Painting Hydrangeas - July 17, 2014

"Pink Hydrangeas" - Watercolor - July 2014

Watercolor - I've been in a watercolor mood the last week.    I think because I was painting pastel and hit a couple of snags and hated everything I painted.   Sometimes it just helps me to back away and just have fun trying something new.   I love the loose look you can get with watercolor.   I guess in all my painting I'm more of a loose, impressionistic painter.     I love muted colors and soft shapes.     This one is part of my watercolor practice.  I really like letting the colors combine.   I probably did 4-5 different loose paintings - painting over the original each time.    Just experimenting but I like the effect.  

More Watercolor Practice - July 15, 2014

"Botanical Study" - Watercolor - July 2014

 

Watercolor Diversion - Occasionally you just need a break from your primary medium.  Mine is pastel but I've always wanted to learn watercolor.   I've started practicing with some small flower pieces.    I may try pen and watercolor.  I've seen some really great pen sketches that were painted with watercolor.   Fun to try something new.   

Try...Try...Try...Gives New Meaning to "If at first you don't suceed." - July 14, 2014

"Spring Flowers 2" - Watercolor - July 2014

"Flower Study" - Watercolor - July 2014

Watercolor Practice -   Painting with watercolor is like dancing with a partner.   It has an active part in the painting.    I painted a flower study several years go.   It was fluid and loose and I loved it.    I've been trying ever since to get to that same experience without success.    I just keep try, try, trying.     

If at first you don't suceed....Try...Try...Again! - July 7, 2014

"Spring Flowers" - Watercolor - 8x10 - July 2014

"Spring Flowers" was an accident.   I had attended a workshop and was painting a barn on a large piece of paper.   The first one I loved and it's posted in June 2014.   But when I got home and was working with the one inch brush on the second piece, I hated it.   I also hate to waste paper so I decided to turn it over and do some practice painting on the back.   This flower study is one I had done before.   I still need to go back with a smaller brush and add just a few details and darken the middle but overall I was pleased with it.   I love muted colors and more of an impressionistic feel.   This one I will probably finish and frame.    The one below "Flowers" was done in June 2012 from the same study.    It was a favorite at my Art Show and was one of the first to sell.   Guess simpler is better.   I have to agree I loved "Flowers" too.   A project I need to do one day is to drag out all my old "discarded" paintings and do some rework on them.   There might just be a painting there waiting to be discovered!!

"Flowers" - Watercolor - 5x7 - June 2012

Painting your Front Yard - July 2014

"Morning Flowers" - Pastel - 9x12 - July 2014

 

Painting Your Front Yard - Sometimes the most beautiful things are right under your nose.   One of my favorite things to do each morning is to sit and have a cup of coffee and look out over my flower garden.   This unfortunately does not do the flower bed justice.   Have to work on fewer strokes. 

Reminder of the Painting Journey - 2010 to 2014

"Jekyll Island Club Hotel" - Pastel - 9x12 - June 2014

"Jekyll Island Club Hotel I" - Pastel - 9x12 - April 2010

 

Reminder of the Painting Journey -  Since I started painting in 2010, I have kept photos of all my paintings.   The good, bad and ugly alike have been saved to my "All Paintings" file.   I haven't looked back in a while but as I painted the Jekyll Island Club Hotel, I was reminded that it was one of the first images I ever painted.    The paintings above represent a journey from April 2010 - June 2014.   While there are many, many things I am still working on today, I am happy with the journey.   There has been the natural benefit of improving from painting #17 to painting # 192 but there is also the personal joy of painting and reliving experiences.   An added benefit has been the new friends I've made and the "new" way of looking at the world through painting.    

Vacation Trips Make for Great Reference Photos - Jekyll Island, GA

"Sunny Bay" - Pastel - 9x12 - June 2014 - Jekyll Island, GA

Vacation Trips Make for Great Reference Photos -    Several years ago I attended a Road Scholar Watercolor Workshop on Jekyll Island.   It was my first extensive experience with watercolor and we painted lots of beach scenes.   While I was there I stayed at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.   The hotel has lots of grounds and behind the hotel I found this lovely spot in the inland waterway.  It's taken me a while to get back to some of those photos, but I love this scene.   It's a reminder of the quiet calm of the island in the evening.