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.

ARTISTS SHOWPLACE in DALLAS

Last week, 17 artists joined me for a five day workshop at the beautiful Artists Showplace in Dallas, Texas. You can see by their work below just how talented and diverse the group was. There were struggles, of course, but everyone was highly successful with the challenges of painting on YUPO. In fact, they absolutely loved it.

They've asked me to return in late September next year and promised that it won't be 107 degrees then. Anytime that you're in the area, be sure to stop in to see the beautiful treasures of art in their expansive gallery. It's on the north side of Dallas, and getting around that amazing city is relatively easy. Several artists there own and operate The Artists Showplace gallery, and it's quite a team. Their workshop area is large and well equipped, a delight to teach in, for sure! They sponsor excellent workshops continually throughout the year so check out their website. I'm really looking forward to returning.

My next YUPO workshop is in Toledo, Ohio at the end of this month. For more info about it, you can email them at toledoartist@sbcglobal.net or see the side bar on the right.

My apologies to the Dallas workshop artists if the colors aren't quite right in your paintings below and for the descriptions/titles that I made up. Some paintings had a slight glare from the lights, too. You can still see what an awesome job they all did - each woman expressing herself in her own unique way. Here is a selection of some of the workshop paintings, all on YUPO, some watercolor, but most painted with fluid acrylics ----- ENJOY!


BOATS BY CAROLYN BUCHMANN
MEXICAN VILLAGE BY PAULINE CAFFREY TUMBLING ABSTRACT BY LYDIA GOWENS
CRASHING SURF BY JUDY CAMPBELL EXPANSE BY DOVIE WU
JEWELS BY TETA SMITH FOREST BY MARSHA BENDA
SNOWSCAPE BY SHARON SERRAGOLANDSCAPE BY ANNIE JAMISON WINDOW BY DARLA BOSTICK

ADVENTURE BY MARY TRUELOVEMETALLIC BY KELLY PEREHOUSE

STANDING TALL BY NANCY DUBRO

ABSTRACT OCEANS BY SHIRLEY COLLINS ARCHITECTURAL GAMES BY ROBIN JORGENSON
BEATEN PATH BY JANE KAHLER

BOTANICAL BY CAROLYN HARPER

GROVE BY PAULINE CAFFREY

LETTERS BY JUDY CAMPBELL

TAPESTRY BY CAROLYN BUCHMANN

SANTA FE BY NANCY DUBRO

MIGHTY OAKS BY LYDIA GOWENS

SOLITUDE BY JANE KAHLER

DANCER BY SHIRLEY COLLINS

SEAHORSE BY DARLA BOSTICK

COLLECTION BY MARY TRUELOVE FALL FRENZY BY ANNIE JAMISON

IRIS BY CAROLYN HARPER

DELIGHT BY DOVIE WU

TRAVERSED BY SHARON SERRAGO

DESIGNER BY KELLY PEREHOUSE

FANTASY BY ROBIN JORGENSON