Ohio Morning

Ohio Morning.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Approximately 15 x 19 inches.

No. 8--Ragweed

No. 8--Ragweed.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Approximately 10.5 x 8 inches.

There weren't a lot of flowers available in my yard, so I ended up with a couple of droopy ragweed blooms.  It may not be ragweed--it's an OH native that blooms in the late summer, you can see a picture and a first cut of the painting on Instagram here.  I got a bit from one of my boys' second-grade teachers when she subdivided a bunch from a small plot at their elementary school.

I need more vases.  I'm only 8 into my 100 bouquets, and I am wishing for another vase! You can see where else this one has made an appearance here and here.

Daniel Smith watercolor--ultra marine blue, hansa yellow medium, pemanenty yellow deep, and burnt umber.  Plus some crayon over the top.

Turtles Stampeding Through Peanut Butter

Turtles Stampeding Through Peanut Butter.  Watercolor & Crayon.
Approximately 8.5 x 11 inches.

Winter Field

Winter Field.  Watercolor & Crayon
About 6.75 x 9 inches.

Speed post!  I have someplace to be in 15 minutes.

Started as a tree landscape, went to a pure abstract, and then came back to abstract landscape.

Best part?  It's signed, matted, photographed, and I'm about to list it on Etsy.  That's usually my energy barrier.  It's hard to sell art if you don't have any art online to sell.  Instead, there's a stockpile in my basement

Phthalo blue (gs), quin gold, phthalo green, and quin red, overlaid with crayon on the top half.
Fabriano 300 lb rough press.

Come to The Edge 1-3

Come to the Edge, 1-3.  Watercolor & Crayon
Each about 6 x 3 inches.

I'm really enjoying doing watercolors on hot press and then going back over with some crayon.  It's kind of therapeutic.  You can see more sets I've done like this here, here, and here.

You can see the original paint I laid down on Instagram, here.  I like the colors.

The title is from a quote by Guillaume Apollinaire:

Come to the edge, he said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge, he said. They came. He pushed them and they flew.

Paint--nickel azo yellow, carbazole violet, cobalt teal, an indanthrone blue
Paper--300 lb hot press Fabriano.

Flash in the Pan

Flash in the Pan.  Watercolor & Crayon.
Three paintings, each about 6.5 x 5 inches.

Working on 300 lb hot press paper again, where the whole idea is to get an abstract out of a set of watercolors.  The underlying colors are perinone orange, cobalt, indigo, and quin pink.  The crayon over the top is a blue, gray, and pink.  Here's what they looked like in progress--I probably went a little dark with the watercolor....

Set of Four Abstracts

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Four Abstracts.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Each approximately 4 inches square.

 A while ago, I started working on some small abstracts, and I matted them all up, and boom, sold them.  So, being sneaky, or not interested in accumulating a bajillion pieces of art in my basement, I thought I'd see if I could get that magic going again.

These pieces are on hot press, which takes the crayon, well, it's awesome.  You can see the first cut of watercolors here.  It's isoindoline yellow, lemon yellow, and phthalo blue rs.  The crayon over the top is an intense yellow green, gray, and a tiny bit of deep red.

A side note--getting all the images organized in blogger?  It wasn't working.  I highly recommend a website (app?) called canva.  Very useful.

Tulips Revised

Tulips Revised, Watercolor & Crayon.
Approximately 18 x 22 inches

I originally painted these tulips in 2015, and if you're an artist, you probably know that to some extent, paintings are never done.  There's almost always one more thing....

Anyhow, I had this out for a show, and it was bugging me, so I went back in with some Van Dyck Brown to enrich and deepen the background.  And, if you ask me it looks better cropped down.

Look at the previous version and tell me what you think.....

Blue/Orange/Gray: Developing Some Abstracts

Blue/Orange/Gray.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Approximately 3.5 x 3 inches.

Last weekend I sat down and started painting (or doodling) with a limited palette on hot press paper. Hot press, of course, is super smooth.  It handles the paint very differently than cold press or rough--it almost seems as if it's a race to get the paint to stay fluid on the paper.  And, if you ask me, the colors look different when they are dry--different in a way that's more chalky than if I was painting on one of the other types of watercolor paper.  This is just my opinion--I honestly don't paint on this type of paper frequently, and am not doing any kind of systematic study.

Today, I took one of the paintings and finished it with a crayon overlay.  Finished piece above.  Can  you tell which one it was?  Yeah, too stripey with a weird growth.  It's the second abstract I've finished with that blue.  You can see the first HERE.  I should probably finish all five so that they're interconnected by color, yes?

Cobalt blue, quin burnt orange, quin red, and undersea green (all daniel smith) and overlaid with light blue and light gray caran d'ache crayon.

Four Abstracts.  Watercolor.
Each approximately 3 inches square.

Welcome Back Cobalt

Welcome Back Cobalt.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Approximately 4 inches square.

I haven't used cobalt in a long time, and I'd forgotten how much I like the way it granulates in washes (see the sky), or can be used as an almost opaque color (see the foreground),  Nice.

Indian yellow, prussian blue, cobalt blue, and quin violet.  Plus some crayon.  On a scrap of paper, which is probably 300 lb Kilimanjaro.

Trees in Breeze

Trees In Breeze.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Approximately 9.5 x 10 inches.

Three colors of watercolor (quin burnt orange, indanthrone blue, and nickel azo yellow) and two brown gray crayon colors on 300 lb cold press by Kilimanjaro.

You can see an earlier version HERE.

This Too; A Gift

This Too; A Gift.  Watercolor and Crayon
About 25 x 17 inches.

One Yellow Tree

One Yellow Tree.  Watercolor & Crayon.
Approximately 10 x 8 inches.
For sale on DPW.

Barn Study

Barn Study.  Watercolor and Crayon.
About 4 x 6 inches.

Lakeside & McKelvey II

Lakeridge & McKelvey II.  Watercolor & Crayon.
About 5.5 x 9.5 inches.

Coneflowers

Coneflowers.  Watercolor & Crayon.
Approximately 12.5 x 10 inches

Sky/Tree/Hill. Another glimpse into process....

Sky/Tree/Hill.  Mixed Media.
About 14 x 11 inches.

Five Tips For Applying For Local Shows

Crash.  Watercolor and Crayon on Yupo.
Approximately 8.5 x 6

Why I Paint--Part II

With Spring Rain.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Approximately 8.5 inches square.

Why I Paint--Part I

Limited Palette Studies, Watercolor and Crayon.