CANNATELLA STUDIO

Fiesta de los Muertos

2011-10-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Fiesta de los Muertos

(Dead Party)

6"x8" transparent watercolor

I am totally thrilled to be one of the invited artists to join organizers Chris Beck and Pablo Villicana Lara for a Halloween Painting Challenge. Chris and Pablo (with whom I share a birthday, by the way) have been doing fabulously whimsical challenges for Easter, which showcase their famous "peeps" and I have been big fans of both of their work. These two amazing artists have now extended their fun challenges to a small group of artists for this ghoulish season.... and here is my entry. Living in Corpus Christi with such a huge Hispanic influence, Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is a big deal. Everywhere one can find skeleton cuchinas in bright colors. Even my wooden art mannequin had to get in on the act.

To view the other artists's works, please check out both Chris and Pablo's blogs where they will be showcasing all of the paintings for All Hallow's Eve...

Chris Beck: http://chrisbeckstudio.blogspot.com/

Pablo Villicana Lara: http://www.mylittlepaintbox.blogspot.com/

An Arwenian Christmas

2011-10-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

I have this fabulous tiny dashund-terrier rescue dog that I got last year who is now my constant studio mate. We named her Arwen and I've decided she needs to be my Holiday focal point. I kept telling myself I was going to paint a Holiday card this year... so Arwen became my model. I haven't done a lot of painting lately. Since my September exhibition, I've been doing more traveling and teaching than painting. But with the "winter" months coming (such as it is in Corpus Christi), I'm hoping to do a lot more painting.

Going, Going, GONE!

2011-10-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

My solo exhibition in Baton Rouge was a success... these paintings were sold at the opening, and a number of giclee prints were ordered of Tiger Country, Grapes Durand, and Shoot for the Stars. But most of all, I enjoyed having my highschool reunion the same weekend and sharing my love of watercolor with my old classmates.

Tomorrow I take off from Corpus Christi with stops in Oklahoma City, Des Moines, Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, Nashville, Birmingham, and finally going through Baton Rouge and visiting the family before heading home. I'm hoping to get just a little painting done, but I'll pretty much be in the car most of the way. At least I'll have my brand new camera to take reference photos of the beautiful fall color that we do NOT have down here in Corpus Christi! When I return, two days later, I will be teaching a three-day workshop at the Art Center here. I will certainly be exhausted after all of that!

Tiger Country

2011-08-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

Tiger Country

28"x20" transparent watercolor

I am finally back in the studio after taking off late June through mid August for carpal tunnel surgery on both hands. It is amazing to be able to hold a paintbrush and not have my hands go numb. In September, I will be having a solo exhibition in Baton Rouge, the same weekend as my 35th high school reunion. Since I'll be back in "tiger country" (LSU Tigers are the rage) I decided I needed to honor the inner tiger and paint one. This will be hanging in the exhibition. It was a nice piece to kick off post-surgery painting.

Ice Iris

2011-08-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

I have not had much opportunity to paint since beginning the carpal tunnel process late June. Finally the hands are healing. I didn't get a chance to post this last WIP painting prior to surgery. I promise to get back and finish this piece soon. I did decide to change the name to Ice Iris, though.

Iris of Lavender - WIP

2011-06-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on a painting of these lovely blue and blue-lavender iris' that I found at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago in their outdoor gardens. I don't know why I'm so drawn to the bearded iris. Maybe it is all the movement that I find there, the six fabulously ruffled petals that curl ... or maybe it is the dramatically opposed bud before its opened and the spent blossom as it curls within itself. I love all the stages of this flower and have painted it for many years. In painting this piece, I prefer to "ease" into my darks so that I can balance the soft and hard edges. I wan to to punch the deeper, darker values at the end to keep areas clean and crisp. I find when I try to glaze over dark values, the pigment lifts and moves around, clouding up the areas I'm trying to preserve. I believe taking my time layering is important for organic shapes like this one. I want this painting to look as clean up front in person as it does from far away in a digital image.

Gifts from my Mentor

2011-06-24T15:39:00.003-07:00

I was gifted today by artwork from my first private art instructor in Baton Rouge, with whom I studied with from age 15 until I was almost 20 years old, Mr. Harold Menard, Art Instructor at Tara High School. When I was a teenager, my very good friend (and newly budding relationship), Karl Keyes, almost 17, first introduced me to Harold. Karl and I took private art instruction together from him, Karl picking me up in his MGB Midget before we'd dash away for our private painting instructions. Karl was a fabulously talented watercolorist and introduced me to this fluid medium.

When Karl died the following year of leukemia, I was devistated. I remember going to the funeral, but not being able to bring myself to go to the graveside and watch them lower his body in the ground. So I asked my mom to take me home. But I continued on with my art lessons with Harold, even though Karl wasn't with me any more.

Harold is frail now, and not doing very well. I wanted to purchase a piece of artwork from him before he died. My brother texted me today with photographs of artwork Harold's wife dropped off for him, artwork he wanted to gift me with. He had two pencil sketches of a young black man, one painting (that seems to be an oil pastel) of the Madonna, and one watercolor or acrylic on paper of a blue heron (the irony of this subject does not fall on blind eyes).

On the back of the oil pastel he wrote: "Something about this painting: One of the many titles with which the Church honors the Blessed Virgin Mary is "Seat of Wisdom". I was moved to do this original painting of our Blessed Mother under this title. Mary stands holding light in her hand, the light is a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, all of God's graces, and of Jesus Himself, the light, the way, and the truth, and she offers these gifts to everyone while Mary Herself remains in the shadows of her profound humility." I had to smile - this is so... Harold.

And on the back of my heron (my totem) he wrote "To Debbie, my very special art student of whom I am very proud. From one artist to another!" and signed it with love. When I read this personal note, my tears flowed.

This man was my mentor, and the single largest influence on my desires to be an artist, a formidable man who gently coaxed out my passion to create from an early age, and during a time I mourned for my friend, Karl. I am completely honored and feel terribly humbled by his gift. He is not long for this world and when he passes, the world just won't be lit quite as brilliantly. But I already picture him and Karl setting up an easel together.

Iris of Lavender - WIP 3

2011-06-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

I've pushed this painting a little farther. One can see that I'm finally adding darker values in the Iris. Remember, I first began the petals by painting the dark shapes in a light value as a "place-holder" for later. Now its time to punch stronger color. I tend to paint while weighing how the values are working, and what needs to move from a flat shape to a more dimensional shape, constantly adjusting. Yes, this takes longer than those that paint fast and loose, but it is the process of painting that I enjoy much more than the finished product. I'm in no hurry to end that enjoyment. Of course, first thing in the morning I begin carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand, so this will have to wait a few days until I'm in the mood to paint again. In two weeks I have surgery on the right and I'll need to take a break.

Iris of Lavender - WIP2

2011-06-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a better photo than this. If I get a chance to re-shoot it, I will. This is the left bottom corner of the painting. I started blocking in the darker areas of the iris, but with a light value hue. Because I draw my compositions so lightly, I will often block in my dark shapes lightly so that I don't lose sight of my linework. Then I will continue to lightly glaze color, building up pigment slowly. If my darker areas begin to get lost, I will give them a glaze to move them one value darker.

Iris of Lavenders

2011-06-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

I told myself I wasn't going to start another painting before my surgery scheduled this Wednesday. But, alas, I couldn't help myself, even though I won't be able to finish this before the next surgery stops my use of my dominant hand. These irises were particularly lovely. I always start painting on an area of my composition that draws my attention. In this case today, the lovely papery shell that encased the iris was most interesting to me. And I also love the shape of the spent iris... how it folds into itself as if reaching for something deep within. As I usually do when painting flowers, I "tip-toe" into my painting... edging ever so softly as if I hold the delicate flower itself. It is a nice change from the weeks of painting still life and glass, where the cold, hard surface urges me to paint bolder. Now, off to check mail, which I'm behind on!

Ranier and Amber - completed composition for Chicagoland workshop

2011-05-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

Ranier and Amber

22"x15" Transparent Watercolor

Well, the final painting is completed for the Oak Park workshop and I'll be shipping it to the Chicago area this weekend, along with all my supplies. I just don't trust the airlines to get it there! As a final pass, I decided to glaze the glass in front of the cherries to separate their intensity from the ones that spill above the rim of the crystal bowl. I darkened reflections in the bowl to give that leaded glass the feeling of weight. I chose a simple background to keep it from competing with the complexity of the subject. Shades of phthalo blue-lavender to viridian-lavender give a very subtle shift that doesn't quite show up in this image, but offsets the compliments of scarlet, corals, and yellows in the Ranier cherries and the bright venetian glass bowl and its reflections. The hand blown Venitian glass vase blends in more with the background glazes, but I didn't want it to stand out much anyway. It is there to give height to the composition and offset the short curves of the smaller bowl and the angularity of the leaded glass bowl. The star of this show is the intensity of color, which really pops next to all the cool hues in its supporting cast member, and the stark white of the table cloth.

Ranier and Amber W.I.P. - Chicago area workshop June 9-11

2011-05-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest stage of the painting that I'm working on for the workshop I'm teaching in Oak Park, IL on June 9-11. It probably has another full day to go... the background will be a cool violet gray, I think, because I got sloppy and there's too many waterspots to leave it white! Yes, this subject is a bit advanced... but I believe in pushing the students to reach and stretch. I'm not one for comforable and complacent. Plus, workshops are not to produce a pretty picture for people to put on their walls. They are to learn about different painting techniques, learn how watercolor reacts with water... learn to "see" shape, form, and value, learn how to interperet subjects to create an interesting composition. I like to paint beauty and don't apologize for that. I used to need to inject tons of expression and wild color into my work, but the older I get, the more I appreciate the subtleties of what's already there, and match my expression with that same subtlety... and let the natural hues speak for themselves.

Painting Glass and Crystal - Chicago area workshop June 9-11, 2011

2011-05-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of working on the composition that I've selected for the Chicago area workshop that I'm teaching in Oak Park, IL. in two weeks. I have a feeling the students may groan as this composition looks very complicated. Actually, the toughest part of this composition will be the reflection on the table, so I will have them work on that area first. The rest of it is easier than it looks! I've painted glass many years ago, having gone through a period where I'd set up colored glass in a window and let the sunlight pass through. I haven't done that in a number of years. Watercolorist Paul Jackson first turned me on to painting glass over a half dozen years ago. This setup features a leaded glass bowl I borrowed from a friend, Stephanie Wenzler, here in Corpus Christi. I brought two of my pieces of hand blown Venetian glass and went to her house and spent the day on Monday doing a photo shoot of probably a hundred photos. Finally we went outside on her porch in direct sunlight and glorious things happened! Look out, Oak Park... we'll be dancing in color on June 9!

Eau de Vie

2011-04-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

I finished this commission today of a client's sailboat. She is moving to Delaware in a few weeks and wanted a painting with Corpus Christi in the background. Just delivered it... glad she was so pleased with this surprise birthday gift for her husband. it is 11"x15" unframed and mostly transparent watercolor was used with hits of white gouache for the lines from the mast.

Daily Paintings

2011-04-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been starting my mornings with small daily paintings like this one I did yesterday. I am finding that it helps loosen me up for the day, helps to get the creative juices flowing. Then, when the "tiny tidbit" is done, I move on to other larger, slower work. Right now I'm working on a couple of commissions and am almost done with a large peony painting... but work is slow. So these small works are enjoyed and appreciated! I am featuring my daily paintings on my other blog at http://www.dcannatella2.blogspot.com/

No garage sale for this guy

2011-03-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

Recently, my gallery called me about "Old Salt", one of my paintings that seems to get a lot of buzz and sells a number of prints/cards around here. A man from Houston had stopped in the gallery and wanted the painting, which was priced at $700, framed. (Actually the price is $800 but I had written the wrong price when I sent it to the gallery) The painting is a 20x26 in a 26x32 frame. He said his wife had seen the painting 3 or 4 years ago, so he knew it was old... and offered me $400 for it if I'd sell it then so he could bring it back to Houston the next day. First of all, the painting was not even a year old and had already won me prizes half that and is slated for another exhibition in Louisiana. But even if that were true and his wife really HAD seen it 3 years ago, he was asking for a price less that I'd sell it unframed.

I am amazed at how people believe artists are worth so little that they can bargain them down on their prices as if it were a garage sale. Yes, if a customer wants to purchase five paintings, like an engineer did in Chicago before I moved from that area, then I will give them a significant deal. My engineer collector got one painting free by the time she purchased all the pieces! (Many of them older work). Should a serious art collector think highly enough of a painting that they want to add the original to their collection, then why would they devalue it? I don't go to a car dealer and offer 30K for a 60K Benz on the showroom floor. I don't go call the doc and tell him I'll make an appointment right then, if he'd sell it to me for half the price. And I suppose, if I needed the sale to eat, then I would invoke my ancestoral endentured servant mode and sell my work at any price. But I don't. And I didn't.

Don't get me wrong. I am by far so-NOT and art snob. I don't price thousands on my work. I feel that my prices are fair. They've increased with the quality and demand. I sell regularly, though I do wish it were more, but these are hard times. I have often knocked 10% off my work if a client is struggling with the price. But I can't sell it for 60%, nor would I do business with someone who believed I should. Let me also add, since I seldom rant on this topic, that watercolorists are always getting short-changed in the art world... just look at any oil painting the same size in a gallery and then compare the prices. Watercolor is a medium that must be mastered in one's particular technique in order to create quality work. It is often considered the hardest medium to work within, much more difficult than oil (so they say). Why does it not demand the same prices you ask? So have many of us.

And, by the way, I won another award last night. (yay me!)

Donna Zagotta workshop

2011-03-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

In February I had the pleasure of meeting Donna Zagotta as I took her workshop here in corpus Christi. Donna couldn't paint in watercolor more differently than me, but I signed up anyway... her sense of design is spot-on and I've admired he work and read her articles for many years. The jewel (among many) that I discovered was her blog at http://donnazagotta.com/blog/ and it will be one that I read weekly.

She is a fabulous writer and focuses on many subjects, researching and spending a lot of effort on her posts. They are full of design, contemporary painters, old masters, thoughts on this artistic process, goals, etc. In our workshop,

I spent more time on sketches and value patterns than I did painting. It was just what I needed. But Donna's understanding of the thought process that happens to us was even more of what I searched for. We had wonderful opportunities to spend one-on-one time together discussing where I'm going in my work and what it is within me that I want to speak through my creations.

Bok Choy Alter Ego

2011-02-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Bok Choy Alter Ego

11"x15" transparent watercolor

by Debbie Cannatella

By the time this guy was half-way done I was tired of green! After the last painting (below) of the cabbage titled "Mixed Greens" and this one, I was just about done with mixing greens. So, when the shadow began to be developed, it became this green man's alter ego and got flooded with color. The greens in this bok choy were mixed using WN phthalo blue and MG azo green, a beautiful yellow-green that has become one of my favorite pigments. It makes a gorgeous spring or sap green and when glazed over greens, it brightens them up. New gamboge and indanthrene were also used and quin rose was added in small strengths to mute the green, or ultramarine was added to pump up the blue-green. It wasn't until the very end that I mixed phthalo green (RS) with permanent alizarin and DS undersea green to layer the dramatic darks.

No masking was used in this painting. The veins were done by painting around them. I take great care in lightly drawing lines where I want the veins to be, then paint around them and erase the pencil afterward. Not only does this break up the leaf in sections, but the linework keeps me from "forgetting" and blazing right over them! Once I build up a leaf value, I will then glaze over the entire leaf with mixture of greens to melt it all together and to give the veins a hue. Selected veins were painted with shadowing to give it form. Don't forget the shadows! And remember shadows are merely a deeper, cooler shade of the local hue you are using for the object. Don't paint a blue shadow on a green leaf. Paint it darker, cooler green! It will be more believeable.

And for those local artists who have been calling me wondering when I'm going to teach a workshop in painting florals, check my website at www.debbiecannatella.com/classes for information on my next workshop here at my home studio painting "Florals: Large and Lush".

"Mixed Greens"

2011-01-24T08:42:00.000-08:00

MIXED GREENS

22"x15" Transparent Watercolor

I decided to title this "Mixed Greens" because the painting was done to showcase how one can mixed their greens rather than buying tons of pre-mixed tubes of greens and using them directly. Although I did use some greens (like MG Azo and DS Undersea), I mixed them with phthalo blue and ultramarine blue, as well as new gamboge... for a more cohesive family of greens. Azo makes a fabulous, bright green when mixed with phthalo... and Undersea adds that dark, granular hue when trying to mix a dark green. Of course my "black" standby (Permanent Alizarin and Phthalo Green RS) is also a good mixture to darken your mixed greens. Still, I think I achieved a wide variety of greens using a limited palette. Pops of warm greens were used in the cooler areas and hits of cool greens were added in the warmer areas for balance.

Cabbage Greens W.I.P. #2

2011-01-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

I may decide that I never want to eat cabbage again, by the time I finish with this. Seriously, its not that bad, but staring at this painting for so long, its beginning to look boring to me. Only through stepping away from it can I see variation. I still have a little ways to go on this painting. I want the holes in the cabbage leaves a bit more pronounced and I want to vary that diagonal shadow that is falling across the lower right leaves. The trick is to draw the eye to the cabbage head itself, while letting the eye dance around the ruffled edges of the leaves and bring the eye back to the center of interest. I'm trying to add movement with light and shadow, yet still having the outer leaves more muted, while the cabbage head is warmer and fresher. The last bit I will do is give more depth to the thickness of some of the veins closest to the cabbage head, and add detail to the head itself. I will post the finished product later this week.

Cabbage Greens - Work In Progress

2011-01-15T12:17:00.000-08:00

I'm teaching a watercolor class at my home studio and decided I needed an example of greens. So, after all the "cabbage and black-eye-pea" focus for New Years', I thought I'd paint a cabbage painting. The reference photo was taken in a vegetable garden. I loved the beautiful, lacy cabbage leaves. Many "greens" found in watercolors are unnatural looking, and need to be greyed down by using its complement, some form of red. Daniel Smith's Undersea Green, made a perfect dark, dulled green to use as a base for my color mixtures. With Undersea Green, I used shots of viridian, or I mixed it with my Phthalo Green/Perm Alizarin mixture I use to get my blacks. M Graham has a yummy bright yellow-green called Azo Green and when mixed with Phthalo blue, it makes a bright, vibrant spring green. This combination is used in the cabbage head itself, leaning it toward different shifts of hues by adding French Ultramarine, or varing the strength of Azo. When painting with various greens, it is very important to bring the painting al together with continuity of color. Glazing different greens on top of one another helps unify the greens. Using Undersea Green as a base to mix all the other greens in 75% of the painting, also helps to unify. Glazing the Azo-Pthalo mixture over parts of the Undersea green, brings together the entire family of greens. This painting still has many glazes and details yet to be completed. Stay tuned!

The Heart of the Matter (formerly Into The Center)

2010-09-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

This painting, done a couple of years ago when I lived in Tyler, Texas, won 2nd place this week in an exhibition currently hanging at the South Texas Art Institute / Museum of South Texas in the annual exhibition of the South Texas Art League. I had this fabulous magnolia tree in my back yard in Tyler and often studied these flowers. They open the first day to this creamy center with these interesting stamens and stigmas curled from the end of each one. Then they close that night and reopen the second day with the stamens scattered along the petals and cone left bared. The Southern Magnolia is one of the more primitive flowers (water lillies being older) and are some of the oldest fossil flowers discovered.

2010 Pennington Hot Air Balloon Championship Poster

2010-08-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

My painting "Ballooning" was selected for the 2010 Pennington Hot Air Balloon Championship poster. The painting was an old one painted easily seven or eight years ago... painted quick using several plein air watercolor sketches as reference. I wish I had known early that they were interested in this painting, because I could have painted a new one for them! But they seemed saticefied with this selection.

The Artistic Touch 4

2010-08-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

The book, the Artistic Touch 4, has finally been published after anxiously waiting for many months! My painting, Winds of Autumn, is on page 14. I will be gathering with a number of the other artists this fall and hope to get some signatures on several books. On sale now for $30.

Painting Glass and Crystal in Still Lifes

2010-08-10T15:52:00.000-07:00

Here are two happy faces from my recent workshop on painting glass and crystal in my home studio. We didn't quite get the painting finished in the workshop, but I'm hoping they will continue on and share the paintings with me when completed. I will post my completed piece when I get a breather!

You've Got Mail

2010-08-01T08:34:00.000-07:00

"You've Got Mail"

22x20 Transparent Watercolor

I've been remiss in posting due to traveling and workshops, but I've got a bit of down time in Dallas until I drive back to Corpus Christi in the morning and thought I'd try to catch up. Here's the final image for the painting. I haven't ordered the frame for it yet... its currently being scanned for giclee images. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks in a frame!

You've Got Mail - Work in Progress 22"x20"

2010-06-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

There is the latest painting that I've been working on. I have been fascinated with my fascination with digital communication devices. I never leave home without my IPod or IPad these days. And it seems, from watching people around me, neither does anyone else! In this painting, the blue heron is fascinated as well. I still have a way to go on it, but it will be completed this week.

I began with the water, knowing that if the water didn't work, I can just chunk the entire composition! I masked out the sailboat masts and mast reflections then began laying cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, and peacock. I wanted blues that were non-staining or moderately staining as I would be lifting the boat reflections.

After getting shapes lifted, cleaned up, and several layers of varying blues in for the water movement, I then lifted the masking fluid and begain negative painting deeper water reflections around the "lacework" of the boats, and laying in the color of the boy texting on his phone. Stay tuned for the final stage.

Kemps Ridley Turtle

2010-06-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick study I did for a larger painting. This one is 11x15 and I did it to work with colors and position of the turtle. When I paint the final painting, I will make some slight adjustments I believe, but it will be close to this study. I love that our area collects eggs, hatches the turtles and then releases them within 24 hours after hatching so that the turtle has an imprint of the beach on Padre Island. It is even more precious now that the Gulf has been poisoned by the oil spill. So much wildlife has been killed. So many turtles have died. The Kemps Ridley turtle is the most endangered sea turtle in the world. The brown pelican was recently taken off of the endangered species list. I have to wonder if it will now rejoin the Kemps Ridley turtle.

Bodhisattva Seated - 22"x15"

2010-05-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

This was a quickie I did in about two hours yesterday. My husband enjoys reading Buddhist meditations so I painting this for his office. I wanted something loose with lots of color to brighten the room, yet still retain a peaceful, meditative feel. This original statue is housed at the Phoenix Art Museum, where I saw it on our trip to Phoenix a couple of years ago. Pigments used: new gamboge, quin coral, phthalo blue, indanthrone, undersea green, dioxazine violet, quin gold, peacock blue, ultramarine blue, ultramarine violet, permanent alizarin, and perylene maroon. I used so many colors because I didn't have the luxury of mixing pigments as I go. I knew it would be fast and loose, so I chose to used various pre-mixed pigments.

Koi painting - Untitled

2010-05-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm back in town from a month of traveling to workshops, I had to get back in the studio after a few days break from the painting world. This afternoon I decided to work wet-into-wet and paint this painting in about 3 hours. I worked the bakground very quickly, then while it wa damp, lifted out the shapes of the koi. After it was nearly dry, I painted the koi. The pigments were a mixture of opaques and transparents, some were granulating... ultramarine, raw sienna, cad yellow, indanthrone, cerulian, blue apetite genuine, permanent alizarin, cobalt red, cobalt yellow, winsor violet

After The Rain - 13"x20" transparent watercolor

2010-03-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

The painting of the Shell Ginger is pretty much finished. I actually enjoyed the detail on this one. I've posted a close-up so you can see some of the details... The hues are created by several layers of very thin pigments to give a blush to the petals that shift in hue.

Shell Ginger - W.I.P. 2

2010-03-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Continuing on with this painting of Shell Ginger, I used my mixture of black (phthalo green and permanent alizarin) and added varying amoungs of my green mixture (phthalo blue and azo green) and glazed negative shapes in the background. This painting is well on its way to being completed. All I need it more glazing in the flowers and separating out the shapes of the petals... then a bit of detailing in the rain droplets.

Shell Ginger - (work in progress)

2010-03-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

For the last painting of my Tropical Floral series, I'm working on a ginger blossom. My brother-in-law in New Orleans has these beauties in his yard and they were particularly stunning after a hot, steamy thunderstorm. This painting is much smaller than my two previous... only 9"x13", but I had an old painting that I wanted to switch out of a frame and thought this composition would work quite well for it. Greens are made with phthalo blue and new gamboge. New gamboge is the primary yellow, with quin pink, permanent alizarin, and quin coral for the reds. A touch of cobalt makes the blue-lavender shifts in the shadows. This painting calls for many glazes of very transparent washes as I carefully work around the raindrops and moisture on the leaves.

Plumeria - finished!

2010-03-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

I've taken a break a good part of this week because suddenly my social calendar got all filled. I joined Corpus Christi's New Neighbor League... oh my gosh, those gals are social butterflies! I'm going to have to start saying no to half of their invitations so i have the time to paint! But I think I've finally finished this one, which gives me two weeks to complete the third painting in my tropical floral series. April 1 I hang them at Desiree's Cafe at the Art Center of Corpus Christi, where they'll hang for three months.

Pigments for the flowers were quin pink, quin rose, alizarin, quin coral, new gamboge. Foliage was primarily M Graham's Azo Green (okay, I'm now officially in LOVE with this color) and phthalo blue... it makes a beautiful green! I also used cobalt with the green mixture for blue-greens and WN perelene green for some darks. My old black standby is alizarin with phthalo green and I darkened my green mixtures with that as well. The Azo Green glazes over the top of the leaves really brightened up areas I wanted bright. Cobalt was used to make lavenders with the quin colors.

W.I.P. Belly Dancer

2010-03-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

I am certainly enjoying this painting... and definitely enjoying the music I'm playing while painting it! I have no idea what I will do for a background, though. I'm thinking a landscape... maybe a field of some sort. I can see her dancing in a field. If I do a landscape, the sky will probably be golden with a low horizon, to help offset all this blue in the painting. I could leave the background white. It depends upon how dark the shadows in the fabric become. I'm easing into the color on this one. So far, the pigments I'm using are Holbein's Pecock Blue, WN Winsor Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Alizarin, New Gambogue, DS Quinacridone Gold, DS Quinacridone Coral... and palette mud!

W.I.P. - Ishtar/Aprhodite 26"x20"

2010-03-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

Those of you that know me socially, know I have a small collection of Middle Eastern and African drums and I love to hand drum in drum circles and for belly dancers. I don't get much of a chance to do that any more and really miss it. So today I was listening to some good drumming music in the art studio and decided it was time to paint a belly dancer. I first want to send a shout out to all my belly dancer friends up north... sure do miss you all!! And a special shout of to my fellow drummers. This will be a fun painting to do because of all the wonderful folds in the scaves and fabrics and the fun patterns that these costumes make. This particular dancer is one I used to watch in south Louisiana. She is a beautiful, graceful, dancer... but I never really knew her name. I'll connect with some drumming friends of mine and see if I can hunt down this lovely goddess so I can send her a print of this painting when it is completed. Sorry for the bad photo - it was late at night in my studio when I took this picture.

W.I.P. Plumeria - 4

2010-03-08T14:20:00.000-08:00

After taking a bit of a breather from this over the weekend, I was back at it today and not nearly as bored (grin). I am working with layers in the background, and now that I've begun to give the petals some shape, I can go back into the background and begin to paint some of the leaves in the negative space, pushing back shapes and carving out sharp edges where I want the eye to focus. That leaf in the middle seems to be wanting to take center stage from the others. I had not intended to have so much light right through there, but sometimes the painting takes on a life and its important to recognize when that happens. I'll roll with it. The top left will have layers of leaves in the background as well. I love the way these flowers unfurl. And, I'm falling in love with that new green I'm trying, Azo Green by M. Graham (thanks for sending the samples to try, M. Graham!). Wow! Mix it with phthalo blue and it makes a beautiful sap green. A little less blue and a brilliant and creamy spring green unfolds. And what is nice about this pigment is that I can mix it with Perelene Green or a little Permanent Alizarin and it makes a very dark forest green without it being flat or dull. I always mix my greens and I think this pigment will definitely be a new staple in my palette.

W.I.P. Plumeria - 3

2010-03-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

This painting is more tedious than I initially assumed. Or maybe I'm just tired of florals already! I painted so many of them when I was in Tyler and I'm aching to do a shrimp boat that I drew up a month ago. But, for now, I am pushing thorough this. I am using quinachridone pink, alizarin crimson, new gambogue, and cobalt blue for touches of color and bits of shadow. These will have to be built up slowly because I want to retain the white in the fully open plumeria petals. These beauties begin as deep pink buds and lighten as they open to a creamy yellow center.

W.I.P. Plumeria - 2

2010-03-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

I am now sufficiently getting very bored with greens! Its about time for me to start adding a bit of color to the flowers before I walk away from this and vow to never paint another leaf! These greens were mainly mixed with cobalt and Fr ultramarine blue with new gambogue. After the first layers to establish some shapes, I began to add alizarin crimson, and viridian mix, making deep violet greens and continuing with the layering process. But now that I've had an afternoon of greens, I'm ready for another color!

W.I.P. Plumeria

2010-03-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

I am the kind of person who gets bored most easily. I have dozens of partially-painted watercolors to prove it. Maybe it is the A.D.D. that runs in my family, but for whatever reason, probably one-third of my paintings don't get completed. So I decided to try this painting a little differently. I normally go in straight with the subject that I'm excited about and by the time I'm half-way done with the parts that I'm not as interested in, I'm yawning. This time I will begin with the background and push it as far as I can push it before beginning on the flowers. This composition is a compilation of numerous photographs that I took at a friend's house. Her mom has a beautiful plumeria that has grown tall and sturdy, surprising for the cold winters of east Texas. I'd never lived in an area where I'd run across this stunning beauty before, and took many photographs intending to paint it immediately. Here I am several, years later, trying to get ready for an exhibition here in Corpus Christi themed "Tropical Florals". I recently saw a stunning plumeria posted by a fellow artist friend in another blog and remembered my photos. The plumeria, a Hawaiian flower, is perfect for this are an grows easiliy here. I may just have to buy one for my yard! The greens in this painting were mixed using cobalt blue and phthalo blue with new gambogue. I'm also trying out a gorgeous yellow-green by M. Graham called Azo Green

Grapes Durand 26"x22" transparent watercolor

2010-03-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

Being anxious to begin the next painting, I photographed this still damp, and before I flatten it, but it is completed. I put another layer of pigment in the background and continued to use pale washes of grey and grey-lavender in the crystal to "melt" together some of the refractions. It is easy to over-do a painting like this... so I stopped before I was sure I was completely done. Time to "live with it" before I decide on framing.

Grapes Durand... cont.

2010-03-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

A bit of color to kill the white background really makes a difference, doesn't it? Again, I'm working with the same palette pigments I've used from the beginning, MG maroon pereylene, permanent alizarin, Winsor (phthalo) blue, new gambogue, and a touch of Winsor (phthalo) green. Using my blues and reds I created varying shades of lavender-greys, using stronger strengths for darker areas, then glazing over each plane of the crystal bowl with a weaker strength. This will happen several times to build up shades. For the background I wet the entire negative shape, then added my lavender, phthalo blue, new gamboge in areas and moved the paper to allow it to mix on its own in the area. When I liked the coverage, I was careful to wick away any excess moisture so it wouldn't dry unevenly. For the table top, I always mix my browns using whatever red, blue and yellow that I'm using in the painting. Adding a bit more blue will produce a burnt umber, adding a bit more red/yellow will produce a more raw umber and playing with the formula you can simulate walnut to cherry wood.

Grapes Durand - cont.

2010-03-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

More glazes of various reds were added to the red decanter while cherries are continuing their build-up of pigment for deeper, richer saturation of color. Various shades of "palette mud", grays made by mixing paints used in the painting are added to the crystal reflections, as well as bouncing blues and greens from the Venitian glass vase. Neutral pigment mixtures in the crystal will help highlight and balance the pure color refractions. Shadows are being worked on the table cloth, using the same pigments for a unification of color. A neutral gray was mixed and placed under the folds of the cloth to begin to show movement of the cloth edge. This painting will continue with layers and glazes for a subtle build up of color.

Grapes Durand

2010-02-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

Continuing with this painting, I've focused on the under layers as I use the new M. Graham Maroon Perylene that was sent to me by the company. Because this paint is very staining, I decided to use it in various strengths with Winsor (Phthalo) Blue to create a deep lavender for the striations in the Venitian glass vase. Because I am layering glazes of blues and greens over these fine lines, I need them to remain and not dispurse with the glazes. The staining power of both these pigments help with that. I continue to build up reds of the grapes, adding WN alizarin crimson and DS Quinacridone Red to maroon perylene. A touch of new gambogue warms up a few of the grapes.

Maroon Perylene by M. Graham

2010-02-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

When M Graham & Company sent me a set of watercolor paints for me to try out a few weeks ago, I took out the red immediately, because I'm always looking for a nice red. Maroon Perylene is a dark red that is absolutely gorgeous when wet and dries to a rusty wine-red. It will be a good pigment to mix with other reds when looking for a deep shadow red. So I pulled out tons of reference photos this week looking for a subject that I could use to try out this pigment. Immediately I noticed Maroon Perylene is very staining, and once its put down, be prepared for it to stay there. This will work very well when layering pigments on top of it. I began to lay in the darkest hues within my red decanter and in the cherries in this composition. I will be glazing brighter reds atop this pigment and we'll see how it stands up to layers.

This composition was put together when I spent a day with the watercolor group (Splash) in Tyler, Texas. They came to my home and I pulled out lots of glass, fruit and veggies and gave a presentation on desiging compositions for still lifes. Then we cut everyone loose around the house to set up their own photo references. This particular composition features a beautiful crystal bowl, a favorite owned by my friend, artist Mollie Jones. Mollie was kind enough to let me borrow it for several weeks while I played with the light that it reflects. I pulled out a simple red decanter I had, and then pulled out a green/blue hand-blown Venetian glass vase that I found one day when Mollie and I were shopping at an antique mall in Roswell, New Mexico. The reds, peacock blue, and bright greens reflect wonderfully in the crystal.

Its Just Another Lazy Day

2010-02-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

Well, the title may get changed, but that's what I saw when I snuck up on this guy enjoying the sunny afternoon. I had to paint this second pelican painting while I had my palette out for the first one.

Old Salt

2010-02-15T12:54:00.000-08:00

I do believe this painting is finished. I was concerned about adding too much texture and detail on the lower half of the body and the post, not wanting the focus of the painting being that low. I wanted the focus kept around his face and hope the detail on the top of the wings help point the viewer up the neck. The photo looks a bit higher key than the painting actually is, probably because I took the photograph outside, and even in the shade, the light here in Corpus Christi is very bright. I'm working on a second pelican that I will post shortly. Now, for a title... "Watcher" or "Sentinel" could work. I also thought on "Endangered", since the brown pelican is still on the endangered list here in Texas. The brown pelican is the only species that dives for food from a flight position, and the only one that lives exclusively around salt water. An artist colleague on Artcolony blogspot suggested "Old Salt", and I liked that! I think he's got a title.

W.I.P. 26"x20" Brown Pelican

2010-02-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

I need to stop for the day because I have dinner plans tonight, but I wanted to upload progress on my brown pelican. This guy is shaping up... I love the subtle shifts of color that are happening. I wish the camera could pick up that shift. It is almost as if I am caressing this guy as I paint the thin layers of hues. I spent extra time getting his eye correct. I wanted him looking straight at the viewer. That way, as the viewer moves around the room it will look as if he's following them. Down at the marina, when I was taking this fellow's picture, he stood very still, watching me. It was mesmerizing and I wanted to try to capture that pose.

W.I.P. - 26"x20" Brown Pelican

2010-02-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

Today I began working on my brown pelican. I'm using Daniel Smith's Shadow Violet, a wonderful combination of a blue and a red that both granulate and separate into lovely shades. This may look tedious, but it is simply painting shadow shapes negatively between the feathers. The feathers will soon emerge as the shapes are built up. It is important to make the shapes with contouring in mind, to give the feathers a directional movement .

The majoriy of this fellow will be in shades of grey-lavender and sienna browns. I will monitor the brightness of the hues in the background as I paint the bird. I will made decisions on adjusting the background as the bird takes form.

Artcolony Challenge for February

2010-02-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

Did I mention that I love my IPhone??!!! For this month's Artcolony challenge (Things We Love), I knew immediately what I wanted to paint. Now, this image isn't a good one b/c I took it at night inside the studio so its not as crisp as it could be. But it is full of symbolism! I put 52 pieces of mail because this is my 52nd year and I used the number 8 because it is a symbol of perfection and balance in infinity, and is the expression of the totality of the universe in Asia. The time is set at 6:03 am because I was born in the morning of June 3rd. And the text message symbol has "hi granny" in it because I love getting texts from my granddaughter. Besides my favorite applications (Facebook, Movies, Urbanspoon, Bookworm) I've put symbols for other things I love in my life... gourmet food, my "tunes", Mother Earth, Cyclone (my cat), daily painting, and jewels! I also put an ap for Artcolony using the blogspot symbol and put a paintbrush behind the B. I've added an ap for "Tella-vision"... my family. My grandkids called my mom and dad paw-paw and maw-maw "Tella". I used a take-off of my family's coffee business for the logo. I also have "NOLA-Tonio Figs" to represent my husband's family, the Figueroas.. who live in New Orelans and San Antonio areas. Of course the fleur d'lis is a symbol of my home state (GO SAINTS I CAN'T BELIEVE WE WON!!!!) and the family was living in New Orleans when Katrina hit. So it is now a symbol of renewal for us as well. "B&T Network" represents my daughters, Brandi and Tarah, who are as different as night and day, yet are fiercely loyal to each other. I used an image of a lunar eclipse of the sun for their symbol. And of course, I can't forget "Nando Words" which represent the many poems my husband has written for me.

Artcolony Blog

2010-02-08T18:48:00.001-08:00

I am fortunate enough to be a member of Artcolony, a closed blog community of professional artists from all around the world. If you are a watermedia artist, many of the names in Artcolony you will have heard of, or may have a book authored by one of its members. For a look at the blog, see http://www.artcolony.blogspot.com and check out the names in our community. What is so marvelous about this "community" is the level of sharing, responses, and musings the artists incorporate in the blog posts. Its like a little window into the lives of these prominent artists.

At Artcolony we have a monthly challenge that many of the member take part in. February's challenge is "Things We Love". I'll be posting the painting I did for February in a bit. Meanwhile, check out the blog!

W.I.P. - 26"x20" Brown Pelican

2010-02-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

I have been fascinated with pelicans since I was a teenager. My home state of Louisiana has the brown pelican as its state bird. I'm thoroughly captivated by the way it glides over water. Every year at the L.S.U. lakes, I would keep an eye open for the migrating white pelicans, which often visit the area for many weeks every fall and early winter. I love watching the flock move in concentric spirals above the lakes, changing from white and black to nearly invisible as their forms shifted in mid glide.

So now that I live in Corpus Christi, the brown pelican hangs out by the marina, posing for my sketch pencil and camera lens. For this painting, while I have fresh masking fluid handy, I masked off the outline of the pelican and worked the background in about five layers. I wanted bright hues to put this guy against, to mimic the colorful sunrises and sunsets of this coastal city. I removed the masking before I begin painting the pelican. I used indanthrone, phthalo blue, quin coral, permanent rose, and new gamboge. It is quite possible that I may lay more pigment in the background as the painting develops. At that point I will have to mask again, but I won't know until his form begins to take on shape. I put a thin glaze of lavender-grey over the feathers and pouch of the pelican to begin to separate color from the white of the head and neck.

Hibiscus - Almost Complete!

2010-02-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

On my way out the door today to go work out at the gym I just had to stop at the studio and do "just a little bit" on this painting. Before I knew it, it was 4 hours later, painting almost completed, and I still haven't made it to the gym. The painting hasn't been flattened yet and is at the "have to live with it stage", but I believe its about complete. I may go in and shadow the stamen a bit and do a bit more leafwork. The stamen was done with new gamboge, quin sienna and alizarin. Leaves were a mixtures of greens using new gamboge, indanthrone, cobalt, undersea green and alizarin. My browns are my usual mix of whatever red, blue and yellow I'm working in... in this case it was indanthrone, new gamboge and coral (sometimes alizarin), adding a bit more blue to lean it toward a burnt umber and a bit more red when leaning it towrd a burnt sienna. The flower was new gamboge, quin coral, alizarin, and quin magenta. After masking off the stamen and petals, I did three washes of primarily phthalo blue (red shade), mixing indanthrone in toward the top of the page and working in gradation toward the horizon. Remember, the closer you get toward the horizon, the lighter the sky, due to atmospheric perspective. Now... for the gym!

W.I.P. Hibiscus 20x26 (cont...)

2010-02-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

I continued to develop the foliage, adding leaves and background information, some of which was done painting negatively. Darks were made by mixing my usual "black", a combination of Phthalo Green and Alizarin Crimson, then adding bits of that to various green mixtures. Several more layers will continue to be built up in the background and under the leafwork. Alizarin Crimson, Winsor Red and Quin Magenta were added to the combination of hues in the flower, while color is being built up in the petals using thin washes.

Hibiscus W.I.P. 20x22 cont...

2010-01-31T20:04:00.000-08:00

I continue to use coral and gamboge for the flower, layering it over the first pass of gamboge on the petals. Toward the inside of the cone, I worked in alizarin crimson with the coral. The leaves are continuing their development by layering pigment over the first wash of color. I added DS undersea green to the green mixes I'd previously been using. I plan on having a strong diagonal design, developing leaves through the bottom left corner of the page. At this point I wanted to workon the background, but realized I am out of masking fluid and this composition really needs to be masked off in order to give a clean background around the stamen and anthers of the flower. So I'll have to take a dash to the local art store and hope their masking fluid isn't too old sitting on the store shelves. I use masking so seldom that it dries up before I use up 1" in the bottle!

W.I.P. Leaves and Stems

2010-01-31T08:17:00.000-08:00

Artists constantly struggle with leaves, and I am no exception. I know people who create beautiful realistic foliage in their paintings. I find I don't pay as much attention to foliage in my paintings because I want the flower to be "the big dog". But this is how I develop my leaves. I made a mixture of green by using cobalt and gamboge, then shifted it duller and darker by adding coral or alizarin, or shifted it warmer by adding gamboge or quin gold. I loosely paint in leaves leaving hints of veins. I drop in additional pigments letting blossoming happen. This first layer doesn't bother me at all, because my next step will be to add quin gold over the entire leaf, warming up the veins and melting them into the leaf. A third layer will then be added, maybe more.

The branches are created by loosely laying in a burnt umber mixture. I made mine by using the three primary colors, as I always do when making my browns. This mixture was alizarin, indanthrone blue, and quin gold. More blue turns it burnt umber, more red turns it burnt sienna. I dropped in quin gold and coral, the pigments I'm using in the flower, to harmonize the hues.

20x26 Apricot Hibiscus - W.I.P.

2010-01-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

Be prepared for a deluge of recently begun paintings. I have a habit of painting numerous paintings at once, and only the ones that I am really enjoying get completed. The others are set aside until a later date where a renewed interest usually develops for most and I eventually finish them. This drives some of my artist friends nuts who are often telling me to FINISH one. Hahaha! Unfortunately, it is just the way I work. There are some compositions that are more elementary and I paint them merely for the beauty and enjoyment of painting, but while I do, my brain is constantly percolating ideas for the next series.

This relocation has given me a surge of energy... cast is off the foot, my art studio is unpacked, the Tyler home is in the hands of the agent, and now I can finally concentrate on doing what I love - painting. I swore I wouldn't paint flowers for many months, but here I go. These hibiscus blooming in my yard are too pretty to ignore. And when they call, I answer. Here's the first pass. Greens are made from quin gold and gamboge mixed with cobalt with palette mud thrown in to dull areas. Gamboge and coral are the first layers of the flower. While I'm working on this, I also have a bird of paradise in the works. And I have sketches of shrimp boats and pelicans waiting to be drawn.

WIP: Working titles? Barnyard Fixins or Melon Man

2010-01-21T20:02:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest work in progress of a farmer at the farmer's market selling wares. This is done on a 260# sheet and is 40" x 28", so its larger than a regular full-sheet. Because I paint so slowly in layers, this seems like it will take me forever to finish! But for now, I'm making headway. Stay tuned for updates.

Iris Demo for Workshop

2010-01-19T19:23:00.000-08:00

Last October I taught a workshop for members of the Mineola League of the Arts. They requested a full-sheet iris, so i drew up the sketch for the composition and furnished numerous reference photos of different iris species. The student created their own colors for each painting.

After moving to Corpus Christi, I pulled out several partially completed paintings and came across this one that I used as my demo for that workshop. I decided it was time to complete it, sign it and put it away.

Studio Corpus

2010-01-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

Well the art studio is about unpacked and I'm back to work. Finally I'll be able to hit the blogs again and begin to upload more works in process. For now, I'll be finishing up old paintings that I have hanging around so that I can put them away. I'm looking forward to seaside compositions in the future.

Break a Leg!

2009-11-15T06:13:00.000-08:00

While 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 into the laundry and I rolled my ankle on it. Broke the fibula in half above the ankle. Now... how do I move with a bum leg?

I will resume posting once settled into my new art studio in Corpus Christi and have unpacked the supplies!

Star Harbor Watercolor Society Workshop

2009-09-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-25T13:00:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

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

Jackson's glass

2009-06-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I enjoyed a workshop with Paul Jackson and this was one of the paintings I worked on in the workshop. The other two aren't completed yet and I hope to complete them. these were Paul's compositions with his beautiful glass pieces that he brought along for us to paint. I always enjoy Paul and it is a blessing to be able to study with a master of the craft.

busy, busy schedule

2009-06-13T21:43:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to pop in here and let everyone know that I've been traveling a lot and not around my studio much to finish many paintings. I went to New Orleans, then Austin for a week, then Chicago for a week and am now in San Antonio. I head to Baton Rouge tomorrow before finally returning home to Tyler on Monday. Paul Jackson and his wife, Marla, will be heading to our house this week and staying with us while he teaches a workshop in Tyler. That is followed by a family reunion and then a camping trip. Whew!

I'm hoping, once this hectic schedule is over with, then I can settle back into a painting routine. I have several new paintings that are in the beginning stages of compositions - I just can't get the time to actually get any headway in painting them! I am looking forward to an empty calendar in August.

Ice Cold and Creamy

2009-05-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

While I'm showing off Caffee Tazza's paintings, I must also add this little diddy I painted last week of the yummy Italian gelato they serve! I've had "gelato" across the U.S. and this is as close to gelato in Tuscany as one can get. Hmmm, I think today should be a gelato day.

2009-05-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here are two paintings that were recently delivered to Caffee Tazza, a wonderful Italian coffee house here in Tyler. On Thursday evenings they have Art and Music Night where they feature a fine artist and a musician and sell Italian wines. Their food is healthy, the finest ingredients, and made fresh every day. Its one of the gems of this town. They sell Daruta Pottery there, hand painted in Umbria, Italy, the feature of these paintings. This was a sale I was glad to make.

Rose Colored Glasses

2009-05-11T08:31:00.001-07:00

For the final painting, I spent time adding darks and toning down high-key areas that were standing out too much. After punching some of the color with a few glazes, I had to call it complete. It is easy to overwork a painting like this and I was just about to do just that!

Rose Colored Glasses WIP 3

2009-04-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

There's always an "ugly stage" in paintings and I find when I hit this stage I am at a crossroads. I can push through it and try to force it to work, and take the risk of ruining a painting; or I can back off and take a breather and look at it from a distance. So I'm taking a break from this one and starting another painting. I know that this painting will need more balance in the values. Darks will have to lay in under the glasswork to ground them on the table. More layers of grey will be added and darker values on the rose bottle in the middle. I will add details on the purfume bottle and glass goblet as well. And maybe wash a brown-grey across the entire table.

Wincie's Garden: Iris Study

2009-04-25T20:37:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd jump in here and post the finished painting I did as a demo for a class I was teaching. This is done with a very limted palette - pthalo blue, permanent rose, new gamgoge, quin coral for the iris petals and beard. Same blue & yellow for the stem with a toss of FUB and burnt sienna. Background was done by mixing a black out of pthalo green and permanent alizarin, then leaning it toward green by adding my green mixture and a bit of FUB. Basically, it was the dreggs of the palette with fresh mixtures of my working paint thrown in.

Rose Colored Glasses WIP 2

2009-04-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Using varying shades of gray, shapes were laid into the glass pitcher and begun in the background window. The dark greens were built up in the horizontal glass and shades of rose and coral were glazed on top of lavender refractions in the center glass piece. Arbitrary tree shapes will be put in the window and the rose will be punched up with strong pigment toward the end, with green & rose reflections bouncing around the painting. The antique perfume bottle to the right is clear cut glass and will be handled with similar grays as the rest of the painting.

Rose Colored Glasses - WIP #1

2009-04-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a new one on the board. I love the way glass refracts, reflects, and distorts. This painting will be primarily done with a large percentage of it being in greys and greyed down color. The pop of color will be in the pinks and a bit of green reflection from the deep green glass laying on its side.

So far I've decided to work on the reflections of color because I know it could make or break the painting. I spent a lot of time doing a detailed drawing, but I knew if I spend all my time on the glasswork without thought to the large expanse of table top, I could paint myself into a corner, so to speak. So I've decided to work on the reflections early on to get some of it established before doing the "fun" part. Delayed gratification!

Amber Globes (final)

2009-04-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post the "last push"

Amber Globes

2009-03-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

This painting is at the 'got to live with it' stage. I'm nearly finished and I usually hang it on a wall and live with it for a few weeks before deciding if it is done. Sometimes there will be something nagging at me and if I live with it for a while, I can decide if its ready to be matted or if there is one more push left in the painting (I may add another layer on the background). But for now, Here's the (maybe) completed piece.

Amber Globes 3 (work in progress)

2009-03-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I had the luxury of five hours of painting time and have been working on the glass facets. I believe you can now see the light pathway that hits the glass and bends through the facets. I've added the darker shapes toward the left and will put more layers of shadows in the globes themselves to create depth and translucency. I am pushing past the "ugly stage" all paintings take on and am looking forward to this in its completion. The painting is 20"x28" and on 260 lb. Arches Cold Pressed archival watercolor paper. The pigments are Daniel Smith and Winsor Newton brands.

Amber Globes 1 & 2 (W.I.P.)

2009-03-27T11:34:00.001-07:00

When I was visiting Malakoff for a workshop this early spring, lovely woman named Norma hosted my stay there. Her home was on a beautiful lake and as she was a former antique dealer, she had a marvelous collection of antique glass pieces. I fell in love with these hand blown amber globes.

We spent an afternoon photographing them and I recently began this painting. It is really slow moving. I'm using new gamboge, permanent rose, winsor red and a bit of quin gold for the globes, greying down some of the reflections in the globes with a speck of winsor green.

The green glass is new gamboge and pthalo blue and Ultramarine Blue. The table top is multi layers beginning with my favorite grey mixture, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna. It has wonderful granulating properties and the pigment separates. To this I added shots of undersea green, quin rose and a bit of the leftovers in the palette. In between I added layers of new gamboge and some of the orange mixtures I put together.

The facets in the glass are done one at a time. This patch took 3 hours using all the color listed previously with occasional hits of turquoise.

Darlin' Clementines

2009-03-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

I painted this demo of clementines in a glass compote for a local art league in Mineola, Tx. I began with the clementines using new gamboge, quin gold and a bit of quin burnt orange. I "stippled" areas, skipping around and leaving a lot of light holes. I wanted this to be a first layer of texture on the skin of the citrus. also, the wedges of citrus was painted loosely, leaving areas of white to allude to veining.

I then began layering these colors with permanent alizarin, quin rose and tinted some of the warm mixtures with cool greens and blues to add depth. I actually painted three paintings in order to further the demo for the audience (you can tell because some of these clementines are darker than the next paintings). At some point I will actually finish the other two! A few orange reflections were added to the stem and base of the compote.

I began to add shadows in the white table runner, tinted the glass a turquoise and then mixed winsor green, ultramarine blue and permanent alizarin to make a warm brown for the table. The background was done by using various wet and dry mixutures of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna (my favorite grays) and adding undersea green, a wonderful granulating color. At first I didn't like the mottled look of the blooming that happened in the background.

But after letting it sit for a while, I began to really like the texture of the background. I improved it by adding another glazing of ultramarine blue and undersea green, using the granulating properties to my advantage. Lace holes are created by merely painting the holes; brown where the fabric rests on the table and blues/lavanders where the fabric folds back on itself.

The Lawn Crew - work in progress

2009-01-31T19:42:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest encarnation of The Lawn Crew. I actually don't know if that's going to be the title or not. After attacking the paper with Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and bringing back the sign on the railway depot, I began to lay in more color, adding depth to the background and detailing the windows, porch railing and stairs. I also began to layer washes of color in the lawn and the cows. I still have a really long way to go on this piece. Now that I've entered college full-time, my painting opportunities have to be carved out and planned! Sorry its taken so long to get this post up.

The Lawn Crew (working title)

2009-01-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

I haven't been around for a while. Most of the early fall was spent in Europe and then on a transatlantic crossing (that solitude was wonderful) immediately followed by serious illnesses with parents, so I have been neglectful. But here's a post for the new year.

I suppose I could call it at the uh-oh stage. I'm working on a piece for an exhibit and it is in the very early stages. I first worked on the sky wanting to create clouds, which I always found difficult in watercolor. I used Winsor Blue because I didn't want the sedimentation of pigments like ultramarine. I also worked on several areas of the background using earth colors mixed with Daniel Smith's Shadow Violet (my new favorite pigment). But when I got to the main building, I inadvertently painting right over a white sign that is hanging under the eaves with the new gamboge and permanent alizarin. Now I'm standing back trying to figure out which method I'll use to pull the white back into the painting, because the sign is a key feature. Right now the paintig is merely blocking in color and using underlayer washes.

Autumn Leaves - Final

2008-08-09T09:17:00.001-07:00

I hadn't worked much on this as I'd been busy with commissions and teaching workshops. But I finally buckled down and completed this so that it can be in a show I'm having on Thursday at Caffe Tazza (my favorite cafe) here in Tyler. I worked on the background and did a little more glazing and punching up color in the portrait, but wanted to stop while she was still fresh. Overworking it would kill the effect. It is much more dramatic in real life because it is a full size watercolor sheet (22"x30"). I call her Autumn Leaves, because that is what I called my granddaughter when she was first born (instead of Autumn Leigh)

Autumn Leaves

2008-07-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

This is the start of a portrait of my granddaughter. I have many layers left to go, but have stopped to contemplate what I want to do with the background. I'll work on that next before finishing up the figure.

Rural Life

2008-06-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

I've done quite a few renditions of this composition in the past. I've inked value studies, I've begun painting starts. I'm not sure why this captivates me so.

The original reference photo was taken at LSU's Rural Life Museum. I first began with blocking in the path of shadows that I hope would take the viewer through the painting.

After adding color I asked artist friends on our Artcolony blog their opinions. Believe me, any artist should take full advantage of having other artists in their lives. I'm lucky I have a group of professional award winners from all over the globe in my group. I've since deepened shadows and am almost finished... not quite yet, but will post the final when it is complete.

Peony Poppy

2008-06-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted work here in a. while. Here's one I'm working on finishing up.

I started out with the poppy itself then after looking at the composition decided to add a third stalk to balance out the background and break it up.

I began to add the background wet in wet dropping in patches of color then returned to the poppy itself and finished off the petals in varying layers and intensity. I've been painting nearly 10 hours a day getting ready for two shows in July.

Self-Portrait

2008-04-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd do a self-portrait and had a bit of fun with it. But painting in front of a mirror isn't my cup of tea, though I used a mirror reference for several stages. Instead... I made faces at my camera!

I began with glazing color. That was the one thing I knew I wanted - lots of fun color. But the jaw was drawn funky. I didn't notice it until I sent a copy to my mom. Even with watercolor, you can fix a problem.

My husband said it captures my personality. It was a hoot doing one as I'd never done one before. I did know, however, that I didn't want a traditional portrait-face.

Enjoy.

Signature Status

2008-03-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Before I left for Chicago this week I got word that another painting was juried into the Louisiana Watercolor Societies' 2008 International Exhibition. This enables me to receive my signature status in the society, which is good news! The painting of the Chicago marquee (title: It's My Kind of Town) was the one that made it in. Funny how I didn't expect that one to be the one! My recent piece titled: Home Sweet Home, of my daughter's home reflected in her husband's motorcycle won one of the top awards at the Hoover Watercolor Society show in Shreveport. I'm teaching so much at the college I have little time to do my own work, but now I'm fired up to begin more paintings!

Orange and Lace WIP 3

2008-02-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

I discovered I have the same problem with colored pencil as I do watercolor. At one point while working on this, I lifted my arm to see pigment all up and down my and and arm... then looked at the page and saw where I drug the pencil dust across the lace! Well, this is a learning experience. Having never worked in colored pencil before, I'm discovering a few things with this first drawing. I stuggle with not only the pencil dust, (watercolor is much more clean in that respect) but also trying to figure out what colors to layer with to represent the lace holes that fold on top of one another. I also am experimenting with what colors to use to represent shadows on white lace, particularly since I'm drawing this on a cream colored surface!

Orange and Lace - WIP 1&2

2008-01-25T19:43:00.000-08:00

Now, here's another one completely out of my box. I'm taking a colored pencil class from Robin Enneking, a local artist here in Tyler and am thoroughly enjoying a new medium. This is the progress of my first colored pencil painting. I find it most difficult because I know exactly how I'd handle this in watercolor... some of the thought process is the same, but not a lot. Still, I can see where colored pencil can be addicting. I started out (bottom picture) laying in light shades of color. The background is a combination of four colors (you can see the layers). I still feel like I don't quite know what I'm doing yet.

Home Sweet Home

2008-01-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

I finally finished this painting. It sat on my easel for two weeks without working on it at all. Once I started teaching art classes at Tyler Junior College (west campus) I became bogged down on developing the program and had little time in the studio. This week I decided I needed to just focus and get it completed. If I kept playing with it, I would completely overwork it to the point of no return. I am pleased with the result.

Home Sweet Home - WIP #7

2008-01-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

I punched up the color in the main subject area and am working on layering the dark areas of the painting to the left. This is my least favorite part and usually where I get sloppy. But after a few layers I began liking the painting again. The chrome reflection on the top left was standing out too much so I layered washes to tone it down so it wasn't as noticeable. I want the focus to be the reflections covering the triangle mass of color. It is almost done. I'm still planning to add more darks and work on details.

Home Sweet Home - WIP #6

2007-12-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

Not much work has been getting done as of late on this painting, but I thought I'd post the latest rendition. I plan to darken the left side and top left to push it farther back into shadow. It is at the state where I now need to focus on what I want to "pop" and what I need to tone down. I don't want too much of the painting competing with itself. The main focus is still the home reflected in the chrome of the motorcycle.

Home Sweet Home - WIP #5

2007-11-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

Home Sweet Home - WIP #3

2007-11-02T15:10:00.001-07:00

I've been exceedingly busy with traveling, dropping off paintings for shows... and working on an oil painting. Yes, I said oil. I thought I'd give a shot at this medium and am having such a time figuring it out. So... for a breather, I went back to my watercolors. I'm posting the latest version os Home Sweet Home. I decided that I better start working on layering in the large dark areas in deep shadow because this would make or break the painting. I'd hate to be working on all this detail, only to lay in a large mass of color and have it not work for me. So far, I like what is happening.

Home Sweet Home - WIP #2

2007-10-03T09:10:00.001-07:00

I continued to block in the main colors of their home, shutters, windows and yard(see previous post for the first stage). I also began to paint the cycle's pedal and its reflections. The main colors being used right now are ultramarine blue and manganese for the sky reflections, perinone orange, quinachrodone orange and burnt sienna with a little ultramarine in shadows for the stucco color and hookers green, transparent yellow, and quinachrodone rose in the garden area. The grays were made with ultramarine mixed with sienna and various mixtures left over in my palette.

Home Sweet Home - WIP #1

2007-10-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

My son-in-law bought a new Yamaha bike and it was dazzling sitting in front of their home in the sun. I was taken with the reflections in the shiny metal. Often when I paint a painting, I agonize over a title and usually the end result isn't very clever. By I knew what I wanted to title this painting even before I began the sketching process of "Home Sweet Home". I wanted the reflections of my daughter's home to be a focal point of the composition, so after I sketched the bike and the distorted contours, I immediately began to add the color of their home and the sky. I knew if I didn't start with these main colors, I could easily lose my place in the complicated drawing.

Tyler Rose

2007-09-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the end product... I worked a few more layers in the background, using various greens, then overlaying a few washes of sap green with a little coral added to grey it down a bit. This painting was done on an 11x15 (quarter sheet) 140# cold press.

Tyler Rose - WIP 4

2007-09-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

At this stage, I finished blocking in most color in the background and put the first layers on the remainings leaves. I also added a little more layering on the petals From here, layering in the leaves and shadows will continue. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this painting before I leave town this week for a trip to see the family!