INNOCENCE

This little lady, now almost six and a half, will be dressed up tomorrow evening as Tinker Bell's helper and her sister will be Tinker Bell. The little fellow below, who is also six, will be none other than Peter Pan! Their older brother will be wielding Captain Hook's sword as they trick or treat throughout the neighborhood.

In two weeks, I'll be teaching a portrait class here in my studio focused on capturing the innocence of children with watercolor. Each artist will work from their own resources to capture the likeness of their favorite little ones. Join us if you can. See the side bar for more details.

I have a feeling that I'll have just as much fun (probably even more fun) trick or treating with these kids as I will teaching the portrait workshop.

"PAIGE" and "TY GUY" Both painted on 140#CP Fabriano COLLECTED

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

--- ADJUSTED PAINTING
Everyone has different ideas about how to know when a painting is finished. Here's what seems to work best for me...

A painting is completed when it's no longer in my possession. Until then, it's open for adjustments and changes, even if it's in a frame under glass (just ask Deb Ward, who so expertly framed, and unframed, for me for several years.) While it may not be good advice to give others, it works for me.

















This second photo shows the ORIGINAL PAINTING as it was completed tttt(before any changes were made) and posted this past January. Occasionally it would sneak out of storage and let me consider making adjustments to it. Finally it was matted and displayed in the studio.

Then Lydia returned to class from her travels and commented that this particular painting was not one of my best ones. It made me think long and hard about what could be done to make it better.

Because this was my first attempt at using masking tape on YUPO with fluid acrylics, I'd fallen in love with the possibilities of the process and set aside the importance of tweaking a good composition. Finally it was time to make amends and find a solution to make this a more dynamite painting that would compel the viewer to enjoy my impressions of the antiquity of Venice.

By comparing the earlier version with the 'finished' one, you can see that stronger oranges were added to parts of the wall and that the upper part of the painting was muted and darkened, thereby allowing the pure vibrancy of colors to stand out stronger in the focal area. The street light and its post also have more value changes to help add more interest there, especially as the iron 'arm' work moves across the dark of the window and in front of the dark doorway. The flatness of the white wall was darkened in the foreground to lend more depth, and the doorway was enriched with deep colors. The value contrast between the white wall and the brick was minimized at the bottom edge of the painting, too, by softening the edge of the white wall. In a few select areas, a pale wash of teal was touched in for a cool temperature surprise and to help make the oranges vibrate more.

There's a bit more drama and sense of atmosphere now in the painting with places that say 'look at me' and places to rest. Both excitement and quietness dance together, and the painting shows more about how I felt when I was there. The earlier painting let my eye float out of the top of the picture, but now my eye moves through the whole painting, finding more surprises along the way.

There's certainly a time to stop and step away from the painting. Going back into a completed painting can be tricky. In the past, for me, it was a tough lesson that took years to learn --- that trying to make it perfect with just one more brush stroke would simply kill the life of the painting. Many of my pretty good paintings ended up in the trash because of trying for that perfection. Yet, this painting needed help. Thank you, Lydia, for your 'wake up' comment. It made a wonderful difference.

"JOURNEY" Fluid Acrylics on YUPO 14 x 25"

One of my favorite quotes comes from Michael J. Fox. "We can strive for excellence, but perfection is God's business." Great advice for any painter. It's an art not a science!

IMPRESSION

Today is a spectacularly beautiful fall day here in the Midwest, with Sugar Maples at their peak. Rain from the last couple of days caused all the Ash and Walnut Trees to defoliate, but the Sweet Gums, Oaks, Pears and most Maples are in full glory.

This little painting was created nearly two decades ago using lots of carefully painted miskit to preserve the whites of the Beech Tree so that the background could be painted with a spontaneous fresh and loose look. I do love trees. Enjoy the week, everyone:-)

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

ARCHIVES AGAIN

Here's a painting from over a decade ago that was lots of fun to paint. Colors were introduced randomly to the otherwise golden corn shocks to add visual interest to them.

A friend purchased this because her husband had grown up in a town that manufactured barbed wire. I have vivid childhood memories, too, of climbing over the barbed wire fence behind our house, and I rarely got snagged by it.

Hope many of you in the northern hemisphere are enjoying a beautiful autumn like we are. It's been gloriously colorful with great weather to enhance the colors, very inspiring for an artist.

"Cornival" Transparent Watercolor on 140#HP Arches 14 x 29" COLLECTED

CELEBRATE

Months ago several friends advised me to enter my Italian pigeon picture in the Watercolor Society of Indiana's annual juried show. Since, at most, I enter only two shows a year, it didn't seem right to submit a painting that seemed to me so boring or too simple. But these giant sized pigeons did make it into the juried show - which was a pleasant surprise, for sure.

Today awards were presented in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where the WSI show will hang through the first weekend of December. The pigeons received the third place ribbon, along with a generous gift certificate from Cheap Joe's in North Carolina:-) and a very nice junk of change! THANK you for being so encouraging and having the eye to see what to enter. Your advice is so appreciated, and your friendships are such a blessing. Now let's celebrate!!!

AUTUMN

Painted over ten years ago, this little still life really should have been painted on YUPO. The colors would be so exciting and vibrant. There's even some Indian corn in the studio ready to be captured in a painting so maybe tomorrow morning's class will have to watch another demo.

"EARLY HARVEST" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 20 x 14"

NOT DICTATION

Little children peddling bikes into the morning sunlight through the narrow passages in Venice made me wonder where they were going. The backpacks they wore meant they must be headed to school somewhere. And the scene meant it must be painted, too, when I got home.

A month ago this was attempted in a workshop with Alvaro Castegnet, and now it's redone with more time taken for composition and value changes. The first post here is the final painting.

The second photo shows how the painting looked as I demo-ed it in one of the Wednesday classes. They insisted I stop at that point, that it was completed, but when they left, they all knew I would have to add more to it before I called it completed.

The original first draft is the really dark painting that's shown next, which was hurriedly done in the workshop and posted last month, too. I do love the warmth of the street in this one, though.

The last photo, my photo reference for this painting, was taken during those four glorious days in Venice. Lots has been left out and lots has been added. It was only a reference, an inspiration from that moment last year in Venice. In fact, in class, now I so often quote Alvaro's wise advice, "Don't let what you're looking at dictate what you paint."

"VENICE IS FOR KIDS - LIKE ME" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 15 x 22"

ADJUSTMENTS

Yesterday's painting has been adjusted slightly here and there, and I'm calling it finished now.
There's been another stem added (thanks for your helpful comments) by lifting the top edge of color off of it before adding Rich Green Gold and Transparent Pyrrol Orange to the bottom edge. The stem shows darker on top than it actually is since the top of the stem is lighter than the background. Also, the inside of the big flower over to the right was darkened some as well as softened where the seeds meet the petals.

The left hand flower has adjustments also so I don't have to crop it off. And the distracting petals on the top right of the big flower have been quieted way down, as have some of the whites on the edges of the pokey green things above that flower. How's that for technical terms of a flower?!? You'd never know I spent 20 some years working in a garden center, would you?

Now on to the next painting, which won't be a pour. But first, I have an art reception to go to tomorrow at Sharon Woods in Cincinnati, Ohio. It's from 1 to 4 - hope you can make it.

"SASSY SISTERS" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 22 x 17" COLLECTED

POUR IT ON

Yesterday's morning class began the time consuming technique of pouring a painting, using miskit to preserve the correct shapes between each layer of pouring. This first photo shows the final painting which has been adjusted considerably after all the pouring was done and the miskit removed.

The second photo shows the painting part way through the pouring process, with about 3 layers of miskit and 3 pours of paint. For the first 3 pours, I used a cool primary triad of Quinacridone Magenta, Ultramarine Turquoise, and Hansa Yellow and poured them somewhat randomly onto the wet paper surface.

The third photo shows all the pouring completed with the miskit ready to remove. I'd added Transparent Pyrrol Orange and a little Cerulean Blue to the last 2 pours, and dropped some extra dark values of Quin Magenta and Ultramarine Turquoise into the center of the sunflowers while the area was wet. Both splattering paint and adding popcorn salt helped create subtle textures in a few areas, too.

This next photo shows the painting as it looked after all the miskit was removed. It was easy to see that some major corrections had to be made. The lower left flower was misformed badly (cropping may help,) and the lower right one needed less value changes from the darks to the lights (adding color to the whites would help there.)

The inside of the main flower needed to pop a whole lot more, and the warmth in the background was stifling and dull. I wished then that I had known to pour all cool colors for that last pour. Too late now - and I wasn't going to re-miskit the whole painting. Also, I felt the flowers needed a suggestion of a stem or two.

This photo shows some of the corrections. The center of the big flower still needs more pop, and the background simply must be cooled down, (which I did NOT want to do.) But it was robbing the sunflowers of impact because it was too warm. Cooling it down with Indanthrone, if painted on in a juicy - poured-like manner, would help give some relief and rest for the eye from all the heat.

Leaving some of the background showing as the stem for the lower right flower would help to anchor the flowers - see the top finished photo. Does it need another stem from the top flower to angle off to the left?

The reference photo above seemed better flipped sideways. Minor adjustments were made for better positioning, etc. before the drawing was completed. Though I seldom paint flowers anymore, this was a good challenge.

"SASSY SISTERS" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 20 x 17" COLLECTED

YUPO PAINTINGS from OUR WORKSHOP

Some of the paintings from last month's YUPO workshop are here today! When theses artists brought their work in to share with the weekly classes, they gave me permission to take photos of them and share them with you on this blog.

The Canyon Walls are by Karen Pettit. The sky in the painting is more intense than shown here, a real Colorado BLUE sky, very striking with the oranges of the canyon. Karen's also painted a similar scene on Arches that you can see hanging at our art show in Sharon Woods Visitors Centre Gallery this week in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The next five paintings have been created by Jude Creager, though only two were done in the workshop. When she got home from the workshop, Jude says that she couldn't put her brush down. She LOVES YUPO! Painting 'til 3 am....??? She was. Several of her YUPO paintings are also in the art show this week.

Leslie Spillane's "View Out of the Window" effectively takes advantage of what paint does so well on YUPO with the way those curtains are painted. The foliage outside the window creates a fascinating pattern with the fence and flowers.

The final painting here, by Valerie Bernardino, of "Peppers" is a large painting full of the juicy effects that happen on the slick YUPO surface. This photo also is not quite as rich as the wonderfully vibrant painting.

Several at the workshop commented about how intense the colors remained even after they dried. Because the paint does not soak into YUPO like it does on our normal cotton watercolor papers, the colors seemed techno-charged!

Thank you, Leslie, Valerie, Karen, and Jude, for being willing to share these on my blog. My next workshop features children's portraits on regular watercolor paper - see side bar on the right for more info.

IMAGINE THAT

If you're within driving distance of Cincinnati, Ohio, make time this next week to stop at Sharon Woods Visitor Center in Sharon Woods Park on Lebanon Rd, just off I-275. The art show, IMAGINE THAT! in their gallery is exceptional and features recent works by the artists from my four classes. My husband and I were there yesterday, and Bob said that the quality of this particular show was very upbeat and professional, a must-see show!

In my opinion, the diversity of both technique and subject matter is only surpassed by the passion and energy in the paintings. The expertise of these artists, working mostly in watercolor, is incredible, as you will see.

Take a good look, too, at the panels of one of a kind Artist Trading Cards. On display are 45 small trading cards, each the size of a baseball card and individually hand painted by a different artist from class.

Paintings are for sale, unless marked NFS, (not for sale - meaning that the artist just can't part with it yet - and may never want to part with them either:-) Browsing the gallery, you'll discover exquisite watercolor batiks, dynamic YUPO paintings, dramatic abstracts, colorful landscapes, intriguing cityscapes, intimate still lifes, sensitive portraits, and delicate florals. Every painting is an original, conceived and created by that artist.

Show hours are 10 to 5 daily. Our MEET THE ARTISTS RECEPTION is Sunday, October 11 from 1 to 4, and we'll be closing the show at 4 pm that day. Looking forward to seeing you there.

PORTRAIT WORKSHOP HERE

Learning to paint watercolor portraits of young children is one of the many challenges of painting. In November, I'll be teaching a weekend workshop for people who want to learn how to better paint children's portraits. The dates are Nov. 14 and 15, a Saturday and Sunday, and it will be held in my teaching studio near Lawrenceburg, Indiana, close to Cincinnati, Ohio.

We'll work each day from 9:30 to 5 with every artist creating watermedia paintings from their own photographs of children. (In other words, it won't be a 'paint-along-with-the-teacher kind of class, but an 'I-painted-this-myself' kind of accomplishment!)

People who struggle with drawing will certainly find good success using the ideas and methods in this workshop. Cost is $140. Bring a sack lunch along with your regular art supplies. Working on Arches 140#Cold Pressd or Fabriano 140# Cold Pressed will be a must, and if you need it, I will have some paper available for sale at $4.75/22x30" sheet, plus tax. Many artists are likely to paint several portraits during the workshop, and all will go home with the expertise to pursue painting portraits on their own.

Contact me here to find out more info. It will be a weekend full of inspiration, discovery, and hard work, and I know we'll have a very good time. Hope you can join us.

THURSDAY'S WORKSHOP PAINTING

Each day of our Watercolor Society of Indiana workshop brought new challenges. On Thursday, Alvaro started his painting with a wide red sign that hung in front of a meat market. It was a stunning, HOT painting, so I tried to find something from my photos that could be adapted to his approach.

This painting is THE ONE that I've done over a dozen times in various approaches, techniques, mediums, etc. I do LOVE painting this scene, but this is the first time people have been included.

After completing it, I decided maybe to crop the top and both sides to make a better pix - see the crop below. The left figure's also darkened, and the right hand figure has a more even value on the jacket. The intense reddish gold patch above the light has been grayed a bit too.

Look closely and you can find Chinese White Watercolor around the lamp and people. The painting hasn't been officially chopped yet because I'm still in love with that top window area.

"MALTA AGAIN" Transparent Watercolor on 140# Rough Arches presently 15 x 22" COLLECTED

MORE WORKSHOP WORK

Last week's workshop allowed very little painting time. Each day, Uruguay artist, Alvaro Castagnet, painted two demos while we watched, all the while wishing we would be able to paint with as much exuberance and liveliness as he did.

My first painting here shows a gondola repair shop that we passed by last year in Venice. It's just a little bluer on my screen than it should be, and although my photo is way darker than the painting, I like the way it turned out overall.

The second painting posted here started off really good, but the composition didn't hold together. I'll recycle the paper by gesso-ing over the surface someday and then eventually create a new painting on the gesso-ed paper. There's a good chance, though, that I'll also redo this same subject soon, developing a better composition before picking up the brush again.

That's one problem with workshops. It takes me some time to hatch a painting, and though I put thought into this composition, I was too locked into what the photograph showed. It's a do-over for sure.

Gondola Painting - "REPAIRS NEEDED" Transparent Watercolor on 140#R Arches 22 x 15"

WHITE!!!???!!!

Watercolor PURISTS would never ever use Chinese White watercolor paint in their paintings. Not ever. However, in Alvaro's workshop, we were encouraged to paint beautiful paintings, to not be conformed to 'rules' that would prevent us from succeeding.

This morning, I twisted the cap off my big tube of Chinese White and went to work on the painting I'd posted yesterday. Several juicy glazes of white, plus a bit more red and cerulean, resulted in a somewhat better painting. The previous one (see yesterday's post) was oppressively dark. Now this one is a little foggy and a bit mysterious.

Will the Watercolor Police arrest me for using white? Now where's my tube of Lamp Black?

CIAO!

WORKSHOP WEEK

The Watercolor Society of Indiana sponsors several workshops a year, and last week Alvaro Castagnet taught for five days in Indianapolis. There were 24 of us taking the workshop, and although most of the time was spent indoors, Friday morning we sipped our Starbucks while watching Alvaro paint en plein aire on Monument Circle.

Painting two demos a day, Alvaro helped us see how to create paintings using one large shape, some medium shapes, and many, many small shapes. He wielded his squirrel and sable brushes with what seemed to be careless strokes, yet each stroke was so full of his exuberance. His brush strokes speak of his intense excitement about painting, and that was one of his main messages for the week.

We were supposed to paint along with him, and I was able to do that on the first painting but had to go my own way after that. His first paint-along (small pix below is my copy of his original) was of a Venetian sunset with gondolas and began with a luscious, fluid wash, followed by swatches of medium and dark valued shapes.

His second painting was a European scene with awnings and people, so I chose a photo as close to his as I had - Venetian street with kids on bikes, from last years' trip to Venice - to work from. Once the rough sketch was done, the photo was tucked away to help me avoid painting all the 'stuff' in my photo. One of his favorite sayings is, "Do not let what you are looking at dictate your painting." EXCELLENT advice for any painter!

Much as I tried to make my washes glorious, they have that 'workshop, I-tried-too-hard' look. And overall, the painting is much darker than I wanted.

Keeping that brushstroke excitement in the picture is very challenging. In fact, it's my new challenge for the rest of this year. More of my workshop attempts at painting will be posted soon.

Top painting - "VENICE ON BIKES" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 15 x 22"


Smaller painting - "Copy of Alvaro's Gondola Demo" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 15 x 22"

DISASTER NO MORE

Some paintings sit in a drawer for a very long time before they're pitched. And some paintings get to be reinvented, like this one was.

To show the YUPO workshoppers how to 'save' an old YUPO painting, I began by wiping off some of the old paint from the still life that was on this YUPO paper. Since it had been drawn on originally with pencil, I used a tissue dampened with rubbing alcohol to help lighten some of the graphite lines. Then I scribbled more graphite lines to diminish the importance of the remaining recognizable image and lightened them too with the alcohol.

Next, I added some scribbles of charcoal pencil, applied wet, so that it was intense, then painted over much of the existing watercolor, graphite, and charcoal mess with fluid acrylics. I purposely shaped an inner light area for containing the focus of the painting.

After drawing in the chickadee with a Derwent watercolor pencil, making sure to tie it into the background somewhere, I lifted out the shape of the bird from the existing paint and began painting her in with the fluid acrylics, using them like watercolor. Popcorn salt applied to the damp acrylics helped create a bit of fluff to the bird's feathers.

The strong darks on the bird were made with the wet charcoal pencil. Finally, some branches were suggested using a squeegee and paint. Twigs were sketched in using the charcoal pencil.

It's a small sized painting and took less than an hour to complete. Lots of fun, no risk, saved part of an old painting ..... thank goodness the demo worked. Life is too good!

"SURPRISE VISITOR" Transparent Watercolor, Fluid Acrylics, and Charcoal Pencil Medium on YUPO 12 x 9"

YUPO DEMO #1

The first morning of this weekend's workshop, everyone stretched artistically as they experimented with various ways to manipulate paint on the slick YUPO paper. In the afternoon, they all watched me demo this painting on YUPO while incorporating as many of the techniques as possible.

Over the course of two days, we used not only brushes, but also foam paint rollers, squeegees, pieces of squeegees, Q-Tips, Halloween webbing, stamps, cheese cloth, watercolor pencils, Caran d'Ache crayons, inks, and charcoal to create our unique art.

This watercolor painting has Caran d'Ache crayons embellished over areas that needed to be settled down a bit. By quieting certain spots, other areas seemed even more colorful, due to the grayed down shapes beside them. The Caran d'Ache crayons are water soluble and can be rubbed and smudged even if they're dry in order to blend them into the painted shapes.

The two back packers along the top of the ridge were a happy accident. Working on YUPO is so much fun! More to come soon from our Yupo workkshop, but I'm also off to another workshop with international artist, Alvaro Castagnet, this week.

"BACKPACKERS" Transparent Watercolor and Caran d'Ache Crayons on YUPO 19 x 26"

ONLY TWO DAYS

Our YUPO workshop concluded today and really should have been a three day affair. The Fluid Acrylics and other supplies shown here are all that's left in the studio now that everyone's packed up and gone home.

Eleven artists explored and experimented with various ways to create art on the slick YUPO surface. I took pictures yesterday of all of them working, but completely forgot today to ask to take photos of their paintings. RATS! You simply can't begin to imagine how creative and unique each masterpiece was.

Later this week, watch for some posts of the demos as well as several corrections made on my previously posted paintings. One of my childhood friends, Betsy, drove down from our hometown to help out. Thank goodness for her being here because my energy level isn't quite at the top yet... knee surgery 5 wks ago. THANK YOU, Betsy, for all your support. It was so good to be with you, and I so appreciated all your help.

We painted with transparent watercolor all day yesterday on the YUPO, then today we jumped out into the wild using Fluid Acrylics, charcoal, acrylic inks, as well as Caran d'Ache Crayons to embellish our YUPO work.

Texture was the name of the game, and the compositions were singing with glorious color.

Their work was very good, which was especially awesome considering that several of the workshoppers had never ever painted on YUPO before. It was a great weekend!

YUPO WEEKEND

Tomorrow begins a new adventure. We're doing yet another weekend workshop in my teaching studio, but rather than bringing in a nationally known teacher this time, we are exploring YUPO with me as the guide. And I LOVE to teach about all the possibilities of creating art on the slick YUPO surface!

This painting, on YUPO, was painted several years ago while I was on a week long painting holiday with three other artists. Maybe it should have been cropped at the far shoreline, eliminating the trees, shoreline, and sky???

There will be lots to post when our workshop is over Sunday evening. See you soon!

"TIDE'S OUT" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 13 x 9" COLLECTED

VALUE AND SHAPE

Masking tape and paint, layered time and again, helped to create this painting which was also pulled out of my archives. While recovering from surgery, I'd planned to 'paint' more with masking tape, but the time went by too quickly, with other paintings tugging at my interest.

The tape, used as a sort of resist, allows the paint to sneak under the edges, creating fabulous, unpredictable effects and textures. However, the key to a good painting must rely on good shapes with good value placement. The tape texture effect just adds a little intrigue to the piece.

This is hanging in my hometown library, and it may have been the painting that won Best of Show at a show there in the early '90's - can't remember for sure. (Record keeping isn't one of my strengths.) I do remember thinking it was messy and inaccurate, and now that's what I love about it the most.

"TIMES PAST" Transparent Watercolor on Crescent Board 18 x 18" COLLECTED

BIRTHDAY SONG

This painting was created nearly fifteen years ago. This afternoon after class as I watched the hummers, chickadees, tufted titmice, and finches visit the feeders, I remembered this gold finch. He may be singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Bob, one of the best artists I know. Today's his birthday, and I hope it's been grand!

Both the red tailed hawk and tufted titmouse YUPO paintings from a couple of weeks ago have been reworked. They'll soon be posted again to show the changes which really did help make the paintings more interesting.

Hope your September is as beautiful as ours is here. Our YUPO workshop is this Saturday and Sunday, and we have a full house. It will be two days packed with info and challenges. Can't wait.

"GOLDEN MOMENTS" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, 11 x 15" COLLECTED

MORE OF THE PAST

Commissions often require boundaries that can stifle creativity. . . boundaries like 'matching the couch' or looking 'exactly' like the photograph. Commissions can also put limits in my head, like 'they won't like that color' or 'this is too intense for their taste.'

Commissions can make it tough for me to actually want to paint, especially when it's of a subject that I'm not really interested in. Plus, my focus can easily shift from creating to selling the creation. That shift kills all creativity in me.

When I used to seek commissions, I always thought they were like having a baby. The idea for the commissioned painting had to grow inside me until I really WANTED to paint it. Otherwise, I was just going through the motions of moving the paint with a brush, and that lack of involvement would always show in the finished painting.

This painting had to match a bedspread. Other than that, I was given free reign as long as it was floral. It was fun to paint, but the whole time a little voice in the back of my head kept reminding me that SHE had to like it. Terrifying!

She did like it. Whew. It's so freeing to paint what I want to paint, a luxury for sure. Commissions still tempt me at times, but the only ones I'll do are the ones I'd have to paint anyway.

"DORIE'S DELS" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 21 x 30" COLLECTED

LANDSCAPING

When I started painting in watercolor, we owned a landscaping business, so naturally painting plants became a high interest of mine. These delphiniums were one of my first commissions, from one of our landscape customers.

Dorie said that as a landscape designer, I had "painted" her yard on the outside with real trees, flowers and shrubs, and now she wanted to hire me to add flowers to walls on the inside of her house. I was intimidated but loved the challenge, too.

My next post will be the other painting completed for her home, which was again, delphiniums, but with a different feel. I rarely take on commissions anymore but enjoyed doing these for Dorie. She also seemed genuinely pleased with them.

"DORIE'S GARDEN" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches 17 x 30" COLLECTED

W-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-Y BACK

This blog began as a record for my family, specifically our grandkids, of the awesome art journey I've traveled. It's become a teaching tool, a means to share and receive input from others, and a special way to 'meet' very special people.

This painting was the very first watercolor that I did by myself, no teacher. And it's on a full sheet of Arches. My first teacher, Suzanne Mayes Wentzell, taught our aspiring group of beginners each Wednesday evening for three hours. Those three hours became the highlight of each week for me, and I did everything I could to not miss class, no matter how tired I was after work, etc.

I remember edging those petunias with Sepia to accent them. The flowers were a combination of Rose Madder Genuine and Alizaron Crimson, both by Winsor Newton. Later I learned the hard way that those two colors would fade to a dirty pink. Both colors were eventually pitched even though I dearly loved them.

When I took this painting into class to show Suzanne, I was SO PROUD and happy with how well I thought it turned out. She was kind and not brutal with her critique, and her encouragement was a positive force in my early watercolor days. It's not in my nature to paint high key like this painting, but back then I was pleased as can be with the soft approach.

That was twenty one years ago. That passion that was ignited in me for watercolor has never left, and I am continually amazed at how many possibilities there are in this wonderful art world. Now I enjoy exploring any and all water media on any surface that will hold paint. What an adventure!

UPDATE - great news. Visited the doctor's office last Friday, 18 days after my knee replacement - I was given the go ahead to drive, swim, dance, work, stop medicines, and even stop physical therapy. I'm doing good, no - GREAT!

I'm going up and down steps like a champ, not like a crippled grandma. My surgeon was tops, and I truly would rather go through this surgery again than have a bad cold! Blessings abound beyond anything I could've hoped for. Thank you for your concern, your caring. I so appreciate it.

'91

In 1991, a little over two years after signing up for beginning watercolor classes, I took a workshop near our hometown with Catherine Wilson Smith, from the Chicago area. The first day, she strongly emphasized the importance of value studies. . .

For all three days of the workshop, I muddled my way though understanding what a value study was, how to make them, and most importantly, how to make them be effective. It's the only workshop I've ever been in where I didn't paint at all.

It was worth the effort that long weekend to begin a journey of understanding composition better. Although I'd earned a degree in Art Education years earlier, I realized that there was a vast world of art design to digest.

This picture (study) was painted soon after the workshop, based directly on one of the value studies I'd slaved over in Catherine's workshop. Just yesterday I discovered a stash of photos of some really early watercolors, so 'look out!' They'll be posted very soon. This was one of them.

"DIANTHUS AND DELPHINIUM" Transparent Watercolor on 140# CP Arches, 10 x 14" COLLECTED

VISITORS

Getting to paint with friends is such a treat, but this week I realized that rest had to come first. It's not been three weeks since surgery, and my body gets tired way faster than I expect.

These little birds visit my feeder constantly and never seem to tire. This painting is on my favorite surface to paint on - YUPO! There's some charcoal dust tossed onto a spritzed area and some pencil work, but mostly, it's transparent watercolor. There is a lot of untouched white in the background, but it shows here with a bluish tint. YUPO can be tricky to photograph accurately, but you get the idea.

It's so much fun (and so intimidating) to explore and find my way when trying new methods for approaching a painting. It's all so worth it. Happy painting.

"VISITORS" Transparent Watercolor with Charcoal and Graphite on YUPO 18 x 15"

YUPO REVISED

Last week after washing off most of the paint from the YUPO surface of an old unfinished painting, I started a detailed painting of a Red Tailed Hawk that I'd taken pictures of over ten years ago. The background textures became part of the new painting. It needs to be cropped in more to balance the hawk and make him seem more powerful. What do you think?

Today Rhonda and Kathy were here painting, and we took a lunch break to go to Willie's. Upon our return, the keypad on the garage door wouldn't work. Aha! I remembered that Marianne had alerted me earlier that our power would be going off for a short time while they changed our electrical lines. Now we couldn't get back into the studio...

But wait, I'd left some windows up. Maybe Rhonda could crawl in a window if the screen could be removed.

I stayed safely on the deck outside the studio while Kathy and Rhonda devised their plan. Let me tell you, Rhonda's very good at breaking and entering. The fact that she's lost 15 pounds helped her slip effortlessly through the window. At the precise moment that she stepped into the studio, the lights came back on. We were happily painting five minutes later.

You can see this detail of the head of the hawk as he watches Rhonda and Kathy break into the studio.

"LOOKOUT" Transparent Watercolor, Graphite, and Conte Crayons on YUPO 14 x 20"