Lakeside Trees: 30-04-2015

Lakeside Trees

watercolor on paper

30-04-2015

Unhappy Woman with Turquoise Brows: 29-04-2015

Unhappy Woman with Turquoise Brows

watercolor on paper

29-04-2015

Tree of Life: 28-04-2015

Tree of Life

watercolor on paper

28-04-2015

Tree of Life copied from a visit to Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Kentucky. A peaceful, living history museum that I visited on Saturday.  

Beautiful Things: 27-04-2015

Beautiful Things

watercolor on paper

27-04-2015

A little saying that I like. I used salt on the background to give it some texture. The text is written with brush and watercolor.

New Colors: 22-04-2015

New Colors

M. Graham's Turquoise and Payne's Gray

watercolor on paper

22-04-2015

Bought these two new colors today along with a little scrubber brush and  

an X-Acto knife.

Go Tell It On the Mountain: 21-04-2015

Go Tell It On the Mountain

watercolor pencil on paper

21-04-2015

Same effort just cropped the photo a little differently.

Floribunda: 20-04-2015

Florabunda

watercolor on paper

20-04-2015

While I was waiting for my car's air conditioner to be recharged, I read with interest a book titled Watercolor Simplified by 

Pat Weaver. She has some good tips that I have not seen in other books of this kind. She spends a bit of time explaining composition, value, and drawing techniques.

This is my version of the floral arrangement on the cover of the book. 

Blooming Cacti: 19-04-2015

Blooming Cacti

watercolor on paper

19-04-2015

I learn something every time I put brush to paint to paper. I see on this one that the yellow should have gone down first and should be on the left side of the cacti as that is where the light is coming from. I could also paint some shadows and create a horizon so they aren't just floating in space.

I had this image in my mind during meditation this morning and wanted to create green cacti by putting the yellow on one side and the blue on the other and letting them mix in the middle.

For the background I just splashed down (wet into wet) purple, yellow, and red.

Out to Sea: 18-04-2015

Out to Sea

watercolor on paper

18-04-2015

This is the image on the cover of the book I am reading.

Blue Mountains ll: 17-04-2015

Blue Mountains ll

Watercolor on paper

17-04-2015

A version of yesterday's effort using watercolor paints instead of pencils.

Still dull!

Blue Mountains: 16-04-2015

Blue Mountains

watercolor pencil on paper

16-04-2015

I am going to try this another time using watercolor paints. It might turn out a little better.

I realize I get impatient when the scene doesn't jell like I see it in my mind.

Sunrise: 15-04-2015

Sunrise

watercolor on paper

15-04-2015

I started this and then lost interest. I may work on it some more. I could spend my next month's Art-A-Day project just 

'working' on works I have started and never finished or at the time thought were doomed.

Stained Glass: 14-04-2015

Stained Glass

watercolor pencil and pen on paper

14-04-2015

A friend asked me to show her some drawing techniques. We did some warm up exercises working with lines and ovals and hatching and scaling. Then we copied this stained glass pattern - freehand - from a book I had and played with watercolor pencils. This is the result.

We had a good time.

Poppy: 13-04-2015

Poppy

watercolor pencil on paper

13-04-2015

This is the painting from yesterday's sketch. I darkened some spots with the pencils afterward and added a little bit of detail. It may need some more work. I would like the flower to be a darker red but I also don't want to lose the white reflections. 

I will let it rest and see how it looks tomorrow.

Poppy (sketch): 12-04-2015

Poppy (sketch)

watercolor pencil on paper

12-04-2015

Just got this preliminary sketch down today. Will add water tomorrow and see how it turns out.

Spring Violets: 11-04-2015

Spring Violets

watercolor pencil on paper

11-04-2015

In memory of Bryan.

Leaf It Be:10-04-2015

Leaf It Be

watercolor pencil on paper

10-04-2015

Tweet: 09-04-2015

Tweet

watercolor pencil on paper

09-04-2015

Summer Tree: 08-04-2015

Summer Tree

Watercolor pencil and Sharpie

08-04-2015

Meditation Grid: 07-04-2015

Meditation Grid

Sharpie pens on paper

07-04-2015

Pirate: 06-04-2015

Pirate

watercolor and watercolor pencil on paper

06-04-2015

This was supposed to be a female portrait but when I finished I decided that 'she' looked more like a 'he'. I added the earring and made a pirate!

Grasses: 05-04-2015

Grasses

watercolor on paper

05-04-2015

Believe it or not, this began as study of a weeping cherry tree with pink blossoms. How did it end up as a clump of ornamental grasses on a pathway? It's what happens sometimes. I am not proud of this one but it gets posted here anyway. The good with the bad.

Flora, Goddess of Spring: 04-04-2015

Flora, Goddess of Spring

watercolor on (handmade) paper

04-04-2015

This is the result of the watercolor class this morning. The paper is handmade and practically did the work for me. We worked on facial proportions. She didn't start out to be a goddess but she looked like one to all of us in the class. 

A goddess will present herself!

This handmade paper is glorious to work on. Luci, the instructor, very generously gave it to me to use as she likes for me to paint on larger sheets of paper than I have. 

Dead Tree: 03-04-2015

Dead Tree

watercolor pencil and charcoal on paper

03-04-2015

Playing with the General Pencil watercolor pencils (they are great!) that I recently won. And one of the charcoal pencils that was in a sample pack. Burnished the charcoal with a spoon. I hate the dust.

Landscape: 02-04-2015

Landscape

watercolor on paper

02-04-2015

This was created in Tom Scott's watercolor class this morning. I cropped it on my phone camera trying to focus on the interesting bits. I am not sure I succeeded!

This is the full painting.

Les Fleurs: 01-04-2015

Les Fleurs

watercolor and ink on paper

01-04-2015

I haven't decided on a theme for April so today I just continued on with my abstract creations.