Daffodils Usher In Spring

Spring's Happy Dance

11 x 7.5 inches
watercolor

For me, daffodils are the number one signal that Spring has arrived!  In Colorado where I was raised, crocuses, and even hyacinths, always arrived before it really was Spring and they poked their buds out of the snow.  Not that it didn't snow occasionally on the daffodils, but by the time the tulips arrived, it was May and almost time for summer.  In a state where winters are long, but thankfully intermittent, the arrival of Spring was always special.

Now we live in the Tampa Bay area and are experiencing the gentlest of winters this year - fantastic after the last two years where it was not so nice.  I know it's all relative, and Florida winters do not compare to icy, cold winters in the higher latitudes of the continent, and that's what makes me so genuinely appreciate the lovely winter we have had this year!

Gorgeous sunset on the Gulf

I chose this photo, because of its simplicity.  There is a ritual every evening that the weather is nice, there are always lots of people celebrating sunset on the beach.

Back to Spring's Happy Dance -  This painting is available in my Etsy shop, DreamON. It has been painted, for Spring, in watercolors and gouache on Arches 140 lb. Cold Press watercolor paper.

Old Photos, New Fun

A few months ago, we took a trip out west to meet with my husband's family members to go through and clean out the contents of a relative's apartment when she was no longer able to maintain her independent living status. A few layers of dust and dirt gave way to uncovering a lifetime of memories. Among her things were photos of young girls on the threshold of womanhood, being silly and laughing about the things young women do together. A couple of them revealed that fur collars were quite the "in" trend of this day.

One photo in particular was a picture of a shy, young girl standing beside a school bus, smartly attired in the fad of the day.

This photo interested me, and I have chosen to paint her in the sepia tones of the photo. This project is a work in progress, and shown as it is today in my watercolor version.

I am fading out the background to give the affect of time in a misty, vague sort of way. Here the painting is shown after the first session working on the it.

Here Comes Mischief in Cat Form!

Misty Gray Cat is a painting about a kitty that we used to have. A soft, pretty gray-colored shelter kitten we got when my son could hold her upside down in one hand, she grew into a beautiful, although squirrely, cat who could be gentle and loving or as fierce as a tasmanian devil when she visited the veterinarian (which thankfully she rarely needed).

Misty, the painting, is done in pure watercolor on Arches 140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor paper with mostly Winsor-Newton paints. (I have a few other brands, all professional quality, and intermingle them on my palette.) It definitely reflects the personality of this loving tasmanian, split-personality, kooky kitty. Cool colors dominate the composition.

Misty Gray Cat can be found at DreamON by clicking here. Enjoy!

Painting Of The Day - Yellow Margarita

I seem to be continually falling behind on the Painting A Day plan. I had an artist friend over yesterday, and we talked and painted and talked for close to 7 hours with a little dinner in the middle, and this little painting is my complete effort for the day yesterday. Today I painted with the group at Studio 1212 and only came up with a start for a larger half-sheet painting. Tomorrow I sit in the Artists Guild Gallery on Anna Maria Island. Sometimes when there aren't many customers I can complete a painting. It hasn't been really busy when I've been there the last two Thursdays, but just as soon as I plan on it, we will be busy. So goes the Painting A Day plan.

Anyway I hope you like this little painting, Yellow Margarita. I went out and picked the daily bloom from my ailing hibiscus plant (that I talked about a few days ago on the blog) and put it into a margarita glass, and I liked the complementary (or close to complementary) color scheme of the display. So while Nancy and I talked and painted, this is what was developing on my side of the table while she was doing some watercolor sketches on her side. This watercolor painting is 7.75 x 7.5 on Arches 140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor Paper. Look closely, and you can read the Arches trademark in the lower right-hand corner of my photo. My DH's camera takes such amazing pictures that you can almost see the tooth of the paper. Please check my Etsy Shop, DreamON for more info about the painting (and others) by clicking here.

Abandoned in the Fog

Today was my opportunity to gallery sit in the Artists' Guild Gallery of Anna Maria Island. It was apparent that the legions of tourists that frequent the island in "season" have abandoned us for the summer. Quiet would be an understatement.

I brought my travel watercolor kit just in case. This includes a small palette of Yarka watercolors (which are more than adequate for the job), some Viva paper towels, three watercolor brushes, some pencils for sketching, an eraser, a sketchbook and some watercolor paper. I also brought one of my packets of photos that I want to paint.


After an initial sale, there were some other guests numbering in total 15, and then it got very quiet, so I got out my stuff and began to paint a watercolor of a sailboat in total fog. Actually I think the picture might have been taken last summer when there were a number of fires in Florida and it was really smoke and fog, but it might have been just fog. Anyway the background of the photo was pretty much totally white, which I thought was a really cool effect.

I am calling this painting Abandoned In The Fog. The sailboat, moored on the lake near where we live, has obviously seen better days and is a stationery object, loved by birds as a roost. I kept wishing I would see someone come to love it, but after a year in that position, someone moved it closer to shore, and we can't see it any longer. Actually I loved having it in my line of sight, but oh, well.

I will put this painting up on my Etsy site. Click here.

Beach Finds Look Like Art

We found things like these on the beach yesterday in a number of locations. Aren't they beautiful and strange? They are a work of art in themselves. They obviously contained seeds belonging to something; however, none of the ones we saw were attached to anything, like the one in the picture is. At the time my friend, Nancy, thought they might be egg casings of perhaps the rays which are so common on Florida's West coast. Upon further research she found a website and conversed with them back and forth by email, and through that exchange, determined that they are egg capsules deposited most likely by the Pear Whelk.

Here's the website to find out about such things: http://www.jaxshells.org/eggch.htm

What is fascinating to me it is that almost every time I'm at the beach, I find different things among the debris deposited by the tides than were there previous times. Nancy grew up in Florida, and has much more beach knowledge than I. Yesterday we poked along and looked at these things while our group walked ahead, determined to set the land speed record for the mile. My artist's soul is thrilled by these small discoveries, and delving into them was just wonderful.

Today's Painting a Day is entitled Rose and Lace. I started by laying down a lace pattern in blue watercolor, then drew the rose in and painted it in shades of red and green. I thought it needed unifying, because the top half had basically nothing going for it other than the texture, so I proceeded to spatter and spray to provide a solution, which seems to satisfy me, at least for the moment. This painting is 6 x 9 inches on Arches Cold Press Watercolor paper and uses 100% watercolor paints. Find it here.

Painting This Afternoon On My Deck

This afternoon was lovely, and I decided I wanted to be outside and paint out there, so I did. Painting outside presents all sorts of challenges to the artist. First of all, we just naturally want to paint everything we see, and it's harder to narrow our focus. The light changes rapidly. The wind blows and dries our paint much faster. At least on my deck, there are no bugs, flies and bees. But given all the distracting conditions, it's just nice to be outside, so why not paint?

This is the way the palm trees look. I can't see the bottoms above the railing of my deck, but I decided to put the ducks in the second they landed. This one's called Iffy Afternoon On My Deck. It looked like rain was a possibility with the little dark clouds up there.

This one was also fun to do. I put a yellow wash down and painted into it with a few colors while it was still wet. Then I began to describe the outside edges while the inside dried. It's called Palm Fronds From My Deck.

These paintings are both very close to 11 inches square and painted in watercolor.

Go to http://DreamON.Etsy.com to buy any of my Painting a Day offerings.