Saturday, December 17, 2011

Thank You Pratique Des Arts





I spent a wonderful day in Concord yesterday, with my sister-in-law Hallie, only to have the excitement continue when I reached home to see that I had received in the mail the issue of the latest Pratique Des Arts, the beautiful French watercolor magazine.  As you can see above, they published 3 of my paintings in their International Portfolio feature.  I am very grateful for the inclusion.  This issue features many amazing artists whose paintings I've long admired and I am extremely humbled to have work among theirs . . . including Carrie Waller's beautiful painting "Nostalgia."  It's been a favorite of mine ever since I saw it on her blog.  Congratulations Carrie -- I was very excited when I turned the page and saw your painting!  :)  

Thanks for letting me share my news . . . have a great weekend.  

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Bulbs and Stripes

"Bulbs and Stripes"
6" x 6"
Sold

(what this painting could look like framed)

Click here to bid


Here's the latest Christmas painting.  I took a bunch of photos when I was planning my Christmas card so I thought I might as well put them to good use.  It will give me some things to choose from next year when I find myself behind the eight ball and needing an image for my cards.  Hope you enjoy.

Monday, December 12, 2011

A Retro Bulb

"A Retro Bulb"
5" x 7"
Sold


Here's the little painting I finished over the weekend.  Now, back to decorating!  Fa-la-la-la-laaaa!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Christmas Cards



I just received the proofs for my Christmas cards -- LOVE THEM!  If you haven't ever tried catprint.com you should give them a whirl -- I use them for all my printed cards.  I particularly like the little holly leaf and berry I put on the inside sentiment for the "Vintage Bulb" card -- I wanted you to see that little detail.  :)

ALSO . . . I would like to thank Carrie Waller for interviewing me for her blog. Below is her painting, "Pomegranates and Cranberries." 


Carrie is a fellow watercolorist and blogger.  In addition to posting her own work she also features different artists on Fridays. I was quite tickled when she asked if she could interview me and post some of my work. I had long admired hers, so of course said yes. So if you're interested in seeing some more of her beautiful work or finding out more about my work process (or whether I prefer chocolate or vanilla ice cream) :) check out her blog or her latest post.  

And speaking of paintings -- I've been a little lame lately, but I assure you I'll be posting a new one this weekend, so stay tuned!  :)


Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Finally!

"A Vintage Bulb"
8.25" x 10"
Sold


(what this painting could look like framed)

Click here to bid


Well finally I'm posting again. Good grief! I apologize for the delay. It gets a little hectic around here at the holidays -- lots of cleaning and decorating to do. But alas, here is my latest. I make my own Christmas cards every year and have them printed over at catprint.com. Once I get that all ready, I'll post so you can see the finished product. It's always exciting. I also make cards for my dad to use too. It's a fun tradition. And I love seeing my paintings in miniature!  :)

Just in case you're interested, I took some pictures during the process of this painting. Because the photographs were taken at various times of day, the colors may be a little off -- especially in the second step image.  That one is a little heavy on the red. But other than that, this will give you an idea of what goes on "behind the scenes." Have a great day!


After drawing my image on the watercolor paper, I masked out some of the "glitter" areas on the bulb and a couple small highlights. Then covered the painting in wet-on-wet washes of Alizarin Crimson Hue, Cobalt and New Gamboge.  




Next I added a couple washes of local color -- adding the green for the "wallpaper" and leaves. I also added a few more shadows on the bulb as well.




More details . . . In this step I started to build up the values, adding depth to the cloth and bulb.




More local color, worked on the leaves. Oh! . . . and I mustn't forget those circles on the "wallpaper!"  I cut out a small circle stencil and used that over and over again on the background.  Call me crazy!




Here I added more detail and value to the bulb.  I like working on Fabriano hot-pressed paper because it allows me to "push and pull" on my paintings.  (That's what I call it) . . . I add and most importantly, take away, scrubbing out areas that may get too dark.  At about this point I carefully added some Alizarin Crimson to the bulb making sure not to paint areas that I'd want to pull color out from later on as this pigment stains.  


Final details!  I added some green to the shadow under the holly leaf in the foreground, played with the cloth a little more, and obviously layered and layered color over the other leaves.  I also eliminated the masking fluid from the bulb and worked on the "glitter" design - scrubbing out color and picking out small highlights with an X-acto knife after the paint was dry.  While I work I make sure to keep checking the overall values and their relationship to each other within the entire painting, I assess and adjust what I think needs more work, giving additional depth to each item.

I hope you found this "step-by-step" informative!  (Oh and if you click on any of the images, you can view them larger . . . and you can sequence through the process which is kind of cool.)  Ok that's all.