Sunday, August 31, 2014

Singing in a high key


Singing in  a high key 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9
$140 
My goal here was to paint in a higher key. Starting with a mid-value and moving up from there. Below you can see all the value test dabs I tried.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Nora goes to school 2


Nora goes to school 2 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$140
I found the value shapes easier on this one.

Nora goes to school


Nora goes to school 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$140 

This week students went back to school. Many parents took pictures of the event. This one won my heart. 

What I have learned so far : 
paint  fearlessly

Friday, August 29, 2014

Oreo


Oreo 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$140 
This is the Jo Mackenzie watercolor pet friend of the day. His name is Oreo. 
His owner is a wonderful photographer so I had a great picture to work from .

What I have learned so far : 
Sometimes from experience you have to feel the temperature of a shape and trust you have it right.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Fugitive Reds?


Roses on a Table 
watercolor 
7x11 
$130

This is my question of the day. How do you decide how dark to make your reds when they are fugitive and will fade in an hour or two? I am completely flummoxed by this dilemma. 

What I have learned so far
The value changes within a flower are not as large as they appear to be.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Two roses in a vase


Two roses in a vase
watercolor 
11x7
$150 

The goal here was to establish value relationships using minimal strokes. I have lots of test dabs to choose from. It was really helpful to slow down and select carefully.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Ferris in three steps

Ferris 
watercolor 
11x14 inches 
$150
This is the pet friend of the day. 

Step two putting in the mid-tones. You can see all my test dabs on the left


Step one . Establishing the dark underlying patterns


Monday, August 25, 2014

The Sky Hole Challenge


the sky hole challenge
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$140
This is my response to the Daily Paintworks challenge this week. The challenge was to paint this clump of trees making sure that space was left for sky to be seen between the leaves.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

The Three steps to paint Tory


Tory 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$140 
This is our pet friend of the day. The final step of the process 

Tory Step two putting in the mid-tone value shapes. 

Tory...Step one putting in the underlying darkest value shapes.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

A white rose


A white rose 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$150
This is a really high key rose. I want to see if I can stay in the upper keys for a bit.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

A value challenge


My own value challenge 
watercolor
7.9x7.9 
$100
The challenge here was to paint the pears according to their corresponding values and to ignore local color. 
I think it works.

Not a painting day


This is not a painting day . We have a social day scheduled. I may try to sneak in a pet friend painting instead of taking a nap but I have feeling my studio will be off limits today.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

My Front Garden


My Front Garden 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$150
This is my front garden which is exploding with red and orange things at the moment. 

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Buck in the wild


Buck in the wild 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$130 
The pet friend of the day

Monday, August 18, 2014

The Birthday Girl


The Birthday Girl 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9  
$130


This photograph was taken by Els Manning . I think I will enter this in the Daily Paintworks Candle Challenge

Sunday, August 17, 2014

The Sky is Huge


The Sky is Huge 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$140 
I call this The Sky is Huge. I mean really it is endless, enormous and so full of shapes and textures.
Should I have included the power lines? My sense of pattern made me do it.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

A pair of chairs


A pair of chairs
7.9x7.9 
watercolor
$130

I thought this would be so simple and it turned out to be super hard to find the value shapes. I think it is because there were hardly any light patterns to follow. 

Friday, August 15, 2014

Maine Vacation House

sold
Maine Vacation house 
watercolor 
11x7 
$130 
I took some serious liberties with color but not value on this one.

Dahlia in depth


Dahlia in Depth 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$130 
I needed to really push the value range to get depth here. I also neutralized the background so the colors would be more vivid.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Summers end


Summers End 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$130 
I know there is still lots of summer left but the sunflowers are a sign that Fall is nearby. This is from a photograph provided by Lloyd . He has the ability to have the birds or bees eye view.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Heather is toast


Heather is toast 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$130 
I don't want to sound mean but this Heather challenge has taken over my life but I like this one . This is where I wanted to get to when I first started. It was a battle but Heather is toast and I feel great about it. 

Monday, August 11, 2014

Heather challenge number 2


Heather Challenge number 2
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$130
I had to try it again because I ever give up anything until there are claw marks all over it.

The Heather challenge


The Heather Challenge 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$130 
This week the Daily Paintworks challenge is to paint this picture of Heather. I put the first two steps below. This one was hard . I think I got the values right but I lost some color clarity that I really want. So I will probably try it again. 
Step two establishing mid-tones

Step one- Establishing dark NOTAN pattern.


Sunday, August 10, 2014

Sunday


Zinnia for Sunday 
watercolor 
7.9x7.9 
$130 

Zinnias are architecturally challenging. 

Zinnia for Sunday step one. Establishing the darkest elements and underlying NOTAN patterns.


An outstanding field in August .