Wild Spray

Well, this was a fun experiment!  I have a lot of pieces of plexiglass that are long and narrow that wouldn't work for framing my watercolor paintings but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them because they seemed like they could be used for something.

I decided to try painting one side with acrylic and use the unpainted side as the 'glass' to protect the painting when framed.  To have this work, I had to paint "backwards", meaning that the details in the foreground of the picture needed to be painted first, which was the spray and foam, and progress toward the colors behind.

I wasn't expecting much but I'm really happy with the result.  I'm sure I will be trying this technique again.

Wild Spray
Image size 8.5" x 29"
Acrylic on Plexiglass

Mixed Media Waterlilies

This started out as an interesting experiment.  Several other watercolor artists and I get together once a month to paint and this month we decided to play musical easels.  We each arrived with a drawing on a quarter sheet of watercolor paper.  We started painting on our own painting and every 10 minutes or so we would rotate to the next painting.  We didn't look at the photo references so we didn't know what the original artist intended.  We just added whatever we felt the painting needed.

Unfortunately for my painting, I chose a piece of paper that had lost its sizing….again.  I wonder how many more pieces of bad watercolor paper I have in my stockpile.  Anyway, everyone was challenged when working on my painting because the paint just soaked in and couldn't be blended or controlled.

After we decided that all of the paintings were finished as much as they could be, I covered my painting with gesso using the technique that I learned from Kathleen Conover.  I knew that the paper needed to be sealed before the painting could move forward.  After the gesso dried, I proceeded to overwork the poor painting to the point of no return.

This will go in my pile of non-successful paintings but I know that if the paper had been normal, it would have been a very cool painting created by my very talented friends.

Here is how it looked before I added the gesso and gobs of paint:

It looks better in this photo than I remember it looking in person.  It was pretty washed out as I recall.

Here are the other paintings that we worked on during our painting day.

Peggy Moore's painting

Peggy Minger-McCants' painting

Sue Foat's painting

Susan Gale's painting

Usually when we get together each month, we each bring paintings that we are working on and we share our opinions and try to help and encourage each other.  It was fun to pick a project that we could do together and we all really enjoyed the experience.

I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and thank all of you that support me by visiting my blog and commenting on my paintings.  It means a lot to me.

Colimilla Dock

The reference photo for this was taken in Colimilla, Mexico.  I loved the way the sun bleached out the wood and cast the interesting shadow.  I've painted this dock before but it had more detail in the painting.

Colimilla Dock
image size 15" x 22"
Watercolor

Here is the first painting of this dock:

This one was done as a poured watercolor where I applied resist, poured paint, applied more resist, poured paint, etc.  It gives a totally different look and, of course, this first painting has a lot more going on in it.

Palm Trio

It's always relaxing to think of palm trees on a secluded beach during cold weather.   I know the weather we are having isn't considered to be cold by most standards but I'm freezing!  Painting this scene made me feel warmer.

The craziness of the holiday season has kept me from painting very much but I was able to finish this small oil this week.  Hopefully, I will be able to paint more this coming week.

Palm Trio
Image size 6" x 12"
Oil

Autumn Sky

Here's a small study of clouds.  I want to paint a series of cloudy skies using different mediums.  I think I will probably do some large ones in oil but I thought I would start small.  I want the sky to be the center of attention so I just painted a sliver of ground with some loosely painted trees changing color.

Autumn Sky
Image Size 4.5" x 11"
Watercolor

Tuscan Sky

This is the third painting that I've done from the same photo.  I'm happiest with this version.  Now maybe I can put that photo away for awhile.  The first two that I did were 6" x 6" and this one is 8" x 10".  All three are oils.  Here is the first one I painted:

Breaking Through the Clouds

And here is the second painting:

Breaking Through

As you can see, I'm not very creative with my titles.  Also, I must have taken a lot of artistic license with each one because the skies are totally different and in the one above, I must not have been liking those Italian cypress trees.

Anyway, I'll leave it to you to decide which one you like the best and I will try to come up with a more original painting next week.

Tuscan Sky

Image Size 8" x 10"

Oil

TerraSkin

I'm so excited!  One of my TerraSkin paintings has been chosen to be on the cover of the TerraSkin Multi Media pads of paper along with the work of three other artists.  Mine is the one in the lower left hand corner that says "Liquid Acrylics" on it.  I also found out that TerraSkin is available through Amazon as well as on Etsy and at Cheap Joe's.   I've listed the links below in case you are interested in trying this stone 'paper'.

Amazon

Etsy

Cheap Joe's

Foxgloves

Foxgloves are such cool flowers.  I've never grown them but I admire them in other gardens.  In my photo reference,  I liked how the top flowers had a lot of yellow in them and the lower flowers were much cooler.  I don't think this photo really shows that very well but the color change is there.

I used Fabriano Artistico paper for this painting and was disappointed in how the paper pilled when I tried to lift paint.  It's definitely not the workhorse that I'm used to when using Arches paper.  It does give a very soft, velvety looking finish though and it is easy to lift the paint so I guess I will use it again.

Foxgloves
Image size 22" x 11"

Pink Plumerias on TerraSkin

Here is another painting done on TerraSkin.  I drew this a long time ago on both TerraSkin and regular watercolor paper because I wanted to see how I could change the technique on the different supports.  They will probably end up looking very similar but I'm hoping to do the next one in a very loose, watery style with white and yellow flowers.  We'll see if I can manage to let go of my controlling nature and let the paint do what it wants to do.  Obviously, I didn't let loose on this one.  : )

Pink Plumerias on TerraSkin
Image size 18" x 20"
Watercolor

After The Break

I love painting waves, especially in watercolor.  The photo that I used as a reference for this painting has such a sense of power that I knew I had to try to paint it.  This is a pretty large painting.  It is a full sheet of watercolor paper which is 22" x 30".  It is painted using only transparent watercolor.  The whites are the white of the paper.

Most of this was painted on a very wet piece of paper but I was careful to allow for the color spreading and was able to save the white areas.  I used Fabriano Artistico 140# paper because it was the only paper I had that was really white.  It was easy to work on but it isn't as strong as some other papers that I've used.

After The Break
Image Size 22" x 30"
Watercolor