Bubble Glass and Grapes

Another version of "Bubble Glass and Grapes", 4x3 inches, watercolor on board, POR

Bubble Glass and Grapes

Iv'e done this one in oil many times and was wanting to get back to a red/green palette so I gave it a whirl. I may do another version tonight or tomorrow. Thinking about what exactly my concept would be. Darker background? Throw more paint at it?
"Bubble Glass and Grapes", 3x4 inches, watercolor, POR

Blue Vase and Silver Creamer

I tried a different composition. I tried one that reads left to right but it feels a little awkward to me. Maybe it's cause I'm not used to setting up my objects like this. Any comments? "Blue Vase and Silver Creamer" 4x3 on R-Tis-Tx board, POR

Blue Vase and Silver Creamer (horizontal)

This is a horizontal version of previous painting. Gives me a chance to explore the colors and brushstrokes. In addition to painting small and often I find it's a good practice to repeat myself. What do you think? I started another painting where I went back to the vertical composition but reversed the direction of the objects. Hope to finish it today and will post it tomorrow. "Blue Vase and Silver Creamer (horizontal)", 4x3 inches on R-Tis-Tx board, POR

Blue Vase and Silver Creamer

This is a set up that I bring to my oil workshops. Since I have the compositions all figured out and the objects all in one place I thought I'd do as many of these set ups in watercolor also. All I had to do was run out for the orange. I did this late afternoon yesterday and I may do this one again in a horizontal composition to see if there's something else there. The R-Tis-Tx board is really good for putting on a lot of pigment and layers. It seems to accept more layers without getting dirty looking. Also dries a lot slower so I can move the paint around more than on papers. The paint also comes off easier either at first glance (as soon as you put it down) or after it dries. I did a lot of blotting when the paint was still wet.
"Blue Vase and Silver Creamer", 4x3 inches on R-Tis-Tx board, POR

Sunflowers and Brass Vase

As it turns out I worked on two more paintings of the same set-up. I'm still trying to see if the other one will work out. Scrubbing and painting. Hmm, I see something else I may change on this one. The petals on the left hand flower could be wiped out a bit to give it more light. "Sunflowers and Brass Vase", 4x3 inches, watercolor on Reeves board, POR

Brass Vase and Sunflowers

This is probably the last in the sunflower and brass vase series. Any comments about which worked the best and why would be appreciated. My grandson likes #0818 the best. I like it when one painting leads to the next. We're having company this weekend so I probably won't get to paint 'til Monday.
"Brass Vase and Sunflowers", 4x3 watercolor board, POR

Brass Vase and Sunflowers

I really like working on the R-Tis-tx boards. It doesn't dry as fast so there's so much more time to work the paint. The whiteness of the boards seem to be brighter as well. "Brass Vase and Sunflowers" 4x3 inches on board, POR

Sunflowers and Brass Vase

This was done using a ruling pen and masking fluid on the sunflower petals. Liked the way that worked out. I'm going to do another one tomorrow using R-Tis-Tx board to try and get a more flowy feeling. I like the way one painting is leading to the next.
"Sunflowers and Brass Vase" 4x3 inches on 8x6 inch paper, POR

Brass Vase and Sunflowers

I used masking fluid on the petals so I could do a wash quicker in the background. Next time I'm going to try a ruling pen to hold the masking fluid so I can get into the petals tighter. Sorry if this isn't making a whole lot of sense. I just finished painting and verbalization is hard.
"Brass Vase and Sunflowers", 4x3 inches on 8x6 inch paper, POR

Sunflowers and Brass Vase

I added another wash on the background. I used masking fluid to cover the petals. I'm not sure I like so much white showing so next time I may use a ruling pen instead of the back of a brush to get tighter. I like the darker background. "Sunflowers and Brass Vase", 5x4 on 6x5 inch paper, POR

Sunflowers in Brass Vase

This is how it looked when I stopped yesterday. I've been trying to decide if I should apply another wash to the background. Which makes me ask, are we going to get to the place where artists can get instantaneous feedback? Wish me luck, I'm going to do it. I put liquid frisket around the edges of the petals so I can work fast and save the whites and hopefully most of the petals. And am I getting carried away with the notes? As the king said in that Mozart movie, Amadeus, "There are too many notes, Just tell him to get rid of a couple of notes and the symphony will be great!"

Apple and Yelow Roses

I decided to leave my notes on the painting since I've got four versions of this one painting in iphoto and didn't want to confuse myself. I could have used a post-it but was afraid of loosing it. I also kinda like the way it looks. The notes are for a possible watercolor book. I did the same thing for the oil book; worked on it before I got a contract. Anyway, "Apple and Yellow Roses", 5x4 inches on watercolor paper, POR

Pear n Yellow Roses

This was one of those painting things that happen. I did the pear first off and it was one wash of one of the yellows in my yellow/purple palette and a touch of something else that was there from a previous session and I just love the way it came out. That was yesterday. And today I spent hours trying to duplicate it. Too much water, too little water....
Watercolor is so good when it's unmessed with. I will probably try and do a wash like that again and again for a real long time. "Pear and Yellow Roses", 5x4 inches on watercolor paper, POR

2nd Printing

I just found out that Big Art, Small Canvas is going out for its second printing!! Wow! Thanks to all who have bought it and read it and told others about it. Word of mouth is the best. This painting is on the cover so I've posted it but not at all sure I'd want to part with it. Maybe this will inspire me to do another one.

Silver Pot and Pear

I love the way watermarks look on watercolor paper but I haven't done a painting with the watermark so close to the image as this one. there was a mistake just over the spout and I'm not sure how much it distracts from the work. "Silver Pot and Pear", watercolor on paper, POR.

Silver Coffee Pot and Pear

I may work a bit more on this tomorrow but for today I deem it finished.
(Especially after my husband ate the grapes!) "Silver Coffee Pot with Pear", 4x3 inches, watercolor on paper, POR

Grand Canyon Red/Green

SOLD
This is the last of 'em. For now anyway. I did them with each of the palettes. Maybe in watercolor next? I've been into watercolor for the past few months. In the middle of one now so I'll wrap this up so I can go back to it and see if it's blog worthy. "Grand Canyon, Red/Green" 3x4 inches, oil on board.

Grand Canyon r/g

I woke up this morning with the feeling that I wanted to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I usually go a few times a year and haven't gone over the winter so I just dropped everything and went. Saw the Courbet and Jasper Johns exhibit. Well I should say I saw half of the Courbet and a run through on the Johns. I get overwhelmed in about 45 minutes so I prioritize my visits. Courbet did soooo many self-portraits. They also showed two identical paintings side by side and explained that he wanted to keep one for himself so he painted duplicates. I loved that. Mainly because I have a love/hate relationship with selling paintings and have done that quite often. Like to keep my babies with me~
Grand Canyon in Red/Green Palette, 3x4 inches, oil on board, POR

Grand Canyon y/p

This was done a couple of years after the previous post (a few months ago). I used the yellow/purple palette. I had gotten inspired from a magazine article showing the Grand Canyon and got up the nerve to try it again. Don't remember who the artist was. I guess if I had been keeping a blog I would have had some place to note the name. "Grand Canyon #0715", 3x4 inches, oil on board, POR