Breath of Spring

It's time to leave snow paintings behind and let the promise of spring inspire florals. Four classes are planned for April - the details are on the form.  We'll not only be painting spring flowers, we'll be experimenting with different surfaces, clayboard, yupo and Twin Rocker handmade paper.

Painting Winter Snow Classes

We've managed to stretch the four week painting winter snow classes to six weeks because of....SNOW!  If any inspiration was needed, it's been all around us.  One of the students said that painting snow was helping her see it with different eyes and even cope with the winter we've had.  We've painted snow on trees, a red building with bright blue sky, sunset or sunrise landscape and tomorrow I'll be teaching how to paint "white on white."  Learning that snow is not just plain white has been a big part of these classes as well as noticing shadows.  As much as I love snow, I'll be ready to move on to the next season for the next set of classes!

Good Morning Moon!

Good morn-ing bright star

Good morning wan-ing bright moon

Good morn-ing dear God.

I woke up early on one of our recent frosty mornings to see a marvelous site.  The crescent moon, the morning star, and a street light glowing orange on a house as the sun was just beginning to rise. The image made me think of an Edward Hopper painting and I wanted to try capturing it in watercolor.

Snowed in? Paint it!

While it's snowing outside, it's a great time to paint snow scenes inside!  I have many snow scene photos I've taken to use as inspiration.  So while it's cozy inside, it's fun to paint scenes that look cold.  I'm also working on a snow pastel painting from the class I'm taking.

Painting swatches of color to experiment with snow shadow colors

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.