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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Tag Archives: watercolor painting
New Watercolor — Face off: Peruvian Lilies vs Mountain Laurel Buds
Face Off — Peruvian Lilies vs mountain Laurel Buds. Watercolor on paper. 9” x 9”.
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.
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.
Pink ballerina and blue attendants
Here’s a quick watercolor done on some super soft and absorbent handmade paper I had laying around. It’s based on a photo of some darling little girls dancing at their school’s holiday production. It only took a couple of minutes and it was a ton of fun!
Some Scary Selfies
Took an online workshop recently from Zoey Frank ~~ ‘self-portraits from observation’. It was weeks long – with almost 300 students (critiqued by five or six assistants). I didn’t get around to finishing the one self-portrait I started – just made a couple of smaller studies . . . before giving up in boredom at my composition.
1st composition – too cutsie by half (or two-thirds). Oil on Arches Huile paper. 6″ x 8″. 
2d composition. oil on Arches Huile paper. 6″ x 8″. 
Enlargement of 2d composition, 1st pass. Oil on linen panel. 16″ x 20″.. 
Documenting what I was ‘observing’ in 2d composition. 
Second pass on the enlarged painting. Not sure if/when I’ll do more.composition, first pass. oil on linen panel. 16″x20″.
I’m now taking a watercolor class with Ed Praybe. He tasked us with doing THREE monochromatic self-portraits during one week – facing front & diagonally to each side. Under the short and specific deadline, I produced these three. Warning – it’s impossible to smile AND paint simultaneously, but . . . here they are anyway.
