More new paintings, again!

December is getting off to the busy start, with classes filling up and lots of new bookings for workshops and demos. Still, I've managed to find a little time to paint for myself, in between the myriad of holiday parties and travel. I just finished this watercolor painting of dinghies, from a reference photo I took on one of my recent trips to St. John. I love the water in the Caribbean -- it's as warm and inviting as it looks! I'll be entering this painting in competitions this year, and hopefully the judges will like it as much as I.

Destiny Awaits, 14x20 watercolor

This floral is a demo from one of my classes in my studio. I have several stems of silk flowers and an assortment of vases, and every now and then I arrange them for a still-life painting exercise for my students. It's a wonderful break from painting from photographs, and I can rearrange the flowers and lighting to give my students some different experiences in colors, compositions, designs, and values. This one is on Arches rough paper, and painted with my Mission pan watercolors. I used squirrel mop bushes, which combined with the rough paper helps to give it a looser feel.

Floral Demo with Mission Watercolors

Last week, I drove down to Rehoboth Beach for the Delaware Watercolor Society's holiday party. They gave all the artists a cute little apron with their logo on it, and the Signature Members received an additional gift of a lovely tote bag. I'm always toting bags of stuff around, so a new tote bag always comes in handy!

Signature Member gifts from the Delaware Watercolor Society

another new painting!

Here's my latest watercolor painting! I just finished this one, and sent the image off to the National Watercolor Society for jurying. Wish me luck! I've been recovering from surgery for the past month, and spent the time in my studio working on the complexities of this painting. I'm writing a step by step tutorial using this painting, and soon I'll post the link to where you can find that free tutorial. Many thanks to my friends on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter who come to my rescue and help me with the titles for my latest paintings!

A Tug at My Heart, 20x14 watercolor 

 More sponsorships are rolling in for Plein Air Brandywine Valley! We are now up to thirteen Merit Awards of fabulous merchandise and gift certificates, including the latest from Vasari Oil Colors. Vasari oils are completely hand made of the finest oil and pigments and made in the US. Two lucky artists will win $250 Gift Certificates from Vasari, who has also generously provided two $100 Gift Certificates to be used as awards in the Quick Draw and the Nocturne painting competitions!

Merit Awards provided by Vasari Oil Colors

Watercolor Painting Tutorial, Boats and Reflections

I started this painting a couple of months ago, but then I got distracted by classes and workshops and I didn't get around to finishing it until Friday at my Open Studio event. I had quite a crowd coming and going all day at my studio, and I always seem to get more work done when I paint in public!

Drawing the details. I draw as much as I can see, and a few things that I can't see but I know have to be there. I draw a suggestion of the reflections, but that is always likely to change as I paint.

I masked out the boats and painted in the sky and the lightest values of the water, using magnesium blue, cobalt, and payne's grey.

I used a wet into wet technique to create the dark background of the trees with indigo, payne's grey. sepia, yellow ochre. I also splattered paint, and dropped some intentional water blooms into the background to move the paint around and add interest.

As I worked on the trees and background, I also worked in the reflections at the same time, while I had the same  color on my brush to match the background.  

I used a Faux Squirrel Reservoir Liner brush from Dynasty Brush to paint the cypress trees in the background. The brush made it easy to loosely paint the branches and moss.

At this point, I wasn't happy with the vertical lines created by the reflections, so I wetted a few spots and wiped the paint out. I then went back and added more of the blues. It worked, and the water now appeared to be more "wet."



After the water and the background were done, I peeled off the masking fluid and began to paint the boats. I used my Faux Kolinsky from Dynasty Brush for this -- the brush has lots of spring and it's very responsive, and it keeps a fine point while holding los of water and paint.  

Some of the boats in my reference photo are different colors, with varying trims and canvases. I decided to make all the hulls white, and all the trims and canvases ultramarine blue.  

To add the focal point, I used the complimentary cadmium orange on a kayak in the "sweet spot" of the painting.  It looked a little off, so I added a red life ring on the boat next to it so that the orange didn't seem so isolated.

Lastly, I added the reflections of the orange and the red in the water, and this is the finished painting! I haven't titled this one yet, and I'm open to suggestions. This 14x20 painting will be going off to juried art shows soon, but it is available for pre-sale at $1095.

How To Remove a Painting From a Watercolor Block

This short video tutorial demonstrates how to remove a finished painting from a watercolor block, without tearing the painting or damaging the rest of the block. Enjoy!


Yes, that's me in my studio -- where I teach classes and workshops. Come on over and visit me anytime!