so I can get plenty of reference photos for future paintings.

Magnolia
Image size 8" x 11"
Watercolor
Unframed

I just found out last night at the "City of Trees" opening at Chemer's gallery that I received 1st place in the professional division for last week's painting "Old Tustin". I'm very excited. I'm glad that this show divided the categories into amateur and professional rather than by medium. I usually can't enter my silk paintings into contests because there isn't a category into which they fall. Even though silk dyes are a water-based medium, they don't fall into the watercolor or acrylic categories. The other usual mediums are oil, pastel and mixed media which also don't apply. So..... this was a rare opportunity for me.

Old Tustin - Silk Painting

This is a painting that will be displayed at Chemer's Gallery in Tustin, CA until May 30th as part of their "City of Trees" exhibit showcasing work by both amateur and professional artists. The art shows vignettes of Tustin that include at least part of a tree. You can go to their website,www.chemersgallery.com for more info.

Old Tustin
Image size 16" x 16"
Silk dyes on silk
Framed

Eucalyptus I

I painted this to enter in a local Tustin juried show that will open on May 16th. It has to be turned in this Wednesday so as usual, I am cutting it a little close. This is an acrylic painted on a gallery wrapped canvas so that no frame is required.

Eucalyptus I
Image size 24" x 18"
Acrylic
Unframed - no frame needed

Drifting Kelp

The art show and garden tour is over and now I can get back to some serious painting. I just got some new acrylics in the mail so I wanted to play with an abstract again this week. I just love using them like watercolors. I started out with an entirely different idea for this one but this is how it evolved and I really like the effect.

Drifting Kelp
Image Size 14" x 14"
Acrylic
Unframed, gallery wrapped canvas, no frame necessary.
$150.00

Lake Powell I

I'm still trying to get ready for the art show I'm involved with this week so this is a tiny watercolor painting. I am anxious to get back to some serious painting.

Lake Powell I
Image size 6" x 3.5"
Watercolor
Framed

Lichen

This is an acrylic that I did with very thin paints on a wet canvas. It was really fun to play with the movement of the paint.

Lichen
Image Size 20" x 8"
Acrylic
Unframed - Gallery wrapped canvas
$125.00

Hibiscus

This is a watercolor and is 4" x 6". We were out of town so this was a quick one.

Hibiscus
Image Size 4" x 6"
Watercolor
Unframed

pear study

This weekend I attended an Acrylic workshop given by Golden Acrylics in an effort to learn this frustrating medium. I really learned a lot. I have been using the wrong acrylics and fighting them. Most of the acrylics that I have are the ones in tubes which have a heavier consistency. I have a couple of the liquid acrylics made by Liquitex but the colors seem to be diluted along with the thickness. I thought that was just the way they were supposed to be.

The Golden acrylics colors are very intense and I felt much more comfortable working with the thin paints rather than the thick ones. Too bad that I have about a 10 year supply of the thick ones. They will be good for base coats on paintings anyway.

We were able to work on a variety of supports that had been prepared using many of their mediums. This was a great way to experiment without purchasing each one. The above painting was done on their crackle medium, which is probably pretty obvious. I loved the workability of the paint on this surface. It was similar to watercolor but less stressful and it was easier for me to be a little more loose with the strokes. Okay, it's still pretty tight but considering my painting style, it is looser.

Here are some of the other mediums we tried:

Tar Gel - loved it
Fiber Paste - This looked like a very rough piece of watercolor paper so I felt right at home. I
didn't try to do a representational painting on it though so I need to try it again.
Light Molding Paste - This was smoothly applied to a support and we painted on it. We didn't use it to add texture. It was fun to paint on but again, I did an abstract so I need to experiment some more.
Black Gesso - Really a lot of fun, another abstract.
Gesso Board - I tried to paint a realistic painting on this and hated it. I washed it off, (as best I could) and did an abstract, which was okay but I probably would stay away from this one.

Plumeria

Well, I didn't get a big painting done this week after all. I have a few ideas brewing for some
though. Maybe next week......
Plumeria
Image size 7" x 10"
Watercolor
Framed
Sold

Pink Bougainvillea

I'm still working small but I'm ready to go big again. Maybe next week's will be a watercolor painting on a full sheet of paper...or a silk painting....or a pastel..... We'll see how much time I have to play. I'm feeling the pull of abstraction again but with all the wonderful flowers in bloom right now, it's hard not to want to capture their beauty.

Pink Bougainvillea
Image size 4" x 8"
Watercolor

Yellow Rose

This is a watercolor and is painted on a 6" diameter piece of hand made paper that has a deckle edge. It floated with a double mat.

Yellow Rose
Image Size 6" diameter
Unframed, with a double mat

Brugmansia

I'm doing a series of small paintings for a art show I'm involved in this April.

Brugmansia
Image size 4" x 6"
Watercolor
Unframed, double matted