EMPTY NEST???

Recently something unexpected has happened in my painting process. In times past, once a painting was about half done, I 'd often lose interest in painting it and have to push myself to stay with it. Occasionally I'd wish someone else would just complete the picture for me.

Lately I've discovered that I actually don't want a painting to be finished because I'll miss working on it. Is there such a thing an '''''empty nest syndrome''''' for painters? This post is one of the paintings that I didn't want to 'grow up and leave home.'

For the past several months, the entire process of planning, painting, and adjusting paintings has been invigorating and exciting. It's fun to see how the next part will look, to find out what would happen if... and I've certainly not been in my usual rush to finish works in progress. Even though I presently have a couple more paintings already in the planning and painting stages, I'll miss not getting to 'visit my brush' on the one that just got completed. Is that weird or not?

"SERENADE" Fluid Acrylics on 140#HP Arches 30 x 19"

PLANNING AHEAD

Wednesday's class last week included a holiday luncheon at a nearby restaurant overlooking the lake. But before we left for lunch, we had time for a demo as well as critique time of works some of the artists had brought in from their studios.

This photo reference from our trip to Italy has several minor details changed to help improve the composition. The chimney was reversed and moved to the left to make the division of space more comfortable and the perspective seem correct. That roof line has been straightened, too, at the top and bottom edges. Click on each picture to see the details if you like.

There's 'junk' in the photo on the center right that's been turned into building surface, and the picture is narrower, with measurements that follow the golden mean and Phi.

Notice the distant hills and how that horizon line has been adjusted, too, to bring more focus on the buildings. Although I loved the palm fronds on the upper left, they were changed to repeat the look of the foliage on the right so they wouldn't draw too much attention. The long lines of the fronds seem to steal focus from the roof tiles.

All the planning ahead of time used to bother me because I wasn't painting. Now I relish the planning, organizing, and rearranging of the composition and enjoy having several future paintings in the planning stages.

It's rewarding to take a decent photo and try to make it better before painting the scene. (But it didn't used to be...it was a struggle for a long time.) Plus, all that time spent studying the photo and drawing helps me know the subject better. 'They say' the better you know something, the better you can paint it. They may be right.

This painting took less than two hours to actually paint. However, the planning and drawing involved at least six hours, plus it took a long while to fly to Italy to get that picture!

"SMELL THE CAPPUCCINO?" Transparent Watercolor on 140# CP Arches 13 x 19.5"

REDDER AND BETTER

Here's an update and hopefully an improvement over the pomegranates that I posted on the 4th. Rather than leave the lighter ones as they were, Rhonda suggested darkening them - so they didn't look so much like onions. Her suggestion worked. Thank you, Rhonda.

Using a blind contour drawing as a springboard for a painting allows a lot of freedom for an artist. Almost anything goes, and imagination can have so much fun discovering what the painting will be.

Instead of using fluid acrylics to rework these, I added transparent watercolor over the existing acrylics. In case it didn't look so good, it could be wiped off quickly. Hope they don't resemble red onions ..... well, maybe a little ..... or a lot?

They've been renamed, too. Now they're "THREE OF A KIND."

PROGRESS

My mom purchased some oil paints for me when I was in sixth grade. She was the best encourager a young artist could've ever had.

Later while I was in college, acrylics became the 'new' medium to use instead of oils. Once our two boys were nearly out of high school, I made time again to paint, and took off with the latest rage of watercolor in the late 80's.
Last summer oils became a challenge to relearn. Posted here is my reference photo followed by a two minute oil sketch, followed by a quick study, both on paper. The last post shows the final study. None are finished paintings.

As usual, it's the shapes in the photo that fascinate me, like the shapes of the hands against the dark shape of the coats. In my classes we've been discussing which of the seven elements of design each of us are most drawn to when we create art.

One of the artists in class is most driven by the element of direction, one by size, and many by color. Several lean toward the element of texture. One woman loves scale or size as a motivating element.

I am certainly a value painter. Contrast of values attracts me the most for sure, then shapes, then textures. Fourth on my list is color, with direction and line next, and size or scale being the least important to me.

Progress for the new year may mean dragging those oils back out. I do love the smell, the creamy consistency of the paint, the way the brush springs back against the canvas.....

"TEA TIME IN RYE" Oil on unstretched canvas 12 x 9"

EXPRESSION

Expression in art can have many meanings and forms for an artist. Today's demo was a quickly painted landscape using juicy watercolors, and I actually didn't want to leave the painting to go to a great holiday gathering of friends. Of course, we had a really good time together, and I was so glad I went.

This little oil painting, also from a summer ago, expressed my immediate impression of two people communicating. I realized during this morning's demo that when I'm forced to paint fast like this, I'm may be more likely to capture the essence of the message. Maybe I need a timer on me once in a while to speed me up, to help me capture that sense of moment that adds life to a painting.

This oil is a study of basic shapes for sure, with value and contrast being emphasized. Though the proportions could be more accurate, it's still something I could work with for a larger painting later.

Tomorrow's day includes working with fluid acrylics again. Painting with them seems to allow more freedom in my approach, and I like that. I've worked on one fluid acrylic painting for a couple of weeks now and really don't want it to end. The process of building the painting is a lot of fun so I'm sure that I won't use the timer to speed me up. It'll be posted as soon as it's done, as well as today's demo. Can't wait to show you.

"BEFORE CLASS STARTS" Oil on unstretched canvas 9 x 14"

REPAIRED

This unique window was near our hotel in Venice. Actually, we stayed in an updated old monastery, not hotel, in Academia, the artsy area of Venice. The place at one time was a home for orphaned boys, and they've remodeled it to be graciously comfortable with some very up to date features.

These ancient walls have been repaired, plastered, bricked over, and patched as much as possible, and that look fascinates me immensely. The textures of the structures there are beyond belief. And the stories those walls could tell when they learn to talk.....

The painting is done in a trasnsparent watercolor style using fluid acrylics. Acrylic ink was used with a nib to help create some of the cracks in the walls, too. It's a painting I really didn't want to finish because it was so much fun to do.

"PRAYER BOX" Fluid Acrylics on 140#HP Arches 15 x 21" COLLECTED

MORE OIL

Here's another oil study done on canvas last year. Strong shapes appeal to me, and as our model switched seats after about a ten minute pose, it was easy to add her new pose next to the old one, creating some dynamics to the study.

Though this painting is small, it was an great adventure in shape and value, with some play on texture. Color appears to be important in this study, but the strength of the painting comes from the the over lapping and interlocking shapes of different values.

This is another painting study that needs to be developed bigger, either in oil or fluid acrylics. That will have to wait until after the holidays, though. I enjoy the apparent sense of intimacy shared by the 'two' women.

"GIRL TALK" Oil on unstretched canvas 9 x 12"

A GOOD THING

Blind contour drawings usually result in some pretty neat line work drawings. I love to do them, and in class, challenged each artist to 'draw' the still life in front of them without looking at the paper as they drew.

After making three or four drawings, we choose the ones we liked best and retraced parts or all of them onto watercolor paper, using pen and ink. After lightly splattering the paper with miskit, I popped open some fluid acrylics and took off painting as loose and free as I could to capture these pomegranates.

They tend to show a strong resemblance to onions, (remember it was a BLIND contour drawing to start with,) but I sure had fun. After class, I peeled my 'first ever' pomegranate and enjoyed the delicious seeds.

"POMEGRANATES" Fluid Acrylics on 140#HP Arches 15 x 9"

PAUSING TO REST

One beautiful day this past September, we'd finished sightseeing on a small island in northern Italy and had about a half an hour to wait before our ride arrived. This older gentleman waited, too, as he leaned into his cane, and I saw a painting waiting to emerge. After a very quick one minute gesture sketch, my brushes were ready to fly.

Plopping some color on the postcard sized paper, I worked on what had first drawn my eye - his demeanor. I'd barely roughed in his clothes and skin shapes and glanced up to see what to adjust. At that moment, he stood up and walked away. WAIT!

So much for painting plein aire. The rest of the painting took about twenty five minutes with a little tweaking added later. One of my cousins has this at her house now, and I must go visit soon.

"LOST IN THOUGHT" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Artistico 7 x 5" COLLECTED

PASSION

My passion for the past twenty years has been to create art while discovering all I can about watercolor. Acrylics, Acrylic Inks, Fluid Acrylics, Gouache, Collage, as well as other media, have been tossed into the mix as I journeyed along the art trail.

This painting is an oil, just regular old oil paints. It's just a small study from life which may be turned into a watermedia painting in the future.

The oils were fun to work with - for about a week. Clean up's no fun, though. I'm still in love with what can be said with watermedia. I love the diversity of watermedia, the textures, the ease of use, the challenges, the vibrancy...

"SHARING" Oil on unstretched canvas 10 x 7"

ENRICHED AND BLESSED

Imagine being a pilgrim or Indian about 300 years ago and how you might have communicated with others. Fast forward to today. Now we can go to many, many places all over the world to communicate, 'visit,' and explore, without ever leaving our computer chair. The pilgrims and Indians could never have imagined any of this.

Here in this country, we set aside one special day to be thankful for our abundance and blessings. This year one of the things that stands out is knowing an extended community here on the Internet via blogs.

I'm very grateful for all the places to discover, to be able to find such beautiful art in a variety of forms, and to 'meet' the diverse artists from so many artistic fields. I'm grateful that you are here today visiting this blog. Thanks for enriching my life by sharing it via art.

I appreciate the encouraging comments and helpful suggestions that many of you post here, and wish for all of you God's bounteous blessings on your life and your creativity. Happy Thanksgiving. (And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Carl, on Thanksgiving day.)

"HARVESTED" Transparent Watercolor on Crescent Board 22 x 12"

WALDORF SALAD

My childhood memories of Thanksgiving include Grandma' s Waldorf Salad, which she sometimes called it Waldorf Apple Salad. This year I'm making it (for the first time) for our Thanksgiving at our son and daughter-in-law's house. Just in case you are interested in the very best Waldorf Salad recipe ever, here it is.

2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 eggs beaten
Pinch of salt
2 Tablespoons Salad oil
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 Tablespoons orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice

Combine sugar, & flour, then add rest of ingredients above. Cook until thick. Cool till COLD. Add ½ cup thick whipping cream. Mix in diced apples (NOT Red Delicious - Granny Smiths are good), 2/3 can grated pineapple, 2/3 cup chopped pecans, marshmallow miniatures. Add chopped celery and halved red seedless grapes. Sometimes add mandarin oranges. (I don't remember these in the salad, but she had them written down in her special cookbook.) She may have made this the night before to let the flavors blend.

I can vividly remember Grandma cutting each grape in half to remove the seeds, because back in the 50's, there were no seedless grapes. It was my favorite holiday dish ever. She did make a great oyster dressing, too.....and homemade pies, and cookies, and cakes...great memories.

"OUT ON A LIMB" Fluid Acrylics on 140#CP Arches 24 x 18"

TRADING CARDS

The six of us who went to Italy are part of Wednesday morning's class. Before we left, I gave each person in class a package of watercolor trading cards to paint. Everyone was to exchange cards when we had our Italian celebration upon our return. The actual size of each card is only about 2 1/4 inches by 3 1/2 inches.

The posts here show off the creativity and diversity in the class, as each person selected their own theme or subjects for their cards. Almost everyone in class completed 14 cards to exchange, which was a considerable accomplishment. There are a couple of artists who are presently finishing their 14 cards to hand out next month at our Christmas party. Some of the other classes would like to have a shot at making trading cards to share, too, so we may attempt that after the holidays.

It was fun to guess which cards each class member painted. Can anyone guess which row of cards I painted? Can you tell which rows of cards have been painted by the people who went to Italy? (Two of the Italian travelers are in the process of creating their cards, so they're only 4 rows of Italy travelers' cards shown.)

Mary Jane Noe also has a row of beautifully painted cards that you may be able to recognize after looking at her work on her blog - see side bar. I keep hounding the others to start an art blog. Maybe they will soon. Click on each set of images to enlarge. (Thanks, Rhonda and Dawn, for a heads up about how to be sure they enlarge.)

ON SITE

Painting right on the spot outdoors can be fun, especially in a beautiful area. Carol and I found a cold stone bench near the shores of Lake Como and set up our art studio. We painted for several hours there, enjoying the swans on the lake and the people meandering through the 'shopping district' of Varenna.

This small, postcard sized painting included some pen and ink work to define it a bit more. I can still hear the tourists dragging their suitcases on the cobblestone walkways... clickity clack, clickity clack..... Inspiration was everywhere.

Hopefully someone can explain why my posts don't have the same color intensity as what I see in front of me before I download into the blogger network. Thanks for your help.

"LAKESIDE" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Artistico, 5 x 7" COLLECTED

ITALIAN WOMAN

Watercolor can be fresh and free or tight and controlled - and anything in between. I love the many, many ways it can be handled to allow for varied results and especially like to play with the loose, painterly possibilities when doing a portrait.

A few weeks ago one of the classes painted along with me to learn to do portraits, and we made an effort to paint loosely, as you can see in this finished painting. Our goal was to see the values of each shape and recreate what we observed with appropriate edges.

If anything, painting a good portrait involves well honed observation skills. Really looking carefully at a shape, how it changes in value, its edge ...that's what it's all about.

"FOCUSED" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 11 x 15"

GELATO

One afternoon in Italy, we took a ferry over to Bellagio. There was a wonderful outdoor cafe where I sat down to paint while my friends enjoyed another gelato.

This is a pen and ink with watercolor, but I did the watercolor part first and added the ink later. There aren't many value changes here to make the scene dynamic, but it conveys the place.

"GELATO" Transparent Watercolor and Pen & Ink on 140#CP Fabriano Artistico 7 x 5"

LINE DANCING

Thank you so much, everyone, for critiquing this painting. After making some adjustments, I think this is as good as it's going to get. The original is posted here also for comparison.

Some teal has been dabbled on the tablecloth to the left of the jeans, but the post here doesn't pick it up very well. There's an excitement in the older painting that may be missing in the newer version, but it's done. This will be a good subject to try again and again. And to think I hate to do laundry!
Thank you, all of you --- Myrna, Nava, Suzanne, Rhonda, Joan, Dawn, Milind, Stephen, Lynne, Nick, Vicki, and Ann --- for your help and encouragement with this painting. Critiques are probably the most important part of the process for me right now, and I so appreciate your artistic eye and helpful suggestions. Now I'm headed to the studio to see what's going to happen next - no laundry to do today thanks to my sweet 'Honey.'

"LINE DANCING" Fluid Acrylics with Gesso on 140#HP Arches 30 x 22" Title - compliments of Rhonda Carpenter:-D

WORKSHOP

Great News!

Nicholas Simmons

will be HERE to hold another one of his awesome workshops. The dates are a ways away, but I'm already fired up. Set aside August 6 - 9, 2010, for Nick's workshop.

Only a year ago, Nick was here in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, to lead a workshop in my teaching studio with 23 excited artists, inspiring us, encouraging us, instructing us, entertaining us, challenging us... I could go on and on. His workshop was over the TOP!

We painted for five solid days last November, with one morning devoted to learning about Photoshop. Nick is a master with the brush and has the added ability to clearly convey his processes to a whole class.

More details about the workshop will be posted on my sidebar next month, and sign up for the workshop will be available as of Jan. 1, 2009. Check out Nick's blog at http://nicholassimmons.blogspot.com/ where there's a link to his website on his blog. Can't wait!

EDGES

This painting would not come together enough to suit me. Finally I realized that I'm a value painter who likes specific edges for most of my paintings, and this one doesn't have that. It's sloppy looking (which I love but don't usually paint) and looked too half hazard to me (which is how I planned, or didn't, plan it.)

Done fairly quickly as a class demo a week ago, it didn't quite capture the essence I felt about the scene. The point of the lesson was to be flexible and let the painting lead, rather than have each area preplanned. I had miskited in the clothesline ahead of time and sketched in the upper window and roof line, but the laundry area was very ambiguous to start with.

After living with it for a while, I find that the painting's growing on me. Critiques please.

Painted on 140#HP Arches using fluid acrylics with gesso flowed into the wet acrylics in several areas. Probably not quite completed..... full sheet 30 x 22"

POSTING MORE OF ITALY

Here's another view painted from the coastline of Lake Como in northern Italy. You can see how Varenna's promenade extends out over the water, but what's really amazing is how the village is built right up the hill. There's also another smaller village just five minutes above via hairpin turns up the side of the mountain. One day while we were there, the Alps in the distance got a good dusting of snow. Beautiful!

"ITALIAN PROMENADE" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Artistico, 7 x 5" COLLECTED

PACKING LIGHT

Painting with watercolors outside, without any easel or table, presents some unique challenges. Before deciding what to paint, I look for a good place to perch that has room to place my painting gear beside me. Holding my paper or pad of paper in front of me with my paints off to the left, I usually try not to face my subject matter, preferring to have it off to the side.

See the Winsor Newton palette that went overseas with me? It's shown closed up with my two extra brushes, then partially open, then, below, fully opened with every bit of my gear around it. It has a sealed container for water which is covered by a couple of lids that serve as water holders, a small round brush, and 12 Cotman colors.

First thing I did was pry out the Cotmans and fill each remaining plastic square with my favorite colors, letting them dry out completely before topping them off again. Before closing it to pack, I make sure the colors were dry so they wouldn't slop out of their squares.

There are two side trays that pull out, so one was kept for mixing and the other made into space for MORE colors. Using some hot glue to build up an edge to separate the colors, I made sure the rim of hot glue was low enough to let the tray slide back where it belonged later. Now the palette holds 20 colors, not 12. It's good to have ample granulating colors and extra greens for a travel palette.

A Cheap Joes half inch flat travel brush and a Daniel Smith #8 round travel brush give me a range of brushes to use, although the flat's used the most. Thanks, Jude, for giving me the brush. It's great for travel.

Along with a 5x7 pad of 140#CP Fabriano or Arches paper, there are tissues, an automatic pencil, a permanent marker for pen and ink, and a cut in half credit card, all placed inside a heavy duty ziplock baggy. That's it, and it all fits inside my purse, not adding much weight at all. Have paint, will travel!

Posted below is the same painting as my last post but showing very slight adjustments to the sky and some walls. I had some trouble getting a good photo to post that showed the subtle changes, though, but on our monitor it looks much more accurate than the previous post.

After the whole painting was wet, a little raw sienna was added to the upper part of the sky but not allowed to travel down onto the sunlit buildings. Although I liked the pure white sky, after trying a little color on a piece of wettable acetate over the painting, it was obvious that the slight tint in the sky pushed the viewer down into the painting better. Raw sienna was also glazed onto the wet paper over parts of the buildings to help unify and darken them, and a small amount was added to the foreground water area.

Being able to re-wet a whole painting and not have it bleed is great. Fluid Acrylics and Transparent Watercolors, made of the same exact pigments but with different binders, are virtually impossible to tell apart on the paper. I love how transparent they are - though that's certainly not true of tube acrylics.

I'm off to a new painting, actually two in the works right now. After sorting some of my photos, I realized I better get busy. There are more that MUST be painted than I ever imagined.

DIFFERENT COLORS

Venice was incredibly beautiful. The light changed constantly and mesmerized me.

I quickly snapped a photo of this scene while we were hurrying to catch the water taxi again. It's my favorite picture I took on the whole trip and reinforces Linda's three second rule about taking pictures.

The lightest parts of this painting are pure white paper - no paint. I liked how the sunlit walls fasten into the sky area and decided not to define the sky with any color at all. Gosh, Venice glows!

This is painted with fluid acrylics, which are as transparent as regular watercolor when used like Nicholas Simmons uses them. Thanks, Nick, for teaching us!

"GOLDEN VENICE" Fluid Acrylics on 140#CP Arches, 24 x 19"

MORE ITALY

There's a promenade from the public boat dock around to the main part of the village of Varenna, and this tunneled area along the promenade was ideal to sit in on a windy day and paint. The far sighted city fathers of this Italian town built the promenade almost eighty years ago in order to make it easier for the town people to move along the shore of Lake Como. It's literally fastened to the side of the rock in places, hanging out over the lake.

Hydrangeas and roses line some of the walkway, along with wysteria. It's evident that the town enjoys the beauty around it and enhances it with numerous, colorful plantings.

Taking photos there can be wear down a photographer's shutter finger. There are pictures EVERYWHERE you look, every way you turn. The town's built on the side of a mountain with few roads but lots of walkways and steps that wind up and down.

This was my second visit to Varenna and posted is a picture of Villa Torretta where we stayed this time. I could see the villa from where I sat when I painted Maria's painting. (Another cousin, Maria, ended up with this painting on Friday when we met for lunch. She's been to Lake Como, too.)

Four of our group stayed in the main house, and Carol, Chris and I stayed in the 'gardener's house' off to the right. We painted on the veranda above the entry, overlooking the lake. An artist's paradise! Happy Birthday, Chris!

"MARIA'S" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, 9 x 12" COLLECTED

MORE PLEIN AIRE ITALY

We were waiting for our boat to take us back to Stresa, Italy. People were mingling and moving so a quick impulse of each figure was all I could pencil in on the paper before adding paint.

Painting small like this, as well as painting in a looser style, does not come naturally to me. I love the look, though, so the challenge was on.

One of my cousins selected this painting to take home with her. Her older son, Reid, is a budding artist, and when they were here a couple of years ago, he'd head to the studio to paint as soon as he woke up each morning. His artistic talent was obvious even at that young age.

"THE TOUR" Transparent Watercolor on 140CP Fabriano Artistico, 5 x 7" COLLECTED

ARCHIVES

This simple still life was painted within that first year that I began taking watercolor lessons in Kokomo, Indiana. Shirley Quakenbush painted a wonderful demo showing how she glazed many layers of color to build up a glow and depth in her beautiful work, then we had to come up with our own painting.

I'd rushed from work to get to class on time and had brought a couple of apples along with some cheese and a knife to make my 'supper.' They made up a great still life after I peeled and devoured the golden delicious. I left out the cheese - probably ate it since it's one of my favorite foods.

My husband grew apples in our mini orchard behind our nursery business, and I think these came from the orchard. I'm posting them today because it's his birthday, and he grew up helping his grandparents on their apple orchard. Happy birthday, honey. And Happy Birthday to LYNNE, too. Isn't it great to be archived?

"ONE FOR THE ROAD" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 9 x 9"

NORTHERN LAKES - ITALY

An older Italian gentleman selected this painting along with another after he stopped to see what I was doing. We did our best to discuss what the painting was about, using mostly hand signals and some broken Italian and English. He gave the other painting to his friend who was with him.

Painting small, postcard sized pictures is fairly easy to do in a small space, if the wind's not blowing. Soon I'll post a picture of the great travel palette I used.

See the Italian gentleman's thumb in the corner? Once he'd picked up the picture, he didn't want to put it down for me to take a photo. I'm glad he liked the paintings.

"LAKE REGION, ITALY" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Artistico, 7 x 5" COLLECTED

PLEIN AIRE ITALY

Varenna, Italy is a small Italian village located on Lake Como, and the six of us spent almost a week there in a beautiful golden villa on the lake. It's a perfect place to paint plein aire because inspiration is everywhere.

While sitting on a stone bench along the promenade that winds along the lake, I began painting this one afternoon and completed it the next morning. A Canadian couple took it home with them.

An early evening picnic on the villa's veranda made the day completely wonderful. Cheeses, breads, fruit, tomatoes, wild boar sausage, proscuitto, wine, art friends.....

"ROMANTIC VARENNA" Transparent Watercolor on 140CP Arches 9 x 12" COLLECTED

FALL FOLIAGE

Living in the midwest means living near lots of small towns, near lots of old barns, and being able to enjoy our beautiful fall foliage. This painting was created, postcard size, many years ago on site in a delightful town along the Ohio River in Rising Sun, Indiana.

The PAVEY'S sign is gone now, and in its place is an art gallery with studios for rent. In fact, a friend and I used to have a studio upstairs in this building called "FOCAL POINTE."

If you're near the area, stop in and say 'HI' to Oscar and Judy. Both are wonderful artists.

"SMALL TOWN" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, 5 x 7" COLLECTED

ITALY IS FOR ARTISTS

Last month, five of us painted together in the little mountainous town of Orta, Italy. Our sixth artist was busy scouting out the nearby shops for some good deals.

The colors in Italy are different than anywhere I have ever been. Maybe it's the sun's angle or maybe the ancient textures reflecting the light in a special way.

It was an excellent trip with some special friends. From left to right, Valerie, Carol, Mary, Shirley, and me. Joan's the one around the corner shopping, and my sister-in-law from Dusseldorf, Germany, took our picture and helped critique the paintings. Thanks, Chris!

Here are two of the paintings - in progress - that Valerie and Shirley were working on in Italy - two unique creations of the same scene. You can refer back to my quick study painting of this scene - blog from Oct. 9.

IMAGINATION OR MEMORY?

This scene could've been from my great grandmother's place on the outskirts of my hometown. Back in the eary '50's, she had an outhouse and pumped her own water, too. I remember playing under the huge weeping willow in the front yard.

Each brush stroke was applied with a very, very dry brush. Even though it's called WATERcolor, I avoided using water except to lighten the pigment to the right value. Most all the moisture was wiped out of the brush before it touched the surface.

"Drybrush" watercolor requires a lot of layering and patience. You need to check out Andrew Wyeth's work to see exquisite masterpieces done with dry brush. If you can, go see his drybrush watercolors in real life.....and his egg temperas and his looser watercolors. He is awesome!

"FORGOTTEN TIMES" Transparent Watercolor on Bristol Board 20 x 14"

MORE GESSO

We've enjoyed fabulous weather this month, even though there's a brisk chill in the air now - beautiful weather for painting outdoors! This painting is another oldie, painted on gessoed watercolor paper. Now a restaurant, the building used to be a working mill somewhere in Massachusetts.

First I painted over the entire sheet of paper with light to medium valued colors, using mostly burnt orange, yellows, greens, and some blue. After letting the paint dry, I lifted off the lighter shapes then painted in the darker shapes.

My hope was to leave as much area untouched by my brush as possible, but I had to do more adjusting than I wanted to. Still, I like the foreground area a lot in front of the mill, and, I remember sharing a wonderful dinner there, too.

This week in one of my classes, we'll be working with watercolor and gesso again, hopefully incorporating some of the special techniques Nick Simmons taught us here at the studio last fall. We sure have great memories of that workshop!

"EVENING CALLS" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Gessoed Arches, 22 x 15"

MASKING TAPE FOR BATIK LOOK

Every autumn at the lake, people dismantle all their piers and store their boats on higher ground. The photo reference for this was taken one fall day after most people had closed up their cottages for the winter. This old shed holds promises of fun for next summer's season.

Red, yellow, and blue were used in this painting, mixed on the paper to create subtle changes of grays throughout the picture. Masking tape pieces were torn and placed where I didn't want any more color added. After each new value of colors was added, I'd wait until the paper was completely dry before adding the next shapes of masking tape to preserve the necessary existing values.

By the time the painting was finished, it was covered everywhere with pieces of tape, except in the darkest areas. Peeling off each small bit of tape took time, but when it was all off, the painting was finished.

I love to do this process because of the batik look that occurs where the paint creeps under the pieces of torn and cut masking tape. I also love puzzles, and painting this way is like working a big puzzle backwards. This painting is an oldie, but one we still have in our home. You can click on the image for an upclose view of the detail of the textures created by the tape and paint.

"SUMMER'S END" Transparent Watercolor on CP Crescent Board, 16 x 22"

A SECOND YEAR OF BLOGGING

This blog is already in its second year now, and I've posted many current works and lots of past paintings. This one is another oldie - painted in a more romanticized look than I normally paint.

Although the water wheel needs rounded out a bit, I do like how the water in the stream looks, and was pleased with the foliage in the picture, too. Painting sharp edged shapes with strong contrasts seems to be what I like to do a lot, as you can see here. This old mill is in Tennesee, and the painting is for sale.

"TRANQUILITY" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, 30 x 22" COLLECTED

CONTRAST CATCHES MY EYE

Chickadees are lots of fun to paint, and my hope is always to try to capture the spiritedness that these delightful creatures possess. Because I'm very much a 'value oriented' painter, the contrast of black and white of the chickadee always attracts my eye.

This painting is at least a decade old, and if it were to be painted similarly again, the bird would be moved in just a little closer to the center and down a fraction, putting him in the golden mean of the painting.

"SUGAR BABY" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, about 15 x 11, COLLECTED

MORNING

This painting is another oldie that was a demo for class several years ago. Life is always good when I can enjoy watching the birds while drinking a cup of hot coffee and swinging on my old porch swing.

Chickadees are delightful, tiny birds that come to the feeder platform as soon as there's seed there. I love the way they perch, with their little, thin legs looking like stilts. Time to grab some coffee and watch the birds.

"THREE'S A CROWD" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, 15 x 12" COLLECTED