On Guard

"On Guard" 22" x 15" private collection

Handsome

"Handsome" 15" x 15"

ROOSTER WEEK!

This week I'll post a variety of feathered friends and I'll

let them speak for themselves...but please feel free to comment!

Seasonal Colors

"Seasonal Colors" 15" x 11"

Summer's bounty on a table. Someone in

one of my classes once noted that alot of

my paintings have a dark upper corner. This

is by no means intentional and I'm sure it's just

subconscious to make the composition work.

In this piece I think it works well to balance out the

white of the foreground and the daisies in the bouquets.

Golden Group

"Golden Group" 15" x 22"

Tulips and foliage...soon they will be poking their heads through

the ground. Spring will spring forth. This photo is a little dark and

the painting itself is brighter, but you get the idea. I tried in the

shadows to use the complement of yellow and go towards the

violet side of the spectrum. Green foliage doesn't always mean

"green"...mix in brown, blue, orange etc..

Clouds over Champlain

"Clouds over Champlain" 11" x 15"

Clouds rising up from the horizon line...like there was a

storm brewing. Possibly, but I don't remember...I don't

think it rained that day after I painted this. A typical summer

afternoon with fluffy clouds and blue skies peeking through.

Here's looking at you

"Here's looking at you" Giclee print

This little guy is available as a limited edition Giclee print.

Matted with acid free board. I also found the company online

that licensed him for a needlepoint kit. Click the link to check that

out...He is $50.00 plus S&H. The size is 11" x 11" matted and the

image size is 6.5" x 6.5". What a flirty little rascal!

Plums, petals and pears

"Plums, Petals and Pears" 22" x 15"

I had a good time painting this piece...especially

the strong shadows under the plums and pears.

I enjoy the rich color of plums and find I don't paint

them often enough. I use payne's gray mixed in with

alizarin crimson to get the deep "plum" color on the

dark sides and their funny creases.

Spring greetings

"Winter view" 15" x 22"

On this the first day of spring I will post an image of winter as we

knew it this year...that's not to say that it can't look like this again

in the next few weeks...Heavy spring snow is not unheard of

in these parts, but it's good to focus on another season for a while.

This painting is one of the few winter landscapes I've ever done.

I worked from a photograph that I took from the passenger side

of the car as we were travelling south! I guess the new cameras

leave out the fact that you are going 50 miles an hour!

St. Lawrence view

Another "hotel" sketch. This was way up the St. Lawrence

River in Malbaie Canada. Almost to the Gaspe peninsula.

Large barges and whales...what a combination. Beautiful

countryside and the ferries connected across the river because

there weren't any bridges. I love painting these little moments

in time, I just need to do more of them!

Pastel houses

Here you can see the plastic spiral binding that's on my

homemade journals. I'll post another picture of my journal

sometime soon..an exterior shot. This was a pen and wash

sketch done of some Mediterranean houses...oh the colors.

Pastels are just a way of life. Or they are sunbleached!

Algonquin

"Algonquin Hotel" New Brunswick, Canada

Here is another hotel image done in the same journal.

I received an email yesterday asking what kind of sketchbook

this is and if I made this one myself. I didn't make this one

myself, but it is full of Fabriano 140 lb. CP watercolor paper,

which is my favorite. I got it many years ago and it was made

by Brookfield Stationery, which we carried in the art store where

I worked. The sketchbooks I have made at the local FedEx/Kinkos

are about 5" x 7" watercolor sheets that I tear, leaving a deckled edge.

Then I sandwich those between two pieces of matboard that are

slightly bigger than the wc paper and they spiral bind it. You can

decorate the matboard with handmade paper, kraft paper

or draw on it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sketchbook pages

Mohonk Mountain House, New York

Vacation is buzzing all around me lately and I have

seen tan and relaxed friends who have been to various

points across the globe...so I thought I'd post some sketches

this week that I did while travelling about myself. I always

try to have a watercolor sketchbook, a small paint set and a

brush with me. If you like a particular paper you can even go

to your local copy/binding shop and have them put a spiral

binding on some cut sheets of your watercolor paper. That

way your sketchbook is whatever size you like it to be and

it's paper you are familiar with.

Shades of Poppy

"shades of poppy" 7.5" x 7.5"

I'll round out the week with another poppy. I try very

hard to paint my poppies with a variety of colors. It's easy

to get caught up in thinking a flower is a particular color. I

like to push those limits by adding additional colors that might

not be in the actual flower, but make the subject a little more

interesting. We like variety and painting a solid red or orange

poppy would not be so compelling, but throw in some yellows,

purples, alizarin, vermillion, scarlet, violet, rose...you get the picture.

"Celebration"

"Celebration" 6"x6" Oil on Stretched Canvas

Today is my one year anniversary of starting this blog!

I am also announcing the launch of my latest venture, my

Oil Painting blog...This little cupcake painting is for sale

in today's post...hope you have a chance to check it out.

Click the link above. Here's to many more postings and

various celebrations.

"Unfolding" 8"x8"

How could I not post a watercolor?

Feathered Forager

"Feathered Forager" 15" x 22"

There are days when my roosters just want to come out

and play among the flower paintings! I try to change up

my painting habits in the studio by not painting too much

of the same thing for fear of getting in a rut or bored...Plus

it ends up being too much of a routine and you need to shake

things up every once in a while! With roosters you can really

let loose and splash that color around, scrape back some

highlights, drip and dribble pigment and create speckles all

you want. They are feisty creatures, they can take it!

Cozy corner

"Cozy corner"

I love a red/orange and blue/green combination...

Plus I really enjoy painting poppies. They can be quickly

overdone, by not making the paint transparent enough. I know

I've had to put a few paintings aside over the years that just

became too dark and heavy. Poppies are like tissue paper

and need the white of the paper to play an active part in portraying

them.

Blazing bottles

"Blazing Bottles"

Hope you all had a nice weekend..I'm heading in to

my first anniversary of blogging! I can't believe it's

been a year already. Time flies...It's been fun and I

have made a slew of new cyber friends as a result. I've

been in the studio wrestling with oils...and the keyword

there is wrestling..I actually put them away at some point

over the weekend and went back to the watercolors and it

seemed I had forgotten how to use those as well. I guess things

will be a bit jumbled in the beginning as I try to find my footing

with the new medium.

Gettin' wiggy with it

"Gettin' wiggy with it"

This was the last assignment for different strokes. I really

enjoyed this one. I post this on the side of my blog, but some

of you that only get my emailed posts might not check that out,

so I list it here as well. The next challenge is slightly more unusual.

It's a picture of sushi...now I do always look at the wonderful colors

and combinations of sushi at the grocery store, but I've never painted

it...So that'll be a unique subject matter. I've been cruising the blogs

lately and want to thank all of you who have my blog linked on your

blog. I'm going to try to reciprocate and get a list going on mine as well.

New direction, older painting

Another earlier watercolor of mine...I should take some of

my older work and put it around the room and create a historical

timeline. I sort of cringe at the thought to see where I started.

But we all must learn to crawl before we can walk and that says

nothing about how hard we must train to run in a marathon. So

there is nothing wrong with progression! Having said that...I have

started with oils..big gasp...what did she say? Isn't she just exclusive

to watercolors...well now, yes I am, but I just took a workshop with

Carol Marine from Austin, Texas and just had a blast...so who knows,

I might share some of my efforts with you right here in the future!

Striped cloth

"Striped Cloth" 22" x 15"

For my regular style and color selection, this

is a very subdued palette choice. Almost too pale.

But the fun part of this painting were the stripes. I love

having a striped cloth to paint..it's very challenging. But

you can have some fun and exaggerate your point of view.

That's one thing that'll always be unique to you...your

perspective and how you compose your paintings.

Push some boundaries, be bold, make a statement!

It's what I say in my workshops: "it's just some paper and some pigment!"

Stargazing

I guess I'll be on a lily kick for the beginning of

this week...They are such powerfully scented blooms.

Plus the stamen, watch out when that gets on your shirt.

I ofcourse always happen to be wearing white when I brush

against them...but if you take some tape and slowly, gently

try to lift the orange pollen off...you might have success! It's

worked for me in the past. Brushing it off or trying to rinse it

off is not a great idea! I also always strip them off the freshly

opened bloom..I think it's supposed to make them last longer?

Or maybe it's just to avoid getting stained by them and that's

why the florists do it?...

White lilies

Here I used some watersoluble crayons for the underdrawing.

They are these thick, stubby crayons that can be used dry, wet,

melted with a heat gun etc..They are by Stabilo...they used to be

available individually, but I think that now they are only sold in sets.

I know alot of different paint and pencil manufacturers are making

watersoluble products, from paint sticks, to blocks, to chalks etc...

What are they going to come up with next? Maybe watercolors that

are not watersoluble! Huh? Well that's almost as strange as oils that

are watermixable...,right?