The Intention to Blog...

I always have such good intentions to post my paintings on this blog. (Isn't there something about the road paved with good intentions?) At last I've actually posted something, not just intended to do it, so here you have it: a watercolor I painted in 2018!

My teacher friend Rebecca Kram let me know about this recently:

'Reginald Chavez Elementary is holding an open call for artists to submit elementary school appropriate artwork for a silent auction on April 24th to help support community schools activities like family engagement events.' 

This lazy, colorful cat seemed like the perfect thing to donate.

The image area is 5"x7", painted on rough watercolor paper using Miello Mission Gold watercolors, Daniel Smith watercolors, and ultra fine point Sharpie marker.

I hope someone decides it's the perfect thing to prop up on a bookshelf and purchases it to support the kids and their families!

Distilled from a Photo

This composition was inspired by a photo, but quite distilled. The orange against the blue and those chunky green strokes with the yellow just seemed like enough, so I stopped sooner than later.

I'm pleased with the blocky mesa, typical of New Mexico, where I live. There's a sense of sunlight through the broken sky that was incidental, but like any artist I built upon it as it happened.

Watercolor, 2.5" x 3.5" on Strathmore 140 lb hot press paper. I painted it using Daniel Smith color dots (sample colors).

Daniel Smith Color Dots

I have a full set of Daniel Smith color dots (sample colors) that have turned out to be an incredibly fun way to paint using colors I might never have chosen for my regular palette. I always seem to paint small, so the little dots of paint on the cards are ample for my needs.

In this one I explored using layers of transparent color washes, which is purely from imagination. I like the way the color washes layered and mingled in the cloud, particularly.

I wanted to retain the distilled, simplified shapes of the landscape, without over-detailing anything. That seems to give the paint strokes authority, respecting the paint itself, while expressing a beautiful landscape.

Watercolor, 2.5" x 3.5" on Arches 140 lb cold press paper.

A touch of Iridescence

This one was looking pretty boring to me, so I went back into it with some iridescent colors. I have a full set of Daniel Smith (watercolor) color dots, which are a sampler of their entire line. They've turned out to be an incredibly fun way to paint, using colors I'd never have chosen for my regular palette.

I think you can see the iridescence, since I shot it in the sunlight. That coppery sheen is a little more subtle and fascinating in person, and the gold and lavender have iridescent colors over them, as well as some in the dark foreground.

I find myself mixing gouache and watercolor more and more, since I've never been a watercolor purist anyway!

Gouache and watercolor, 2.5" x 3.5" on Arches 140 lb cold press paper.

Experience and Imagination

These two paintings were done from my experience/ imagination. Drawing on experience helps, of course, but sometimes you just want to let go and see where a painting will go! I hope you can see the fun in these, with very different results. I painted using Daniel Smith color dots, playing with some fresh, fun colors.

Both are watercolor, 2.5" x 3.5", and painted on Arches 140 lb cold press paper.