Abstract Landscape I

Using just Payne's grey and an acrylic ink I experimented with color and texture in an attempt to create an abstract landscape. I was pleased with the end result. My first painting of 2017.

Blue Vision

I like to simplify my paintings and nearly always work wet-in-wet. I like the soft look it creates. I live in the seaside town of Sausalito CA, and the surrounding landscapes are an endless inspiration for my watercolors. We have the bay on one side and the mountains on the other - not to mention the redwood forests and nearby marshes. I am inspired by all of this, but at the same time like to put my own interpretation on what I see, sometimes changing the colors and other times using materials to stretch the boundaries of my watercolors.

Storm Over The Marsh

Another wet-in-wet watercolor inspired by World Watercolor Month. I love to paint the marshes in different lights. I used only three colors for this watercolor, raw sienna, burnt sienna and neutral tint. I find the neutral tint mixed with burnt sienna makes a lovely rich dark.

Setting Sun

I'm doing a series on Youtube about color choices for beginners. Last week's video was about the reds I use. I did a demonstration on painting a sunset with a few different reds. It wasn't intended for it to be a finished painting, but I liked how it was going, so I finished it up off camera and posted it on my web site.

Painting Mist in Watercolors - FREE class

I've created this free short video on my Teachable page for anyone who wants to  learn how to paint mist in watercolors - even if you are a beginner. It's very easy to follow using a technique I learned many years ago. Signup and enjoy at http://watercolor-painting.teachable.com/courses/painting-mist-in-watercolors

Here is what one of my students, Michael Mitchel produced using the same colors I did but getting completely different results. I love how each artist has their own interpretation of a subject and how their own style shines through.

Landscape Patterns

More experimenting with color and textures. I am pleased with this one. The colors worked out well together. I used Daniel Smith's perrylene violet, quinacridone gold and permanent brown (which is actually a very nice reddish color). For the trees I used burnt umber acrylic ink. When you experiment sometimes the colors don't quite work well together, or are too bright or dull or end up being muddy. I threw three in the trash before coming up with this one.

Desert Sunset

Back to glazing again. I love painting layers and layers of thin watercolors to create a glowing effect. I also love painting sunsets, which lend themselves to this layering effect. I used new gamboge, transparent pyrrol orange and a new color for me, permanent brown, all of these are Daniel Smith colors. Permanent brown is actually a lovely deep red color. I painted this on Saunders Waterford cold pressed 140lb paper. I really love the way this paper takes color.

Solitude

This is a place in Cumbria, England called Grange Over Sands. The photo below is courtesy of a cousin. I liked the peaceful scene but wanted to change the colors to create a more atmospheric feeling to the place. Hope I achieved this. Artistic license is a liberating feeling.

Dreamscape II

First painting of the new year. Feeling inspired. Trying out new colors and textures - having fun. Painting is great therapy. It's my way to relax.  Just wish I was better at coming up with good titles for my paintings. Something I need to work on this year. For the trees in this watercolor I used transparent red oxide and for the grays in the foreground I used cobalt blue + aureolin yellow + rose madder genuine. I am pleased with the results. Trying to keep my watercolors loose.

How To Paint Loose In Watercolors

I am thrilled that my second watercolor course has now been published on udemy.com.  The title is, Painting Loose in Watercolors - Let Me Show You How. I do two demonstrations of thistles. If any of my blogger friends are interested in doing the course I have a special on the course for more than half off with coupon code PL12. In this course I do two demonstrations of thistles and three demonstrations of how to create texture in watercolors.  My intro video which describes the course can be seen by clicking on the course name in this post.

Fall Glory

I know it's not yet that time of year, but I wanted to experiment with a combination of yellows and oranges for a course I am creating on the site udemy.com on how to paint a fall landscape. I am pleased with these particular color combinations and think I will go with them. It's paradoxical that fall leaves create such a beautiful site in their dying throes. I used Daniel Smith's new gamboge,  golden ochre, cadmium red mixed with new gamboge and French ultramarine mixed with burnt umber for the few darks in the leaves. For the ground area I dribbled sepia ink over the watercolors for texture.

Patterns In The Landscape

This is a small 5"x7" test piece I did to see if the colors would work together for a larger piece. Sometimes I end up liking the test piece better than the larger watercolor. Have not attempted the larger piece yet but will soon. I used Indigo, yellow ochre and burnt umber on Fabriano cold pressed watercolor paper.  The textures in the landscape were achieved using cling film. I like to create a semi-abstract section in each of my watercolors.

Thistles

I'm back in the painting groove again. I was going through a bit of painting block so I decided to change tack and paint some flowers instead of the usual landscapes and seascapes. These thistles grow prolifically on the trail we use to exercise our dogs. I have taken a number of photos of them but until now have not attempted to paint them. I like to keep my flower paintings loose, leaving something to the imagination for the viewer. I did two paintings because I wasn't quite happy with the first one, and I am still not that happy with the second one. I may have a third go and if it is better will post it.

Marsh Evening

I haven't painted in a while. However, having sold nine paintings in the month of December, I figure I had better get busy again. For anyone wondering how to go about selling their art, I have had a lot of success with the online gallery zatista.com.  They sell my paintings regularly - this year I sold 19 through them. They also have a store on amazon.com and list all of the paintings in their gallery on their amazon store, where art seems to sell quite well. The downside is that zatista takes 45% commission on each sale. But then, if I didn't have my paintings on their site, I probably would still have them in my inventory, which is one way of looking at it.  I have sold all of my sunset and marsh paintings so wanted to paint another in the same series since the subject appeals to me. This is probably my last painting of the year so I wish all my fellow bloggers happy holidays and a fruitful painting new year.

Fall Colors

It's that time of year again. I love painting the fall colors - reminds me of our time living in Virginia. I donated this watercolor to my local Marin Society of Artists for their annual auction fundraiser. Each time I paint one of these scenes I try out different colors. For this piece I first thoroughly wet the paper and then painted a very diluted wash of oreolin. After it was dry I spattered different combinations of color with different size brushes and then spritzed the spatters with water just slightly to give the spatters uneven shapes. When that was dry I dabbed the piece with scrunched up saran wrap dipped in different colors. I used cad red mixed with new gamboge, raw sienna mixed with burnt sienna, lemon yellow with burnt sienna, oreolin with burnt sienna, and for the browns, burnt sienna mixed with french ultramarine.  I was particularly please with how the brown worked out, also supplying the needed darks to the watercolor.

Serpentine Mountain

Here is my abstract version of Mt Tam. I used one of the techniques mentioned in Ann Blockley's latest book by using cling film over the wet paint to create texture. The colors I used were quinacridone burnt orange, Prussian green and quinacridone gold - with some sepia ink squeezed under the cling film to add more texture. I thought the textures came out quite well and gave the mountain nice contours while remaining abstract. As it happens the stone on Mt Tam is called serpenting stone and is this very color green. This piece made it into the exhibition.

Jean Haines Painting Challenge

 I was astounded on opening my email this morning to find that I was one of five winners of the Jean Haines Painting Challenge in the British magazine, Painters Online. The theme was the use of the color yellow. There were 203 entries altogether, which makes me feel even more honored to be one of the winners.

Special thanks to Laura who suggested I enter my painting in this event.

Here is the link to the other winners and all the entries in the challenge. 

Winter Glow

More experimenting with acrylic inks. I feel I need a lot of improvement still and need to branch out a bit. I do like the colors in this experiment though. For any of you who have never seen Ann Blockley's acrylic ink paintings, they are definitely worth a visit, as is all of her work.  Click on her name to go to her blog post. There is a lovely acrylic ink painting just below the post for her latest book - which I will definitely order. She is a great inspiration for the kind of watercolors I like painting.

Nightfall

It was very difficult getting the colors right for this posting. The watercolor is actually a little darker than it appears here, especially in the foreground. I wanted to paint an atmospheric night scene using a range of blues. It took about ten coats of glazing to get to this stage. I almost abandoned it halfway through because it looked uninteresting. For the last stage I decided to take a rough painters brush and using Daniel Smith's indanthrone blue mixed with neutral tint I swept the brush back and forth and left it to dry. I think it really made the sky come to life.  I then had to come up with something interesting to paint in the bottom third of the painting. It had to be something simple that did not detract from the sky, which I wanted to be the focus of the watercolor. I was pleased with the end result of this piece. Size is 14" x 10". I used indigo, French ultramarine, indanthrone blue and neutral tint for the sky, and burnt sienna with French ultramarine, raw sienna and a little sepia ink for the land area.

Autumn Symphony

It's that time of year again. One of the things I miss most since moving from the east to the west coast is how the leaves change color in the fall.  What I don't miss is having to rake them up - but it is a beautiful sight while it lasts.The photos of the different stages accidentally got deleted so I will describe them for you.

Stage 1:  I wet 140lb Saunders Waterford CP paper and painted a layer of aureolin randomly over the sheet.  Before it dried I splattered transparent yellow and quinacridone burnt orange mixed with aureolin into the wet paint for the first layer of texture and let this dry. 

Stage 2:  I proceeded to splash more Indian yellow, transparent yellow and a mixture of Quinacridone burnt orange and aureolin onto the sheet. I spritzed this lightly with a spray bottle which changes the round dots to random shapes that more resemble leaves. I let this dry completely. 

Stage 3: For the next to final stage I crumpled up some saran wrap into a ball and dipped it into all of the same colors - plus some Daniel Smith olive green to add some darks - and dabbed this all over the piece. When this was dry I brushed off the masking fluid and painted the tree trunks and branches with a mixture of quinacridone burnt orange mixed with French ultramarine which makes a very nice grey.  I added a few more dabs of paint to make the colors a little richer. The final step was making a darker mixture to paint the markings on the bark.