Before everything wilted and fell off, I decided to do a second painting of the Peruvian lilies by themselves!
The Peruvian Lilies demanded a solo portrait!
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Category Archives: Watercolor
Another new watercolor ~~ Los Angeles Palm with golden necklace!
I love palm trees and have had to practice quite a bit in order to capture a semblance of one. I’ve been procrastinating on this beauty for a number of years — based on a photo I took in LA.
My DC Place ~~ new watercolor
Here’s a new watercolor based on a photo I took while driving along Massachusetts Avenue in DC a couple of years ago. It captures part of our capital’s essence. Painting it was an imperative.
I used a limited palette of 2 reds, 2 blues, and 2 yellows, plus black.
A Bevy of Spring Tulips in Two Media ~~ Digital (iPad) and Watercolor.
We’ve got a fabulous clump of red native tulips nestled under a crepe myrtle tree in our front yard. It’s one of the first shows every Spring and it’s hard to beat. I did a digital portrait of them several years ago on the iPad using the Art Rage app and painted them again in watercolor a few days ago. Thought you’d enjoy comparing them!
Waterfall Memories
Came across an old photo I took years ago of Multnomah Falls outside of Portland. Since I’ve been practicing my watercolor skills lately, I decided to give it a go.
Informal Watercolor Sketch of Granddaughter
My 3-year old granddaughter and I were painting together during a recent sleepover. She was very engrossed in her art, studiously dragging her wet brush through EVERY block of color before applying the resulting ‘mud’ to her paper. Rather than fret about the growing mess on the palette I decided to paint a quick sketch of her as I looked down on her efforts. Did another quickie the following day from a different angle; different clothes made her look older. . . .
Goin’ for It! Watercolor on paper. 8″ x 10″ 
My sweet studious little model . . .
Quick Watercolor of African Violets
I did a study of some of my African violets yesterday, using a ‘split primary’ color palette (warm and cool red, yellow and blue tube colors + white). I found it virtually impossible to capture the near neon magenta of the flowers, but did my best with what I had, rather than digging for another tube color.
Fun with Compositions
Our most recent Ed Praybe session called for considering types of compositions ~~ various ways to position the components of the painting so as to produce an intended effect on the viewer. We each selected two objects and then experimented moving them around to see how many different ‘stable’ or ‘dynamic’ compositions we could produce. We then painted one of them, using our primary triad of yellow, red and blue.
For homework, we had to paint three objects into a stable composition and then reposition them and paint a dynamic composition. Still using the primary triad color scheme.
Watercolor experiments with the primary colors
Recently our class with Ed Praybe focused on painting a wide range of hues using only 3 colors – a ‘primary triad’ of red, yellow and blue. As you may remember, I’ve used such severely limited palettes many times, but only in oil paints so far. It was fun to try it with watercolors.
We did a test painting, blending the three colors before applying them to the paper. Our homework was to paint three versions of a still life setup: one monochrome to analyze the value (light and dark) structure of the scene; a second in which we mixed the colors before applying them to the paper; and a third in which we applied single color washes; let them dry completely, and then painted additional single color washes on top. This last technique creates new colors as the several layers combine optically.
Test case, pre-mixng yellow, red & blue before painting. 7″ x 5″. 
The set-up for the series of paintings. Note how the water in the glass distorts the shape of the apple behind. Neat. 
1st version, a value study using only ultramarine blue. 5″ x7″. 
2d version, pre-mixing the primary colors before applying. 5″ x 7″. 
3rd version, applying successive washes of single colors to produce different colors. 5″ x 7″.
Cuba Memories ~~ Grandmother and her tubers. . . .
While on a trek to visit a tobacco farm in Cuba some years ago, I spied this diminutive lady trudging down the dusty road, clutching a load of huge tubers. I snapped a quick photo of her as she moved away and finally got around to painting her as homework for my watercolor class with Ed Praybe. Sweet memory.
