Found Some Claybord!

Golden Field at Sunset.  Watercolor & Crayon.
5 x 7 inches.

I went to collect some watercolor paper yesterday and ran across a piece of Ampersand's Aquabord. I bought it ages ago, and I suspect it may be claybord, but a few minutes of research tells me that it's one and the same--just renamed.

This is a piece that's 5 x 7 inches, and one of the big advantages is in the framing.  No glass.  Can plop it right in the frame.  I tried mounting watercolor paper at the end of last year, and I'm not particular enough.  To mount paper requires patience and attention to detail.  You can look at my painting style and know that's not me!

I liked the way it handled the water and paint.  I did the first cut yesterday and went back today to add some darks and a tiny bit of gray crayon just at the horizon line.  I'm pretty pleased.

Indian yellow, phthalo blue gs, and quin violet with a touch of gray caran d'ache.

Three Trees and the end of 2016

Three Trees.  Watercolor.
About 5.5 x 8 inches.

This is my 43rd blog post of 2016 and, I believe, my 184 post all together since October 2012.  I aim for about a post a week, but some months there are more and some months there are less.  This month and the last, I've only manage about one post a month.  If you're interested, you can go back and check out my first post ever, which was a plein air painting of sycamore trees.    I'm maybe a better painter now....maybe.  I do happen to like today's painting better.....

I'm going to do the painting a day in January 2017, just because it's so much fun.  I don't know what I'll paint yet, or maybe I'll go in with no particular plan at all just to see what happens.

Here's to 2017.

Phthalo Blue RS, Quin Gold, and Quin Red on Kilamanjaro 300 lb cold press paper.

One Yellow Tree

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

Fall Morning on the Fairway.

Fall Morning on the Fairway.  Watercolor.
Approx. 7 x 9 inches. 

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.

Yellow Canoe. Plein Air Painting at Ryland Lakes, KY

Yellow Canoe.  Watercolor.
About 10 x 8 inches.

Dusk While Running

Dusk While Running.  Watercolor.
Approximately 8 x 18 inches

Cincinnati has been hot.  So hot, that exercising in the middle of the day is probably not the most excellent idea.   (That makes me think of Bill & Ted.  Dude.)  I've been getting out to run some mornings, but every once in a while I go out at dusk with my ipod.  (Last night, Ruby & Carlos by James McMurtry popped up--if you haven't heard it, you can check it out here.  Not the best song to run to, but a beautiful song nonetheless--)

The skies have been absolutely gorgeous.  I get so distracted that it helps me believe I'm running fast (I'm not).  The only challenge has been that if the sun is setting, that means it gets pretty dark while I'm still out--luckily I have not tripped.  I have come nose to nose with a few deer.  The deer are unfazed. I tend to shriek

Anyhow, I'm not done with this, but it's a first cut.

Quin pink, phthalo blue rs, permanent yellow deep, nickel azo yello on 300 lb Fabriano rough.

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

Winter Trees.  Watercolor.
Approximately 5.25 x 8.5 inches.

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.

Red Roof

Red Roof.  Watercolor on Yupo.
8 x 10 inches.

My second crack at Yupo.  In a promising turn of events, the painting started as a landscape and finished as a landscape. More disappointing, it was supposed to involve trees....

I really like the intensity of the color that stays on top of the paper, and love the texture you can bring out.

In this case, I have a whole conglomeration of colors involved, so I can't describe my palette.

I'm looking forward to trying to prepare these to hang--I think I can spray them with krylon and then mount them to a board/cradle which is promising if you've ever had to frame art....!  However, I do not own either krylon, the boards, or the paint to finish the sides of the cradle.  This may take me a minute.....

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.

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.

Blue Roof

Blue Roof.  Watercolor.
4.5 x 4 inches.

Just a quick post.  Things have not slowed down yet--we have a major house project that started last Monday, the boys finished school this morning, and we've been had out of town guests (althoug, luckily, not staying with us.)  It's a major accomplishment to just paint.

Indigo, cobalt blue, and Indian Yellow (I think--my paint box is downstairs.)  It may be nickel azo....
On a scrap of....I'm not sure!  It's some kind of 300 lb paper, probably cold press.

Seen Between Columbus and Cincinnati

Ohio Roadside.  Watercolor.
10 x 14 ish

Spring, for whatever reason, tips easily over into a frantic pace.  We barely have time to breathe, let alone sit down and relax.  I'm not sure if that's a symptom of our time, the age of our kids, or some undetermined factor.  But, it can be exhausting, and worse, hard to find time to paint.

And Back Again

Pink House (revised).  Mixed Media.
Slightly smaller than a full sheet!

I finally got my house where I'd like it to be.  It took three or four loop backs and major changes for the entire thing to hang together in an interesting manner.  Call out to  RH Carpenter for her feed back on an earlier version of this painting.

What did I change?  The house grew, the sky went dark.   The foreground went pinker and then darker.  I'm hoping I didn't get the caran d'ache crayon mixed into my paints.  There's a lot more crayon.  I put watercolor over acrylic, which hopefully will not peel or otherwise flake off.  In between, I tried more buildings, trees, a path......)

Part of my issue may be that I am fiscally conservative (you can interpret that as cheap--my kids say the cheapest mom in town), and when I paint so large, in the back of my mind is a chant--you're wasting a sheet, you're wasting a sheet.  I have to let that go.  It ruins the joy of the process.

Huh. The trials of working on a larger size....

Pink House.  Mixed Media.  In progress.
Approximately 20 x 32 inches.

I've been trying to get a full sheet painting organized, and it's a struggle.  I'm putting this up, but it's still a work in progress, and it's already on its third iteration.  It's watercolor, crayon, and acrylic.

I'm not sure it can be saved, but it can't hurt to try.  I think I'm going to back with some warmer colors in the foreground and maybe just over the horizon line.  I only own one acrylic brush, and about three colors, so that's not a huge option....but, I'll see what i can do with crayon.

Dusk Again, Or Dark and Dense

Dusk Again.  Watercolor and Crayon.
9.5 x 12.5 inches.

I've mentioned before that my husband is a tough critic.  I'll show him what I've been working on, and I'll get, "hmmm."  Or, a high compliment would be, "I kind of like that." He took a look at the first version of this painting, and said, "You're in a dark, dense place." He may have a point. Hate winter, and it's been miserable, and the conditions flow over into my paintings.

Dusk In Indiana, Revised

Dusk in Indiana, Revised.  Watercolor and crayon.
10 x 12 inches.

Well, my painting morphed.  You can see the previous version here.  I was trying to integrate the barn using an overlay of Caran D'Ache crayon, and things got way, way out of control.  Then, I managed to rein them back in to reasonable, but it required sacrificing the barn and silo.  I kind of like this version.  I especially like the texture I was getting when I applied crayon, wetted the crayon down, and then drew into it.  It almost looks grooved like a wood cut.

Winter Pine

Winter Pine.  Watercolor.
Approximately 8 x 7 inches.

This past weekend, my husband and I drove to Chicago for a wedding on Valentine's.  It was bitter cold (they said the coldest Valentine's in quite some time) and there were gray skies and gusting snow the length of Indiana.  (The wedding was fun.  My husband danced, which is rare and awesome!)

I snapped a pic with my phone as we were leaving a gas station (below)--you've probably noticed, the midwest is, ah, flat. Ohio's quite flat too, once you get north of Cincinnati.  I wanted to paint the pine and horizon line, and somehow went kind of askew in the process.  Once again, I haven't seen the reference photo for a couple of days, so I'm riffing on mood.  I'm thinking cold can be a mood.

It's a three color palette--indigo, indian yellow, and permanent yellow deep.  All Daniel Smith. Painted on  Fabriano 300 lb rough paper.  I'm going to need to buy more paper soon.  I'll put it off as long as possible....