Lake Powell Reflections

I'm really enjoying these watery, loose paintings.  I know I will go back an forth between painting like this and really tight but variety is fun.  As much as I like really controlling the watercolor, wet into wet painting gives beautiful effects.

Lake Powell Reflections
Image Size 22" x 15"
Watercolor

Lost Canyon III

Here's another Lost Canyon abstract.  This has some interesting textures that aren't really showing up in this photo.  I love what watercolor pigments do on wet paper.  You can't get that with any other medium.

Lost Canyon III
Image Size 15" x 22"
Watercolor

Gamblin Oil Paints

We just got back from visiting friends in Portland, Oregon.  When I found out we were going up there, I contacted Gamblin Oil Paints and asked if I could tour their factory and they graciously said yes.  I've always liked their paints and mediums and they have one of the best, most informative websites I've seen so I was really excited to be able to see their facility.

When I got there, I was surprised by how small it is considering that they have an international presence with their product.  Every step of the process is checked and their quality control is wonderful.  I am now a complete Gamblin convert and plan to only buy their oils when I need (want) new colors.

Not only are they really focused on keeping their quality high and consistent, they are also careful about the health of their employees and the environment.  They use an air filtration system to capture the pigment dust while the colors are being mixed, which could be harmful if inhaled.  Once a year, they make Torrit Grey paint using everything collected in the filtration system.  The grey varies from year to year because the colors and amount of dust from each color made each year can vary.  Torrit grey is released around the end of April and is only available while supplies last.  It is given as a gift when another tube of Gamblin oil paint is purchased.

Artists can enter their annual Torrit Grey competition in which they use only Torrit Grey, white and black in their painting.  This year the deadline has been extended until Oct. 1st.  You can visit the Gamblin website to get the details and see examples of past work.   If you can't find Torrit Grey in your area, I just got some at Art Supply Warehouse which is located in Westminster, CA but they sell on-line also.  I don't know how much they have left but I was really surprised that they still had any because it's usually gone from stores pretty quickly.  If you contact them, be sure to mention the Torrit grey because some of their employees (the first on I talked to) don't know about Torrit grey and if they look on the Gamblin color chart they won't see it.  This company is different than the Art Supply Warehouse with the website aswexpress.com (one of my favorite places to buy supplies) They ran out of the Torrit Grey a while ago.

I'm hoping to try a painting or two to submit.  It will be a really good exercise in value control.

This is a painting I did awhile ago but I never posted it to the blog.  It's one of my first oil paintings and I painted it in a traditional manner glazing many layers.  The color is much richer in person.  I just love these dramatic, huge flowers.  They have a long blooming season and are really flashy in a garden.

Garden Angels
Image size 24" x 18"
Gallery wrapped canvas painted on sides.  No frame needed

Fairbanks, Alaska - Silk Painting

I found this log cabin while I was traveling virtually in Fairbanks, Alaska.  I used a bit of artistic license with the yard.  I got rid of some of the stuff they had sitting around the yard and then re-landscaped.  I know it's very green but that's one of my favorite colors and there really is a lot of green up there.  I haven't done a silk painting for awhile so I decided to do a graphic painting of this scene.If you want to see the street map view I used, you can see it on Google street maps here.

Fairbanks, Alaska
Image Size 8" x 21"
Silk dyes on silk

Water Violation - Watercolor

Here is a painting that was a struggle from the beginning ( well over a year ago).  I started by pouring a very light color over a dry piece of paper which gave the foreground design which is very similar to my painting "Fish and Flotsam" in how it began.  In this painting, I broke up the poured area into interwoven sections and because this is a handmade paper with lots of texture, I used my most sedimentary paints to show off that texture.  Unfortunately, I put no thought into how those colors would look together and what I ended up with was a cacophony of disharmonious color.  I tried to wash it off in the bathtub and then chose colors that worked better together while still trying to get a lot of texture.  Once I got the colors the way I wanted them I still didn't have any type of focal point and I think you need that even in an abstract so of course I added......Koi!  There's a reason I used to be known as the flower and koi artist.  Anyway, after a year, I'm calling this finished.  I think I actually am happy with how it turned out but I certainly would recommend starting a painting with a little more of an idea of where it is supposed to go.

Water Violation
Image size 22" x 30"
Watercolor

Summer Stream - Oil

Virtual paintout's location this month is Fairbanks, Alaska and points north.  There's some beautiful scenery in that state for sure.  My husband and I visited there last summer on a cruise so we didn't make it to Fairbanks but the places we visited were beautiful.  By the end of the week I felt like my eyes couldn't handle any more of that green, lush scenery.  As I was virtually traveling through Alaska this week, this spot caught my attention because of the yellow foliage along with that little stream against the mountains in the background.
This is an oil painting done with a brush.  I was very tempted to use a palette knife in the foreground but wanted to keep a soft feeling throughout the painting.

Summer Stream
Image Size 6" x 6"
Oil

Fuchsia Fuchsias - Oil Painting

This is an oil painting that I actually used a brush to paint.  I've used only palette knives for oil paintings for the past year.  I've started out using brushes on a lot of paintings but after a couple of strokes, I've picked up my palette knife and dumped the brushes.  For this one, I felt I needed a little more control so that I could give the flowers a more delicate look.  It was a lot of fun and I think I'll pick up the brushes again soon.

Fuchsia Fuchsias
Image Size 6" x 6"
Oil

After The Storm - Pastels

I wanted to get in one more submission for the Virtual Paintout in Jersey this month and since it is an island, I wanted to do one that showed at least a little of the ocean.  I was really attracted to this dramatic sky.  I found it and went to the studio to paint it but it disappeared from my computer and it was hard to find again.  I went all of the way around the island thinking that it would be really easy to find this sky but with Google you can have sunny skies, travel 20 feet and have a sky like this.  Crazy!  Anyway, I finally found it and this time I sent the link to my e-mail so I wouldn't lose it again.

I thought that using pastels would be the best way to capture the look that I wanted with the sky.  I love how dark and ominous the sky is on the left and the blue sky peeking through on the right.  We don't often get dramatics skies like this here so it's fun to find it in Google to paint.

After The Storm
Image Size 6" x 9"
Pastels
Sold

Nicholas Simmons' Workshop

Last week I was lucky to take Nicholas Simmons' "Watercolor Unleashed" workshop in Idyllwild, CA.  For 3 days we got to experiment with watercolors and acrylics used thinly as watercolor.  It's amazing how many different results you can get by combining the two.  Here is my first demo piece using only acrylics.

Nick gave us reference pages of chinese writing, the Geisha and bamboo leaves and we were to come up with a composition using all three.  He showed us several fun techniques and the day flew by.  And no, I don't know what the writing says - I hope it's nothing bad.  This group of lettering just fit my paper the best and I really liked the shape of that top letter.

Our other project was done by copying a picture of a photo that he had abstracted and we used both transparent watercolor and thinned acrylics.  By using the combination of both, we were able to employ different techniques and get very cool results.  Here's the painting:

Because we were all using the same reference photo, there are about 15 versions of this floating around California but each one has a different look as each artist put their own spin on it.

This was such an informative workshop and so much fun.  I can't wait to try these techniques some more.  I was not really successful with a couple of them so I'm anxious to try again.

I had watched Nick's video before and learned so much from it that I didn't think I needed to take the workshop but I'm so glad I did because I learned so much more by having hands on practice with Nick giving feedback and that is something you can't get from a video.  If you ever have the chance to take one of his workshops, I would highly recommend it.  If not, get his video.  He's an amazing artist, has a unique contemporary painting style and is very generous in sharing his techniques.  He's also a really nice guy and kept us entertained with lots of stories.  Check out his website and you'll see how crazy creative his paintings are.

Nature's Fury - Watercolor

I had a lot of fun with this one.  This is another piece of that handmade paper that has the beautiful deckle edge.  I love this shape and the deckle edge adds an interesting little extra something to it.  I had to seal the paper because it has no sizing in it.  Once it's sealed, the paint sits on the surface of the paper. It's a different way of painting than on a regular piece of watercolor paper but it's really a fun change.

I wanted this to portray the energy and force of water as well as how dangerous it can be.  I think this painting shows the energy and force but maybe the colors are too pure and pretty to convey any sense of danger.  You know me and my love for pure colors.  I guess if I'd used blues with more gray and other dull colors that would have given it a more dangerous feeling but that wouldn't have been nearly as much fun to paint.

Nature's Fury
Image Size 21" Diameter
Watercolor