Daffodils

I'm back to watercolor painting again after last week's project. One of our watercolor studio members brought in a bunch of daffodils this morning and I had lots of fun painting them. I tried for the feel of the way daffodils dance, rather than trying to paint portraits of the flowers. The three paintings are in the order I did them.

Major, non-watercolor project

Last week we tore Fran's therapy office down to the bones (studs) and insulated, replaced drywall, painted, replaced the floor and the woodwork with the help of two of Jane's sons and the floor installation men who also replaced the kitchen floor. The rest of our lives were put on hold while we moved furniture; emptied and moved kitchen spice, cookbook and pasta shelves, spackled, painted and more. Here's the link to the photos I took of the process. You may have to copy it and paste it in your browser address line.
http://picasaweb.google.com/janefranphoto/FranOfficeRedo31607?authkey=p6-s7OBpx-I

Dochart Bridge pastel

I've been having fun with pastel. What better than drawing with color, anyway? This is the bridge over the river Dochart in Killin, Scotland.

Late Afternoon Marsh

I have no idea where I took the photo for this painting but it has such dramatic light that I just wanted to paint it with pastels. I'm very pleased with how it came out. I especially like the gradation in the water in the foreground and the reflections in the water in the middle left.

Still Life

How to paint clear glass?!? With lots of color, of course. This still life set up was on a wide windowsill against a white curtain. It's part of a class that is taught by the same teacher that's teaching the figure painting class three of us are currently taking. Since we missed a figure class when we took the mixed media workshop, we made it up today by staying for the still life class. It snowed all day, a light snow but enough to keep most of the class people away so we had a great time. My drawing is off here and there but I'm happy with the way the glass came out. I'm certainly not a "nose hair/eye lash" painter and something as precise as glass is a challenge for me with my splashier style so this was a real challenge.

Fruiterer

This store is in Killin, Scotland, and we passed it every time we went into town. I'm not sure the painting is done but it will stay like this for a while as I look at it and decide what, if anything, to do next. This scene probably calls for more precise painting, too; what attracted me to the photo is the way the light hits the awnings and the sidewalk.