QUICK STUDY

Painting loose and free is natural for many watercolorists, but I find it very challenging. For me, to paint loosely, I must 'think long and look slowly,' then paint deliberately with a sure stroke. No fussing.

Knowing what to put in and what to leave out is part intuition and part design knowledge, just like color choice is. Being aware of each shape's edges then adding variety with soft, lost, and hard edges helped me create movement in the painting.

The range of darks and lights established focal and restful areas, depending on how close together they were located. The placement of small shapes with hard edges helped emphasize a focal area more.

Developing the unpainted areas so that each space was a different shape and size also added interest to this study. It may look like a quickly dashed off painting, but there were lots of subtle decisions made before the paint ever met the paper, and plenty of on-the-spot decisions were made while my brush was moving. It's fun and it's nerve wracking! And I love to paint:-D

"MAY DAY GERANIUMS" Transparent Watercolor on 140# CP Arches 7 x 9" COLLECTED

NOT ANOTHER BARN ON YUPO!

Barns have always been part of my life. I played in many Indiana barns when I was a kid since we lived in a rural area where corn fields and barns dotted the landscape. I can still smell that hay, the manure...UGH! I can remember being very frightened to step down into that open space out of the hay mow.

My hope with this painting was to create a landscape of an old barn but give it a twenty first century appeal. The scene is made up, and it's created on the slick YUPO surface.

I used the grid idea that George James often starts with to 'set up' the painting. You can see the overall grid in the drawing below, but it's harder to see how the grid is shifted upward and to the left slightly where the barn is. The important parts of the painting are located within that specific section of the grid. Areas outside that specific section of the grid area get less attention and detail, helping lend a contemporary look to the old fashioned barn. This grid device has really helped me simplify and state better what is vital to me in my paintings, especially on YUPO, where I can get pretty nutty about textures, often letting them take over the painting.

The early stage of the painting clearly defines one good white shape, with other shapes painted in to surround it. Eventually the good white shape is integrated into the overall design, and even though it's no longer visible, it still provides the skeleton that helps hold the design of the painting together.

This Saturday I give a demo at the Cincinnati Women's ART Club at their NEW BARN! They've renovated the old barn where United Dairy Farmers began (love that ice cream.) Because this is their first meeting there, I felt inspired to paint a barn for them with a contemporay touch. YUPO, here we go again! I'm nervous, but I know I'll have fun. The demo drawing's almost complete, and I'm really planning this one a lot more than the one posted here. Hopefully, the finished painting will have a resemblance to their new art center in the huge, remodeled UDF barn.

"OLD TIMES" Transparent Watercolor on Heavy Weight YUPO 26 x 20" COLLECTED

YUPO IN THE RAIN

The two posts below show a finished YUPO painting as well as the painting showing what it looked like about half way through the process. The smaller photo was my reference.

We were freezing cold from walking across across one of the London bridges near the Taft Museum, and my umbrella had blown apart in the strong wind. To top it all off, Westminster Abbey was closing, and we couldn't get in. The abbey is there on the left in the photo. That's all I saw of it.

We paid a bunch for a taxi back to our son's flat and went out for supper after we dried off and got warm again. The memory of how quickly it got cold and rainy that day stayed in my mind, and that's what I'd hoped to convey. The picture of the painting in progress may actually convey the feeling better than the finished piece. I think I'll try again.

Double click on the paintings to see the textures better, and you'll be able to see how YUPO can be glazed with several layers of paint. Since the paint sits right on top of the sheet of YUPO, never soaking in, it takes some practice to paint over it without lifting the existing paint.

I've printed the commonly heard English phrase, "MIND THE GAP," in the final painting, too, but it's hard to find. Do you see it?

"LONDON BRIDGES" Transparent Watercolor on Heavy Weight YUPO 20 x 26" COLLECTED

PAINT ALONG

Several artists in my classes have expressed a desire to be able to paint along with me rather than create their own work, so this Wednesday night I'm starting a class that will help those artists feel more secure about painting. This harbour scene will be the first thing we paint together, and I know that even though everyone paints the same thing, we'll have a dozen different paintings when we're done.

Painting along with the instructor can be very beneficial to help an artist learn special techniques and skills. The danger in attending paint-along classes too long is that many people get very comfortable and satisfied creating successful painting copied from the teacher, then find it quite frustrating to paint when they try it on their own. As long as artists are learning new techniques and processes (not repeating them) it seems that the paint-along process can be justified.

When someone helps each step of the way, results can be almost guaranteed. Painting your own original masterpiece should be as easy - we wish! It's also a lot easier for me to teach a paint-along class, but the satisfaction factor is much higher for me as a teacher when I see artists have successful results while working on their own original works and inspriations. There's just a lot more frustration and struggle they have to wade through to get to that success.

Either way, teaching is a lot of fun, and I wouldn't change my 'job' for anything. It's amazing how much 'work' art can be and how much work that teaching art can be. But it never really seems like a real job, even though it's work!

FYI - I did screen out several people who wanted to take the class. They weren't allowed because they no longer need to copy a teacher to learn what they need to know, and I knew that this new class would actually hold them back as well as stifle their own creativity.

I'll let you know how Wednesday evenings work out.

"MAINE EVENING" Transparent Watercolor on 140# CP Arches 15x 11" COLLECTED

SHORTCAKE?

Big red delicious strawberries hardly ever make it into a painting before they are devoured, since my husband LOVES strawberry shortcake. This was painted a few years ago as a class demo using a good white shape to start the painting (John Salminen workshop info.) The beginning white shape is one continuous shape and goes off the paper on 3 sides. It must be irregular, unpredictable and have an oblique thrust to it.

Somehow, that beginning shape creates a strong skeleton that holds the whole painting together later, even though the white shape is no longer visible or even evident once the painting's completed. See the small photo for how the first step is done with just a very light wash over the areas that are not part of the good white shape. The wash should be done in the opposite temperature of the overall temperature of the final painting.(The small grayish shapes in the small photo are actually miskited areas to keep specific shapes pure white.)

There are several more steps to the good white shape approach for a painting, but it always amazes me that this process does so much to make a painting work well, whether it's an abstract or realistic. I use the process for most of my work now, as do several of the artists in my classes. It really makes good design and composition easier in the long run. Thank you, John!


"SHORTCAKE?" Transparent Watercolor on 140# CP Fabriano Artistico 12 x 17" COLLECTED

IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE

These two paintings were done as demos and completed within a day of each other. The first giraffe was painted on 140# Cold Press Fabriano Artistico cotton paper using traditional watercolor methods. I was given 50 minutes to complete it at The Cincinnati Women's Club Painting Class, but I did draw it ahead of time.

The more contemporary giraffe painting was created on YUPO paper where I'd drawn a curved grid with a watercolor pencil, then roughed in a sketch I could follow. The focus of this painting was to emphasis my response to the drama and exqusiteness of this animal, rather than create a photo likeness, and time to paint and draw was less than 30 minutes.

The YUPO painting was done impromptu in one of my classes one day after the realistic giraffe was painted and was certainly the most playful to paint. I used a one inch flat brush to apply paint to both papers, but the paint on the YUPO paper was moved around a lot by foam rollers and a window washing squeegee.

It's a strange thing that the amount of time it takes to create a painting really doesn't weigh into the factor of how good a painting is. We're so conditioned to think that 'time is money', but in creating art, it's just not so.

I'll redo the YUPO giraffe with more planning in mind, but it's my favorite. What do you think?

COLLECTED

YUPO PORTRAIT

This portrait, done about six years ago, might have been more accurately portrayed on regular watercolor paper, but I chose YUPO because I wanted to really emphasize the textures throughout the painting. The grasses, the foliage, the contrast of the shiny black shoes, and the well worn overcoat, the flop of that hat, the rocks - each had a special texture.

The close up below shows some detail of most of those areas. Click on it and you can see the effects of the fluid paint as it slid around on the plastic paper - especially on the coat area. I did use miskit to help make the grasses have a sense of depth.

Much of the paint was allowed to 'run around' and do its thing within the area where I wanted those particular value and colors to be placed. When I paint 'loosey juicy' on YUPO, I've found that it's best to keep my brush out of the flow of the paint, or it'll end up looking over worked and muddy.

This morning's class will involve another YUPO demo using the window washing squeegee and some foam paint rollers, along with a lot of spritzing and lifting. Got to get some sleep so I'll be raring to go in class. I'll post the results soon.

"CAPTAIN TINSLEY" Transparent Watercolor on Heavy Weight YUPO about 17 x 25" COLLECTED

YUPO SPRING

Spring has really, really arrived, and I'm finally sharing a 'spring time' painting I did last October as a demo in Middletown, Ohio. Yupo 'paper' can be painted on in so many ways, with a range of techniques, and this picture shows a much more realistic landscape-look than the rest of this month's YUPO posts.

My sister-in-law, Chris, took the reference photo, posted below, on one of her trips to Holland. The tulips were done blooming by the time we went there together. The photo has been used for information and inspiration, but, as you can see, I took a lot of liberty to change the layout and colors to suit the romance I tried to create in the painting.

If you're an artist working with watercolors or fluid acrylics and you haven't tried YUPO yet, it's time to start. Working on this surface opens up so many possibilities that are not available with regular, cotton watercolor paper.

YUPO is an extremely high grade plastic surface that will last for a very long time. Both sides are the same, and there's a very thin layer of foam between the surfaces. If you like to experiment, to grow, to try something exciting, order some YUPO and enjoy the journey!

"AMAZING GRACE" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 20 x 13" COLLECTED

YUPO WATERCOLOR & GOLF

This time it's golf. Lots of golf balls, various sizes, help add interest to the painting. Or maybe you see a moon?

The painting started out somewhat differently than the other YUPO paintings I've done recently. I still used a grid to 'flatten' the picture plane but had some compositional problems with this painting. (See the original post below.)

I've revised the painting from the post late last night. The first posted painting was half green if you measured all the green areas, and the vertical tree trunk lines weren't anywhere else in the painting.

Creating a strong "Z" in the painting strengthened the composition a lot. Adding grasses in the bottom part of the painting helped subtly repeat the linear lines of the tree trunks. Floating in a few more golf balls and action lines lended more of the excitement of a golf game to the painting, too.

Cobalt Teal Blue was glazed over some of the tree foliage and remaining green areas to calm them down. Even some of the tree trunks were quieted. Finally, spotting in a few stronger orange shapes as well as lots of small dark splats of paint helped add movement throughout the painting also.

I wanted the energy and the expectancy that you feel when you're out there on the course to come across in the painting. It was fun to paint, and it led me around more than I led it. Kind of like golf! Or like watercolor?

My son and I have often discussed how golf and watercolor are so similar - the fewer strokes, the better the results... it's frustrating so much so that you hate it and yet you love it... some days you cannot do anything wrong and some days you play/paint like you've never held a club/brush before... it's immensely challenging.

"A GOOD DAY" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 26 x 20" COLLECTED! already:-)

CAPTURING CREATIVITY

Watching a child create can be mesmerizing. One of our grand daughters is staying with us this week, and she's glittered and glued, painted and pasted, sculpted and molded, and already spent over twelve hours with me in my adult art classes. What a treasure she is, too.

Being a grandparent is one of the best blessings ever! After almost five more hours in class tomorrow, she'll tell me if she wants to stay another week. She was convinced today that she does.

We also made time to go on a great shopping spree after church on Sunday, and I watched as she tried on a dozen dresses. She loves to twirl in them.

When she saw this painting of herself, she smiled, then said, "That's not what I was painting!" (I must've taken too much artistic license???)

"THE MASTERPIECE" Transparent Watercolor on 140# CP Fabriano Artistico 18 x 14" COLLECTED

COLLAGE OF WATERCOLORS

Old paintings which end up in the disaster drawer still have potential if you tear them up to use in collages like this one was done. All that's required is some matte medium to 'glue' down the torn or cut pieces plus an eye for finding the pieces and shapes with the right value and color for your painting.

Our show in Middletown, Ohio, will hang through a week from this Saturday, and this was the first painting that sold. Patt Belisle, their director, recently told me that several other people were also interested in this same collaged painting.

I do not understand why there's such a strong appeal for a painting made out of failed paintings, but it's happened every time I've made a collage in this way. (When you try this, use only the freshest, prettiest parts of the disaster paintings to tear up and paste into your new painting.) Each collaged piece has sold immediately, yet the wonderful Italian woman who bought this one did not even realize it was collaged. I did 'cheat' and add some splatters for more textural interest to the finished collage.

The post on January 28 is also a collage of a zebra made from old paintings. Check it out.

"MOCKINGBIRD SONG" Old, Transparent Watercolor Paintings, Torn, Rearranged, and Glued Down on 140#CP Arches, 16 x 12" COLLECTED

YUPO CLASS DEMO

This painting started out as a short class demo on Monday morning, and I decided to pursue it until I thought it was complete. The painting is filled with symbolism that holds some kind of significance to me and to my view of the world around me.

I used George James' grid process to show the class how to focus in on one area, making that area significantly more important than the rest of the painting. Earlier that morning, one of my new students shared a painting she'd done of a bridge similar to this one, so I borrowed the bridge idea and reorganized the shapes to suit my design and demo. Since this was very impromptu, I was excited about the results.

"WHERE HAVE ALL THE SOLDIERS GONE?" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 16 x 13"

NEXT YEAR

I'm already looking forward to next year at Kanuga. That place is special.

This photo was taken before dinner, on Tuesday evening, from the big porch which has lots of comfortable chairs and rockers. (But we didn't take time to sit in them because we were so busy painting.)

Next year, many of the same artists will return to enjoy another four days (at least) of instruction and inspiration. It's like a big family reunion, and although I've missed the past two years, I felt immediately at home this year when we all got together for dinner the first night.

Spring 2009 will be a whole new line up of instructors, and I'm leaning towards signing up for Miles Batt's class. I like the class description, and I've been told that he's an excellent teacher. If anyone knows about his workshops, please fill me in on what they are like.

If you're interested in going to a top notch workshop event in the beautiful Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina next spring, check out http://www.kanugawatercolorworkshops.com/index1.html. Hope to see you there.

YUPO AGAIN

This abstract was concocted right before class ended on the first day of our George James workshop last week. I was trying out some of the techniques and processs on YUPO that I wasn't very familiar with, like pulling the paint with a squeegee, and kept on going until I liked what happened.

Colors never soak into the YUPO surface since it's made of a very high grade of polypropolene, aka as plastic. Because they don't soak into any paper fibers, the colors stay intense and bright just like they are when they are wet and glowing.

Whatever surface or materials I'm working with, my hope is that I can create a piece of artwork that is meanigful to me, first of all, and also evokes an emotional response in others. Both are rewarding.

A new (to me) artist commented today on one of my posts. She signs in as PAINT ON HER FINGERS, and on her new blog she's posted the best quote - "She's happiest when she has time on her hands and paint on her fingers." Don't you love it?!? I live there for sure.

"TIME ON HER HANDS" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 17 x 13"

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