POSTING MORE OF ITALY

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

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

PACKING LIGHT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DIFFERENT COLORS

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

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

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

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

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

MORE ITALY

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

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

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

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

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

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

MORE PLEIN AIRE ITALY

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

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

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

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

ARCHIVES

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

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

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

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

NORTHERN LAKES - ITALY

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

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

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

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

PLEIN AIRE ITALY

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

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

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

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

FALL FOLIAGE

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

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

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

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

ITALY IS FOR ARTISTS

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

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

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

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

IMAGINATION OR MEMORY?

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

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

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

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

MORE GESSO

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

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

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

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

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

MASKING TAPE FOR BATIK LOOK

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

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

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

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

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

A SECOND YEAR OF BLOGGING

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

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

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

CONTRAST CATCHES MY EYE

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

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

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

MORNING

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

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

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

HEADING DOWN THE ROAD

We are headed down the road today with four grandkids to visit the children's museum, then after lunch, scourer a pumpkin patch for the best four pumpkins there. Our fall colors here are good this year, but not as spectacular as we've seen before. It's still beautiful.

For this painting, I employed a technique that Ohio artist, Don Getz, uses to perfection. On watercolor paper already covered with white gesso, I painted four medium valued colors over the whole page. Once that was dry, I lifted out the light values and added the darks. More than half the painting was a medium value, so those areas were done when I put that first paint on .... kind of sounds way easier than it was to do....

"BLAZING GLORY" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches covered with White Gesso, 30 x 20" COLLECTED

VILLAS

This is the view we had while sitting on a comfortable park bench on the shoreline of Lake Maggiorie. Can you imagine your sweetheart building you a beautiful Italian villa on an island in a lake? Pretty cool. Some of us had to paint it, postcard size, and some of us had to shop.

This is 'Bella,' which means 'beautiful' in Italian. Later, when I was painting in another location, various people would stop by, peek at my work, and say, "Bella' or 'Complimetre." I always said "Grazie," and smiled. I love trying to communicate in a foriegn country, and it's so surprising how really easy it is to do.

A few days later, an artist/art teacher from Florida bought this little painting. Since I greeted her in Italian, she must have thought I was Italian as she pulled a travel palette out of her purse to show me that she also watercolored. When I exclaimed in English, "You're an artist, too," she surprisingly replied, "Oh, you're American, too." We laughed.

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

ON YUPO - BEST OF SHOW from Watercolor Society of Indiana

Inspiration for this painting came from an experience I had walking across avery windy bridge on a rainy day in London a couple of years ago. We were hurrying to see Westminster Abbey before it closed.

The wind had already broken my umbrella, and the rain was icy cold. We certainly were not dressed for the sudden change in weather. Those were the things I remembered as I tried to capture that moment in time on a piece of YUPO.

Rather than painting an accurate picture of the area as I saw it, my desire was to convey the feelings I felt during that cold, rainy, hurried walk. I already had a photo of the scene and wanted to be able to express what took place in a more visual and emotional way.

The excitement of being in a other country, exploring it's beautiful city with so much going on, even on a rainy, windy day, is what this picture is about. If the viewer can connect to that feeling, then what I'd hoped to create was successful.

We didn't make it in time to go into Westminster Abbey. Someone viewing this painting may even sense my disappointment of not getting to see it. Still, the overall trip was a great success.

The title, INTERLUDE, conveys several meanings. The rain and wind were an interlude in our beautiful day. A stop at the abbey would have been a special interlude but was not to be. And the trip overseas for me was a HUGE interlude in my life, changing the way I saw things, and even the way I painted. I am so thankful that I got to take the trip as well as be able to visually express my reactions to the experience as an artist later. It was an interlude I will always cherish.

Betsy Dillard Stroud was our judge for this show, and she offered each of the nine award winners some wonderful comments about our paintings. The paintings will hang through the last weekend of October in the beautiful Indianapolis Museum of Art.

If you like, scroll to the very bottom of this blog for my post dated May 5th, where you can also see the first painting of this scene created from the same photo, with changes posted on May 18. I think this newer painting captures more of the feeling I wanted to convey. May 5th's post also shows the original photo I worked from.

Just in case you wanted to know, this painting started out with a good white shape. The good white shape became the 'no longer visible' bones that help hold the painting together. I really appreciated this award from this great group of watercolorists!

"INTERLUDE" Transparent Watercolor on Heavy Weight YUPO, 20 x 26"

QUICK STUDY

Painting outside in Italy was a lot of fun. I think I could do it forever! These potted geraniums were high up above a small shop on a side street in sunny Orta.

Trying to capture the sense of being there is MUCH easier to do right on location than it is from a photo. But the hard part is doing a painting, even though it's small, right on the spot with no pre-planning and little time to make a sketch.

It never bothers me to have someone watch me paint, but what does distract me are all the inconveniences of painting outside, away from the comforts of my studio. But that didn't matter this time since we were in beautiful Italy.

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

MEMORIES

This sunlit facade near a lake in Italy caught my eye a couple of weeks ago. We were traveling in northern Italy and spent that day on small Lake Orta, in a charming town chock full of paintings ready to be painted. Six of us were on a journey to explore and enjoy one of the most beautiful areas of the world.

We sat down to paint on the back stoop of an old but beautiful building, surrounded by a cobblestone street, and spent over two hours trying to create what we'd been experiencing. Below you can see my interpretation that day of the photo above.

The work in progress here shows the point when I didn't like how the painting was going. It looked too 'coloring bookish,' so I took a one inch brush and washed water over the whole thing. Of course, the darker areas bled a little but the overall effect helped soften and tie the painting together better. I threw some table salt on and let it dry.

At that point, I was thinking the picture was a lost cause even though the day was wonderful. I put it aside. However, that night, pen and ink worked its magic on the painting and really helped it along.

A few days later, I gave the finished pen and ink watercolor to Laura, who owned the villa where we were to stay while we were in Varenna on Lake Como. I think she really liked it.

I plan to paint this scene again, spending more time on the drawing and composition and focus on the things that made me want to paint it in the first place. While we were in Italy, I painted many days, completing about a dozen small paintings. But once we got to Venice, all painting ceased as I immersed myself in the incredible beauty there. I have enough photos to paint from for a couple of lifetimes and memories to last forever.

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

YET ANOTHER OLDIE

Using just two colors to paint with is one way to simplify and bring unity to a painting. The focus can then be on the shapes and the movement created by the lights and darks.

This painting has only Raw Sienna and French Ultramarine in it, both paints by Winsor Newton. Painted over ten years ago, it helped me see the importance of strong value patterns in a painting.

"NEAR BRIDGEROCK" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, 11 x 7" COLLECTED

TAPING AN OLDIE

Back in the 90's, I began to use masking tape to help control where the paint went and where it didn't get to go. This was one of the very first ones I attempted, but never really pulled off. Parts of it I liked a lot, so I kept it for quite a while, hoping something would magically change while it was stored in a drawer.

See the original sized picture (shown smaller) where I painted the sky in a traditional watercolor way before I used tape for the rest of the painting? By incorporating two distinctly different styles in two very separate parts of the painting, I was guaranteed of NOT achieving unity in the painting. No No No! Shouldn't have done it.

Once I cropped off the sky (bigger pix,) it did help. My brother, Roger, took the photo in Cancun, I think. It may be one that I try again someday, too.

There's so much to paint, so much to express. My hope is to be able to let others see how I see the world. We all have so much to share!

Never titled or completed - done on 140#CP Arches

OLDIES CAN BE CATHEDRALS

Some paintings should stay under the bed, and this is one of them. I was learning to pour paint on stretched watercolor paper in the late '90's, and this cathedral is the best of the two that I tried. (You don't get to see the other one.)

This is OLDIES time, and I've got a few more...lots more, actually. I'll only post a couple more then get back to some newer stuff.

To check out how a pour should really be done, go to the March 28th post for this year. That painting was done the same year this one was. What a difference some experimentation and practice can make. I suppose I should try this again now. 'Thanks' to my sister, Marilyn, for her photo.

"ALL SAINTS DAY" Transparent Watercolor on 140#HP Arches 10 x 21"

ON YUPO - OLDIES EVERYWHERE

These are the weeks of oldies being pulled out of the archives. This goatman is of the same guy I posted earlier last week and is also painted on YUPO.

Comparing YUPO paintings I've done this year with ones like this usually helps me see the progression I've made as an artist, as well as where I need to focus for more improvement. What's great is that no matter how much better you get, there's always more to explore, to learn, to attempt. I love that about being an artist.

Being an artist is a journey --- just like this guy's on --- heading up the lane to round the corner to see what's beyond. We must keep traveling forward looking for the next discovery. It sure is a great journey. I'm loving it. And it's so cool to have so many blogs to explore. Seeing what others are creating is motivating and enriching.

"JOURNEY HOME" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 12 x 26"

LET'S GO DUTCH

Several years ago, Loraine traveled to Holland, which she absolutely loved. She looks very Dutch herself, has been an art teacher, and I'm thankful that she shared her photo with me of this beautiful place.

This OLDIE is a little more recent than the last several posts and treated fairly traditionally in the way it is painted. I liked the stillness in the pix.

"NO BREEZE TODAY" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 22 x 15"

AN OLDIE - FOR SURE

This old place in Germany is now a car dealership. How sad.

A friend let me paint the photo which her husband had taken in the early fifties. I'd hoped to capture the charm of the place but think my lack of experience shows a lot in this painting, painted maybe 15 years ago.

Comparing how far you've come as an artist is a good thing. One instructor said to never toss out your old paintings, but to store them under the bed to check later. My bed would have to be VERY high off the ground if I had kept all the old ones.

I did frame a lot of paintings that probably should still be under the bed. At the time, they were the best I could possibly do.

The key to improving is to paint, and to paint, and to paint. Better brushes, more colors, and great books and teachers may all help, but unless that brush is working, skills can't improve.

"THE OLD MILL" Transparent Watercolor on (probably) 140#CP Arches COLLECTED

YUPO - GOATMAN

This YUPO painting is one of the first ones I attempted a lot of years ago. The resource was from one of the photos my folks took in Europe back in the seventies. It may be from Spain or possibly Switzerland.

The next few months of my paintings will undoubtedly be of many scenes from beautiful Northern Italy. In fact, the next few YEARS of paintings will probably be about how our trip there affected me.

This painting was inspired by a photo, but seeing the real thing, being in a location for a while REALLY inspires. With six women on our Italy excursion, we will paint almost everyday we are there, or at least some of us will paint. A few may choose to just watch. I'm sneaking in some YUPO in my painting supplies, just in case - only 6 small sheets, plus a little squeegee and very small foam roller.

I'm positive I will take ten times more photos than I can use. Thank goodness for 'delete' on digital cameras:o) If anything turns out ok, I'll post the paintings when we get home.

"GOATMAN" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO

OLDIES AGAIN

This is the same scene as the last post, and I followed what was in my slide reference much closer than I really needed to. It was great to create textures on the gessoed paper, which made it easier to create the look of tile roofs and stuccoed walls.

Cropping off the bottom fourth of the painting might help the compositon a bit. Those big foreground rocks don't really invite the viewer into the painting too well. I seldom paint on gessoed paper this way anymore since YUPO crept into my life.

To see a great interpretation of a cool YUPO portrait, go to Myrna Wacknov's blog - http://myrnawacknov.blogspot.com/ - for her September 10th post. She paints on another unusual surface that I've also used several times - Tyvek - (just like the stuff builders use but without the waterproof coating.)

Compare this post to my previous post to see changes and improvements. This one was the first one done of the two.

"MORNING VISITOR" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches covered with White Gesso COLLECTED

OLDIES TIME

Whew. The remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through here Sunday afternoon, and over half a million people in this area are still without power. We'd been in northern Indiana where an ocean of leftover rain from Ike was being dumped, and as we got nearer to home that evening, we were stunned by the damage here. No rain, just wind. Hurricane force winds - category 1 - only 70- 84 miles an hour for 3 hours. Our oak trees and ash trees don't bend as easily as palm trees do.

We got off easy compared to coastal cities, but the damage is still incredibly bad. I cannot imagine the terror of being in a true hurricane. We suffered only very minor damage here at our house - limbs down, etc., and our round sweet gum tree looks like someone blasted a very high power dryer into one side of it. And all this happened over a thousand miles from where Ike made landfall!

For the next couple of weeks, I've decided to post paintings I've done from times gone by. Some of the paintings will show that it does make a difference how many years an artist holds a paint brush. Most artists agree - the more you paint, the better you get, although not every painting will be successful.

Someone once said that if you paint one out of three good ones, you are a pro. Of course, the ones we consider good when we paint them may not look so great a few years later if we've improved.

Painted on watercolor paper covered with white gesso, this small town in Spain is one that my folks visited years ago. Gessoed paper is a very close cousin to YUPO because the paint sits on top, not soaking into the paper very much at all. The colors seem to be a little more vibrant, too, on this gessoed surface.

The first time I painted on gesso, I felt like I was painting opn an oil slick since the paint floated on top of the paper. The colors were so vivid. I was hooked.

This painting is about ten years old, and over the course of a couple of years, I painted it several different ways, but always on gessoed paper. The next post will be one very similar to this one, painted about a year earlier.

"VISITOR" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, Covered with White Gesso COLLECTED

YUPO BUT NOT PIGEONS THIS TIME

This painting of crows was done maybe eight years ago and was in the very first post last October of this blog. Compared to the pigeons in my most recent post, this painting has much more energy and unpredictabilty in it, and I like it much better.

That pigeon painting was nearing completion when frustration took up residence. I realized that I'd settled for doing what I know how to do instead of braving the challenge of painting those pigeons with daring. I'd 'chickened' out and made them realistic to avoid failure - and now they are fairly boring. I do like the leaves, though.

It's easier to do what we already can do well than to step out and try new ways of creating. It's certainly much more comfortable to paint like I know I can, but the results are almost always less than exciting.

I'd originally painted these crows in a similar, predictable manner, with some pathetic looking cornstalks in rows behind them. I'd gone to the sink to spray all the paint off of the YUPO, and when I began spraying off the cornstalks, the paint on the crows started to wash off in a very cool way. Even as I let the water run off the YUPO paper, I realized that this could be a good thing. A mistake would become an asset.

But when doing the pigeon painting this past week, I was overly cautious, fearing failure, trying to be in total control, thinking about what all I could do with the finished painting - all things that spell disaster for a creative experience for me.

It's time to start a new painting. I still wonder if there's any hope for the pigeons the way they are? Can I make it playful? What could I do to create a better picture? Pour some fluid acrylics over the whole painting and ??? Use them in a collage? Make a mosiac? We'll see.

The lesson learned is that we all must continually push forward into unknown territory to find new ways of hopefully making some good art. We can't rest on our laurels, at least not for long.

"CAWS FOR ALARM" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 40 x 26" COLLECTED

MORE FUN WITH FLUID ACRYLICS

For some reason, I thought painting a big picture of pigeons would be fun to do. Here's what happened, in progression. Let me know what you think...... a super dumb idea or ???

Here are the background steps, shown above, but the miskit's been removed from the leaves. The leaves as well as the giant pigeons were miskited so I could wet the entire paper and let the paint flow without it getting on the pigeons or leaves. I worked the foreground in two pourings, covering most of it the second time with Phthalo Blue.

The upper portion of the painting was poured with a shadow-like edge created on the bottom of the horizontal shape. I added excess water to create blossoms in various areas, then as soon as it was almost dry, washed off the loose paint. Since the painting's 42 x 27," it was easiest to work on sections.

The post above shows the next step. On wet paper, I added more color to the leaf areas, made more blossoms and back runs, then after letting it dry a bit, blasted off whatever paint hadn't set up yet, creating the textures seen below. Check out Nick Simmons' blog - see side bar - to see more of his watercolor batik effect on his blog and web site.
The leaves shown above are just a close up of the leaves after layering of paint twice and spraying off twice to create the batik look. Initially, the background behind them was also treated with the same process.Above, the miskit is off the pigeons but new areas on their backs have been miskited that will remain white. Time to paint those pigeons.
Paint was added to both pigeons, but only the one on the left had back runs created and paint washed off of it. Click on the image to see the difference in textures of the two birds. The miskit's been removed from both birds.

At this point in the painting, I really began to question what in the world I was thinking --- painting PIGEONS??? Giant pigeons? These two birds each measure about 18 inches long.

Then I remembered. The very first memory I have of ever being afraid was when I was maybe three years old and playing in our backyard. Suddenly these HUGE birds landed near me. They had shiny, iridescent feathers and bobbed their heads in a goofy way. I flew up the back porch steps to the safety of my mom's arms. I do think those particular pigeons WERE at least 18 inches long, maybe even longer. I can certainly remember being very terrified.

Above is the nearly finished piece. Although I'd used some warm colors near the birds, the painting had no contrast of temperature other than the red orange eyeball of the 'lady' pigeon. Contrast can usually add some interest, and since this painting needed more pizazz, I popped some orange in the feathers. See below.

I'd guess I've faced my fears of those pigeons, just in time to visit St. Mark's square in a couple of weeks. Can't wait. Bring on those pigeons!

"PIGEON TOED?" Fluid Acrylics on 140#HP Arches 42 x 27"

NOT PIGEONS YET

The painting in my studio of giant pigeons is almost finished. Since it's not quite completed, here's a very old painting done over ten years ago of some gawking Indiana chickens.

I'll be posting some other ancient paintings in the next few weeks. One of my main goals when I started this blog almost a year ago was to create a record of my love for painting for our sons and grandchildren to have someday.

In the last twenty years, there have been a lot of paintings that I never took a photo of before they left home, but those that were previously recorded will eventually get posted here. (Record keeping is near the bottom of my list of things to do, right after laundry and before ironing.)

Some of the older paintings are certainly better than others. Some are embarrassingly bad. I'll post those, too, and this painting of chickens is one of the better bad ones. I liked the shadows, though.

Watch for the pigeons. One of them seems to have landed, and the other's not far behind.

"HEN HOUSE" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 17 x 11" COLLECTED

SeE ThE DiFFeReNcE?

While living with this painting (below on the left) for a couple of days, I kept asking myself questions like, 'does anything get undo attention?' or 'does anything jump out at me that shouldn't?' I finally determined that there were seven specific areas to adjust.

Though the changes were minor, they made a difference in the outcome. The larger picture on the right includes the final changes.

First change - some very diluted Cobalt Blue was charged into the bigger orange panel. Even though I hated to part with the glorious textures on that panel, as soon as I glazed it, I could see it get knocked back where it belonged.

Next, part of the top orange panel was darkened with Transparent Pyrrol Orange and Pyrrol Red. The darker value helped suggest the change in direction which the umbrella makes where the spokes bend and angle upwards.

Using both Cobalt Blue and Transparent Pyrrol Orange, I subdued all but about five of the white dots. Doing that seemed to add some needed movement to the picture. I'd previously toned part of them down, but hated to part with too much of the white of the paper. However, the red had been so bossy that it took over everything, and toning down the powerful 'whiteness' of the dots helped alleviate the strength of the red.

The glow of the deck is my favorite part of the painting. I think that with the adjustments to the dots and orange panels, the red umbrella is now less demanding, allowing the eye to move easily around the rest of the painting.

The bottom of the handle on the red umbrella didn't quite seem to be touching the deck, so there are a few edge and shadow adjustments in that area. A slightly lighter value was also added to the under side of the steel bar going up into that umbrella so that it didn't look so wimpy. It's so nice with transparent fluid acrylics to be able to add a lighter value when it's needed - something that's way more complicated to do in transparent watercolor.

The next adjustment was on two parts of the deck. Very diluted Quinacridone Burnt Orange was painted in a small part of the really white deck area above the top notch post of the red umbrella. Then, the crack between the boards to the left of the handle of that umbrella was widened slightly.

The only other change was in the upper right hand corner where a darker wedge was added to create a 'push' down into the picture where the bluish umbrellas overlap. Edges in that area were melded together a bit so they weren't so important.

Small changes can help tweak a painting. In the past, the danger for me has been to overdo the tweaking process, causing my painting to loose freshness. I've thrown away far too many paintings that would've been okay if I hadn't tried to perfect them so much.

It's taken years, but I've finally quit trying to make a painting perfect. A great quote by Michael J. Fox was the ultimate thing that made me stop over tweaking. He said, "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business."

A very special thanks go to Jude, Sandy, and Bob, who used their expert eyes to help spot some of the needed adjustments. And thank you, Almighty GOD, for making painting so much fun, for giving me the chance to be an artist.

The painting is finally signed and completed, and I'm on to the next one. It's of two giant pigeons, and it's the biggest painting I've ever attempted. More later.