FROGS!

 Another one of our painting at home projects was about collections.  It seems like so many people collect one thing or another.  Artist friends always seem to have their collections.  It was kind of a hard decision of which collection to choose.  I decided on a still life of some picturesque frogs from my bunch of flower frogs.  They were fun to try with pens and watercolor.

5" x 7" Pen and Watercolor

BUGS!

 This piece was painted for another Saturday group "challenge".  It's been wonderful to have these weekly prompts to get me doing some artwork since we aren't painting together for now.  And I also get to see what some friends have painted.  The idea for the week was to try a piece with bright highlights.  After I noticed the bright, shiny highlights on this glass bug I had to use it for a still life.  I also wanted to add a couple other bugs made of palm fiber and wire that I've had for years.  Another fun watercolor and pens piece!

5" x 7" Watercolor and pens.

 

Still Life

 I haven't done many still life paintings.  It's been fun and to try a few during this time when our paint-out groups aren't meeting.  Our wonderful and generous Saturday Painting leader/organizer has given the group weekly prompts which have been fun to try.  They keep us painting and sharing our efforts.  My most recent piece is a watercolor of a green glass with a cactus in water for the "Transparent" prompt.  I also tried a gouache piece of some shells and a swan planter for the "White" challenge.  A few months ago I painted a postcard as a Thank You for some pretty carrots that friends dropped off for us.  They were irresistible to paint before eating.  I'm sure there are more still life pieces in my future since I'm staying close to home.  

7" x 5" Watercolor

5" x 7" Gouache 

6" x 4" Watercolor Postcard

Birthday Flowers

 My birthday was last month.  Our daughter came by for a socially distanced porch visit.  It was so nice to see her since we haven't been able to see each other too often during the pandemic.  She usually brings me a birthday bouquet as she did for this birthday.  I've never tried painting or sketching the flowers before.  They were so pretty,  I had to paint them.  I did a watercolor and also a dry mixed media sketch on toned paper using pens and pencils.  My florals need more practice!   

7" x 5" Watercolor 

8" x 5" Mixed Media Sketch

Every Day in May

Every May there is a world wide challenge to do a sketch for every day of the month.  In late April a list of subjects, or prompts, one for each day, is posted on several social media sites, like Facebook and Flickr.  This is the fifth year I've participated.  I haven't ever done a sketch for each day, but try to do as many as I'm inspired to sketch.  Each year I've tried to attempt a different way to sketch, using different materials or a different approach to the subjects.  This year I'm trying to just use a variety of pens and not any watercolor.  It's always a challenge but so much fun, and great to see how other artists interpret the subjects.

Giant Pumpkin

We were back in the city of Sierra Madre on the day before Halloween.  Our location for the paint-out was Alegria Street where there were many homes with decorations.  The most elaborately done house ended up being on TV that night.  While we were there a news crew arrived to film and interview the home owners.  They also interviewed some of the painters in our group but they didn't make the news.

I chose another, less colorful yard to try in gouache.  I loved all of the trees almost hiding the house at the back of the lot, and the chain-link fence in front.  There was also a giant pumpkin awaiting a face.  As it turned out, I left out most of the trees and the chain-link fence.  Maybe another time!  

Just a quick report on my substitute teaching gig at an adult education watercolor class.  It was a lot of fun of course, mostly because the people were so nice.  I took in paintings to show them as well as a still life set-up.  I thought we could all paint the still life and I could help with a tip or two.  Instead, they wanted to watch me paint the still life...my first "demo".  So I jumped in and started painting.  Luckily I've been painting regularly and it went OK!   

5 x 7" Gouache

6 x 8" Watercolor

One November Day

It's December, I know...  In the Create 38 online watercolor painting class, taught by Vinita Pappas, we just finished a neat challenge for November.  Each member could submit a piece that represented something about themselves and their lives.  Vinita posted all the submissions in an online exhibit titled One November Day, complete with a worldwide map and a pin for each member who submitted a painting.  It was fun to see what each person chose to paint, and of course where we are all located.

I was stumped over what to paint for my submission until I was out in my backyard moving plants.  Oh! my colorful California pots planted with warm-weather succulents that I like would be fun to paint!  I took my gouache outside to paint some pots, and added a ceramic garden frog that happened to be peeking into the scene.  

In November, Vinita also posted a watercolor demo titled Glenbrook Barn which we could try ourselves.  I always love Vinita's demos and tips.  This was the first time I tried adding a wispy puff of smoke or steam.  And I always love painting barns and cows since they aren't plentiful subjects in my area.  I had fun with these two pieces. 

5 x 7" gouache

8 x 10" watercolor

    

A Still Life

It's another busy month and I'm supposed to be working on our state sales tax return.  But I also need to do a blog post, which I'd much rather do.  

It seems as if I've been painting more gouache pieces lately.  I've had some short painting times at our plein air locations for one reason or another and gouache seems quicker to me.  And also, since taking the workshop given by Joseph Zbukvic my watercolor painting seems a bit confusing.  I'm still processing what I learned and trying to integrate it into my own way of painting.  As one friend said, maybe it's a little of right brain vs. left brain.  I think that sums it up perfectly.  

I've been inspired lately to try some still lifes.  I painted this gouache piece before the workshop, having in mind to add it to the show our paint-out group is having this month.  When I saw these onions at the local farmer's market with their long, dried stems I had to paint them.  More still lifes to come!

5 x 7"  Gouache

Homework~

But it was watercolor homework so it was challenging while being fun to try as well!  Vinita Pappas has started a new online watercolor class.  Besides watercolor instruction she is also including other topics in her posts so it will be exciting.  One of the monthly topics is art marketing which I haven't yet tried and need to find out about.  This blog is a start in that direction.  

Vinita posts a monthly challenge, and also a demo video which we can attempt to follow as well.  The November painting challenge was titled "Through the Window".  Our piece could be literal or interpretive, hopefully revealing a little of the artist's personality.  I wanted to do a painting that showed some inside elements as well as an outside view.  Below is my piece, looking out one of our windows and across the street.  

Vinita's demo video was of her painting of the famous Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA.  I really had fun with this challenging piece.  The photo reference was of some backlit figures, fish cases and counters, signs, and lighting.  A complicated scene so I was nervous to try it since I hadn't painted any interior views like this before.  It went well and I like the result below.  I hope I can visit this market someday.

First Day of Fall

We have had such a hot summer here in Southern California and I know that's been the case all over the country.  It's been one long heat wave.  So far 2012 is the hottest on record in the US.  Here it is September 22, the first day of Fall, the autumnal eqinox.  I'm ready for some cooler weather which we will hopefully see.

I was thinking about some autumn inspired watercolors I painted last fall.  The first is some autumn leaves that have turned colors, painted for a group on the Paint My Photo website.  Most people painted the same photo and it was fun to see everyone's version.

I was feeling in a fall mood when I painted these three ACEOs.  I had a persimmon as a model for that piece.  The other two are just made up.  I really enjoyed adding the crows to the scarecrow piece.  ACEOs are always 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", but can be any media.  Sometimes they're called ATCs, Artist Trading Cards.

This last piece was for a monthly challenge in a Facebook group.  One member (Terry Freemark) posted some of her photos of Pennsylvania farms to use to paint from, or for inspiration.  I combined two photos for my watercolor.  A pumpkin farm!  I'm already inspired for this year.    

Hopefully these fall thoughts will bring some cool weather.

Chinese Themes

I noticed a Flickr member clicked to "favorite" a couple of  my watercolors.  They were both sort of Chinese themed paintings.  I must say these are a favorite of mine to paint.  There are many exotic and beautiful subjects of course.  I'll share three paintings here.

The first is of some bamboo in an old green glazed Chinese pottery ginger jar.  This was a still life I put together for the second lesson in an online watercolor class which Vinita Pappas taught in 2011.  I really enjoyed painting this piece.  The brush manipulation for the bamboo was fun to try.    

 This piece was painted for Vinita's 7 Days in May project for the class.  I chose a Chinese teacup and a Japanese teacup for my still life.  Another fun painting.  It's small, 6" x 8".

This last watercolor was painted for a monthly challenge in a Facebook group.  The challenge was to use neutral colors with some reds.  I chose a photo from the Paint My Photo website of an ancient "water village" near Shanghai, China.  I would love to see one of these villages in person.  

Still Life

It was my turn to choose the challenge of the month in a Facebook watercolor group I'm in.  I decided on a still life piece for us for July.  I chose the still life project because I wanted to try one myself.  So for the whole month I've been thinking about possible subjects.  Also, I had seen a still life with a dark background somewhere that caught my eye and I kind of wanted to try that.  I say "kind of" because I could see how it might go very badly.  It finally came together more when I found this pretty fig to paint.  Everything was going well with the painting and it was looking nice with the light background that was developing.  It took some deciding to plunge in with the dark paint and possibly ruin what I had done.  I think the decision to try the dark background turned out okay since the whole setting was dark.  I'll try this again sometime.

6 x 8" watercolor

Online Green Workshop

I'm enjoying the online Going Green workshop given by Vinita Pappas very much.  I knew I would.  Vinita is such a wonderful instructor and has a very pleasant way of delivering what she wants to say.  She also makes sure we get all we can out of her workshops, so she's kept us busy with lessons and homework.  She has it set up so we can submit photos or scans of our work which go into a "member's gallery" for us all to see.  I've really enjoyed reading the member introductions from people all over the world.  Vinita said there are participants from 16 countries.  The internet is amazing.

Well, I'm going to share my color charts and my green sketch here.  For the charts we chose 4 different yellows/ochres and mixed EACH with 5 different blues/turquoises, resulting in four charts.  I got a little better at making smooth gradations as I proceeded with this.  Mostly it was enlightening to see all the great grays happening which will be very useful.  I need to remember how to get them.  It would be helpful to do this with more colors.

          
Our fourth lesson for the first week was a 10 minute green sketch using some green items found around the house.  It's neat to see in the member's gallery what people painted.  I had fun with this assignment.

Succulents!

This is another piece from the "7 Days in May" series.  It's one of those "glaucous" succulents that appear to have a powdery coating.  After I started trying to paint this plant I wondered if I could get the look and feel of it.  Plus the vintage Bauer pot is an unusual shade of blue green.  I like the way it turned out more as time away from the painting struggle passes.

 I decided to post this painting because the of the annual Cactus and Succulent Society's plant sale at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino, CA.  The sale is always held near the July 4th weekend.  It's a treat to add a few plants to my garden.  It's also a wonderful opportunity to take some photos for possible paintings since the setting on the Jacaranda Walk is so beautiful.  It would have been fun to try a plein air piece there!