Stormy Sky

I am in the process of creating a new video course on how to paint dramatic skies. This is the painting that I am demonstrating. I am quite pleased with how it came out. I was going to add some distant trees on the right but decided against it at the last minute. Still not sure if that was the right decision. Would love some opinions on this.

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.

Dreamscape

After spending the last few months creating my how-to painting videos I finally got down to painting again. I decided to try using colors I had never used before and see if I could incorporate them into a landscape. I think it worked for this imaginary landscape and I am pleased with the results. I used phthalo turquoise, transparent red Iron oxide and quinacridone burnt scarlet. Then while still wet, used some cling film to create the textures in the foreground. For sale on my web site at http://thewatercolorist.net/dreamscape/

Blood Moon

Having fun with Schmincke's tro-col bronze dry gouache powder. We had an eclipse recently and I was inspired to come up with a dramatic piece involving the moon. I remember my old art teacher, Jerry Stitt, telling us it's never a good idea to have a large orb in your painting which the eye then gravitates towards. So the way around it is to create a cloud or two across the  circle which breaks it up and lets the eye circulate around the painting. I used indanthrone blue, new gamboge and perrylene maroon watercolors and sprinkled the Schmincke's dry gouache in pale gold over the wet watercolor and rocked it back and forth until I was satisfied with the pattern. I love experimenting with interesting materials to stretch the boundaries of watercolor. Schmincke has a few different colors in their tro-col-bronze dry gouaches. You can get some interesting results mixing them in with your watercolors.

Mt Tam Mist

I painted this one of Mt Tam too late to enter the O'Hanlon Gallery exhibition but I quite like how it came out. Only used two colors, Payne's grey and French ultramarine.I managed to get Serpentine Mountain and the previous Mist Over Mt Tam accepted in the juried exhibition.

Morning Glow

Trying different color combinations with glazing. The sky is a mixture of indigo and Indian yellow. I was pleased with the effect of the glow in the lower sky that one can sometimes see when the sun rises in the morning. The hills and trees are mixtures of burnt sienna and ultramarine and some acrylic sepia ink and some dribbling of granulation medium.

Twighlight Hour

Another watercolor using multiple glazes to achieve the effect I was aiming for. I'm going back to glazing for now because I enjoy building up a watercolor with multiple glazes and slowly seeing the depth of the piece come to life. I sold a number of watercolors this month using this technique. They all also are paintings of sunsets, dawn and sunrise. For this watercolor I used raw sienna, indanthrone blue,  transparent red iron oxide and burnt umber. Size is 12.5" x 9.5"

Tangled Undergrowth

I'm still on a roll with watercolor texturing. I think I even prefer this one to the previous post, because the colors are more muted. I used Daniel Smith's perrylene green, transparent red iron oxide and Dailer Rowney's sepia acrylic ink. I used granulation medium on the sepia ink in the foreground which breaks up the ink and creates these wonderful textures.