Flowers - Nasurtium

According to Birds & Bloom, humans aren't the only ones who enjoy nasturtiums (I had never heard of them before seeing the picture in magazine).  Moths and butterfly caterpillars enjoy theirs leaves. . .song birds too.

This one took a while to complete.  I layered the paint and employed negative space painting to call out the surrounding leaves (see below).  The veins of the leaves were drawn with an opaque white paint (Dr. Martin's Bleedproof white).  The stamens are a bit muddy/muddled, but beyond that, I like the final results.

                                  watercolor in Etchr sketchbook

Rose of Sharon

Watercolors can be frustrating and unpredictable.  It is its unpredictability, however, that makes it so much fun and rewarding when it works.  Below are two paintings of my Rose of Sharon flowers done with in a week of each other.  One is good.  One. . .not so much.

             Watercolor on 230g acid-free, artist grade 100% cotton paper, 5.5x8.5"

And this was the first attempt at painting the flowers.  I was impatient and did not allow the paint to dry fully, leading to the muddy colors.

             Watercolor on 230g acid-free, artist grade 100% cotton paper, 5.5x8.5"

Happy Sunflower

I admit that I do not really know what I am doing in regards to using the techniques described by Jean Haines in her wonderful books.  Why sometimes things seem to work well and sometimes. . .not so much.  Such is watercolors.  However, I do know that it is fun to simply try.  

I have posted lots of sad flowers, including a very sad sunflower before. This, this is a happy sunflower!!

                                             Watercolor on 140 lbs block 9x12

Hyacinths. . .really

These are hyacinths. . .really.  More flowers (trying) to use the Jean Haines philosophy.  Kinda a one step forward, two steps back.  Not quite abstract enough and yet not quite true to life. I like it, not sure I "like, like it".  But I don't hate it.  So there is that.  

                               Watercolor on 140 lbs paper 12x16


This is a Big painting (at least for me) at 12 x 16 inches.  Have not done anything this large in a long while.

Daffodils

April showers bring May flowers indeed.  As a result of all that rain, our daffodils were looking particularly beautiful and inspiring this year.  With this inspiration in mind, I took a bunch of reference photos to paint later.  Below is my first effort.

Starting to feel more comfortable (and loose) with the lessons from Jean Haines' books.  Not there yet, but definitely more better. :)

                                  watercolor on 140 lbs block 9x12

Practicing Flowers

Sometimes things do not work out the way you want them to do.  Or you feel like you have limited control over your situation.  The uncertainty of Life can be frustrating.  Watercolors are like that too.  And by going with the flow, accepting the things you cannot control, you can achieve a modicum of peace.  Just let the water flow where it will.  

Lately, I have been practicing flowers using two of Jean Haines amazing books: Painting Yourself Calm and Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolor: Painting with Energy and Life.  The results have not always been. . .good.  The experience, however, has been satisfying. 

Below is a card I made.  Getting there took a lot of work. 

"We shall not cease from exploration.  

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time."

Four Quartets

T.S. Eliot

Spring. . . are you coming?

The recent bomb cyclone not withstanding, can Spring be around the corner?  Probably not.  So as we all wait, here is the first in a bunch of Spring-inspired posts.

This is a true mixed media, using watercolor, fountain pen ink, opaque watercolor, and Tombow brush pens. The background is a simple watercolor wash, the body of the butterfly's body and wing veins are Birmingham Lilac Wind ink, the wing cells are Tombow brush pens, and the white dots are Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White.

          Watercolor + pen & ink on extra heavy weight 270 gsm mixed media paper

More sad flowers - a rose and a. . .

More sad flowers, this time a single rose.  To give it more pizzazz, I added some lines with a white gel pen.  It is still a sad rose, but now it has some pluckiness!

                                       Watercolor on 140 lbs paper 6x8


And this one (a anemone?) is an exercise from Jean Haines' Atmospheric Watercolors. . .sort of. . .It does not resemble her example in any way, except that it was really fun to try.

                                   Watercolor on 140 lbs paper 6x8

Sad Flowers

I do not know what I was thinking or, quite frankly, what I was doing other than experimenting (continuing to try to create several layers of color wash).  Somethings I learned: phthalo turquoise probably too intense a pigment to use on its own but makes lovely greens, I draw sad sunflower-esque flowers, this was ultimately a very fun exercise, and for all its sadness, I kinda like these sad, little flowers.

                                       Watercolor on 140 lbs paper 9x12

Bee Kind

A bit more abstract than usual, still trying to loosen up my style.  

This little guy was chilling on my butterfly bush and I took a picture on my iPhone.  It is one of those crazy wasp moths (Melittia sp.), so yes, the title is a misnomer.  

Lopsided Sunflower

Sitting at breakfast I noticed out of all the single sunflowers adorning the tables at Perry's, only mine was lopsided.  But I thought, hey, it is a little beat up and missing some petals on the left side, but it has the most character. . .which was apropos. It demanded to be painted.  And so I did.

                               watercolor pen & ink on paper 5.5X8.5 

The First Day of Spring Deserves Flowers

I have been marveling at other artists' still life paintings of late and realized that I have not done one myself in probably 20 years.  And with today being the first day of Spring (although you would never know it from the weather), I figured that meant flowers.

Not that I did them justice, but they are colorful and pretty.  Happy first day of Spring!!

                                 Watercolor on 140lbs paper 9x12

The 9x12 paper is just a bit too big for my scanner and that causes some shadowing on the paper.  I might have to re-scan this or take a photo of it instead.