THE PROCESS

 Getting started, I first wet the paper and put in broad strokes of color with my cat's tongue brush of cobalt blue and ultramarine on the top, then burnt sienna on the bottom and let it drip down.  I while it was in the process of drying I laid in the shapes of the grapes and leaves and trunk not worrying about bleeding or blending.  I was actually trying to make it do that and wished it would have done it a little more.  I have to confess I had the space heater on because my room was cold and I just told my class not to have that on while painting because it dries the paper too fast!  Should've listened to myself!

 I layered with deeper color and put in shadowed areas.  Colors I used for the grapes were ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and a touch of perm. rose or perm. alizarin in the darker ones.  The leaves I used ultramarine blue and winsor yellow.....I added very little burnt sienna to areas I thought needed toning down.  The trunk I used yellow ochre on the left side and ultramarine blue and burnt sienna on the right shadowed side.  I then dropped in a violet mix down the center and touched in some alizarin..

Here I just did more of the same......concentrating on beefing up the values.  It  also decided the background needed more also so I made it darker on the right on the trunk and put some blues under the grapes to make the distant grapes disappear more.  I spattered also......I'm a little too addicted to spattering.....and I probably overdid that AGAIN.  Once I start flinging the paint I can't stop.

In the finished painting, I decided the top area was too much so I cropped it.  I also didn't like how I painted that stem on top so I took a big 2" brush and laid in some winsor yellow and dropped in cobalt and ultramarine to  mush it together....sort of obliterating the top left side.....I guess it was successful, but have my doubts....I discovered halfway through the painting why I was having so much trouble getting the paint to move and blend.....I had filled my ultramarine blue well up with student grade paint while in class because I ran out of my professional grade paint.....and low and behold I was totally frustrated.  I had also used that to mix my greens and everything else....I couldn't figure out what was wrong ......just a true test of using student grade is NOT beneficial.  When I switched it was a WORLD of difference!  Only wished I had noticed it sooner. 

CALIFORNIA GRAPES

It's class time again and we are doing grapes after my trip to Sonoma County California.  How luscious these grapes were and very inspiring.  I loved the different tones of blues with the inclusion of orange and pink.  Made me want to paint them and bring them to the class.  We worked with different thumbnail sketches posted below to determine the best way to plan our final painting.

It's so good to do thumbnail paintings.....it helps with having a more definite idea of where you want to go.  That doesn't necessarily mean you aren't going to change things along the way while you're painting but it does help with placement and value.  The thing about watercolor is that it has that unexpected quality and you should always leave room for creative additions that either happen on purpose or not!  That's the beauty of it.

Mary White Workshop - Cape Cod Creative Arts Center

I just got back from attending a Mary Whyte workshop in Cape Cod....it was the best workshop I've ever been to as far as learning from and viewing  an amazing talent.  I can say I was very blessed to be there.  We had a great one on one time session and round table discussions as well as demonstrations.  We painted figures, still life and went out to do some plein air landscape painting also. We covered a lot of areas in 5 days which was very tiring for me, can't imagine how tiring it was for her.  She says she's not doing anymore 5 day workshops, so I'm so glad I got to be at her last one.  I bought her book "Working South" which is an absolutely beautiful book that not only has great stories that she so eloquently wrote, but the artwork that makes up the series is gorgeous.  She even signed my copy....:)  I'm a groupy now!  I plan on seeing the "Working South" Exhibition that is touring the southern states in Newport News, VA next spring.....here is the info:

April 6–July 7, 2013
Penninsula Fine Arts Center
Newport News, Virginia
www.pfac-va.org

This is the last part of the tour, so if you want to see these paintings, and I suggest you do, then make sure you catch it here.....I know I will.  I also suggest you buy her books....they are wonderful.  I can't say enough good things about her, between her faith, her work and her accomplishments, she's someone I'm proud to call a mentor.

"Miss Maryland Mallard"

             *If you click on the picture then right click on the picture......click "view" then you can zoom in.

Just finished "Miss Maryland Mallard".....I decided I love painting water and I love painting animals....so what better than a duck in water?  I spent a wonderful day with daughter Emily in downtown Annapolis and took a bunch of photos of the, what seemed to be, plain 'ol brown ducks swimming around "Ego Alley".  If you don't know what "Ego Alley" is, it is an area of the bay that juts into the town of Annapolis and supposedly if you want to show off your beautiful boat for all to see, then you float into "Ego Alley".  The water that day had a hint of violet and amazingly those plain brown ducks looked so luminous and colorful.  The different shades of browns captured my eyes.....and I'm a big fan of the color brown....just look at my wardrobe!

                               Oh my gosh, I DO look like a mallard!!

Anyway.....I love the colors that brown can contain......violets, blues, pinks and yellows......and she sure is strutting her stuff......the duck I mean....not me.  Reminded me of the runway of a beauty contest.....hence the name "Miss Maryland Mallard".  I had fun....hope to do more.....God willing of course!  I am making prints of this painting for $75.00 each, if you're interested, contact me.

"Yardsale Treasures" completed

*If you click on the picture then right click on the picture......click "view" then you can zoom in.

Completed the painting and I did accomplish what I initially wanted to portray in the picture.  I kept the left side lighter so the eye would linger longer on the right yet I added enough contrast on the left side to create interest....hopefully.  I'm happy with how the figures came out.....not sure about the grasses....I had a hard time figuring where it would end with the sky and not sure that part was too successful.  I'm entering it into the BWS Mid-Atlantic show......I'm not expecting anything but thought I'd give it a try.  Never say never I usually say!!

"Yardsale Treasures" Progress

*If you click on the picture then right click on the picture......click "view" then you can zoom in.

I made a lot of progress yesterday....painted for 10 hours!  It took a long time to paint all the clothing!  Lots of folds but I enjoy that much more than the background.  I didn't want to overpower any of them but I wanted more focus to be on the one with the blue suite.  Got some more to paint today but can't work on it for as long...we'll see how far I get.  The woman with the suit has a pin on her lapel but I'm not sure whether to put it in....I just might.

"Yardsale Treasures"

So I've finally started the painting I made a sketch of and it was really difficult to do the background.  This is my second attempt and I like it a lot better than the other one so that's a good start.  I'm happy with it so far and I'd love comments or opinions if you want to critique it....always could use a second set of eyes!!