The Squadron

I checked with my knowledgeable friend, Google, to see what a group of Pelicans is called.  One of the names is a "squadron" which seems like a fitting description.   They are ready to launch an attack as they fly close to the water looking for a quick meal.

I love watching them skim the water as the waves are crashing.  Even though they are large, clumsy looking birds while on land, they are very graceful in flight.  These are brown pelicans, which are prevalent in Mexico on the Pacific side.

This was a challenging painting because of the paper I used.  It is a piece of Lanaquarelle 150# watercolor paper that I've had for a very long time.  I've never heard that sizing in paper goes away over time but this certainly didn't seem to have any on it.  I've used other Lanaquarelle paper that was purchased in the past year and really liked it.
As soon as I put brush to this paper, I knew it was going to be a hard surface for painting.  It absorbed the paint immediately like a blotter.  I was tempted to throw it out but it was the only paper I had with me (I was out of town) so I continued and eventually enjoying working on it.  One of the problems was that the paint kept absorbing into the paper and was pretty pale when it dried.  The back of the paper looks like it was painted also because the paint bled through.

I don't think this would ever be a favorite paper but it was interesting to have the paper completely soaked and apply paint and not have it spread.  I think working on surfaces that challenge my usual way of working is a good exercise.   But...next week I will paint on a less stressful surface.  : )

The Squadron
Image Size 11" x 15"
Watercolor

Orange Lilies

Orange has never been my favorite color.  In fact, it's my least favorite color.  So....why did I paint these flowers orange?

This was drawn a long time ago.  I don't even remember drawing it and don't know what photos I used as reference.  This paper was attached to one of my watercolor blocks and I wanted to paint it before I cut it off so that the paper would stay flat, which is the whole purpose of having a watercolor block.  I wasn't that motivated to work on it and I didn't want to paint white or pink lilies again so I guess that's why I decided to paint them orange.

The orange paint I usually use, mostly in mixtures so that it's not really orange, is Cadmium Orange.  After painting watercolors for 20 years, that tube of paint is finally gone.  : )  The only other orange I have is called Brilliant Orange, which is made by Holbein.  It's a nice clear color but but it isn't a very strong color.  I had to use this almost straight from the tube to get this much color.

This wasn't one of my favorite paintings to work on but the good news is that my watercolor block is now ready for a new project.

Orange Lilies
Image Size 12" x 16"
Watercolor

Foggy Morning

This is my first attempt at painting a foggy subject.  I'm not sure that I'm happy with the result but it was fun to try.  The photo from which I worked was taken by my husband when he was visiting Oregon.  It had much less color than this but that lack of color wasn't reading well in the painting so I pushed it a little more.  This is painted on Ampersand Aquabord.  It's a fun surface that makes it easy to lift paint, which was perfect for this one.

Foggy Morning
Image size 6"x 6"
Watercolor

Cool and Cloudy

We don't usually have dramatic looking skies here in Southern California.  Most of our days are sunny and when we do get rain, we rarely get really cool looking clouds.  I have taken a lot of cloud pictures as I've traveled and now I want to do a series of paintings featuring the sky as the focal point.

Today is a rainy day (one of the few we've had this year) so it seems appropriate to post this painting.  Of course, our sky is just gray, but I can pretend that it looks like this one.  I'm just really happy that we are getting some much needed rain.  

This is painted on 300# Arches cold press paper.  I'm going to have to crop some of the top because of that annoying watermark that they use on their paper.  It's so maddening!  I do like the way this paper works for wet into wet painting though.  I soaked it and then played with the sky until I was happy with the result.  Then I let it dry before painting the ground and trees.  That small area was painted wet into wet also.

Cool and Cloudy

Image size 8" x 30"

Watercolor

Koi

I know, this doesn't have a very creative name but I get tired of naming paintings and I just wasn't feeling particularly creative today so "Koi" was the best I could do.  The inspiration for this painting was a long, skinny piece of plexiglass that I have that I thought I could use for framing so I cut a piece of paper from my watercolor paper roll and decided that Koi would be a fun subject for this long orientation.

My plexi is 48" long and this paper is 44" long which would allow for a mat when I frame it but I think I will cut it down a little bit so that I can use a standard size mat (32" x 40").  I could buy a 40" x 60" mat but I think this painting could use a little cropping so I'll do that instead.

I haven't painted Koi for awhile so it was fun to get back to one of my favorite subjects.  Doing multiple glazes on very wet paper gave some really nice effects.  This painting has a soft, blurry look which is very different from how my paintings usually look and I'm really happy with the result.

Koi
Image Size 44" x 13"
Watercolor

Crash

This is my first attempt painting a wave using watercolors.  I was excited to try it and I liked the format of this piece of watercolor paper that I had already torn in half (11" x 30") that I was planning to use for another project.  It is Arches 300# cold press paper.
The right side of the paper is a bit smoother than the wrong side which I would have liked to use, but I used the wrong side because I didn't want the huge water mark that Arches paper has to show in the painting.  That has ruined many of my paintings.  I still have a lot of Arches paper which I will use until it is gone, but it is no longer my favorite.

Before starting this painting, I saturated the paper so that I could get some interesting soft edges but had forgotten how much the paint moves on this heavy paper when it's really wet.  I intended to paint this using only transparent watercolors and didn't want to have the really hard edges that are created from using resist, but had forgotten how much the paint moves on this heavy paper and I lost a lot of my whites.  I used white gouache for the edges of the waves and some of the foam area.

I'm excited to try more of these wave paintings using watercolors.  I think this has a more luminous feeling that the ones I've painted in oils.

Crash
Image Size 11" x 30
Watercolor

Wild Wave

Here's another wave painting.  I took lots of pictures of waves while we were in Mexico and I plan to paint a series of them using different mediums and in different sizes.  This one is oil and is 5" x 7".  With summer coming, these paintings are getting me in the mood for warmer weather and longer days.  I hope they have the same effect for those of you that are in colder parts of the country.

Wild Wave
Image Size 5" x 7"
Oil

Beach Day

I'm playing with the palette knife again.  We just got back from Mexico and I'm already missing it.  These colorful umbrellas dot the beaches there and make every day feel like a holiday.

I primed the panel with bright orange and let bits of it peek through the colors to add some sparkle.

Beach Day
Image size 6" x 6"
Oil

Red,Red,Red

I've always like the way radishes look all bundled together in the market with those squiggly roots.  Finally, I decided to paint them.  I'm not really a fan of having radishes in my salads (or any other part of my meals)  but I tried to make them look delicious anyway.

I found out that my banner design didn't make the cut but it was fun to try and I look forward to next year's competition.

Red, Red, Red
Image Size 5" x 7"
Oil

Freesias

Here's a small watercolor sketch done on TerraSkin.  I haven't worked on this surface for awhile and am happy to be back to it.  It's such a great paper having a lot of the properties of Yupo but the lifting abilities are a bit different.
This photo doesn't really show the painting off very well.  It is brighter and the flowers aren't washed out like they show here. I used a different camera than usual and it "blahed" everything out a bit.

Freesias
Image size 4.5" x 7.5"
Watercolor on TerraSkin