Watercolor "Selfie!"

It's quite a popular thing to take a "selfie" with your cell phone.  Well, I just finished a self portrait in watercolor, and I am NOT a portrait painter!  This was painted from a photo taken last summer while I was enjoying a personal plein air paint out in the community garden at Friendship House, where mom lives.  She was sitting on the ground watching as I painted.  I loved the photo and decided I could paint us from behind!  It will be in an exhibit this summer of self portraits.

Super Bowl - Super Paint Out Pots

The Super Bowl is history, but for those who came to paint Sunday afternoon, they will have something to show for their afternoon.  The lesson was painting terra cotta pots and plants. Several students brought their own pots and plants to go with the beautiful red and green croton leafy plant.  Some of these are still in progress, but the purity and transparency of the use of watercolors is evident.

Sunflowers and more Sunflowers!

My sunflower period continues.  I love painting them, so I will surely be painting them again.  I just completed a commission of sunflowers that are nearly a full sheet of watercolor paper.  Making it long and narrow was perfect for these tall stalked blossoms.

Tissue Paper Tree Technique

Just a glimpse of the Fall 2013 workshop - the ladies loved doing this painting!https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B83TrigNc4_QbEdSRHdGUWdjdU0/edit?usp=drive_web

Winter Watercolor Classes

As I'm writing this blog,  looking out my window is a winter wonderland.  Fresh snow, fresh world, fresh inspiration!  Winter watercolor classes are about to begin and we'll try to capture some of the magic of snow on our sheets of white watercolor paper.  It's a new year and I'm looking forward to new experiences in teaching and painting.  As I teach, I learn - so painting snow....here I come!

Still Life Commission

I just finished this commissioned painting for friends that will hang in their dining room.   They have lovely accents of red and green in their decor so the challenge was to create something they could live with and enjoy for years to come.  The fall hydrangeas are from their garden, with touches of green from Indiana Osage oranges (or hedge apples) and purple asters.  I chose pomegranates for the touch of red because they are in the market now and compliment the green.  Apples would have worked as well, but pommegrantes are a fun fruit to paint and just a bit out of the ordinary.

It is painted on a full sheet of  Bockingford watercolor paper with a limited palette of  American Journey paints from Cheap Joe's.

Christmastime Paintings

Christmas is in the air and it's great to reflect it in painting.  I just finished a four hour workshop with several students painting poinsettias.  Every Christmas I paint poinsettias using different techniques, but always with a live poinsettia in front of me.  The students enjoyed trying out the technique on a small painting before launching into a larger one.  This painting is still in progress.

Normally I don't paint conceptual paintings, but I was asked to create a Christmas Concert inspired by the music our church choir is singing.  It was a fun challenge to pay attention to the lyrics and see a thread running through them that could be reflected in a painting.

This fall I've enjoyed being a part of a wonderful women's contemplative Bible study at church.  This painting is another conceptual painting experience  trying to capture the essence of the study - listening with open heart to the Scriptures and each other.