White Lilies on TerraSkin

I had such a good time painting this one.  This is an acrylic painting, but I've used the acrylic watered down like watercolors.  For me, this is my favorite way to use acrylics.  I just don't like the feeling of thick acrylic paint.  I always feel like I'm fighting with it.

The surface I used is Terraskin, that stone and resin 'paper' that I've used that is similar to Yupo.  I love the textures I was able to create in the background.  The reason I used acrylic paint instead of watercolor was because I wanted to use several layers of paint and I didn't want to lose the textured effect as I added more paint.

White Lilies on TerraSkin
Image Size 18" x 24"
Acrylic

Abutilon

I really dislike orange flowers so I'm not sure why I didn't change the color of these in this painting.   I still need to work on these a bit because I'm not sure that they are reading as abutilons, but the paint is too wet to get much detail at this point.  I won't add much more detail but I do want to add some to the one flower at the top that is facing us to make it more of a focal point.

Abutilon
Image Size 9" x 12"
Oil

Sunny Low Country

Deja vu?  Yes, this is the same scene as last week's painting, but this is how it really looked the day that I was there.  It was a beautiful, sunny day with lots of puffy clouds and the temperature was perfect.  I'm not sure which painting I like better.  They each have a very different feeling and it's fun to have the freedom to interpret a scene any way I want.  : )  Ah, we artists have such power!

Sunny Low Country
Image Size 6" X 6"
Oil

Stormy Low Country

In May, I visited some friends in Charleston, South Carolina and I painted this from one of the hundreds of photos I took while I was there.  Of course, in the photo, the sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue.  We went to a plantation which had really beautiful grounds and this was one of the views.  The day before, there was a tropical storm watch and a threat of a hurricane - all very exciting/scary so this is my artistic combination of the nice view and the stormy weather.   I think I will also paint the scene with the sun shining, as it is in the photo, later this week.

Charleston is such a beautiful city with such charming people.  I really had a wonderful time and I look forward to painting more of the local scenes and visiting there again some day.

Stormy Low Country
Image Size 6" x 6"
Oil

The Beach

On June 30th, I participated in a plein air workshop given through the Tustin Art League.  Kevin Davidson was the instructor and I really learned a lot.  Kevin is a wonderful artist (and instructor) that works in both oils and watercolor.  For his watercolors, he usually works on yupo paper and is truly a master at it.  He makes it look so effortless.  I find it very frustrating.

For this workshop, he painted in oils.  He did a demo for a little over an hour and then we worked on our own paintings with him giving us pointers.  I find plein air painting just as frustrating as trying to paint on yupo but I'm glad I took this workshop and it does get easier each time I paint on site.  It will never be my first choice in painting experiences because I have a very short attention span.  By the time I get set up I'm usually ready to leave.  Also, I enjoy my creature comforts of being in my studio, close to the kitchen and other facilities.  : )

I am really happy with how this little painting turned out which will probably make me sign up for the next plein air experience with a little less kicking and screaming.

The Beach
Image Size 6" x 6"
Oil

After The Rain

The photo from which this was painted was taken last summer in Burano, which is one of the islands around Venice, Italy.   My husband and I had been there about 10 years ago but it was cloudy then and I didn't get any pictures with sun and shadows so I was very excited to be able to go there again, this time with our kids, so that they could see Venice with its surrounding islands and so that I could get some better pictures.  Of course this time it was raining!  We took the ferry and went to Murano first (an island where glass blowing is common) and just as the ferry pulled up to Burano the sun came out!  Lucky me!

I was happy to see colorful umbrellas throughout the city hanging on the shutters to dry.  It added charm to an already charming place.  So it turns out that the rain was a good thing.  We almost waited until the next day to go because of the rain but it's a good thing we didn't or we wouldn't have seen Burano at all.  That day all of the people that worked in transportation were on strike.  No ferrys, no gondolas, no trash pick up either so I guess it wasn't only the transportation people on strike.

Burano is known for its beautiful lace.  I'm not much of a lace person but it's always interesting to see hand crafted items.  In Burano the buildings are all brightly painted.  The color of this building was turquoise but I changed it because I felt that bright color would take the focus away from the umbrellas - artistic license at work.

After the Rain
Image Size 22" x 22"
Watercolor

Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts seem to always get a bad rap so I've never felt the need to try them.  I was really intrigued when I saw the unique way they grow.  I never gave it any thought but if  I were asked how they grow I would have guessed that they grow close to the ground like a cabbage.

I was in Trader Joe's last November and saw the brussels sprouts for sale still attached to the stalks and decided they would be an interesting subject to paint.  When I took them up the the checkout, the cashier asked how I was going to prepare them and I said "Oh, I'm not going to eat them, I'm going to paint them".  He was appalled!  Then he asked me if I was going to at least compost them and I had to tell him no.  I felt so guilty as I left the store that I decided I would try to eat them even though I had negative feelings about them because I'd never met anyone who actually liked them.

I took lots of pictures of them to paint from since it usually takes me too long to paint something this detailed and I figured the only way these would have a chance of being tasty would be if they were really fresh.

To prepare them I cut them in half, tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them.  I must admit they were pretty tasty.  In fact, I had some again last night.  They probably won't become my favorite vegetable but I do like them.  If anyone has a good recipe for them, please share.  : )

This is a watercolor on 300# Arches rough.

Brussels Sprouts
Image Size 30" x 11"
Watercolor

Cactus Flower II

We had friends visiting this week so I didn't have a lot of time to paint.  Here is a watercolor sketch on Aquabord.  I really enjoy working on this surface so it was a fun project.  It's so easy to lift the paint from this surface.  I was able to lift the spikes on the cacti and the light areas in the flowers with no problem.

Cactus Flower
Image Size 6" x 6"
Watercolor

I received some great news this past week.  My painting, "Gone...Again" has been accepted into the San Diego Watercolor Society's 32nd Annual International Juried Exhibition.  To say I'm excited would be an understatement!  Here's a photo of that painting:

Murky Waters

I painted this from a photo that I took in La Manzanilla, Mexico at a crocodile farm.  I wanted to have 'crocodile' in the name but since there are no crocodiles in the painting, I thought it probably wouldn't make much sense.

The crododiles in the farm looked fake.  They were so large and most of them didn't move until food was thrown to them.  They looked like they were made out of cement!  I didn't know that they could grow that large.  I've heard that they can move very quickly but these guys were very lethargic since they really didn't have to do anything to get food.  Crazy humans throw food to them all day - and yes, we were some of the crazy humans feeding them.  There was a place at the entrance selling frozen fish parts.  Watching them eat was gross and fascinating at the same time.  Ugh!  They sure are ugly and evil looking.

Anyway, in these murky waters, you can be sure that those creatures hide just below the surface.

Murky Waters
Image Size 22" x 30"
Watercolor

Silky Sunflowers

Here is the last of the silk paintings that I had started to use when I did the demo at Chemers Gallery back in April.  I painted a silk painting using these sunflowers several years ago but used a different background and border.  I like my first one better.  I meant for the blue border in this to be much darker and it is darker than it looks in this picture but not as dark as I wanted.  I just wasn't paying attention I guess.

Anyway, now I'll get back to my more serious paintings.  I have a few drawing done for some watercolor paintings so I'm excited to work on them.  I've gotten silk painting out of my system for now.

Here is the original sunflower silk painting which sold several years ago.

Silky Sunflowers
Image Size 17" x 17"
Silk dyes on silk