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 

Childrens's Portrait Continued

 I completed this awhile back but due to it being given as a Xmas gift, I waited till today to post the finished painting. This was done on a 22" x 30" sheet of Kilimanjaro watercolor paper. I an anxious to see the reaction mostly from the kids themselves !

Portraits of Children

I was asked recently to do watercolors of a client's grandchildren. I don't normally do portraits but I considered it a challenge and decided to take a crack at it. This is my result. The client is happy and excited to give them to the parents. this is a snap shot in time. There are baby teeth and one is losing them. Children's skin is very smooth and fresh and young of course and interesting to paint. I have never met the children only was given photos of them. I believe that I captured their essence according to the grandmother.  That's all that matters. I mixed various strengths of yellow ochre and alizarin crimson for basic skin tone. I started to render the eyes first as my anchor to the whole face. I found the mouths to be challenging to get just right. I think that now, after doing this first set, I will be more at ease to do more if asked.

I have my own video now!

The Anton Art Center in Downtown Mt. Clemens, Michigan is hosting their "Art Party" right now to raise funds to support the center. Because we cannot have a real party with food and music and people gathering together this year, it is all virtual. I teach watercolor workshops there so they composed a video of me discussing my art.  The link is:   Painting With Paula!

Hilbert Museum

Received this little piece of information:

 Your painting has been chosen from a large response to our call for NWS Member Artists to enter their best work and be a part of our last 100 year celebratory exhibition with the Hilbert Museum of California Art.  We share your excitement and look forward to displaying your work across the globe.

The Great American Paint in

I am participating in the Great American Paint In! I submitted "Low Tide Mont St. Michel". Here is the image in their virtual online Gallery Cero. Here is the link to the site:  https://thegreatpaint-in.com.

The artwork shown is from inspiration of artists during COVID-19 and their thoughts and expression on how it makes us feel. Please do check out the site!

My Watercolor Workshop during COVID

 This is my watercolor/pen & ink class done COVID style! It worked out just fine. As you can see, we are all a distance apart and wearing masks.

 Reviewing the paintings.

 My demonstration was projected on a flat screen TV.

 Here are some of the brilliant works done by my students!

All in all we enjoyed it very much and will probably do another one in the Fall.

That's it!

There is a point when an artist has to decide when to quit. I was contemplating one more design to add to this painting, but after consideration, I have decided to stop now. I really like the way this painting developed and I hope that you found it interesting also. I am naming this painting "Reaching Out". And now I am done. All of you that tuned into my blog, I thank you and comments are welcome.

Stage 6

If you thought that the painting was done at stage 5, you were wrong! I had in my possession, which I found at a local fruit and flower market, these vines. At the time, I probably knew what they were from what plant but now I do not. All I knew is that I liked them. They were curly, and viney and dark and when I set up a still life of my tulips, I put the vines with them. You never know when working on a painting when to quit. But I have one more thing up my sleeve that I would like to do. (Possibly)

Stage 5

Here is the next phase of my painting. After putting in the gradient wash in the background, my plan was to put in this pattern. Along with the flow of the tulips, I have been inspired by marbling patterns. I collect decorative papers and love my marbled paper generally made in Italy. During this time of social isolation, I have been taking the time to do some experimenting.

Here is a close-up of the intricate pattern that I created. In order to get this effect, I am starting to use some mixed media incorporated with my transparent watercolor. I use Permanent White Gouache for a more opaqueness.

I still am not done yet. More to follow.

Tulips Stage 4

I want you to know that when I post the progress on this painting that it is in the rough stages and I am not glamorizing the painting or the image. Now you can see I have finished the tulips and have put the first stage of the background in. I wanted something dark going to pretty much white at the top. I wanted a background that was grayish in color but with a hit of color.  I started out the first wash with Payne's Grey. It more bluish in color but I wanted that to be my undertone. After that dried, I took the mixture of Payne's Grey an added Quin Sienna. It subdued the blue hue. I put a mask around the all the edges of the floral only. This is what it looks like after removing the mask. I now need to do some touch up along some edges. This is not my stopping point yet by any means. 

Stage 3

Hope you can see the progress. To be continued....

Stage 2 Leaves

Stage 2 of this painting has me developing some leaves. I wanted to get my colors for the leaves just right so I went ahead and started establishing what greens I wanted to use. Sap Green and Jadeite Genuine from Daniel Smith are the ones that I am using.

New Painting

A new day and a new painting during this stay-at-home time we are all living in! I wanted to work on something big and colorful. When that happens, it is usually a floral of some kind. Today it is tulips. Perfect for Spring! I am working on a 26"x40" watercolor paper and it will pretty much take up the whole sheet. I thought it would be interesting to show how I develop it. Here is the beginning.