A Small Doodle

Untitled.  Watercolor.
Approximately 3 x 3 inches

Just playing around with a palette today--permanent yellow deep, prussian blue, and quinacridone pink.  On a scarp of paper.

What rhymes with orange?

Rorschach.  11 x 14 inches.
Watercolor on Yupo.

I think I'm going to try and paint around a color for while, and the color of the week would be: orange.  Perinone orange to be precise.  

This abstract is cobalt blue, quin gold, perinone orange, and carbazole violet.   On yupo.   

I took the photo with my phone, on my kitchen counter, where I've been painting a lot lately.  It's a nice space, high, with good light.  Not sure if it's done, which is always an issue with abstracts.  It is kind of busy.   I will think on it.

Why I Paint--Part I

Limited Palette Studies, Watercolor and Crayon.

Day 10--30 Paintings in 30 Days. The One Field

The One Field.  Watercolor.
Approximately 27 x 20 inches.

Day 3--30 Paintings In 30 Days. Mountainside

Mountainside.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Approximately 8 x 6 inches.

Yes, the colors are really that intense.

If you follow me on instagram, I made a few changes since I posted there--I adjusted the foreground to add some brighter colors among the shadows, but also added some darks.  And, I used crayon to gray out and define the sky.  Plus, I think it benefits by cropping the top of the painting down just a little bit.  Decisions, decisions.

Honestly, one of my joys of painting is making decisions about what I want to do with my paintings--it's empowering.  My successes and my failures, and they are mine.

The palette is nearly the same as yesterday, with quin pink replacing the permanent yellow deep.

Daniel Smith--indian yellow, quin pink, and prussian blue.
Caran D'ache Crayon--light beige (although if you ask me, it looks like a grayed down white)
Kilamanjaro 300 lb cold press paper.

Day 1--30 paintings in 30 days. Abstract Tree Line

Abstract Tree Line.  Watercolor.
Approximately 8.5 x 12 inches.

I think I mentioned that I was planning on participating in 30 paintings in 30 days, which is organized by Leslie Saeta.  You can find more information here.

I'll try not to inundate you--there may be a lot of photos without too much text.

Again, this photo is not fantastic.  (I'm on a roll!)  There's yellow cast in the whites since I was working after dark.  I'll go back and correct it tomorrow.

Daniel Smith, Prussian Blue, Nickel Azo Yellow, and Quin Burnt Orange on Kilamanjaro 300 lb cold press paper.

Edited--took a better pic this morning (another sunny day--yay!)  see below.....

Blue Barn and Silo

Blue Barn and Silo.  Watercolor.
Approximately 12 x 9 inches

I'm still on buildings. I've been thinking about joining the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge that starts on Jan. 1, 2016.  Formally joining.  Last year, I did a series of paintings informally. If you're interested in what it involves, you can get more information HERE.

This painting, in my opinion, is better than my last post, just because it's significantly better organized.  Planning and practice count for a lot more than I'd like to think.  In this case, because it can be a struggle for me to get what I want, I drew out my plan on the paper before I started painting. I did have one major change:  the original painting included a fence in the background.  It didn't work, so I adjusted as I went.

This is phthalo blue rs, cobalt teal blue, and quin gold on 300 lb kilamanjaro cold press paper.

Wyoming's Holiday One Stop Shop

Limited Palette Barn Study.  Watercolor.
5 x 7 inches.

Calling this a study is a little strong--technically, it's a blank note card on Strathmore Watercolor Card Paper (it's 140 lb cold press paper designed to fold), that results in a card that is 5 x 7 inches with an envelope....

Why would I paint this, do you ask?

Because I need some small things to sell...!

I'll be at our neighborhood Holiday One Stop Shop this Saturday (12/5) from 10 am to 3 pm in the Wyoming Civic Center (1 Worthington Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45215).  At events like these (and I don't do many) I like to bring a bunch of these greeting cards.  (I also sometimes put them up on Etsy.  If you're super interested, you can check some examples HERE.)

eta- to correct the street, doh!  We have a bunch of parallel streets that all start with a 'w.'  Almost a decade here, and I still can't keep them straight.

I sell them for a nominal price--usually, $5 each.  And here's the trick: to make it worth my while to sell them at that price, I need to be able to paint them very quickly.  That kind of fast painting, though, the kind that looks elegant and loose and planned, is frequently what I'm shooting for in my regular paintings.  The cards then, work out to be useful for getting better at painting, since to be able to do that, and do it well......well, I still have a lot of work ahead of me. Still, every once in a while, I get something I really like.

Some other things of note--I need to get a stamp for the back of my cards.  Some day.  It's on my list.

I also need to stop taking photos with my phone after dark.  This picture has a horrible yellow cast that I can't seem to completely shake.

Hope to see you out on Saturday!

Amy

House & Tree

House & Tree.  Watercolor.
6.25 x 8 inches.

It's been a beautiful fall in Cincinnati.  The skies are almost too blue.  The trees did end up putting on a show, and at the beginning of the last week, they got just beautiful.  Especially the gingkos.  For some reason, I always thought ginkgo trees were tall and skinny.  I've painted some before--you can see one HERE.    It turns out, they come more widespread like oaks.

This is a totally made up landscape.  It's almost the same palette as the last gingko I painted--in this case three warms:  quin burnt orange, quin gold, and nickel azo yellow and one cool--phthalo blue rs.  The paper is Kilamanjaro from Cheap Joes. 300 lb cold press.

A Series of Small Abstracts

Loops and Whorls.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Approximately 6 x 22 inches.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'll periodically doodle across a scrap of paper using a very limited palette.  I was doing that this afternoon, using the extra paper from my last painting, the exact same palette, and at the end, I went back over and added some marks and miscellaneous with a caran d'ache crayon in light gray.

I'm trying to decide if I should break them apart, or keep them together as a set....

Tiny Landscape

Tiny Landscape.  Watercolor.
2.5 x 4 inches

This is one of three very small paintings in the same palette.  This is the only one that I think is done. Here's the whole lot:

The leftmost painting, I think I need to go back in with some line or structure.  The middle one I need to think about....

Cobalt blue, nickel azo yellow, and quin red--all Daniel Smith, on a scrap of Fabriano 300 lb rough paper.

Almost Fall

Almost Fall.  Watercolor.
6.5 x 9.75 inches

School started early this year, and my boys have been back at it for a week. I associate the start of school with fall, and am anxious to have some interesting colors starting to show up in the leaf canopy. Technically, it's been a wet and cool summer, and everything is still, well, green as can be. But, I'm starting to dream about fall.

Fabriano 300 lb rough paper, prussian blue, quin burnt orange, ultramarine blue, and indian yellow--all daniel smith.

A Landscape Spec Painting, Take II

Into the Calm.  Watercolor.
Approximately 19 x 27 inches.

I've had another request for a large horizontal spec painting, which basically means, no money down, no obligation, and they'll buy it if they like it....

This is my second attempt.  I liked the first one, but they were not as enamored.  Here's the first one, which I never blogged about.....

Working on a spec painting that's a riff on a lake....This would be the first at size. Watercolor, approximately 17 x 29 inches.
Posted by Amy Bryce Watercolors on Monday, June 22, 2015

They're both riffs on a lake--can you tell?

They're also exactly the same palette, even though they have different emphasis on which colors shine.  It's Daniel Smith quinacridone gold, quinacridone red, and phthalo blue rs.  Both on Fabriano 300 lb rough paper

Speed Blog Entry

Chesapeake Bay Study IV.  Watercolor.
Approximately 5 x 7 inches

We're traveling right now, and staying at a cottage on Chesapeake Bay.  While the manly men we're out swimming, I was doing plein air sketches from a downed log.  This is the most realistic of the four I did....and, my favorite.  (It is a gray, gray day, and the sun was just barely trying to get out...the painting looks cheerier than the day, to tell you the truth)

We've seen osprey hunting, and spotted the same bald eagle twice.  Awesome.

Strathmore 140 lb paper (a sketch book), Daniel Smith phthalo blue red scale, raw sienna, and hansa yellow medium.

Small Studies With Two Colors

A set of four paintings in ultramarine blue and quinacridone burnt orange (Daniel Smith).  All approximately 3 x 3 inches (ish) on Lanquerelle 140 lb cold press paper.  Done just to paint on a beautiful day.  

I find that I need my reading glasses more and more to use the computer, and then I'm torn about whether or not to paint with them.  I started these paintings without my glasses (bottom two) and finished with them.  I just can't decide.