Switching It Up . . . Again

work in progress
14" x 11"
(watercolor on aquabord)

Hello All!  My posts have been spotty at best this summer, but that doesn't mean I haven't been painting. Although I admit I've been spending more time working outdoors, reading and traveling around collecting photos for inspiration. 

In typical fashion, I've bounced around from painting to painting. I must finish the images for this year's Christmas cards, so I put my Baby Lilacs aside to again continue making progress on this little ditty. It's getting there . . . 
I hope all my Northern Hemisphere friends are enjoying your summer!

Working on Christmas Card #2

I'm moving pretty slow on this one. Sometimes I drag my feet on certain paintings and others just come together almost effortlessly. This one is proving to be in the latter category. Anyway . . . I'm still here . . . and pluggin' along. Thank you for coming by.  Have a lovely day!

Weekend Progress

"Old-Fashioned Hydrangea" - wip

While working on a very large commission, I still managed to make a little progress on my hydrangea on aquabord and get a watercolor sketch/study done.  Hope you all had a good weekend.  Our Spring weather seems to finally be here in the Northeast.  

Have a good start to your week . . . thanks for popping by.

Watercolors and Wine

"Side Door Simplicity"
6" x 6"

Hi All!  I will be holding a watercolor class at the Hardwick Winery on Sunday, April 28th at 1:00 pm.  The class will run for 3 hours. There will be a free wine tasting along with a cheese and fruit platter for snacking.  We'll be painting the above painting, "Side Door Simplicity" -- a scene from the grounds. For more information go to the Hardwick Winery's "Watercolor and Wine" events page on Facebook. Registration information is there, or you can email me at kkoz517@charter.net. I hope you can join us!

Side Door

"Side Door Simplicity"
6" x 6"
(watercolor on Fabriano cold-pressed)

(what this painting could look like framed)

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I bought a block of Fabriano cold-pressed paper and thought I'd give it a whirl and I liked it! Yay! I found the pigment very easy to lift out however the paper held the color in place for adding washes which is not so much the case with hot press. And I enjoyed working on the texture. Perhaps you'll see more little studies from me on this paper . . . or not . . . who knows? . . . I'm always all over the map! It was a nice departure though.

Thank you for dropping by and I hope everyone had a lovely weekend / St. Patrick's Day. I'm excited to start the week off with a new painting!

Pushing on . . .

So I did a little more on this painting . . . but I also started another one.  I'll post my progress on that one soon.  Lots of shows coming up, so I'm pushing to get some watercolor work done while I continue painting my commission.  Happy Friday!

A Day Late . . .

"Old Fashioned" -- in progress
8" x 8"

Well, it's more like DAYS late.  I had originally started the painting above for the Daily Paintworks Challenge last week -- "Paint Your Breakfast." Unfortunately time just got away from me. It's close to being done, but not quite. Ugh.

As you may remember, I've been working on a commission, so I haven't spent much time on my watercolors.  However, I have managed to get in a little watercolor painting when I need to break away from the commission and let it set for later re-evaluation. You know how it goes. Anyway, hopefully I can finish this one up soon.

Below is another painting I've just begun.  Hopefully I can get it done for some of the Spring juried shows that are coming up. We'll see.

OH wait! . . . that's not the painting . . . it's an image of what happens when I try to snap a picture of a work in progress and the dogs are in. That's Teddy. He likes to poke up right in front of my camera and lick my face when I'm low to the ground. He looks cross-eyed when he's so close. He makes me laugh . . . what a goof!  :)  The next photo is the actual painting in progress.  It's a larger one for me:  15" x 19".

Ooh . . . this looks a little crooked.  I think it's from the rounded lens.  I try to fix that in photoshop, guess I didn't do such a good job.  Ok . . . so back to the drawing board . . . hopefully I can finish SOMETHING in the next few days!  

More Bittersweet

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I finished this one last night.  I had a heck of a time getting the computer image to match the painting.  It's always going to be a little different and I have no control over everyone's monitor settings, but it seems that I'll get the image's colors to appear accurately in Photoshop, but during the uploading process they'll fade out or something and change altogether.  Ugh.  The lower shadows on the door may appear slightly lighter in this image than they are in real life . . . yes . . . I think there is a hair more contrast between the lights and darks. But I think for the most part you get a fair idea of what this painting looks like in person. Anyway, I hope you like it.  Have a great weekend.

Work In Progress

"Bittersweet Door"
9" x 12"

I've been dividing my time between this and a commission.  I just have a little more to do . . . tweaking the details.  Have a good day.