Pears on Parade

I have been trying to finish some of the paintings I have had sitting around my studio for several years.  This painting was started 3 years ago in a class I was teaching at Riverside Arts Center in Wapakoneta, Ohio.  I always have 2 paintings when teaching - one I do ahead as an example and the other I do along with the students demonstrating techniques.  This was the one I did along with the students - it was unfinished and sitting along the wall in my studio.  I worked on it yesterday and for a while this afternoon and now declare it finished!  The finished size is 11" x 14" and is painted on a piece of watercolor paper which was covered with thick gesso and then stamped with rubberized shelf paper to give it texture - which you can see in the picture.  Of course, the watercolor does not soak into the gesso and lays on the top and in the textural areas. It gives the watercolors a totally different effect and it has to be sprayed with acrylic spray to make the colors permanent.

By the way - you may wonder if the paintings are identical - the answer is absolutely not - it is impossible to do 2 paintings the same - even if you use the same drawing... I am still trying to convince the students to do their own drawings and sometimes I am successful - sometimes not!

Citrus and Crystal

I had an 8"x8" piece of clayboard which was meant primarily for oils or acrylics, but I wanted to use it for watercolor.  I went ahead and did my drawing on the clayboard and then put a very thin coat of acrylic gesso over the drawing.  It was so thin, that I could still see my drawing through it.

Painting on gesso is a lot like painting on YUPO paper - the paint lays on top of the gesso and can be lifted very easily back to white.  That was the challenge in this painting - I had to be very careful not to work the paint too much because then I would lift to the surface of the gesso/clayboard.  It is also very difficult to get darks, which in this painting, was a major compositional element.  It will have to be sprayed with a fixativ or acrylic spray because the paint will lift if a drop of moisture would fall on it.  I did touch some white acrylic to the left side of the bowl because I failed to save my whites there.

This is painted  from a photo from the Wet Canvas Reference Library.

Riverside Arts Center Intermediate Watercolor Students

Introducing my wonderful painters from the intermediate watercolor class for the spring session at Riverside Arts Center in Wapakoneta, Ohio. We had our last spring session last night.  We did 5 paintings in the 6   sessions. which are held on Monday evenings from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.  Our number was down this spring, but energy and talent were high - as you can see, the three painters out-did themselves.  Some projects still have to be finished, which they will do on their own. The quality of their work was high, as you can see.  Congratulations Painters!!!   From left, they are: Patricia Crawford; Dave McNeal; and Cindy Staples.

Built Ford Tough

Well....YES!  I have painted another old truck!  I know...I am obsessed with them.  This painting of an old Ford truck, was painted as the example for a class I am teaching at Riverside Arts Center in Wapakoneta, Ohio.  Unfortunately, I used an old piece of watercolor paper - Strathmore - which doesn't hold up to the abuse I usually put paper through.  It got pebbles and washy looking right away.  The only redeeming factor was that the subject was an old truck, so it could look abused! :)

Two Flutes With Five Pears

This painting was created in watercolor for the May Project of the Watercolor Workshop yahoo group "all paint from one photo."  The photo was provided by member Jane James.

This painting is 11" x 13"  and is painted on 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold-pressed watercolor paper.  I drew it free hand from the photograph and it was painted mostly wet-on-dry in a very controlled manner because I wanted it to be realistic and depict the reflections in the glass and the light on the fruit.  I also wanted to show how shadows also have many colors in them - they are just not grey.  This was a challenge, but was very rewarding to paint.

Corrie's Poppies

I finished this painting this afternoon.  It was a painting I had my intermediate watercolor students do at Riverside Arts Center in Wapakoneta, Ohio.  It was a challenge for the students but they did very well.  I will post their results as soon as they finish and I get them photographed.

This painting is from a photograph by Corrie Scott who is a photographer and artist. She generously gave me permission to use her photograph as a source for my painting. Thank you, Corrie!

This painting is 14" x 11" and is painted on 140 lb. cold-pressed Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper.

A Quick Study of a Field in Shelby County

The spring skies were beautiful over the still empty fields in our area this afternoon.  There were several scattered showers moving through and the sun was behind me, so there was golden light on the trees and the field.  This scene is very typical of the area where I live so this probably explains why I love to paint old barns, trucks, and buildings and why, when I want a change, I go to photos taken elsewhere by friends and websites with photos for artists, like http://www.paintmyphoto.com/.

Muses (from left:) Theresa, Rose, Pamela, Barb, Patty, Theresa and Rosie

Thursday the Muses met at Cloud Nine Coffee Shop in Wapakoneta, Ohio to celebrate the hanging of the photography show of Pamela Baker - one of our members.  We viewed the wonderful show and then had a great lunch with lots of  "important" conversation.  Below is a picture of Pamela next to her photograph of the Wapa Theater in Wapakoneta, which, by the way was sold that day...congrats to Pamela!

Pamela Baker
http://www.bakercreekdesigns.com/