HOPE

This home's old window is another that I've painted several times. Located on a narrow, busy street in New Hope, Pennsylvania, it represents the charm of Buck County, and its history dates back to Revolutionary times.

I like that I can see all the way through the house and out the distant window. Each time I paint it, the hanging light gets changed, as does the flower box.

This particular painting of the window reminds me of a friend, and even of the house she lived in. She was classic, grabbing life with so much gusto. An eternal optimist, Pat Taylor had an incredibly amazing way of finding good about everything that happened. She knew how to grab life and make the most of it.

The things she valued really mattered, like family and friends. She LOVED to draw and so enjoyed painting.

Like this house, Pat seemed to have beautiful windows to look into and find unexpected treasures. She was transparent, generous, kind, trustworthy, fiercely loyal, and a very good artist. She knew how to change the things she could change and accept the ones she couldn't.

PAT TAYLOR, I will miss you. We all will. I'm so very thankful you were in my life. You made a difference in so so so many ways and were so loved!

BATIK LOOK ALIKE

Last week I posted the batik window I demo-ed during Craftsummer, painted from the same photo reference as this one. Today's post has a batik look, but it's done using masking tape as the preserver of colors and values, instead of using wax.

Actually, when a painting's all done, the wax is easier to iron off than the masking tape is to pull off. And the wax is much easier to put on than tearing little pieces of tape to fit each shape. But I love the results, so I think it's worth it.

Each time I use this photo reference, I like to change the quilt area to my liking. One of my long time good friends from way back in grade school bought this to hang in her family room, and I even get visiting privileges to see it (and her.)

"BETSY'S ROOM" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, about 17 x 23" COLLECTED

BATIK, ETC.

A couple of weeks ago in Oxford, Ohio, at Miami University, sixteen women, mostly art teachers, met for a week to delve into the possibilities of using the wax batik process with transparent watercolor. This week I'll post a slide show of the creative works that each of them produced.

The first posted painting here is the piece I did partially as a batik demo during that unique week at Miami. The photo reference for this painting is one I've used several times because I love the shuttered window I'd photographed years ago at Sauder's Village in northwestern Ohio.

I'm also posting two other paintings I did of this same subject, one painted on YUPO and one done using a masking tape technique (rather than wax) to preserve shapes. I thought the comparison of the three different approaches would be interesting to see even though they have been posted before on this blog (along with another YUPO variation of this same subject.)

I'm sure I'll be painting this one again and again because I never loose interest in seeing what can be done with the play of lights and darks in the painting. All have been fun to do and have been painted during the last several years.

1st Painting above - Batik 15" x 20" COLLECTED

2nd Painting - Yupo COLLECTED

3rd Painting - Tape Technique

All created with transparent watercolor COLLECTED

HOW MANY YEARS?

This ancient building with its strong arch reaching to yet another ancient building begs me to drink it in. I am not trying to toot my own horn, but I want to say that this painting ranks right near the top of my favorite paintings that I've ever done. I loved how it turned out, but it was 'touch and go' a lot of the way.

The tedious taping process was used to create the painting, but then I delved into it more to adjust and fine tune it. Actually, I overworked it a lot and nearly killed it. I had to rebuild the left side twice and retrieve some sky area. The archway gave me fits trying to make it read right, especially with that little balcony area above it. Advice from other artists helped guide me, too.

Several times, I was sure the painting was lost, but fortunately, it revived. Major reconstruction was done in certain areas using gouache, an opaque watercolor that actually seemed to help the transparent areas in and around the big window to glow more. Because I really liked certain things about the painting, I couldn't give up on it. I wanted to see it succeed.

The shutters and windows are purposely crooked and askew, partially because I didn't start out with a well planned drawing, and partially because I was focused on making my love of this scene be more important than an accurate rendition of it. I'm posting it today because it so symbolizes the past 40 years my husband and I have been married.

Today's our 40th anniversary so I looked through my paintings trying to decide which one would best describe today. These old buildings, connected by an ancient archway, could be the two of us. Pretty much everything I've just typed about this painting and the struggle it was to create can also describe our marriage.

The light in the window is my favorite part of the painting, and maybe the archway represents the commitment it takes for two people to survive being together for this long??? One thing for sure, we're getting to be ancient, too. Or at least it feels that way at times.....

Deanna, who owns Waterlily Gallery where this is hanging, told me last weekend that a lady was very interested in buying this painting. I have a feeling I may want to keep it instead.

I wish a Happy Fathers' Day to all you dads today too!

"OLD ITALY" Transparent Watercolor on 140#HP Arches 22 x 15" NOT FOR SALE

ARCHIVES AGAIN

Here's another painting from the archives, only this one's even older. This was created using my tape elimination technique - placing bits of torn or cut masking tape where I do not want the paint to go, then painting over the whole page with various colors all the same value with watercolors. I repeat this 'tape pieces/one value of many colors per layer' process until I have six or seven layers of tape and paint and values on the paper.

Peeling all those tiny bits of tape off is tedious, but the surprises of texture and color combinations make the tape removal seem like a treasure hunt. I haven't done a tape picture for a while. I think it's time to get one started. I like how it resembles batik a little, where the paint creeps under the tape, making some awesome edges and textures. I need to try this on YUPO. What a great assignment.

"STONE WALLED" Transparent Watercolor on Crescent Watercolor Board, about 12 x 21" COLLECTED

A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Spending time with our two sons and four grandkids this weekend made me a very happy mom. The four kids slept on the floor in the big bedroom at our younger son's home, and I got the bed. At 6:50 am, the seven year old and triplets, who are almost five, woke me up. For almost two hours, we sang songs, played games, and got ready for the day together. "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" was the song of the morning, and each one of the kids dramatically fell off the big bed at the appropriate time in the song. I know they sang it at least eight times in a row. (I wouldn't let them jump on the bed, though.)

This painting was done several years ago, and I have actually painted it at least seven times in different ways and am working on a eighth right now. I guess I'm a lot like our little grandkids because I like to repeat something that's fun to do, too. (For another painting done with this same subject, see the post on Dec 10, 2007.)

"MOTHER'S DAY AT NEW HOPE" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 15 x 22" COLLECTED

ALMOST BATIK

It seems I'm drawn to subjects with strong value changes, and even though color may seem to be an important part of most of my paintings, I consider it secondary to value contrasts. This window in Buck County, Pennsylvania had just the right amount of strong light shapes next to some delicious dark shapes. That's what made me want to paint it several years ago.

I started by 'taping away' the very lightest shapes to keep them pure white. (Notice how much of the white window area is not actually totally white. Click on painting for enlarged pix.) My favorite masking tape to use for this is hard to find now - Manco tape. After I tape the lightest values, I wash a pale colorful wash over the whole page, making sure that I'm NOT careful to paint each 'thing' the correct color.

After the painting dries, I add more pieces of torn masking tape to the next lightest value areas, then repeat another layer of wash exactly one value darker than the first one - and just as colorful. I repeat this for five more layers of tape and washes, each time painting the whole paper one value darker everywhere using almost random color choices.

Obviously here, I made sure to place a lot of warm colors within the inside of the window area. There are also cool colors there along with some small, warm areas outside the window.

It's tedious to tear and shape the pieces of tape to fit the right spaces, and sometimes I cut with a razor blade to create a sharper, straighter line. Everywhere that the tape overlaps there's a good chance the paint will seep underneath it, hopefully creating somewhat of a batik effect. I love the unpredictable texures that happen with this technique, but the process is exceedingly slow.

The best part (and worst job) is to remove the tape after the darkest values have dried to see what happened with the various layers of color. The surprises are so cool. Usually I must make some adjustments or soften some edges. The results are worth the agony, I think.

"FRESH AIR" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 15 x 11" Collected

YUPO SPLASH OF COLOR

The bright red of these geraniums seemed to be dancing in this old window, especially with the sun light backlighting them. The pots and geraniums were painted nearly life size on a 40" long sheet of heavy weight YUPO. I really like working on the heavy weight YUPO because I can move it and tilt it easily. The light weight is so flimsy that I don't work on it at all, and the medium weight only comes in a 20x26" size.

You can really see where the 'pushy' colors moved paint out of their way, leaving some unusual patterns in the dark shapes and especially on the pots. No matter how many times I paint on YUPO, I am always fascinated with the way the paint behaves. Or doesn't behave.

Soon after I painted this, it sold in a juried show in Hamilton, Ohio. It's great to make a sale, to be appreciated, to have others like what you express with paint. But most satisfying is being able to paint. I love it!

"YEARNING" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 23 x 39" SOLD

YUPO AGAIN & AGAIN

This painting looks incredibly dark to me now, but it was one of the very first "I-finally-got-the-paint-to-go-almost-where-I-wanted" YUPO paintings that I did. I've mentioned before that it took me about two years of trying and failing before I figured out how to manage painting on this slick surface. Now I absolutely love painting on it.

The strong blue in the dark shape on the far right is an example of a pushy color. That pigment was not as finely ground as the others around it, and when added to finely ground wet pigments, it 'swam' underneath them and pushed them out of the way, creating either a fantastic or irritating shape. Now I've figured out when to use the pushy colors and when to steer clear of them. Most sedimentary colors are 'pushy.'

For those of you trying YUPO, I've printed a list below that I hand out in my classes regarding the colors that are pushy. The ones with an *asterisk are extra pushy, and I'm sure there are more than what I've listed. Most of what I use are Daniel Smith brand, but the same pigment in another brand should react the same way.

YELLOWS = *Bismuth Yellow, all Cadmiums, Naples Yellow, Nickel Azo Yellow, Nickel Titanate Yellow

EARTH COLORS & NEUTRALS = Indian Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Mars Yellow, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, *Lunar Earth, *Lunar Red Rock, Burnt Sienna, Brown Madder, Raw Umber, Graphite Gray, *Lunar Black, *Minnesota Pipestone, *Burnt Tiger's Eye, and most all the other *Prima Tek colors by Daniel Smith, (since they're made from earth pigments and not finely ground)

ORANGES = Permanent Orange, Cadmium Orange, Perinone Orange
REDS & PINKS = Indian Red, Venetian Red, all Red Cadmiums, Pyrrol Scarlet, Pyrrol Red, *Potter's Pink

VIOLETS, PURPLES, LAVENDARS = Raw Umber Violet, Côte d' Azur Violet, Mars Violet, Rose of Ultramarine, Ultramarine Red, Manganese Violet, Cobalt Violet, *Cobalt Violet Deep, Ultramarine Violet, Cobalt Blue Violet
BLUES = French Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, *Cerulean, *Manganese Blue (true Maganese,) *Cobalt Teal Blue, *Blue Ochre Vivianite, *Lunar Blue, *Genuine Lapis Lazuli

GREENS = Prussian Green, Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Green Pale, Cobalt Green, Terre Verte, Chromium Green Oxide, Bohemian Green Earth, Undersea Green, Olive Green, Rich Green Gold, *dGreen Gold, *Malachite, *Serpentine Green

I discovered that if I used only the 'pushy' colors together in an area on YUPO, the colors behaved since they had a similar weight or size of particle. If we asked Bruce MacEvoy (see HANDPRINT on side bar) why the paints behave differently on YUPO, he would be able to give us an accurate, well documented, and scientific reason for the movement of the paints. But I just guessed what was happening according to the way they behaved and what properties I knew they had in common. The metal pigments like cobalts and cadmiums I figured were heavier, too.

It was so weird at first to watch a normally quiet color like a cobalt charge into and actually take over a normally bossy color like a phthalo. How the paints behaved was so opposite to how they acted on regular paper, and it drove me nuts at first. Once I figured out to keep similarly ground pigments together unless I wanted some action, I loved working on YUPO.

George James' videos from Creative Catalyst Productions also give wonderful info about handling YUPO. He is THE Master, and I admire him and his work immensely!
FYI - The name YUPO was derived from the names of the parent companies, formerly Mitsubishi Petrochemical (Yuka in Japanese) Co., Ltd (presently Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation) and Oji Paper Co., Ltd, thus forming a "paper bridge" between the two. 'YUPO' is always capitalized, too. Cheap Joe says it's pronounce like 'You Poor' without the 'r' on the end. Painting on YUPO is a blast!

"THE LINE UP" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 16 x 12" SOLD

YUPO QUILTING

I've sewn one quilt square in my life for a quilt we made for our Quaker preacher and his wife. I love to look at quilts and always go nuts in a fabric store with all the cool batik fabrics, but sewing is too frustrating for me. So I paint the quilts.

Artist Peggy Brown from Nashville, Indiana, actually paints right on cotton fabric, then stitches the fabric to create beautiful watercolor wall hangings. You can check out her work at http://www.peggybrownart.com/.

This painting was not done on cotton paper or fabric, but on the synthetic paper that used to be called Kimdura and is now called YUPO. I really like how the colors painted on YUPO stay lively and vibrant. They sit right on top of the paper and never soak in like they do on cotton paper.

Today in class, Kathy created a fantastic painting in just a couple of hours on YUPO. There was a lot of creative energy in Tuesday's class, with some really good work being created. I can't wait to see the results next week.

It's so invigorating to paint on this slick YUPO surface. I just love it.

"QUILTER" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 16 x 38"

YUPO WINDOW TREATMENTS

The shadows and sunlight seemed to be playing hide and seek in the curtains and shutters of this old restored house. I wonder if the old quilt is homebase??? The stories they could tell ... and that's what I often hope a painting hints at.

Painting on the slick YUPO surface, using miskit to maintain really clean, sharp whites, I enjoyed tossing in colors to enhance the mood of the room. I loved painting all the shapes in the window area, but the quilt is my favorite part of the picture. I'd sure rather paint a quilt than actually sew one.

My sister, Marilyn, an accomplished and talented artist also, '''paints''' with her sewing machine using cotton also as her canvas, to create exquisitely beautiful quilts. One weekend when we got together, she sewed quilts while I painted a picture with one in it. We made a good sized mess and had a ball.

Rebecca Barker, a Cincinnati artist also, has an awesome reputation for her beautiful quilt-themed paintings, very creative and unusual. Check out her website at http://www.barkerquiltscapes.com/

"WELL WORN" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO, 16 x 25" SOLD

YUPO FRIENDS FOREVER

This is one of my earliest YUPO's done with a loosey-juicy treatment, and the rug almost looks like it's the thing that's rocking the chair. When I look at the painting, I notice the lack of accomplished skill and technique, and yet, there's a strength of emotions that speaks to me.

The chair and window are from an old historical house on the eastern seaboard where a woman lived her life out. While we were there, I sensed conflicting feelings of contentment and loneliness in the house, which I tried to convey later with the paint.

When my best friend, Sandi, saw the finished painting, she really loved it. She's been gone five years, and I miss her still. The painting was named in her honor for the beautiful difference she made in my life.

"HER PRESENCE" Transparent Watercolor on heavyweight YUPO, 14 x 20"