Iris Center

I took this photo of a white iris last spring.

Yellow Zinnias

Yesterday one of our watercolor studio members brought in a nice bunch of zinnias and ageratum. I didn't try to paint the bunch but instead used their colors and shapes to arrange flowers in a sort of "S" shape. I've been reading Janet Walsh's book, "Watercolor Made Easy" (which really is not a book good for a starter book but is very good if you have some experience under your belt). She uses a technique of putting down a color with a round brush then immediately softening one or more edges with a clean, damp, flat brush. I tried it with these flowers and I liked it because my flowers look less paint-inside-the-lines-ish.

Peaches

I painted these peaches from a photo supplied by a member of my online watercolor group for a group project. I made up the background and the tablecloth.

Award

Last night was the opening reception and awards for the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society's 2007 International show. Fran, three other friends and I packed in one car and drove the hour and a half to Lancaster . . . all so they could watch me win an award. It was a strong show with 80-some well-executed paintings and I was amazed and excited that I'd gotten in, much less won an award. We found a notebook with the award winners in it with comments from either the juror of seclection or the judge of awards. The latter's comment about mine included something like a "spontaneous little [it's a quarter-sheet] watercolor" and ended with "any painter that can put green on the paper and not create mud deserves a pat on the back." Anyway, that's me on the right, getting my award.
The painting in question is earlier in this blog, posted July 27th.

Evening Light Pastel

Same photo as the previous painting, new version, this one in pastel. I painted most of this one upside down.

Evening Light

I took the photo for this painting last weekend when we were in Maryland. We were sitting on the deck having dinner when I saw this incredible light on the trees.

The Stump

We spent a couple of days this weekend with our friends Cheryl and Paul in their new (second) home on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay (west of Cecilton, Doris). This is the view from next to their house overlooking the water, which is a lake made by damming the creek with bay dredging goop. Cheryl, Paul and I canoed to the dam and walked from there to the shore of the bay and I made this little sketch. Otherwise, we spent our time visiting and eating. It was beautiful weather and we spent most of our time on their deck.

It's done with brown, ultra-fine Sharpie permanent marker and a wc wash.