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.

Evolution of a Painting

Sycamore and Storm Front.  Watercolor and Crayon.
12 x 11 inches.

A while back, I started a tree, that was a combination of watercolor and crayon. You can read about it here.  I didn't throw it away, but didn't think it was even a remotely successful painting. I snapped a picture with my phone yesterday, so you can see where I was when I left it to sit on a pile of art in my basement (below).

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....

Non-Objective Abstract

Bend.  Watercolor.
6.5 inches square

An experiment to see if I could get something working on the page.

Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Orange Medium (Holbein), Nickel Azo Yellow, Carbazole Violet, and Cobalt Teal Blue.  Daniel Smith Unless otherwise specified on a scrap piece of Fabriano 300 lb Rough Paper (that means there's something on the back).

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.

Daffodils. Confused Daffodils.

Daffodils.  Watercolor & Crayon.
5 x 7 inches.

These daffodils started as a landscape, morphed into an abstract, and then finished out as flowers.  I wanted to mess around with blues and yellows and oranges, but didn't really have a plan, and was working fairly small.....hence the confusion.  They took a while to sort out what they really wanted to be...

Just for an idea, here's where things stood when I finished with the watercolor.  (I hope this link works....)

The painting wasn't coming together, but after I added the crayon, I think it hangs together.  I think it needed the shape and line.  (And, to be cropped a bit.)

Paint:  Manganese Blue Hue, Prussian Blue, Hansa Yellow Medium, Permanent Yellow Deep, and a touch of indian yellow.
Caran D'ache Crayon:  silver grey, dunkel beige, and indigo blue
Paper:  Fabriano 300 lb Hot Press Watercolor Paper

Fall Flowers--Cosmos

Cosmos.  Watercolor and Crayon.
10 x 13 inches.

While I wait for the leaves to turn, I've been looking at the swaths of black-eyed susans and cosmos planted in my neighborhood.  Next year, I'm putting in some cosmos.  They're whimsical and bold. Love that contrast.

I was trying for an all over pattern, but think the painting ended up too structured in the placement of the flowers.  I would say this has a weak composition.

It's cobalt and indigo blue, cadmium red orange, permanent yellow deep for paint (all daniel smith). The crayon colors are light green, white, and golden yellow.  The crayon is really just random marks over the tops so that it looks like feathery leaves.  (maybe... looks like feathery leaves!)

My kids are back in school, so hopefully I'll be posting more consistently.

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.

Limited Palette Tulips

You Know It's Spring When....  Watercolor and Crayon
Approximately 21 x 29 inches

I've been trying to work much larger than I normally do--it's a challenge.  I had a request for a large painting on spec, and that's fine--I'd be painting anyways.  Part of the request was landscape versus portrait for size, and that's part of the challenge.   When I have my paint set out, I have to walk around the table to get to parts of the paper.  It's not especially efficient.

I also usually have a little (at least a little) control of my water and paint, and with the large size, it seems like this flies out the door.  Sections of the paper dry before I'm ready.   All of this leads me to think I should paint large more often.

I bought these tulips from Costco--they were bulbs is a large glass jar, and they helped when there was still snow on the ground.  Now things are starting to come up outside--yay!

The painting is on Fabriano 300 lb Rough, in ultramarine blue, indian yellow, permanent yellow deep, and quinacridone violet.  There is a touch of a peach caran d'ache crayon in the tulip bulbs.

Another Day, Another Dusk

Quilted Dusk.  Watercolor.
12.5 x 19 inches. 

Without giving it much forethought, on some level, I've decided to paint a time of day. This is my second dusk painting this week.

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).

And......Back To Flowers

Iris Abstracted.  Watercolor & Crayon.

Last night, after I painted Iris Abstracted, I bit the bullet and started cleaning my John Pike palettes. The last time I needed to clean out a palette, I just bought a new one!  That was not a great precedent, but it was incredibly easy. To get one of the wells cleaned out required many minutes in the laundry tub, an attack with a toothbrush, and then attention with water, q-tips, brushes and paper towels.  You might understand why I've been putting it off.  I have one palette fully cleaned out, and the other needs work.  You'd think they'd design a palette that doesn't have so many crevices.  (As the mom of two middle school boys, I frequently have the same thoughts about toilets....  if you don't know why I'm thinking that, you don't really want to know, and as a future service, it would probably be a good idea if I made the boys responsible for cleaning their own/guest bathroom....)

And A Few Painterly Resolutions For 2015

Three Oranges.  Watercolor.
Approximately 8 x 11 inches.

As 2014 closed, I looked back.  Today, it's the first day of 2015.  Since it's a clean slate, this post is about looking forward and setting a few goals.

A Look Back At 2014

Geometric Flowers.  Watercolor.
Approximately 11 x  8 inches.

Today is very nearly the last day of 2014.  I'm looking back over my blog posts from the year to see if I can find anything constructive to say, or things that I'd like to try, or even handle differently.

I really like my crayons.  I bought them last December, and I use them a lot.  They were well worth the money.  I'm also still painting trees--frequently from my imagination.  There one included in this post, too!

Oranges and Grapefruit

Oranges and Grapefruits.
Watercolor.  

Yesterday, I got together with a group of fellow artists for critique.  It wasn't the whole group, but Marilyn Bishop, Rama Desai, Nancy Wisely, Sherry Stoffer, Margie Carleton, Diana Marra, Andrea Chemero, Barb Smucker (fearless leader and organizer), Roxanne Brett, and Taylor Bush were able to be there.  Many of them aren't online, but if they are, I've tried to include links.  A lot of them read this blog--big grin.

On the phone.

While Talking To My Mom.  5 x 4.75 inches.
Watercolor & Crayon.

A couple of posts ago, I put up some abstract landscapes that were part of a set.  I had painted four, and one just wasn't coming together.  A puzzle.

I tried overlaying with three colors of Caran D'Ache crayon that nearly matched the paints.  A lot of the patterning was already there, I just added emphasis where it had been lost in the watercolor.  And voila.

You'll never guess what I doing while finishing the crayon part of this....  Good guess--I was talking to my mom on the phone.

And, A Big Sigh....

Divining Rod.
Watercolor with crayon.  6 x 4.5 inches.

Last week just wasn't a good week for painting. The rest of my life got in the way. Partly, I have to be careful, because sitting down to paint means I lose 2-3 hours, and I don't always have 2-3 hours to give. Partly, I was just busy with family, house, and other obligations. But, I miss painting, and the trees continue to be beautiful in the fall--hence, the big sigh.

Autumn Abstract

Autumn Abstract.  13 x 9.5 inches.  Watercolor. 

It seems like different trees have decided to show off this year, and for the first time, the Kentucky Coffee Tree we planted in our front yard is displaying fall colors.   It is a lovely yellow gold, with some bright green mixed in.

I can see it from my front window when I'm painting at the kitchen table, and when I started the painting, I was shooting for semi-realistic.  I had neither a good composition (too centered), nor good colors (I started with indian yellow, hansa yellow medium, and ultramarine blue).

This is how it evolved into an abstract, with carbazole violet added as the last layer for darkness and shapes.

I think it's a combination of beautiful and ominous, or like autumn.

Blue and Orange

Gold Trees Orange Shadows.  Watercolor.  6.5 x 11 inches.

For the better part of the last week, I've been limiting my palette to blues and oranges.  I don't know why.  I do like blue, but this time of year (fall) I tend to think more in warm colors, and my recent paintings have tended to turn up disproportionately blue.  It may be my suspicsion that it's going to be a miserable winter.  It's noon on Oct. 4, and it's only just over 40 degrees F.  Jeez.