Snow!

Well, not actual snow.  Another recent Saturday group painting "challenge" was to do some holiday art of decorations in our neighborhood.  I easily found a home on the next street with some beautiful added "snow", a big decorated tree, and twinkly Christmas lights.  Perfect!  It was fun to try this at home in watercolor. 

5" x 7" Watercolor

Yellow!

 One of the painting challenges for our Saturday Painting group was "Yellow".   Since yellow is an energetic warm color, it's thought that it might help the viewer feel more optimistic and cheerful.  Sunshine and sunflowers.  Yellow definitely has an impact in paintings but it's usually used sparingly.  It was fun to do a painting with emphasis on one color...yellow!  I had recently taken a photo of some yellow flowers contrasting with big blue water valves.  Perfect!

5" x 7" Watercolor

Santa Monica Pier

 I recently had the opportunity to paint the Santa Monica Pier...at sunset!  Our Saturday group leader and organizer suggested we do paintings from fellow artist's photos.  I thought it was a great idea and several artists offered their photos for the challenge.  I decided to try my friend Shinji's night time view of the Santa Monica Pier.  I've only tried a few plein air nocturnes which were pretty difficult to paint at night on site.  My most recent was almost three years ago A Busy Evening.  Using this exciting photo was fun and I wished I could see this view in person.  

 5" x 7" Gouache