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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

Buck in the wild

Buck in the wild 

watercolor 

7.9x7.9 

$130 

The pet friend of the day

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

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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

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 .