third round

Here is stage 3 of the lily painting...you can see the changes, but they are more subtle...small tweaks as the painting nears it's completion. I often get asked the question, "When do you know it's done?"...for me personally it's when I start "picking" at the painting and adding blobs and bits that aren't helping the overall cause...so when I start "fussing"..it's time to put the brush away for a while and just live with the piece.

Stage 2

 The second stage in my lily painting.  Here I've worked with more of the background and started with the other blossoms and buds.  This piece was done with my new color palette and I am figuring out how the pigments interact and which ones I like and which ones I'm not too keen on...For those of you who have asked about the brand of paints on my new palette...I've updated my earlier post to list those.  Click on this link to go directly to that post.

let it mingle

Here is a start of one of my latest paintings..I have 3 more pictures in progress and I'll post those in sequence.  I start with a contour drawing without any shading or extra graphite...I've been known to roll a kneaded eraser over the paper to pick up extra graphite. Then I try to work with connected shapes and allow the watercolor to touch and mingle letting it do what it does best if we just let it!

Test run

I was asked to list my new palette colors from my post the other day, so here goes (starting top left): Permanent Yellow Lemon, Imidazolone Yellow, Cad. Yellow Dp (DV), Isoindolinone Yellow Dp , Brilliant Orange, Quinacridone Rust (MG), Vermillion (R), Pyrrole Red, Perylene Maroon, Pyrrole Rubin, Crimson Lake, Bright Rose, Quin. Violet, Permanent Violet, Horizon Blue, Turquoise Blue, Antwerp Blue (WN), Indanthrene Blue (DR), Anthraquinone Blue (MG), Indigo (WN), Bamboo Green, Shadow Green, Marine Blue, Viridian (S), Olive Green, Neutral Tint, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Imidazolone Brown, Gold Ochre (DV), Green Gold (DV), Naples Yellow (WN). I am currently playing with these colors and testing mix combinations etc...already drawing some conclusions, but it's too early to tell for sure...the above piece is my homage to Vermeer and a test run for the new palette. (All are Holbein unless otherwise indicated) ( DV DaVinci, S Sennelier, MG M.Graham, WN Winsor Newton, R Rembrandt, DR Daler Rowney)

New colors

I spent the better part of a day last week putting together a new to me palette.  I have my regular tried and true palette, but decided as a challenge and to spark some excitement to clean up a Holbein white plastic one and squeeze out colors that were all new and different for me from my vast collection of tubes.  I also divided the larger wells on this palette using glue from a glue gun to create a "dam" so I could fit in more colors!

Spiky leaves

 It's about that time for spring thoughts and tulip dreams...but alas dreams they must remain since we are going to get walloped by a Nor'Easter!  So I'll huddle in the studio and occasionally come out to shovel some heavy wet snow.  And in the meantime I'll focus on negative foliage painting like these spiky tulip leaves.

Schedule

I have the schedule for the classes that I'll be teaching at the Holbein Vermont Art Event this July.  It is as follows:  Tuesday 7/22 Birds of a Feather 8:30-11:30am (paint a colorful rooster), Wednesday 7/23 A Passion for Portraits 8:30-11:30am (paint a unique portrait), Thursday 7/24 The Many Shades of White 4:30-7:30pm (paint a predominantly white floral), Saturday 7/26 The Colors of Summer 9:00-12:00pm (floral composition).  Here is the link for their Facebook page..Hope to see you there!

measures

This will be my figure of the month painting.  For those of you who don't know...I have a sidebar on my blog where I post a monthly figure painting.  Sometimes I will post the painting here first...but not always.  Thanks as well to all of you who responded to my last post's question.  All valid suggestions.  My ongoing inspiration and/or jump start when I'm feeling a bit uninspired is to go to my figure session..it always sparks me to look and see in a new way..especially light and shadow and to measure, measure, measure!

A question

The winter continues here and I try to enliven the white, cold and windy landscape with an imagined "warmer" one with a rooster occupying his space in it!  This one is titled "out and about" and measures 7.5"x7.5".  I have a question for readers of this blog...what do you do when you hit a creative block?  Leave a comment on the blog so everyone can see your answers.

Flipping files

A little 7.5"x7.5" painting I did last year.  I take so many pictures throughout the year that I forget what's in my files and when inspiration is a bit low I peruse those files and each time new subjects jump out at me.  It's time once again to start flipping through and seeing what will appeal!

In the beginning

I love the starts of paintings or sketches....to see the pencil lines and the initial application of pigments makes my heart beat faster.  The possibilities of where it might go, when it will be done, what colors will come next? etc..etc.. This watercolor (in it's completed and framed stage) is on display at the Green Mountain Fine Art Gallery in Stowe, where I will be tomorrow from 2-4 to do a painting demonstration.  Maybe see you there!

demo and show

This weekend (Saturday February 22nd) I will be at the Green Mountain Fine Art Gallery in Stowe for the opening of my show: "A Body of work" and I will be doing a demonstration from 2-4 p.m.  Hope you can stop by and see my figure and portrait paintings.

Value study

As promised here is the Value Lily...Done with Payne's gray in various concentrations.  The lightest values have the most water mixed in and the darkest value are almost pure Payne's just slightly watered down.  In the background where you see the stalks I wiped the damp pigment away with a paper towel and then restated the sharp edges once the paper was dry.

"Untouched"

The pure white of the lily...but the petals have touches of yellow, purple, blue and green...I recently did a value study of this painting, which I'll post soon...Value is valuable....it's true.

Cold and color

The excitement of the Super Bowl is behind us and now we can look forward to the Winter Olympics! It's the little things that get us through the long and snowy weeks...oh that and some pigment flinging as well!  Always good to put those brushes to paper...makes things a lot more colorful :)

Polar vortex

One of my "winter" paintings titled "Caribbean Queen"...this is what you do in Vermont when you can't go outside in the cold...but I guess most of the country is affected by the polar vortex!  So...you paint in a warm studio (finally! after my heating issues)...and think back on warmer times...

workshops

I'm going to announce a few workshops here for 2014...I will be teaching a 3 day floral workshop at the wonderful Landgrove Inn in June in their beautiful post and beam studio!  Plus I was invited to teach again at this year's Vermont Art Event in Colchester sponsored by H.K. Holbein in July.  Click the links for more information...hope you can paint with me at one or both events!

portraits

I looked back over my posts and double checked to see if I had not posted this feathered friend before...and I didn't find him...so here he is!  I had fun with a stack of 7"x7" paper and trying to capture different rooster portraits...