Still water reflection and a few ripples

Hmm, there is a mark in the sky - but maybe that is the lens of my camera - it is not on the painting.  I am still continuing with this painting.  I'm still working from top to bottom.  Since the bottom of the paper does not have much there yet, I cropped it off to show just what I'm working on.  This paper really behaves differently.  Just when I think I've done damage, a little wipe with a damp brush, and all is restored...

Weekends can be a little difficult to paint.  Here is the reason why:  here is my watercolor studio!  The kitchen table.  On weekends I make a big breakfast for my husband and I, and then there is also lunch to have....and then dinner....all on this table!  I have to put away, take out, put away.... oh well.

Continuing with Watercolor Painting of Hope Valley

We have a new storm blowing it.  The sky is getting darker, so I thought I would photo this before the flash comes on and spoils the image.  Then I will go back and work some more.

After painting the first day on this, I realized I grabbed a different paper than I usually use.  I usually paint on 140 lb. Arches cold press.  I was wondering why this paper was so stiff!  But I like how it doesn't warp and buckle!  It is the left-over piece of 300 lb. Fabriano Artistico that we used in a workshop.  It is an interesting paper.  It has a little bit of texture and it has some kind of gell on top of the paper, so your paint doesn't soak in.  You end up pushing it around on top.  So, my mountains and sky look different than I was expecting.  No matter.  I will try things differently and learn something in the process.

Starting a Watercolor Landscape

This painting is going to have several layers of distance.  I started with the sky because it is the farthest away.  Usually I don't do the foreground so soon, but the water is reflecting the sky and I wanted to block it in so that it would relate to the sky colors.  Eventually, the water will be a little darker than the sky, because what I've been told in painting classes, the sky is lighter than the lightest reflection in the water.  Next, I blocked in the mountains, then I wet the paper and put in the background trees.  When it dries I can put in the trees that are in front, then the bushes in front of the trees, then so on and so forth.

Drawing for the next painting

I had a little time today, so I began my drawing for the next painting.  Since the drawing is so light, and I have an incomplete area on the left middle edge, I am also showing my photographic reference.  I took this picture last fall in Hope Valley, California, during the Lorenzo Chavez workshop.

Home Again - so much to do - no time to paint! Rats!

Well, we had a lovely time in Hawaii (who doesn't anyway?) and we came back to a freak snow storm in Reno, Nevada!  Since then, I took my Mom to her new doctor appointment, and tomorrow I take my car to have the body work done (from the rock that was thrown at it), then I have body work done to me (just kidding - getting the grey hairs dyed!), and then the next thing on the agenda is to take my Mom to the lab to have her bloodwork done.  Then, I will be free to start a new painting!  Yay!

Rocky Beach - watercolor sketch

Our last day here.  I did a morning painting sitting on the only patch of rough sand I could find on a rocky beach - rocky with broken coral and chunks of lava rock.  Tomorrow we head for home.

Hawaiian Cottage - a watercolor sketch

We are having rather cool weather this morning and WINDY!  So this morning I painted from a photo that Stan took while on the golf course.  I loved the bouganvilla in bloom.

Hawaiian Lagoon - Watercolor Sketch

The weather continues to be wonderful here.  Here is another painting of a lagoon.

Kalahuipuaa Fishpond - watercolor sketch

I love visiting the ancient fishponds.  It is a very peacefull place.  I didn't finish this painting, but you get the idea...

Hawaiian warmth requires you to paint fast!

We were naughty, because we went and sat in a cabana without making a reservation!  We got kicked out (nicely) when I was almost done with this painting.  I forgot how fast watercolor dries in Hawaii!  So this is like a quick sketch.

This is more washed out (no pun intended) than the painting is in reality.  I'm not used to taking pictures with a mini camera with no viewfinder!  And this is the very first time I tried out Adobe Photoshop, so I haven't figured out how to intensify the colors yet.  It is like starting all over again!  Learning new stuff!  It never ends!!!

Technology! Grrrrr! *!#*%

We are here in beautiful Hawaii.  I've been taking pictures with my trusty old digital camera.  We have a spanking new laptop.  I bought an adapter that accepts about 6 different size camera memory cards.  I thought I was ready to go....not so!  My old camera's memory card is too big for all the slots!!!!!   My husband's mini camera's fits, though.  So I'll borrow his to take pictures of my artwork and post it.  Of course, I have to do the artwork first!!!! 

So what the heck have I been doing all this time, says you?  Well, they lead historical hikes here!  While Stan is playing golf in the mornings, I've been learning about the early Hawaiians.  I've seen their petroglyphs, their ancient fishing ponds, grinding rocks, they way they made huts and outrigger canoes, how they used the seeds and leaves for medicine or cooking or weaving.  Then in the afternoon Stan and I would walk the beach and visit the Honu (Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles), and then lay around like beached whales by the pool.  Oh, yes, and the REAL whales are breaching, blowing and tail flapping right off the coast all day long.

So here are a few pictures from his camera.  Sorry, no artwork today...polynesian paralysis has taken over right now...

Finished! "Oh Mountain, Awaken and Shed Your Wintery Cloak!"

Yay!  I finished it.  I actually did it entirely in one day.  I am so glad.  I can come home from my trip and if it needs tweaking, I can do so.  If not, I'll sign it.

Now I have time to pack!  Like Ti-Igra says, "I'll be dancing with a flower in my hair" (and a pina colada in my hand). 

So, this is being posted on my travel day.  Cheers! 

Continuing with "Oh Mountain, Awaken!"

One of the things I have done in the past is wait until the very, very end to put in the little corner of foreground.  And usually it doesn't feel right to me...the colors are wrong, it doesn't integrate into the picture... I don't know what it is.  So THIS TIME I started blocking it in sooner.  Just so I make some marks and get the value right.  One more hour and it should be done.  Stay tuned... 

Since I am going on a trip and there will be dead time while traveling, I have set this to post tomorrow morning.

Oh Mountain, Awaken! A pastel painting in progress

This is the same painting as posted a few posts before, only this is the pastel version.  I started with a watercolor wash on white PastelBord, then used pastel pencil to block in my shapes in.  Next, I worked from top to bottom, trying to match the values and hues that worked so well in the watercolor version.  I am using the watercolor painting as my reference now, the photo has been put away.

I don't want to rush, but I really want to finish it by tomorrow night because we are going to Hawaii the next morning.  I hate leaving a half-worked piece, because when I come home I don't know where to pick up from and many times I lose the train of thought and the art flow.

Hawaii will be nice tho!  Not complaining!  This time we are checking bags so I will take a larger watercolor paint kit, and the computer.  So I plan to post some "artist's vacation paintings".

Oh, how I have missed painting!

Tomorrow is going to be my day (after I pack for our upcoming trip!).  I'm going to paint!  Finally! I had a little beloved pet get sick for 5 days, was a nurse trying to get him better, then upon taking him to the vet, nothing more could be done....so he was put to sleep peacefully.  I was sad and glum for days.  My Mom needed help doing shopping and getting her medications refilled.  My husband was on 24-hour-call over this weekend and we lost sleep, then he would come home during the day and interact with me.  So, sometimes painting just doesn't quite fit into the day.  So, "tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya - tomorrow, you're only a day away!!!!"

Turning Art into an Evening Bag

Since I finished the "Roses Gone Wild" embroidery piece, I was afraid if I put it away that I would never make it into an evening bag.  So, since I'm inbetween paintings, here it is!  All done and ready to use.  Now I just need an event to go to....

"The Mountain Awakens" - Ready to go hiking?

I finished this watercolor today.  I'm happy.  Got my artflow back.

...There is so much snow melt, you can see the trees growing!

Continuing on with this painting - I am adding the texture of the trees on the mountains.  I am using various flat brushes at up and sideways angles to create an evergreen-like shape.  Now and then I mask around a new patch of trees with pieces of paper and then mist them with a fine spray bottle so they diffuse a little.  I also try to change the color of the greens often as I go. 

When I lived in Hawaii on the rainy side of the island, everything was lush and green, you never had to water your garden.  So there was a saying "Things grow so fast here, you can look out your window and see the lawn growing."  It was true.  We had an acre of landscaped yard and lawn.  I would mow the lawn in sections, it took me days.  By the time I finished, it was time to start mowing the first section again! 

"The Mountain Awakes" a watercolor in progress

I'm feeling a little more "tuned in" to creating art now.  I was feeling a little "off" during the last painting.  This watercolor is from a visit to Squaw Valley during the spring melt.  My photographic reference is not very good, but the patterns of snow on the mountain and the deep valley really compelled me to try this scene.  This needs to dry completely before I continue.  So, I'm off to do errands and such.