YUPO - START TO FINISH

As promised in yesterday's blog posting, below are the eight photos taken as I worked on this painting. The first shows the beginning step, with one big, irregular white shape that goes off the paper on all 4 sides. Basically, I painted one light value in the shapes around it. The second shows a few strong darks added next to the white shape, breaking up some of the white shape in the sunglasses and hat areas.

The third and fourth photos show the progression as more values are added to help meld the darks and lights together. (All of this basically came from instructions given in a workshop I'd taken a couple of years ago with John Salminen.)

Our workshop teacher, George James, also started with a few simplified shapes placed within a specific chosen grid, within the gridded page, and generally included one bigger white shape. I added his grid idea to the big white shape idea and proceeded to design the shapes.

Things started out okay, but I was not happy with the way the painting was going in photo 4. The white hat on earphone guy was too too strong (but needed to be important,) and the painting seemed to be way too predictable.

Thank goodness George suggested pulling the big white shape on the left side (shoulders and backs of the 2 guys in photo 5) all together. After taping the edge of the hat to protect it, in photo 6, you can see how I used a squeegee to drag some green paint through that area. I was 'back in business.'

From that point on, I was having way too much fun, adding more patterns to the painting in the form of checkered flags effects as well as road stripes. There are some cool textures added at this point, too, that can be seen if you click on the paintings.

The last three posted progressions have very small areas changed in them, but the changes significantly improved the way the painting reads, I think. Much to my surprise, my husband, who strongly prefers very realistic paintings, said he really liked this one. (He LOVES racing.)

My hope was that the painting would express the feelings of speed, the activity, the excitement that goes along with this sport, and I purposely chose colors for the painting that are on the race flags - black, white, yellow, red.

I've also posting the two reference photos that this painting was sketched from. I liked that I could combine an Indy car race driver and car owner, along with a Nascar race fan, in one painting and get away with it. Someone in class today commented on how 'good' A.J. looked in the painting, (a little like a younger Paul newman.) The first reference photo is of A.J. Foyt Jr. and his namesake grandson, who now drives for him.

Thank you to George James for opening my artist's eyes and ears. He is a brilliant master teacher as well as one of the most progressive artists in our age. We called him 'George' all week, but while writing this blog up, I wondered if I should've called him 'Mr.' or 'Professor' out of respect. He has my full respect either way.

I surely appreciated all that he discussed and shared with us throughout the four days last week and hope to take another workshop from him in the future. I'm also looking forward to his fourth DVD which should be released soon from Creative Catalyst Productions. (His other three videos are excellent, by the way.)

Now I'm headed to the studio to continue work on my new series of sports-related paintings. This time it's golf.

YUPO AT THE RACES

This is my work from the third and fourth day of the workshop and was compiled from a couple of photos I took several years ago. The class had only 8 people in it and was billed as a 'master' class.

The goal for this class was to be able to transform our paintings into strong, artistic, visual expressions, no matter what our material or subject or style was. Any watermedia could be used, and any surfaces could be painted on.

My own goal for this year is to be able to express myself better, be able to place concepts and ideas on paper with paint, and that's why I took the class. Those four days helped me a bunch in moving in that direction.

The first morning, George James spent about an hour and a half showing us various ways he puts paint on the YUPO - his various 'techniques.' After practicing what he showed us, we were on our own to design and paint. The other three days, he discussed specifc ideas and philosophies related to creating artistic expressions - challenging us to move forward into making the art that only we can make. He discussed just a little on painting preparation, layout, and composition. During the week, he also did some small, individual demos for those needing direction.

I found it refreshing that George gave almost no input to design or composition. In fact, this workshop had the least info on design/composition that I've had in a long time. We were really focused on finding our own voice, expressing our own personal point of view. To say the least, it was utterly fascinating to me. I LOVED IT!

The best thing about the whole class was when I realized how much freedom I really do have in painting. (I thought I already knew that but got a whole new, refreshing perspective this time.) Tomorrow I'll post photos of this painting as I painted it from beginning to end so that you can see the process I went through with the design and exploration.

"ON THE FAST TRACK" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 20 x 28"

YUPO TO MARKET

'Day Two' of our workshop was a really good one. More mind stretching info from George James about creating meaningful art helped us as we explored ways to express what is meaningful to us.

This painting, on YUPO, drawn with a Derwert watercolor pencil and painted with transparent watercolor, is about 26 x 20". I've posted my reference photo below as well as a photo of another painting done last summer from the same reference, for comparison.

My goal for last summer's painting was to create an impressionistic look on YUPO. For this new painting, I was more focused on creating a contemporary look.

The paper was gridded out first, then I constructed the drawing, making a specific section within the grid most important. The grid lines on the YUPO were there to encourage me to play more with the design elements rather than be realistic. The grid also aided me by helping keep a flat look to the painting. (Normally a paper is gridded out to aid in transferring a drawing from one paper to another. This type of grid had an entirely different purpose.)

Proper perspective or realism weren't my concern at all. The main thing I wanted to do was create a dynamic painting of a special place, and I wanted the painting to appear flat rather than 3-D when it was done.

Creating shapes within a good design was a lot of fun to work out ahead of time. I incorporated John Salminen's process of using just ONE good white shape to start the painting.

A very kind woman named Grace purchased the painting on the last day of the workshop, and it was hard to part with it so soon after painting it. (But I don't have to get it framed:-)

'Europe's Best' (Below on YUPO) with reference photo used for today's painting as well as this one - - -

YUPO WORKSHOP

We had a great workshop at Kanuga with our instructor, George James. He excels as a master teacher, able to encourage, inspire, and explain so many concepts that have already begun pushing me forward, challenging me to make better art. We had only four days of instruction, but twice that would have been okay with me.

I realized on Monday that I feel like I'm so at home when I'm painting on YUPO, as compared to other surfaces like cotton watercolor paper. The surface opens up so many more possibilities for expression.

This painting started as a small value study of 4 shapes, no reference photo. . . more paintings to come soon but for now, I need a good night's sleep. WHAT A WEEK!

"PRECIPICE" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 25 x 20"

WORKSHOP BOUND

I'm leaving in a few hours for a workshop in North Carolina with YUPO master and teacher, George James. There will be some wonderful instructors there at Kanuga during the four days we take classes, but each artist studies under just one teacher, with lots of activities with other instructors offered in the evenings.

Mark Mehaffey, Steve Rogers, and Steven Quiller, all of whom have paintings accepted into this year's American Watercolor Society Show, will be teaching, along with over a half a dozen other diverse watermedia teachers. Mark's painting won the SILVER MEDAL OF HONOR in the AWS show! That is AWESOME!

Very special congratulations goes to Myrna Wacknov, who not only had her painting selected for the first time in the 2008 AWS show, but ALSO WON a TOP MEDAL AWARD, too! YEAH, MYRNA!

This porch painting is another poured painting done with miskit to protect the areas I wanted to keep as light as they were. It may be too harsh looking with the stark contrast from the lights to the darks. Or maybe it's the 'too too sweet' contrasting with extra strong value changes that seems out of place.

It's an older piece, and I no longer have it. Although I've painted this several times, I may decide to paint it again and see what happens. The house in real life was not as run down as my crookedy perspective suggests.

For more info about the annual spring watercolor workshop at Kanuga, go to http://www.kanugawatercolorworkshops.com/index1.html Can't wait to discover more about the next part of this art journey. See you in a week!

"PINK LEMONADE, ANYONE?" Transparent Watercolor on Crescent Watercolor Board 12 x 17" COLLECTED

ELIMINATION

This painting was also created by the process of elimination of lighter shapes (like the previous post.) Instead of using miskit to protect the shapes that I wanted to keep a certain value, I used masking tape, mostly cut with a razor blade, to prevent the paint from flowing onto those areas.

I did use a brush to apply each layer of colors, making each layer be the same value throughout, but selected random colors that I liked, touching the paint to the paper in a very fluid state - lots of excess moisture to help it run and blend together. That extra moisture gave a more glowing look similar to the poured technique look because the paint could flow.

Once I'd removed all the masking tape pieces, I added some splatters and grasses in the foreground. I really like the surprises in colors that result from covering up shapes.

Using miskit creates a sharp, exact edge while using tape results in a more textured, unpredictable edge, especially if the tape is torn or overlapped. This was painted as a class demo about 10 years ago and given away to a student who has become a really great friend.

"TIPTON TOWNHOUSE" Transparent Watercolor on 140# CP Arches 21 x 14" COLLECTED

POURING IT ON

My favorite 'watercolor' look is achieved when I can get the paint onto the paper without ever touching the paper with paint on a brush. This painting was created by literally pouring the paint out of a small container, onto the wet paper. But first, I had to plan things so the paint would flow where I wanted it to go.

I chose the very lightest shapes in the painting and covered them carefully with miskit. After the miskit dried, I soaked the paper with a sprayer filled with water, then poured colors over the whole page, making sure it was covered everywhere with color which had a very similar pale value.

Once the paint was completely dry, I applied MORE miskit to the next lightest areas in the exact shape of those light areas. The miskit would make those specific shapes stay the light value they were as I again sprayed the paper to soak it and poured more colors on.

I repeated this process seven times, each time 'saving' the next darkest valued shapes with miskit before I poured the paint onto the wet paper. Each pour of paint had to be one step darker than the last one. Because the paper was wet and I used several colors for each pour, I had very limited control over where those colors decided to go. I also placed a big plastic bin under my painting to catch the excess runoff.

After the paper was dry, I removed the miskit. The color surprises that were revealed are one of my favorite things about painting this way.

I'd used a brush to apply the miskit to specific shapes to prevent them from getting any darker, but I did not apply any paint to the paper with a brush (other than for my signature.) This painting is one out of the archives and was the first one I'd ever poured completely from beginning to end.

Nita Engle's beautiful watercolors inspired me to start painting with watercolor, and her paintings glow because of the beauty of poured paint. She's a master at letting the watercolor do the work, although the way she approaches her poured paintings is somewhat different than what I've described here. My friend, Charmalee, and I drove to St. Louis years ago to take a workshop with her, and it was well worth the drive. Check out some of Nita's work; she's listed on my sidebar about artists I love.

This process will work equally well with transparent watercolor and fluid acrylics. There is one BIG advantage of using fluid acrylics to pour, instead of watercolor --- the sedimentary textures will stay put on the paper, even after the miskit is removed, if fluid acrylics are used. With watercolor, the miskit will lift off the sedimentary effect of granulating paints, unfortunately destroying some really neat textural effects.

"HOOD ORNAMENT" Transparent Watercolor on 140 CP Arches 14 x 18" COLLECTED

YUPO CONTEMPLATION

Sometimes the emotional connection between humans and animals can be incredibly strong, even if the animal is wild. What fun to try to transfer that emotion on paper while trying to use a good sense of design and composition.

Soooo HUGE, this gorilla, and yet he seemed to be so tender. I wanted to capture his drama and gentleness.

"CREATURE COMFORTS" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 13 x 9" Collected

YUPO - INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

These creatures look innocent and adorable when they are young, and this one climbed all over my husband's back and shoulders to explore during our visit to Vicki's menagerie. They are overly curious. When we had a landscape business years ago, I was nipped in the leg by one - right after the homeowner told me he wouldn't bite. Wrong.

Raccoons are nightly visitors to our upper deck if I fill the bird feeder there. I enjoyed painting the 'night time' look of this picture on YUPO. Using lots of color, but blending it to make it subdued, I wanted to give the feeling of someone who had just been found out. I think he looks a litle guilty, don't you?

Click on the painting to see an up close of the textures around the tree trunk. Workshop instructor Mary Ann Beckwith showed us how to lay the fibers of 'halloween webbing' down on the wet paint. Once the paint dries, the fibers are removed to reveal textures underneath that couldn't be created any other way.

This is one of my older paintings out of the archives. Tomorrow's post will be another YUPO from the archives .... one of my favorite animal paintings on YUPO.

"PARTY CRASHER" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 11 x 19" Collected

THE REAL SNOW BIRDS

The antics of a group (or flock?) of penguins can keep me captivated for a long time. They are hilarious. Many aquarium facilities feature penguin style living up close just like where these fellows now live in their own psuedo South Pole country (near the Ohio River.)

Using a technique taught by northern Indiana artist, Steve Blackburn, I literally poured trails of miskit onto the watercolor board, spritzing it with water to create avenues for it to crawl into and produce a unique pattern that I would never be able to paint. After the miskit dried, I poured color over the board, using several separate colors. Using a sprayer, I made some areas lighter than others, but the whole board was covered with paint. When it was dry, I removed the miskit to reveal the curious patterns and textures of pure white paper.

At that point, I drew in the penguin shapes and details and began to paint behind the lightest shapes to make them show up. It's really cool to see a form emerge as you paint the negative shapes behind it. Almost magic, but careful planning is involved.

The wings, bodies, heads, feet, and beaks of the foreground penquins were added as positive shapes. The lightest areas of the painting are from the original pours, and I like how the miskit shapes peak through the darks in the painting, almost resembling a frosted morning. This photo shows most of the paintng, but somehow I cut off the left hand side of the painting, so about one and a half penquins are missing. (And after goggling what a group of penguins are called, I found a multiple choice answer --- a huddle, a rookery, a parcel, a crèche' or a colony... take your pick!)

"PENGUIN PARADE" Transparent Watercolor on Hot Pressed Crescent Watercolor Board 30 x 12" Collected (Giglee' prints available)

THERAPY

Painting my way out of a hole. That's how I would describe this painting. When I started it, my feelings were dark, lots of misery, plenty of self pity, I'm sure. Also remorse. Usually I don't paint if I'm not in a good mood, but this time I had to.

I painted with vigor as if I could dump my emotions into the paper if I tried hard enough. Starting with watercolor and some created textures, then adding charcoal, conte crayon, caran d'ache crayons, acrylics..... I used whatever was at hand to help 'push my emotions' out onto the painting surface.

I was so ready to rip it up. I hated the painting, (I thought.) But actually other things were coming to the surface that were the cause of my hateful feelings.

Later, looking at the painting across the room, I was amazed that it had a life and movement of its own, and a positive feeling about it, too! How it got there...where it came from??? Creating art can surely bring about a healing force. Therapy once again.

This painting along with a couple dozen more of my recent works will be in a show opening Friday night (March 28) in Middletown, Ohio's Art Center. My Wednesday morning class will also have works on display at this show. We're planning on having a great time, so if you're in the area, please join us. (See side bar for more info about the show.) Hope you can make it.

"CAVERN" Mixed Media on 80# HP Strathmore Aquarius 15 x 11"

PLAYING WITH PAINTING

The summer of 1993, I traveled out of state to my brother's to house sit for him, dragging along all my paints so I could enjoy a precious week of uninterrupted painting. First thing I did was load up three oiler boilers (from Cheap Joes) with my three favorite colors at the time - permanent rose, phthalo blue, and hansa yellow.

After randomly applying some miskit to the paper to save some curving white shapes, I headed outside to squirt and splash color on the full sheet of Arches paper. I spritzed the colors to make them run and so enjoyed all the dancing they did as they dripped and flowed together. This is what watercolor does the best, and I loved watching it happen.

Next, I hopped into the hot tub (vacation, remember?) and turned the multicolored, in-progress painting all around to discover how I could proceed. When I turned the paper vertical, I saw that the paint had flowed to create what resembled the profile of a man. His nose was maybe a little too big, but the profile was there for sure, looking downward. The problem was that I also saw a crown of thorns above his head, partially created by the miskited areas. No matter how else I turned the painting, the only thing I could actually see was this profile with the crown.

I slipped into shopping clothes, grabbed my brother's car keys, and drove in the direction of Walmart. NO WAY was I going to paint a religious looking painting. I'd had enough of religiosity recently, enough for a lifetime as far as I was concerned.

As soon as I entered Walmart, I KNEW the name of the painting. THE COST. And I knew I had to go back and paint it.

Back at my makeshift studio, I took out my watercolor pencils and enhanced the hair and crown area, created a beard, and developed more of a mouth. I found a mirror to look in to see how eyes would look in agony..... (and I had a measurable amount of agony going on in my life at that time to help me sense it for the painting.)

Finished. I looked at it again from the hot tub. I was struck by the beauty of the pink drips falling from the crown. It took some time before I could understand the meaning of the name of the painting.

Now I know that I no longer have to strive for 'perfection.' I can stop trying to accomplish perfection as if my life depended on it. When I make mistakes and do things wrong, I know that I am forgiven. That cost has been fully paid.

Many years later, when I look at those fluid, magenta drips, I am still struck by a sadness or agony, but I also feel a wonder, an awe at the touching beauty I see ... very strange and conflicting emotions that somehow work out ok together.

This isn't a religious painting but a painting about being freed. I'm thankful for being given this gift to paint, but I'm most thankful for knowing God's pure love and acceptance through His most precious gift, Jesus Christ.

"THE COST" Transparent Watercolor & Watercolor Pencils on 140#CP Arches 22 x 30" NFS (Available as a Lithograph Print in Several Sizes)

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

MORE ANIMALS

Yesterday's blog featured an otter, so today I have to give space to my other favorite creature, the giraffe. When they were younger, our kids got to feed the giraffes at a Colorado zoo and loved placing those crackers on their long, dark purplish blue tongues.

This painting, finished many years ago, started out with a wash of rainbow hues across the whole paper. I'd carefully miskited the whites on the giraffe's face, ear, and neck ahead of time, though. After that colorful glaze dried, I miskited the leaves in front of the neck, then added more darks to the neck and face before painting the spots in.

Special attention was given to the edges of all the dark spots so that they did not look glued on. The edges range from hard to soft to disappearing, lending a 'fur-like' effect to this animal's coat.

I love the casual glance these beautiful creatures can give you as they sweep their long eyelashes down. They're so elegant and stately. And it's been said that you should paint things you really like. I do.

"LET'S DO LUNCH" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Artisico 11 x 25"

YUPO OTTER BE IRISH

This little guy may be thinking, "Top of the Morning to ya!" Everyone in his hometown of Homer, Alaska calls him "GRANDPA," and I don't think he goes without food too often. He lives in the harbor there and loves to stare you down . . . cute and adorable, too, even though he's capable of eating up to 20 pounds of food a day.

Alaskan otters grow to be almost 5' long, and their fur has well over a half a million hairs per square inch! That's thick hair. They spend almost half their time grooming themselves so that they stay waterproof. (Talk about high maintenance.) Still, they seem so playful. They've been one of my very favorite animals for a long, long time. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

"OSCAR OTTER" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 19 x 13"

ACRYLICS AND COLLAGE

Fluid acrylics painted over collaged pieces of washi papers helped enhance the textures I wanted in this painting. I used rubbing alcohol to rub off some of the dried acrylics to reveal the colors and textures underneath. This painting is on canvas, which makes it easy for the viewer to reach out and touch the textures.

When I started this, I had no preconceived idea of what I was going to paint - my favorite way of painting for sure. Letting the painting lead me is lots of fun and often very exhilarating, allowing expression I could not reach any other way. I also like letting the viewer decide what they see instead of defining it clearly. What do you see?

"OPEN YOUR HEARTS AND SING" Fluid Acrylics over Collaged Rice Papers on Canvas 18 x14" Collected

BATIK AGAIN

This hollyhock and buds were batiked via hot wax and watercolor paint on Thai Unryu paper. This mulberry paper has wonderful silky theads scattered through it to lend a graceful textured effect and is excellent to use when batiking a floral. It can also be purchased with golden or silver threads woven in it...adding a nice sparkle to a painting, too.

When working on watercolor batiks, I paint almost randomly with color after each layer of wax is applied, hence the blue touch of color in the pink flower here. The color accidents that occur by painting this way create more excitement in the picture than if everything is painted the 'proper' color. Although the colors I choose are mostly what I want in an area, I'm careful to not be careful about filling in the shapes accurately. The pinks that show up in the leaves attest to that.

"SPLENDID!" Transparent Watercolor on Thai Unryu rice paper, adhered to 140#CP Arches, 11 x 18" Collected

SO READY

Early one spring this little fellow stopped his busy activities at the edge of our woods for just a moment. Bluebirds are such a gift when you see one - so pretty and breathtaking. I was happy to get his picture (on film back then) before he took flight again.

One spring I took photos of Papa Bluebird teaching Junior to take a bath in the bird bath outside the studio window. Mama joined them during the whole funny escapade, and I must paint it sometime soon. That day, I'd gotten up from painting to stretch, and as I walked toward the far window, I sensed the need for my camera - one of those 'intuition times' that I listened to. They'd been long gone if I'd gone to grab the camera and returned to the window.

It's always thrilling for me to observe God's creatures because they are immensely delightful and usually full of surprises, and so often I'm inspired to try to share their world in a painting. This was painted several years ago, and I'm itching to paint birds again. The birds were REALLY singing today a lot, and I think maybe the snow and ice melt a little faster when they sing so much. I can wish, anyway.

"WATCHING FOR SPRING" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 8 x 18" Collected

WAX BATIK & WATERCOLOR

Seeing Venice for the first time must be a thrill. We'll find out in late September when seven of us arrive in Venice to paint and explore for several days. I'm sure some shopping will be in order, too.

Our niece and nephew visited Venice several years ago so upon their return, I asked Kristin what she'd like painted from her trip - as a gift from us for her college graduation. She chose a more traditional style painting of Venice that I did for her, but the same scene as this one.

I had to try the picture again on rice paper using melted wax and transparent watercolors. I think the batik effect is both colorful and dramatic because of all the accidental textures, however, you never know until you iron off all the wax just how good or bad the painting will turn out.

My friend, Linda, first showed me the basics of how to do a watercolor batik many years ago. As a matter of fact, she's the one who finally convinced me to go to Italy two years ago! (Thank goodness!!!) And TODAY is her birthday. Check her blog out on the sidebar - Linda Schuler - and wish her a happy birthday. Thanks for sharing so much with me, Linda. Have a great birthday, too.

"CANAL VOYAGE" Wax Batik with Transparent Watercolor on Rice Paper 15 x 13" Collected

YUPO ONCE AGAIN

Any time that 'texture' is a strong feature in a painting, I usually want to paint on YUPO. The variety of textural effects that can be accomplished easily on YUPO still amazes me. Plus, the intensity of the watercolor on YUPO is so brilliant.

Can you imagine having been a pioneer and dragging the really heavy cast iron cookware across the country? I'm sure thankful for the ease of life we have now compared to the toil it must have been then. My grandma used to cook with cast iron skillets of many sizes. I think I've only owned three pieces of cast iron..... and prefer not to use it since it can't go in the dishwasher. Ooooh. Spoiled? Yep.

I had fun letting the pushy colors move the paint around on the YUPO to create the textures on this array of cast iron cookery. Click on the painting for a close up of the textures/pushy colors. It was also great to be able to lift off color where I wanted to pull an area back to white, too. Glad I didn't have to scrub these pots and pans after supper, though.

This was painted several years ago during the opening of an art show. Sitting at a show and watching people look at paintings makes me restless, so if I can, I set up to paint, usually with my back to the crowd so that they feel comfortable coming up to look over my shoulder.

Artists who paint in public certainly could write books about the comments they hear. Some are so sincere and generous, while others are hilarious, (but I dare not laugh.)

"REALLY CAST IN IRON" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 14 x 20" Collected (Giglee' prints available.)

SEEING SLOWLY & CAREFULLY

Happy Birthday to Suzanne G:-) today, who's looking forward to learning more about painting reflective surfaces like glass. This painting's for her to study. Check out the shapes created by the darks and light values. Check out the placement of the darks and lights. Examine the edges carefully.

Some edges are sharp, hard. Some are soft, fading away. Some values literally disappear into another value, never having an edge.

Seeing what is there is so critcal in making something look real on a flat piece of paper. We all tend to observe what's around us fairly well. But I think the trick to painting realistically is not to just observe, but to carefully see and slowly look at the shapes, values, and their edges, then paint what we've seen. Keeping the really white shapes pure white helps a bunch in creating the depth in a watercolor. Painting really good darks where it's the darkest gives great dimension to the reflective surface, too.

At the end of this month, we have a special demo planned for Thursday morning's class on reflective surfaces. I'm looking forward to it. Painting glass and brass is easy to do as long as you look slowly and see where the edges and values are. We'll make it look REAL, three dimensional. Wish you all could be in class.

"APPLESAUCE SOON?" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 10 x 22" Collected

HILLFOREST

There's a beautiful, historic home sitting on a hill above the Ohio River in a town next door to our town. "Hillforest" was built for the Thomas Gaff family, who lived there from 1855 through 1891.

There were three Gaff brothers who developed much of the town of Aurora and relied heavily on riverboats for their businesses. Notice the look of a 'pilot house' atop the mansion, and how the front porch resembles a steamboat deck. Designed by Isaiah Thomas, this home has since been carefully preserved in its Italian Renaissance style and is a favorite spot for visitors to stop, especially to see the gorgeous suspended staircase inside.

Just about every artist in this county has painted this house from one angle or another, so several years ago, I had to give it a try, too. I combined my taping technique with some miskit control (for the curved areas of the house and the big Sycamore) to create this painting. The picture now hangs in the Dearborn County Country Club.

An interesting historic fact about the Gaff family - - - their riverboat, The Forest Queen, was used successfully at the siege of Vicksburg as the headquarters of William Tecumseh Sherman for the Union cause during the Civil War.

"TOWN TREASURE" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 30 x 13" Collected

YUPO LIONESS

Sliding paint around on YUPO can be compared to the phrase we often hear now --- '''herding cats.''' (Doesn't THAT paint a picture in your mind?)

For this painting, the sliding paint almost worked for the fur on this cat's face. Then the little spot dried between her nose and eye, leaving an unnatural hard edge where I did not want a hard edge. Somehow, for once, I was able to leave that spot alone and go on with the rest of the painting. Trying to correct it after it had dried would've resulted in destroying the beauty of the cheek area.

Once the whole thing was completed, I found that the hard edged spot no longer bothered me. In fact, I liked what it did for the painting.

I also got lucky under her chin where the background color sneaked into the wet paint of her fur, adding just bit cooler look to the shadow there. The grainy area between the ear and the eye is a result of the Lunar Earth separating or granulating in the Quinacridone Burnt Orange area.

If you haven't tried YUPO yet with watercolor, you are missing out on a great adventure. Although this was painted back in 2001, it's still one of my favorite paintings. Fortunately I'd made giglee' prints of it before it sold.

"GRRRRRRR" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 10 x 12" Collected

SEEING CLEARLY

Figuring out how to paint glass seems to be one thing that stumps some artists. But it's actually exactly the same as anything else we try to paint. Look at the shapes of the darks and lights on the glass surface, and capture those shapes with the correct values and with accurate edges.

Most of learning to paint and draw is about seeing. Training our eyes to see what is REALLY there, rather than what we think is there, is vital to developing our creative process. Observing the actual shapes that are created by the different darks and lights, seeing the changes in the edges of those darks and lights --- seeing values, seeing edges --- that's what helps us know what to paint.

By far, the most influential element that we (mistakenly) think we must paint is color. A person may spend lots of time trying to find the perfect match for a color. However, color's main job is to develop the emotion of a painting. It also adds atmospheric perspective to a painting. Color alone seldom describes an object very well. The darks and lights or VALUE changes are what does the job of telling us what's going on in a painting, what it's about.

When painting glass, (or brass or any shiny item,) a broad range of colors will work as long as the lights and darks are created in the correct shapes with the correct edges. To give more emphasis to this, I've added some Photoshop enhanced pictures of the above painting.

The first pix has much less value change, with fewer darks and lights, resulting in a flatter painting, showing what happens when there's not enough value change from light to dark. While the jars still may look like canning jars, there is no impact when looking at the painting because the value changes are only strong between the metal handles and the glass. The other three 'paintings' now have crazy color combinations, to show that glass looks like glass if the values and edges are correct, whether the 'color' is correct of not. COLLECTED

PORTRAITS

This guy had the most beautiful blue eyes. As he finished his lunch at an old diner in Colorado, I asked if I could take his picture to paint. He was gracious enough to say, 'Yes.'

His eyes were so gentle, kind... and direct, making them the specific reason for me to want to paint the portrait. I wonder why some people are so much more photogenic than others. He struck a casual pose outside the diner, and the only thing left to do was capture it all on watercolor paper, which I was anxious to do.

"COLORADO ROCKY" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Artistico 15 x 11"

YUPO LEAP TOWARD THE CHALLENGE

It's LEAP YEAR, and today's February 29th. The artists in my classes have 'leaped' at the chance to grow beyond their comfort zones by taking Myrna Wachnov's first artist challenge of the year.

On her blog in January, she suggested that we select a reference photo to be painted several times. We were to make each painting have dominance of one of the seven elements of design. Each of the seven paintings also had to have a different unifying color throughout every part of the painting, and each had to be created with its own specific compositional design, selected at random ahead of time.

These are my final three paintings of the seven. My other four challenge paintings plus the reference photo are posted at the end of this post, as well as in late January and early February posts on this blog.

The top painting, my Week 7 painting, was based on a SHAPE-IN-SHAPE composition with SHAPE as the dominant element of the painting. It was great that I drew those two together, because it made things a little simplier to figure out.

To make this a shape-in-shape, I liked the idea of taking the people off of the street they were on and placing them in the train station - or wherever you think this might be. The window happened by chance. I'd designed an open archway, but closed it up, making the shape-in-shape composition possibly stronger. This was done with transparent watercolor on YUPO and is about 11 x 15". (Quinacridone Burnt Orange was the unifying color, but I forgot to put it in the clothes on the people :-(

For Week 6, the element I drew to be dominant was DIRECTION, and the composition I had to use was HORIZONTAL. These two also went together nicely, but the problem I faced was how to make vertical people shapes have a horizontal dominance.

Remember those paper dolls some of us cut out when we were kids? That gave me the idea to 'stretch' out the line of people so they looked like there were lots of them. I still used my photo reference, but I duplicated the people, reversing them, too.

I miskited the figures to keep them white. Applying the strokes of fluid acrylics horizontally and letting it flow by tipping the paper sideways helped create a stronger directional dominance. Adding the small, thin lines increased the dominance, too. I really liked the little figures that showed up in the negative spaces between the people shapes.

After removing the miskit, I flowed more color horizontally across the people shapes, then added a few details to specific areas on their bodies and around their feet. This was done on Arches 140# CP with Fluid Acrylics and some Transparent Watercolor and is also 11 x 15." (Unifying color was Quinacridone Coral.)

Week 5 was a CHALLENGE for sure. The element to make dominant was COLOR, so ... "piece of cake," I thought. And then I drew STAGGERED for the composition. Ugh. I cut up all the people and staggered them into a design that I thought would work and began painting, thinking 'color, color, color!'

I used color - everywhere - and in pure doses except for the unifying color I'd added in, which was Hansa Yellow. I ended up with a "It'll hurt your eyes" ugly painting. Too much garish yellow and oranges, too many colors everywhere. So I started knocking them down, neutralizing them, graying the intensity of most areas.

After lots of critique considerations and many corrections, this is the result. I'm not sure it comes off as staggered, but I do think that COLOR gets attention in those pure spots that are left. It's growing on me, I guess. Let me know what you think. It was my worst one but may end up being my favorite one. Weird.

This is done on Arches 140#CP with Fluid Arylics, Transparent Watercolor, Caran D'Ache Crayons, and Conte Crayons and is smaller since I cropped a lot of it off... probably about 9 x 12."

Samples of my previous challenge paintings are below - - - - -


Week One - VALUE and VERTICAL composition (Raw Sienna to unify) --- Week 2 - LINE dominance and CHECKERBOARD composition (Transparent Pyrrol Orange to unify) --- Week 3 - TEXTURE dominance and CRUCIFORM composition (Burnt Tiger's Eye to unify) SOLD --- Week 4 - SIZE dominance and ASYMMETRICAL composition (Quinacridone Violet to unify)

- My photo reference for the challenge paintings, taken in London, England in '06.

Painting from the same photo seven times and being challenged to make each painting specifically different was invigorating. I learned a lot and stretched beyond my normal painting habits.

Most of my students are also working on their own seven challenge paintings, and you can see a couple of them by checking their blogs - Chris Campbell's floral paintings and Rhonda Carpenters' challenge paintings of two different themes, the most recent some old time pottery. See the side bars on the right hand side of my blog to go to their sites.

Some of the works I've seen in class simply astound me. Artists are SO creative! And we can thank Myrna for the challenge she gave us ... or maybe some would blame her for the misery it is to push beyond our comfort zones. Surely not.

Happy Birthday to David! February 29th! ...... the only person I've ever met with this birthday.

GESSO AND WATERCOLOR MARKS

I wonder what Polly is looking at. She's so intent on whatever is over there to the right.

Actually, she was a bird in Venice, Florida that used to squawk "Marco," then the kids would yell "Polo!" She loved it and would bob up and down excitedly. My dad liked to feed her bits of crackers.

To get the jungle look behind her, I slapped some random gesso marks over the paper before I began the painting and let them dry. Later as I painted, the gessoed areas accepted the paint quite differently than the regular paper surface, creating a tension and texture that I liked a lot.

The great thing about painting watercolor on gessoed paper is that the paint can be lifted off easily with a damp brush, usually leaving only a slight ghost image on the gesso. Makes corrections easier for sure. Painting on gesso always makes me think I'm painting an oil slick, because of the way the paint settles in funny patterns on the gesso.

"PROUD POLLY" Transparent Watercolor and Gesso on 140# CP Arches 14 x 22" SOLD

HAWKEYE

We have a wildlife area near us that's full of many native creatures. One of the men who enjoys that area, called Oxbow, also has a Red Tail Hawk that he rescued long ago and cares for now. His educational talk one Saturday was exceptional, and I was really thankful to be able to take pictures of this beautiful bird on his arm.

I find that painting wildlife brings me a lot of satisfaction. I am lucky to have had parents who took us outside through many state and national parks for vacations or long weekends. Hiking and discovering all kinds of wildlife was a 'normal' adventure during my childhood.

The beauty of wild animals just astounds me. They are so complex and wonderfully made. Glorious creatures!

And so much fun to try to paint, especially with watercolor.

"SHAKE A TAIL FEATHER!" Transparent Watercolor on 140# CP Fabriano Artistico 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 PORTRAIT

This was painted several years ago on YUPO before I learned from a George James video how to use a roller and squeegee to control the paint flow. The 'drip' for his jaw line shows how the paint dried with an edge that I did not plan or want. Smoothing it out with a brush after it was dry would have only left a murky, unblended mess. I liked the rest of the picture, so I left that as a ''''painterly'''' mark. HA!

To paint a smooth, uninterrupted space on YUPO is pretty much pure luck, not skill. Gravity helps a little, I think.

Getting a smooth, graded wash like the check and jaw area here is also a big challenge on YUPO. The paint tends to dry from the outside in, but unpredictable edges often occur sometimes where the paint's thinned in the middle of a wash, just like this jaw line did.

Like Nick Simmons says, "You've got to have a Plan B." Mistakes will always change our plans. Sure teaches us to be flexible. No pushy colors were used on the face, which helped make the drying a little more even. Pushy colors (see previous posts) usually dry faster, allowing for uneven areas to develop, not so good in skin or smooth areas like sky or calm water.

Myrna Wacknov just finished a week long workshop with George James. Check out her workshop masterpiece full of colorful figures on her blog (see side bar.) It's an exciting piece. Five weeks from today I'll be at a George James workshop in North Carolina with my friend, Monique! YEAH!!! And it'll be spring there with the big Weeping Cherry Tree in full bloom, I bet.

Looking at this painting today, I think the hat really needs more value and definition. What do you think?

"FRIENDSHIPS" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO, 14 x 12"

WINTER GO AWAY

I love the catkins on pussywillows. They are so furry and soft, and a great sign that spring will indeed get here. I guess I'm more impatient this year for winter to go away than I've ever been. I love the snow when it falls; I like the ice on the trees if I'm inside; I like a good book and a bowl of soup on a cold winter day. I like winter. But this year's winter has been longer and snowier and colder than usual. GO AWAY!

This is a small painting done with the same technique as the tulips from yesterday's post were done. First I saturated the wet paper with lots of strong, dark colors. Next I lifted out the shapes that were to be lighter. Thank you, Cheng Khee Chee, for sharing this technique of painting with us. It's just amazing that it works as well as it does.

The great thing about this method is that the background and foreground areas are both painted at the same time, while the paper's wet. There's no need to struggle with a background because it's the first thing finished in the painting. After the lifting was done, I added some detail in the twigs and catkins to finish the painting. I used a Q-Tip, or cotton swab on a stick, along with a sable brush, to lift out the catkins, too.

"WINTER'S OVER" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, 5 x 8"