Incognito

This is a bit different than my usual watercolors. Doing some experimenting and testing out a new watercolor paper that I had not used before. I had a photo of several unpainted venetian masks displayed in a window which included not only human looking face masks but also animals. I was drawn to the different expressions and experimented with color and form. Sometimes you have to get out of a comfort zone and try something different.

 

Domaine du Haut Baran

I will be conducting my first International Watercolor Workshop this year! I have been teaching in my local area for some time now and this opportunity came up for me this Fall. I was there many years ago attending a workshop by Judy Morris and love the place! Coming full circle, I am now teaching and will now be conducting a workshop. My workshop is filled for this year already but we'll see what the future holds.

 

First Performance!

 I am proud of this painting that was a commission for a special friend. It is of his granddaughter in a play. I was so attracted to the theatrical theme and enjoyed creating the lighting effects in watercolor. It was a challenge but I am pleased with the result. I took photos of it in stages as I developed the painting. They are posted below. The painting was done on 300lb Kilimanjaro watercolor paper.

Trying Something New!

Breaking away from transparent watercolor, I tried working with Jelly Gouache. I enjoyed it but took a bit of practice to get use to it and its quality and properties. Based on scenes of photos that I took while visiting Monet's Garden, I sketched out these designs and painted using the gouache. 

These turned out to be fun, small works of art that can be framed or used for notecards. If you have tried painting with this fairly new medium, please comment below. Also, I would like feedback on the designs that I created.

 

Chanterelles

Two things were accomplished with this paintings titled "Chanterelles".  I took a photo of this scene when in France the last time. I have always been fond of it but I knew the chanterelle mushrooms would be a challenge to paint. Second of all, I wanted to try out new watercolor paper made by Windsor & Newton. It is their professional watercolor block 12 x 16 hot press paper.

As you can see, I think my painting turned out well. It was a pleasure to work on the paper and will now be using it on a regular basis. Any feedback that you might have if you are familiar with this watercolor paper, please comment.

 

8 x 8" Watercolors

 Because of an upcoming exhibition coming soon, I have created several 8" x 8" watercolor paintings. I am not sure which one I should submit, but I will be creating a page on my website just for these small paintings. I would like to offer small prints of these and hope to source them soon. Here they are:

If one catches your eye, please let me know.

4TH Annual Women in Watercolor International Juried Competition

 I am pleased to have received the following message:

Dear Artist,

We are pleased to inform you that your paintings "Reaching Out" and "Monpazier" have been accepted into the 4th Annual Women in Watercolor International Juried Competition. Congratulations!

Your paintings were two of 216 accepted entries this year out of over 1800 entries from over 60 countries, from the best of the best women watercolor artists; so you should be very proud!

And I am very proud! Here are the paintings:

New 8" x 8" April Dawn

I am working up a few watercolors in an 8"x8" format. I will reveal at a later time why. I intend to do a series which I will post on my blog. Here, I have recorded in a few steps how it looked leading to the final at the bottom. It depicts a dalia blossom which caught my eye and thought it would make for an interesting watercolor subject. To enhance the composition, I put in a lacy pattern in a strip in the background. (I discovered that "Washi Tape" used in the first image makes for a crisp edge and paint does not seep underneath.)

 

Painting Finished

 I started this painting back during covid. I put it away for awhile and made some revisions to it. Slight ones. I now feel it is ready. When an artist works on something for a period of time, it is good to stop looking at it only to come back to it with a fresh eye. I generally look at it this way and see things that can be improved upon. Maybe some little things that were not part of the reference or composition. "Low Tide at Mont St. Michel" is now complete.

Zen Redux

Sometimes as an artist, you have the desire or affliction to not be satisfied with your work. and sometimes you take a painting and mess about with it. That is the case with my painting "Zen". Here is how it has been re-worked. Still not happy with it and desire to let this one go and start fresh with something else. Sometimes you just cannot make it happen. Any thoughts on the two versions would appreciated. You can email me or write a comment.

 

Stolen Painting!

 

Some international intrigue! One of the paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts Van Gogh in America Exhibit was reported to be stolen by a Brazilian art collector. He claims to have paid 3.7m for it. The case is currently in the courts. He attests that a third party stole it. He saw the media about the show in Detroit and immediately notified the DIA.

Van Gogh in America

 Along with my own artwork, I would like for my blog to be about art and artists. I had the privilege of attending the most significant exhibition of Van Gogh outside of Europe here in America. The exhibition was highlighting 100 years of the Detroit Institute of Arts acquiring the first Van Gogh painting ever to be bought in  the USA. There was controversy at the time even though his paintings were gaining much exposure in Europe. The museums at the time in America thought it was a foolish move. Ha! It was the smartest move ever. Even though I only found one in the collection that was done with watercolors and mixed media, I still think that my followers will be interested  in this. Here are some painting from the collection.

Artistic Excellence Award

Circle Foundation for the Arts puts out a Circle Quarterly Art Review Magazine Contest. The magazine goes out to galleries I believe around the world. I received this certificate from them for my entry Commedia Dell' Arte! That about finishes up this incredible year of getting much recognition for my art.

 

Zen Complete (At least for now)

 Reached the final stages. I completed the intricate pattern of the blooms and the leaves. I need to stop working now and look at it later with a fresh eye. I might make a change but can't see what I might want to change later on.  Then again, it might just be complete as it is right now.  Hopefully you can see my thought process as I have shown step-by-step how I approached this subject. Appreciate any feedback from my followers. Thank you for watching!

Step III

 Here is step III! Now I am developing the leaves and tropical floral around the statue of Buddha. Still using Daniel Smith colors of Serpentine Green, Zolsite Genuine and Winsor & Newton Sap 

Green for the leaves.

Daniel Smith Opera Pink, Organic Vermilion and Hansa Yellow for flowers and stems of tropical plant.

A little bit of Brown Umber mix for shadows.

Here is a close-up of the stone texture:

Progression

After putting down the initial pour, I developed the statue. Using Daniel Smith colors of Black Tourmaline, and Serpentine Genuine, I created the effect of stone. The underlying colors of the pour show through as highlights on the statue. Opera Pink was used for the delicate flower placed in the folded hands to give a sharp contrast. Stay tuned for the next step!

 

Start of a new painting

 I would like to post a painting that I am working on in progression. This is the first time that I am using the pouring technique so I will show how I started this painting and maybe if you have never tried it out yet, you can experiment with me.  I love paintings that incorporate this technique and I want to get out of my comfort zone of painting so tightly. Here is how it looked after my first pour:

I used an interesting combination of Hansa Yellow Medium, Moonglow and German Greenish Raw Umber colors from Daniel Smith. For my particular subject matter, which you will see as I go along, are the colors that I am happy with. I masked out some key areas that I want to "pop" against the background.

First Watercolor Artists Retreat

 Located on the shores of Lake Charlevoix in northern Michigan, I conducted a lovely retreat for watercolor artists. It was a great get-away. If you ever consider a vacation, northern Michigan is beautiful. I recommend it highly.

It was so successful that plans are made to repeat the retreat same time next year.

Here are some of the things that were painted.

As seen in Watercolor Artist Magazine

 The Splash series advertising for next year's competition, choose my painting, "Soft Landing" to advertise on the back cover of Watercolor Artist Magazine. This has been an interesting year for me with getting my artwork published and winning awards. For all you watercolor enthusiasts, "Watercolor Artists Magazine" is a great magazine to subscribe to. 

Certificate & Awards- Women in Watercolor

It was today that I received my award certificate! I would encourage all women artists to enter into this competition for next year. They do a beautiful job of promoting your artwork on their website. Here are the award winners for the Raymar Merchandise Awards given out in several categories.

To see all the entries that made it into the competition, go to: www.WomenInWatercolor.com .