Break a Leg!

Currently I'm searching for homes in Corpus Christi, where I'll be moving soon. I believe I found the house! It has all that we're looking for... then I promptly broke my leg in it. Could the universe be telling me to stop looking? Or... hobble away as fast as I can? Ha! There is a 1.5" drop in floor elevation, according to a Texas architect, against code. I rolled my ankle good. Broke the fibula above the ankle. Now... how do I move with a bum leg?

Star Harbor Watercolor Society Workshop

I had a chance to teach a lovely group of women belonging to the Star Harbor Watercolor Society this week. I did a workshop for them last year, and I enjoyed them just as much as I did then. This is a primo group of women to work with! I pushed them HARD, using a tough composition for a workshop, and they rose to the occasion. They may not have finished each painting, but they did work on all elements of their paintings. I can't wait to be invited there again!

A week of study

This week I was most honored to study with master watercolorist Cheng Khee Chee in Dallas for an entire week. He merges his Taoist philosophy with his watercolor painting to not only produce beautiful results, but to incoporate mediation and emotion into his paintings. At times he seemed to channel philosopher Lao Tzu or Kung-Fu Tzu (Confucius). These are two "starts" I did in his workshop - neither are finished, but they gave me good practice in utilizing some of his techniques in wet lifting and crinkled masa.

Flying High & Noonday in Ruidoso

These two little paintings were done this week when I went to Ruidoso with some of my students. One is a plein air study of my hostess' American Flag that flew in the front of her home, and the other is a painting of the Noonday Onions I brought with me. They eventually got chopped, caramelized, and added to pasta sauce! We had a lovely time painting on the overhang back porch of one of my hostess' home there... with a gorgeous view of the pine forests and mountains. I'll post the other small paintings done later this week.

Lady Pat

I'm in the process of painting these wonderful Pat Austin roses. I love strolling along the walkways in the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden among all those wonderful fragrances. These roses are some of my favorites - they move from beautiful golden yellows to apricot coral in color. I'm using mixtures of New Gamboge with Quinacridone Coral, Permanent Rose and a bit of Winsor Red or Permanent Alizarin for the darks in the petals. Greens are mixed using the same New Gamboge with Phthalo Blue or Antwerp Blue and rich blacks are made with Permanement Alizarin mixed with Winsor (Phthalo) Green

Scarlet Purses

I'm considering this one complete. I built up layers using quin coral and gamboge (for a wonderful flourescent orange), quin rose & winsor red, both mixed in varying strengths with gamboge, perm alizarin & perylene violet for the flower petals. Greens were made with pthalo blue or antwerp with gamboge and blacks were made with pthalo green and perm alizarin, adding some of the mixed greens in to lean it toward green. Most of the background is abstract with shapes cut in negatively.

Title: CROSSROADS

Here is the completed version of Crossroads. I added a live oak in the background for a bit of balance.