Tropical Hideaway

ome weeks ago I started a painting in a very abstract way. When I came upon it recently I decided that rather than try to figure out what/where my reference was, I'd use it as a start for a collage. All the collage papers were colored by me, on some white rice and tissue papers. It's attached with a dilute acrylic medium with which I will coat the whole piece when it's done. Something like this could be a lifetime painting but I think I'm getting close. Suggestions?

Teaching! Watercolor and Pastel

Darlington Arts Center, Garnet Valley, PA, (5 or 6 miles from my house) has asked me to teach both watercolor and pastel classes this summer. I'm excited! Two watercolor classes on Monday evenings and one pastel class on Thursday evenings. This feels like a big step in my life and one I'm ready for. So if you live anywhere near SE Pennsylvania or northern Delaware, come join the fun! Their phone is 610.358.3632.

Spring Sunshine I and II

I tweaked some more on the pastel and then worked from the same photo in watercolor. With the latter, I wet all the paper but the tree trunks and the path, then dropped in various blues, yellow, and mixed greens. With the trunks dry, the paint didn't spread there but made a nice, soft image over the rest of the painting. When that was dry, I painted the trunks, the path, and played a lot more with the greens. I've discovered a new green mix: ultramarine blue and Quinachridone gold, a mix I've frequently used for evergreens, especially, plus a little prussian blue. That's a green that's a bit more blue and less dull. Even the darks of spring greens aren't dull! For some reason, I had a hard time photographing the watercolor so the yellows are more dull here.

Spring Sunshine

This is a larger, and more recent, version of the pastel I did yesterday that's included in that slideshow. I'm still tweaking and invite critique. I'm pretty happy with it at this point, but with pastel is one ever finished?

All Paint from the Same Photo

Our painting studio group did something different today and all painted from the same photo. It's one I took recently while I was walking the dogs in the woods and I printed a copy for each person. As you can see, the interpretations varied but everyone got the same general composition. It was fun to see them as we did our critiqué. Many people kept working . . . tweaking or ditzing, depending on your point of view . . . after I took these photos with my trusty iPhone.

Trout Lily

I grew up calling these flowers "dog-tooth violets" but somewhere along the way their name was changed; more accurate, I suppose. They also grow wild in our local woods and I took this photo a couple of weeks ago when the dogs and I were walking there.

Wild Dogwood

I actually painted this version of the woods and creek before the watercolor one below. I was particularly taken by the shadows on the water. Dogwoods actually do grow wild in our woods.

"tetrad" paintings

These were each done with four colors only. A different combination for each painting. The tree was done with sienna, turquoise, cobalt blue and magenta. The landscape was painted with a bright yellow, turquoise, magenta and a mixed purple. It's an interesting challenge to use just a few colors and I must say, I liked the landscape combination much better. I missed yellow in the other.