The Dakota Badlands

This weeks watercolor lesson at Riverside Arts Center tomorrow night is going to be a lesson in the gradated wash.  This painting, which I finished today, was inspired by a lesson in Joe Garcia's book "Mastering the Watercolor Wash."  First I did a painting exactly as he teaches in his book to learn the process - and then - because of royalty concerns, I painted my own version of his painting using the principles in his book, but doing my own composition and painting instead of copying his but using his principles.   

Boudoir Baby!

Today was Collage Thursday with the Muses again.  I did a collage on a piece of matboard 10" x 9" from an assortment of materials - papers, lace, screen, doilies, and newspaer + paint, Sharpie marker and Prismacolor colored pencils.

Sue's Rose #2

I started this painting yesterday afternoon and finished it this afternoon.  It is from a photograph taken by Sue Drennan which is on her Flickr site.  This is the 2nd painting I have done of her roses, thus the name of the painting.  This is painted on 140 lb. cold-pressed Canson Watercolor paper.

Chattanooga ChooChoo

New Version

Yesterday's Version

Today I reworked my collage from yesterday - adding a lot of watercolor washes to the surface and I like it much better.  I also renamed it!  It is no longer "Spirit Reflections" because I now think it looks like an old fashioned train engine!  I have renamed it "Chattanooga ChooChoo!"  It is approximately 9" x 15" and is on a piece of matboard.

Collaging With The Muses

The Group

 Donna Clark's "Order Out Of Chaos"

Barb Sailor's "Spirit Reflections"

Marsha Elliott's "Patriotic Man"

Patty Magoto's "Cross the Line" (Unfinished)

Rose Hawkins "Whales"

Rosie Wermert's "Dancing With Nature"

Theresa Deland's "Crossover"

Michelle Walker's "Northwoods Spirits" version 1

Version 2

Version 3

We had a collage workshop this afternoon in my basement studio with the "Muses" and two guests, Donna Clark and Marsha Elliott!  We had a great time creating collages with a multitude of items.  Michelle kept changing hers so I have included the various transformations to her collage!  It is 100 degrees outside so it was a great way to spend a HOT afternoon!!!

Abandoned

We have been on-the-go all day today - doctor appointment first for hubby then opposite direction to deliver paintings for judging into a show- then lunch - then pick up prescription at Wally world and then company for dinner - good friends so it was okay to serve them sloppy joes and they brought the potato salad.  So - tonight I painted this little watercolor sketch of my favorite subject - a vintage truck.  This is small - 4" x 6" and is painted on 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper! Oh - how I love to paint old trucks!!!  It makes me happy!

July Sunset in Shelby County

I painted this today from a photo I took last night on my way home from Riverside Art Center along I-75.  The sky was awesome - storm clouds moving through from west to east and the sun managing to peak through occasionally.  It is painted on 140 lb. Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper.

Home To Roost

I had a class tonight I taught at Riverside Art Center, so I painted this small watercolor tonight when I returned.  It is a wet-in-wet exercise on 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper and is 4" x 5".

Lotus Lines

Well - another experiment today - I collaged another old painting with white tissue paper today and then did a series of decorative line patterns on top of the collage with white acrylic ink and a nib pen.  There were some lessons learned in this project - first of all the white tissue paper doesn't collage well over a dark background - it just looks sort of faded out - secondly the white ink didn't cover too well on the acrylic medium!  Well - life is full of lessons - we won't learn if we don't experiment.  All in all, I sort of like the Zentangle like designs on this painting - it gives it sort of an Egyptian-like appeal.  But - I probably won't repeat this project, either!

Corner in German Village

I started this watercolor sketch on Thursday afternoon and am just now getting back to it this afternoon.  I did the drawing with brown acrylic ink and a nib pen and finished with watercolor wash.  This painting is 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper - 15" x 11"...is painted on 140 lb. cold-pressed Arches paper.  This painting is from a photograph I took late this spring in Columbus.

Guardian of the Riverfront

This is the scene I could see from my seat at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati when our family went to the Reds/Indians baseball game 2 weeks ago.  I decided to paint it in the style of John Lovett because I love his work - especially the callographic linear work.  This painting is 11" x 15" and is painted on Canson 100 cold-pressed watercolor paper.  Below is the original photograph I took and enlarged and then cropped so I could better see the church and buildings.

The Mohawk Revisited...

Not being happy with the original painting, (below,) I reworked it today!  I ended up adding some things and cropping out a LOT!  Hope you like it!!!

Throwing Shadows...

This is a painting of a photograph provided by Watercolor Workshop for it's July project. It was taken by Sue Drennan.  There were 3 to choose from and I chose this one because I love the deceivingly simple appearance.  Take it from me - it is not so simple to paint.    This was painted on 1/8 sheet of Canson cold-pressed 140 lb. watercolor paper.

A Special Painting for Jenny...

Well - to make this painting meaningful, I must explain that I collect elephants - not the real ones! :)  I have hundreds of them!  My dear granddaughter, Jenny, created a wonderful little elephant mug for me in her ceramic's class in college this year.  I treasure it!  So - I wanted to share this little gem with everyone so yesterday I painted a picture of it.  The painting is small - and is painted on 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper.

Thanks, Jenny - this is for you and I will treasure the elephant forever!  Love you!

A Village in Scandinavia

This is perhaps, my favorite of the projects involving the collaging of old paintings.  The painting is 7 1/2 " x 11" and is painted on 140 lb. Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper.  As in the previous collaged paintings, I applied dark brown acrylic ink with a nib pen on top of the collaged tissue paper.  I guess I like this one best because I like these colors so well.  I have one more old painting that I collaged with the tissue and I am handling the ink line with a much different approach - I will post it when it is finished...I have mixed emotions about the final one.

Holmes County Farm

This is a very old painting I had around - I did it about 10 years ago in a class and have used the theme several times.  I used the same process as I have for the last two posts - this one appears to be a little more illustrative, but I am happy with the soft colors in this one.

Iris in Mixed Media

I took another old watercolor today and used the same process as yesterday - watercolor plus collaged tissue paper plus acrylic ink line!  I wanted to see if it would work on a different subject - so here is a floral in the same process!  This painting is 15" X 11" and is painted on 140 lb. Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper.

Fingerlakes Farm Revisited

 Today I took an old painting out of the "archives" and collaged white tissue paper over the surface.  Then I did an ink drawing over the painting using a nib pen and dark brown acrylic ink.  The collaged tissue paper gives the painting a misty effect which I like.  The painting is  11" x 15" and is on 140 lb. Arches cold-pressed watercolor paper.