Art Book

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The latest technology makes it possible for an artist to publish their own art book. How great is that!

Linge de Maison

This is it! Linge de Maison. Which means household laundry in French. How appropo with laundry hanging out the window to dry. I added more texture and enriched some areas with another layer. Now it is no longer a WIP.

WIP 3

I am close but I still want to play with it for awhile. I get an idea of what I am trying to achieve and sometimes it comes together and sometimes it comes close. Still adjusting some affects. Will let you know when I am satisfied. When you get to certain level with your art, you would think that it comes easier but I am seeing that each painting poses its own challenges. I want to see what I can still make of this painting. I could leave it to the point it is at right now. Maybe I might, who knows. Later.

New Watercolor WIP 2

Progressing on my painting, I have now worked out more texture on the building facade and have put in more detail on the shuttered windows. I also added the wrought iron balcony with pots hanging from it. One thing I can say about both France and Italy is that they do make there windows interesting will all the things they put on display. Still much to work out.

New Watercolor WIP

Hi! It feels like a long time since I have been able to sit down and concentrate on my watercolor painting. Life gets in the way of what I should be spending all my time working on; that being my painting. Work and school for me have taken me away unfortunately. For all artists out there, you know what I am talking about. And now that I have more of a following, I feel it necessary to produce which is a good thing. Enough about that. What I have here is the start of a new composition and hopefully a new series of paintings (3) of exteriors that I found interesting in the South of France. I have decided on an elongated size to add interest and emphasis. This particular building was one that I came upon in the old part of Nice, France. I love the texture and age of the building and the things that the residents hang outside of their shuttered windows. There was a French Linen shop below. You will see as I develop the new painting.

The Launch of my new website

It's official! I now have my own .com! I have been working on this site for sometime and I am thrilled to have it up and running thanks to the technical people at GoDaddy.com.

After taking a semester of Dreamweaver, the result is now having the expertise to not only create my own but also to offer my services to others. Click the title of this posting to link to it. Any comments are welcome. You will find that I have included several links to other watercolor related sites that I have been personally involved with. So if any of my fellow artists would like a website designed for them or would like to refresh what they already have, feel free to contact me.

Featured on: Chris Beck Blog

Hi everyone! This must be my lucky week! I am being highlighted on Chris Beck's blog. I see that I already have a few new followers and I would like to say a collective welcome to my blog! I'm sure that I will be equally interested in checking out all of your paintings as well. So for those of you that have not discovered the above links to Chris's blogs, do so and you will be pleased.

All you have to do is 'click' on the title to this post.

"Venetian Gold" in Splash 11

The new edition of "Splash 11-New Directions" is out on the bookshelves! My painting "Venetian Gold" made it into this book because of the new direction that my paintings are taking recently.

The quote by Anais Nin is one that I supplied keeping in theme with the book. The quote reads:

...."and the day came when the risk it took to remain all tight in the bud became more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

This is so true in many areas of life. We don't care for change but in order to grow and blossom, you have to move forward even when it seems painful and scary to do so. I recently went through a scary time of uncertainty, not knowing what was going to happen in my life, but you have to trust the universe to help you out along with yourself. I'm happy to be a part of this wonderful book and I feel that the design and layout of this one is the classiest in the series. Check it out yourselves.

Discover & Download

"Discover & Download" is finished! Accept for a few "twikings" here and there. This painting shows a snapshot in time back to 2007 to Times Square in New York City. This was the year that I won the Gold Metal from the American Watercolor Society. Many photos were taken of the city at that time. What drew me to this one was the abstract design. Each window which shows reflections of the city or the times we live in had a contained abstract design which made a whole composition of abstraction. I wanted to show the energy of the city in this painting.

For the most part, it is finished but I might just make a few small, subtle changes.

International Artist Magazine is Out!

The April/May edition is out with my painting on page 13. Along with the painting is an artist statement about my inspiration, design strategy and working process. And of course, contact info. I am happy to be going international with my art especially when I see that I have people following my blog from across continents. Spring is here!

Progress

As you can see, I am developing reflections of the city in the windows. Lots of detail and I am pleased with the progress. I have developed the MTV images in the bottom row of windows.

Start of a new painting

I have started a new painting. This one is from a scene in Times Square in New York City. Between myself and a friend, we took several pictures all over the city in two recent trips there.

As you can see, it is appearing to be the building in Times Square that displays the "Lion King" advertisement. I have a habit of taking on complex paintings with detail and this will not be short of plenty of eye candy. Its the composition that will give it its sense of activity and size. Possibly you will get an idea of how I work. I did the initial drawing with my reference coming from the above mentioned photos all around the city. From there, I am laying in washes of color, starting with the main focal point of the Lion King sign. I then move on to some of the graphics shown in the windows below—gradually building up tones. I make a color chart for myself of the watercolors that I have in my collection and spend time picking out the palette of colors that I want for this scene. My paintings are time consuming, but the results are to my liking.

Latest News Bulletin! Made it into International Artist Magazine!

I just received word that my painting "Going Green" is going to be published in International Artist Magazine April/May issue. It is part of their flowers and Gardens competition. Now I have to get busy and write some info about the painting i.e. inspiration.

The Series

Here so far is the series of glass watercolor studies that I have completed.

Glass Reflections III

After spending more time on my digital work and not enough time on my watercolor painting, I have completed number 3 in my series of glass studies watercolor paintings. This is one of a Murano glass bowl by Fratelli Tasi in Venice and of Paper Nautilus shells that I happen to be lucky enough to have in my collection of interesting objects. They are rare finds in that, they rarely wash up on beaches because they are delicate shells that crumble before being able to do so. If I have my facts correct, they are shells from baby octopus. They are related to the Nautilus shell family.

I happen to get my hands on them from an acquaintance who received them from a friend living in South Africa and saw them on the beach and sent them through the mail to him. He didn't know what to do with them and asked me, the artist, if I would want them. Of Course!

I love the play of light on glass that is why I have done a series called Glass Reflections. They are abstract in nature but yet representational. Any comments on my latest addition is welcome.

Followers of my Blog

For those of you that follow my blog, I apologize for no new watercolor entries since June of this year. My focus and attention has been on my training as a multimedia artist. If you click on the link to the Digital By Design website, you will see the work that I have been doing. But enough about that. This blog is dedicated to the art of watercolor painting. I have a work in progress going on right now and it is close to completion. I will post as soon as it is done. I do not want to rush it even though I want to keep a steady pace with my fine art.

There will be news to follow as I am being published in "Splash 11-New Directions" coming out next year. Promise to post something new soon.

Going Green

The painting that I have been posting on my blog in stages is finished. There might be some slight twiking here or there but will be minimal. You have to know when to quit. I find that after I finish a piece, I can't really see it anymore. I have to get away from it. This was one of my largest paintings that I have ever done. You learn something with each one. I believe I will call this one, "Going Green".

Progress

Slowly but surely, this painting is coming around. More of the background is developed and the seeds are becoming more detailed. Also, I am intending to create a more blended affect up at the top which will travel through to the large background area above the hydranga. That will be my last section to do on this painting. This painting is large, 30x40, as the hydranga itself is almost the size of my head plus a small another one so if that gives any idea of scale, is why it is taking some time. But so far, I am pleased with the results.

TWSA Show

Well I am back from Kenosha and the TWSA show. Some very interesting and good art and some that were a matter of taste. This is me with my painting. The gallery was first rate along with the placement of the paintings. While I was there, it was rainy and cold. For June, this seems strange. So much for global warming.




The highlight of my night was getting to meet John Salminen. We sat together for dinner and had some interesting talks. For those of you reading my blog who don't know John Salminen, I will post a link to his website under interesting websites on the right. You will see why he is a prominent and leading watercolor artist of our day. For those of you who do know, know that I was lucky to have had the opportunity to talk with him.

I also saw the works of of Cheng-Khee Chee up close. He also attended the dinner. It was good to see Judy Morris again and hopefully we will run into each other again. I will also have a link to their sites as well.

Progression

Before I go off to the TWSA show in Kenosha, I wanted to post my progress on the "Going Green" painting. I'm starting to develop my dark green in the background and layering in the seeded eucalyptus.