IWM International Watercolour Masters

I was pleased to find out on Christmas Eve that my painting was selected to receive the Top 200 Merit Award from the International Watercolour Masters located in England. There were 3,725 entries from around the world! There were a panel of 20 judges from around the world. My painting "Commedia Del Arte was the one that was picked for this big award. There will be an exhibition  held in Shropshire, England at the Lilleshall Hall, England May 16-29, 2022.

 

Finished!

Here it is! "Aphrodisiac" 40" x 60" watercolor on Arches paper. Not a roll but an actual sheet that came from an art supply store in NYC. Took me 2 months and a week to complete, sign and photograph. 

I have attached two close-ups to show some detail. I decided that the title is appropriate. The actual name of the plant, I do not know. It was something that caught my attention at Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. It is from the bromeliad family. If you know, please forward the information on.

On to the next!

Progress

I thought that you would like to see if I have done more work on my large painting. Yes, yes, I have done more work on it. Still not finished but getting closer and closer. I have an idea for the title of the painting but would love to get feedback from all my viewers. Leave a comment or email me. What do you think so far?

 

Women In Watercolor

 

HK Holbein sponsored an online exhibition this year for "Women in Watercolor". I had the honor of becoming a finalist in the exhibition! Another great honor to enjoy.

More Progress

 More colors! To date, this is where the painting stands. Still quite a bit more to do but I have been making remarkable progress. If anyone reading this blog know the name of this plant, please do send it to me. I believe it is in the bromeliad family.

Next Steps

 I am spending the month of August with the goal of painting almost every day. This studio opens into the outdoors facing the north so the lighting is great. I get fresh summer breezes and have been enjoying working on this large piece.  Here is the progress that I made and you will now see it developing. I am using Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton Watercolors on Arches paper.

The leaves of this plant were ablaze with colors.  Here is some of them that I have developed.

Large Size Watercolors

 What is the largest size watercolor that you have ever painted? For me the largest size was 30" x 40" or what is referred to as an elephant size. But I have changed that accomplishment. I have been harboring what is referred to as a double elephant size, 40" x 60" for about 3 years waiting for the right subject to come along. Well it came along and I am about to show you. Stage I is shown below.

After a trip to Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida I came across this colorful plant that I do not know the name of but was inspired to paint. Here is my set up in Studio II. Here is the beginning.

Sweden!!

 Sweden! I have had over a 1000 views from the Country of Sweden on my blog. Would love to hear from any of you. You can leave a comment and ask any questions.  

Channeling Cezanne

 Finished!

This watercolor was done on Kilimanjaro watercolor paper. I used Daniel Smith Watercolors and the size is 17" x 30".

More Progress

 As you can see from the previous posts, I have completed more work on painting. The material took more time to develop with its folds and shadows and print. I like working with draped cloth and this one was more challenging.  I wanted to accomplish a lighting effect of showing just a beam of sunlight coming in on the still life while the rest is in shadows. All I have to do now is to finish the background and also more shadows on the white table below.

Oranges and Lemon Progress

Thought I would share my progress. As you can see I have been working on the folds of the tablecloth. Here is a close-up of the folds. Some what challenging but at the same time kinda cool!

I worked on putting in a light wash to indicate where the shadows will be. At times, I sometimes like an unfinished painting to a finished one.

 

What my table looks like

 Sometimes it is interesting to see the layout of paints and brushes and palette of the artist. Here is mine.

Oranges and Lemons

 I have started a new painting. This one is a still life with my Italian ceramic and my peasant print tablecloth with a bunch of oranges and one single lemon. Here is a narrative of the painting started:

I started the painting with the oranges and lemon and then started to develop the ceramic.

Now you can see that the ceramic bowl was next.

I love to paint cloth that is wrinkled or folded like it is for this painting. Here is a close-up of some of the detail of this tablecloth. There is a lot of design to consider doing well.

Stage IV

 The last part to work on now is the vintage paper background. I put in wet-in-wet technique to get the stained, weathered look and painted in the postal stampings and text. The very last step was to do the ribbons. This is the finished product. "Commedia dell'arte" is the name of the painting.

Stage III

 In Stage III the marquise pattern is now developed and the next part is the scalloped pattern at the top of the painting.

Stage II

 In Stage II, the frame is now complete and I am now putting in the design in the background. You can now start to see the ribbon pattern that will be running through the painting. The diamonds or marquise pattern is often part of Pierrot's costume.

Stage I

 As I was developing this painting, I documented how I started. Here is Stage I. You can see my pencil drawing and the first thing that I developed was the mask. I did that because that is the central theme and subject of this painting and everything around literally frames it. In the painting there is a frame and I first laid down Cadmium Yellow. There is some gold leafing on the frame and Cadmium Yellow was my choice to bring that out.

New Painting

To add to my collection of venetian masks paintings, here is my latest completed last night. Yes, everything is painted and I have not incorporated any collage material. This is a Pierrot mask. 

Pierrot was a common character in Commedia dell'arte.  By collecting decorative paper design, I have been using the design element in my paintings lately. Along with ribbons and frames, I put together this composition. See below to see my collection of paintings depicting Venetian Masks which I love.

Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italy, that was popular in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century. Commedia dell'arte was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as commedia all marchers, commedia improvviso, and commedia dell'arte all improvviso.

 

"Reaching Out" Accepted into NWS Member's Exhibition

Received word over the weekend that my painting "Reaching Out" has been selected to be in the National Watercolor Society Member's Exhibition for 2021! If you have been following my blog at all, I posted step-by-step video or images of how I developed this painting and now it will be part of this exhibit.

Mat Barber Kennedy is the juror of selection and awards for the show this year.

 

New Updated Website for 2021!

 Happy New Year to all my followers and ones that happen across my blog! To start this new year, I have re-designed and updated the appearance of my website using a new website developer called Sparkle".

I am very pleased with the result. You can access it by going to:  http://www.paulafiebich.com