Day 12 of 30. Tea and Lemons

Tea and Lemons.  Watercolor with a smidge of crayon.
Approximately 9.5 x 8.5 inches.

Almost half way through the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, and I'm 12 for 12.  Whoop, whoop! I'm proud of myself. You'll notice that I don't blog in detail about most of them.  You can see the entire set so far on instagram.

The one drawback to instagram is my phone's camera, which is not fantastic.  In low light or miserably cloudy days, the colors on instagram are off despite my best efforts at correcting them through limited brightness adjustments.

Anyhow, like the colors and messiness of this.  Quin pink, hansa yellow medium, and manganese blue hue on Kilamanjaro 300 lb cold press paper.  There's a touch of crayon for line in the mug and along the edge of the cutting board.

I have not been doing a ton of still lifes--out of 12, this is my second.  Bonus, I sold my apples. (Another whoop!)

Enjoy the day!

Day 2 of 30: Three Apples

Three Apples.  Watercolor.
Approximately 7 x 10 inches.

For the third January running, I'm participating in 30 paintings in 30 days.  It's hosted by Leslie Saeta, and you can check out the artist participating here.  I highly recommend it if you need some kind of push to get going.  It's an excellent exercise.

The painting above is from Day 2, and is the 5th painting I've done using the palette of quin gold, phthalo blue rs, and quin red.  You can see an example of one on my blog here.  Others are on Instagram.

This is also the 2nd still life I've done of late.  I usually paint without any reference, but every once in a while I need to loop back through a reality based painting framework to revisit shapes and composition.  I'm not sure it helps, but I struggle with getting almost too loose otherwise.

Here's to a great start of a New Year, cheers!

Day 30--30 Paintings In 30 Days. Calm Again.

Calm Again.  Mixed Media.
Approximately 22 x 30 inches.

Day 26--30 Paintings In 30 Days. Flowers From Kroger.

Flowers From Kroger. Watercolor.
Approximately 9.5 x 12.5 inches.

Day 21--30 Paintings in 30 Days. Coming Down The Hill

Coming Down The Hill.  Watercolor.
7 x 4.5 inches

Day 20--30 Paintings in 30 Days. Switch Grass in Winter.

Switch Grass In Winter.  Watercolor.
Approximately 11 x 8 inches.

On Monday, Ohio decided to turn off the heat, and this morning it decided to start spitting snow.  Not a fan.  It is oppressively gray.  If feels like the sky is pushing down....mood, shoulders, spirit.  Blech. Don't believe me?  You can see for yourself in the picture I was riffing from below.

Palette is Indigo, Quinacridone Gold, and Quinacridone Burnt Orange (there may be a wee touch of Prussian Blue mixed in, but it is wee).  On Kilamanjaro 300 lb cold press watercolor paper.

Note:  Day 20 in Thirty Paintings in 30 Days, and I've only not painted 2 days.  I feel like a rock star!

Day 15--30 Paintings in 30 Days. Three Houses

Three Houses.  Watercolor on Yupo.
Approximately 11 x 14 inches.

Day 12--30 Paintings in 30 Days. Winter Trees

Winter Trees.  Watercolor.
Approximately 5.25 x 8.5 inches.

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

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

Day 6--30 Paintings in 30 Days. Tall House With Blue Door.

Tall House With Blue Door.  Watercolor.
Approximately 9.5 x 5.75 inches.

Day 4--30 Paintings in 30 Days. 4 Red 1 Green

4 Red 1 Green.  Watercolor.
Approximately 10.5 x 12 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.....

Coffee with Orange

Coffee With Orange.  Watercolor.
8 1/4 x 9 inches.

Way, way back when I first started this blog, I was working on a bunch of still lifes that I was painting alla prima.  I thought I might go back to that for a little bit while.

This painting was done with three colors--cad orange (a medium), indian yellow, and indigo.  On a scrap of Fabriano 300 lb rough watercolor paper.

I like the bleeds against the sharp edges of the white.  And, I like the composition in general.  My style has loosened more over the last couple of years, and it wasn't all that realistic to begin with.

I don't think I'd pick indigo again.  Sometimes it works as a good dark, but in this case, I think I would have been better off with a different blue.

It was my husband's coffee cup, and he was home today, so when I stepped away for a minute the coffee cup was gone.

Back to Lakes

Dream Lake.  Watercolor.
22 x 30 inches

I feel like I've been painting water all summer.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm ready for a new subject for a while....and as we head into fall, it's probably time to go back to paint some trees.

Here's a completely different version of the same thing.

Interesting how different two paintings can be with exactly the same palette, yes?

All are limited to three colors:  quinacridone gold, phthalo blue rs, and quinacridone red--all Daniel Smith.   All are on 300 lb Fabriano rough Watercolor Paper.

Northminster Show and Photographing

Tomorrow (2/7) is the Northminster Fine Arts Fair. It's the tenth anniversary of the fair, and I believe it'll be the 4th time I've participated.  I've got all my work matted, and this morning I need to finish wrapping my unframed work in acetate and get things in frames. If you're in the Cincinnati Metro Area, stop by and say hello.  (It's hosted at the Northminster Presbyterian Church at 703Compton Rd. in Finneytown, OH)

Cross. An Untitled Abstract.

Untitled Abstract.  Watercolor.
Approximately 9.5 x 8 inches.

I bought a new computer earlier this week--I'm in the process of transferring all my files to a new computer, and figuring out how I want to manage all the photos.  And, I'm getting ready for a couple of different shows.  All these various activities mean I'm abandoning 30 in 30 a little bit early.  That's code for I have a short attention span, and I just don't want to paint any more flowers right now.

One Hundred!

Blue Barn II.  Watercolor.  Approximately 10x12 inches

This is my 100th post!  Woot.  I posted for the first time on October 4, 2012, which means I'm pretty close to averaging a post a week.  However, if you've been reading this blog, you'll know that I've been post crazy for the last few weeks.  This is my 11th post in January 2015--not to worry, I'll be back to my normal pace at the end of January.

Bouquet Abstracted

Bouquet Abstracted, Watercolor.

I mentioned last post that my computer is dead as a doornail, and that I'm using my gracious husband's until I decide what to do.  I've got a work around going, but am missing (really, really missing) gimp, which is a free photo editing program, that is a good alternative to photoshop.   I am using pixlr to do my editing (because I can use the web, and do not need to install the program on this computer).

The Road Home (aka Not A Flower II)

The Road Home.  Watercolor.

I have new paint!  Orange is back on my palette.  Hypothetically, I could mix orange, but I really like some of the intense oranges that come out of the tube.  I thought really hard about how to lay my paints out.  I have two palettes, and I was trying to put set up two palettes that could be used independently but still covered the ranges of hues (is that the right word for pure color?) I might need.