Koi Fish @ Huntington Garden's, Pasadena

During the summer I got an opportunity to visit Huntington Garden in Pasadena with my friend Brenda @ Amber Ridge Desert. It was rather warm while we were there, so I took lots of pictures of the beautiful Koi fish that they had in their Japanese Garden area.

One white bird

Another bird to the collection. He's rather white and had difficulty in getting his true color scanned.

Everyday Matters

I seem to be in a revolving door lately with doctor appointments and doctor's offices that do not have good magazines to read. So I thought I would start doing the Everyday Matter Challenges and take my Moleskine Plain journal that is roughly 9.5" x 7.5", my new Sailor 1911 Bordeaux Extra Fine nib fountain pen that I won on an Ebay auction and use my Copic Sketch markers to add color. I own about 50 Copic Markers and I wanted to learn how to shade using them, so I thought EDM challenges would be a great place to start. I kind of got these out of order and started with my hand first since that was the easiest to do.

Chinese Brush paintings

On Saturday I took my once a month Chinese Brush painting class. Focus of the class was magnolias and birds. On the painting with the bird, the class was just focusing on drawing an outline of a magnolia to get the feeling and volume of the magnolia. The bird on the branch was an embellishment that the teacher showed us how to add afterwards.

On the second painting...this was done on really pale green paper using white paint for the bud of the magnolia and then adding detail with the green paint and a rather water down brush of paint.

I found working on these two painting was very Zen and relaxing.

Two sweeties

I thought these guys looked sweet. I never realized how colorful birds could be.

Can we talk?

I really loved doing this painting. These birds remind me of two people having a conversation.

I'm not sure...

I'm not sure what type of bird this is...probably a parrot, but then too could be a parakeet. With this bird I got to use some of my newer Daniel Smith WC...cobalt teal, blue orche,and lapis. I had wanted to use some Golden fluid acrylic, but when I went to Joann Fabric to buy a couple of colors for some reason I couldn't remember where the art department was in the store. I finally remember about midnight last night.

I have my eye on you!

I've always have liked this photo when I've seen at Wetcanvas in their photo reference library. Something about birds and their bright color feathers and menacing eyes. His head feathers were time consuming...one stroke at a time.

Drama

I should of realized something was amiss yesterday which would set the tone for the rest of the day. I went to Kinko's to get 12 photo copies made and just as I pulled in the sky opened up with a down pour of rain, with a lightening shower in the distance. I made it inside without getting terribly wet. It was after making all the adjustments on the printer that I got 2 copies made before the power went out. I waited around for 20 minutes thinking the power would go back on,but it never did.

When I got home my dog Bella was contemplating her next move!

Then around 11 o'clock as I was winding down for the night I find my husband doubled over in pain and couldn't get up. I ended up having to call the paramedics and they took my husband to the emergency. I'm lucky that the paramedics gave good directions to this hospital because I arrived there before my husband did. It was a war zone at this emergency. If you ever want to see the dark side of a town visit your local emergency room...very scary. After waiting for 2 hours the doctor finally came into to see my husband. I was not impressed with the doctor at all. I could visually see on his face that his mind was racing to the next patient, listening,but not listening. Tests were ordered and finally 6 hours later we were told my husband had a kidney stone. I was relieved that it wasn't too serious to keep in the hospital and that he could go home. Talk about having drama in one day. I'm so tired that I think I could sleep for a week. I'm just thankful that with drinking lots of water and resting the kidney stone will pass.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be a quiet and relaxing day.

Birds,Butterflies, and Fish

I always like the beginning of the month because I get to work on a new subject. As much as I loved painting horses, September will be the month of exploring Birds, Butterflies, and Fish.

So to kickoff September here is my first bird...a Red and orange parrot. I've been reading a few watercolor books...wet-on-wet and decided to try mixing my colors on the paper, instead of traditionally on the palette. Dropping the paint on the paper and seeing what the puddles will do is an interesting way to paint. If anything this might loosen me up.

Post card horse

I was going through all my sketches of horses that I've done this month and I found this little guy that I did free hand using my paint brush to draw the horse and then add color.

Icelandic horse

As promised...my latest horse painting. This guy is a Icelandic horse, which are rather small horses about 12 to 13 hands. There known for their intelligence, gentle personality, and stamina.

Pears...a departure

I know these don't look like horses. I had to take my dog to the vet yesterday while she had her teeth cleaned, so I popped over to Dick Blick in Pasadena. While in Dick Blick I noticed that Dick Blick now carries their own line of colored pencils,but not watercolor soluble colored pencils. I seem to have every brand except Prismacolor watercolor pencils. So I bought a set and decided to test them out doing a simple sketch of pears. I was rather impressed with the Prismacolors wc pencils. The colors are rich and vibrant and 36 cp seems to be just the right amount of pencils to work with. I liked them so much that I plan to do more simple sketches using them and probably take them out in the field with me.

So tomorrow I finish working on my horse painting...I promise I will!!!

Yupo Cat

I decided to take a break today from horses. I've been reading and viewing other artists using Yupo paper, so I decided I give it a try.

I sketched free hand this cat and then used Caran d'Ache Neocolor Artist crayons. I layed in all the color then wet the tip of a watercolor brush to move the color around the yupo paper. I didn't like the way it looked, so I re-worked the drawing. After playing with the paper I finally just layed the color and used a paper towel and Q-tip to blend. This plastic paper is so cool because if you don't like the way something looks you can wipe it off and start again.

Rocky mountain

This guy gave me some trouble with his coloring and I was afraid I might of over worked this painting. I guess I'm becoming an expert at lifting color without lifting the wc paper too!

This is a Rocky Mountain horse which is a rare breed and they are ridden for pleasure and good endurance competitors.

A horse with attitude

I love the expression on this horse...lots of attitude. This horse is a Paint horse which is used on ranches and rodeos.

I've been Tagged

Ok, I've been tagged by my friend

Brenda from http://www.amberridgedesert.blogspot.com/

I've never been tagged so I'm not sure how this works...but according to Brenda I need to tag 4 of my friends or favorite blogs that I visit daily. Other than meeting Brenda face to face, the following blogs are one's I like to visit to see what's new and get ideas. Go check out their blogspots you won't be disappointed!

Linda from Frenchless in France http://lindamathieu.com/ wonderful blog on insights to living in France. She takes wonderful photographs that really give you the flavor of France.

Belinda Del Pesco http://www.belindadelpesco.blogspot.com/

Belinda does wonderful watercolors and prints from her hand craved stamps...lots of wonderful information.

Geninnes' Art Blog http://www.blogdelanine.blogspot.com/

Great illustrations,hand craved stamps,and she has such a well organized studio to die for.

Diahn http://www.diahnott.com/

I use to see her posts at WetCanvas so was pleasantly surprised to find her blog.

I visit many blogs but I thought this would give you a sprinkling of what's out there. Lots of creative people .

Appaloosa with baby

I wasn't sure if I wanted to add grass to this painting since I'm trying to do a series of horses and wanted to keep the back ground white. Baby horses are so awkward when their young.

Gypsy Vanner Horse

I love learning about the various breeds of horse there are. This beauty is a Gypsy Vanner Horse which was developed to pull heavy caravans.

Lipizzaner horses

Lipizzaner horses were used in Spanish Riding School in Austria. I think I like the way this wc painting looks in person. I decided not to paint any background. I'm finding as I focus on one subject i.e. horses,dogs,flowers, per month, I am becoming comfortable with each piece I do.

At night before I go to bed I've been sketching various parts of horses using pen and ink or rendering them in pencil. I've found by doing these nightly sketches it helps me to see the various parts of the horse and think about what I'm actually painting.

Trio of horses

I've been working on this for the last two days off and on. Interesting what you can do with a really limited palette. 9" x 12" watercolor, using DS watercolors

mother and baby

I need to find my color wheel to come up with combinations of colors for my horse pictures. Working small has it's advantages...I can produce a painting in about an hour.

A chesnut

Today I had a doctor appointment in Beverly Hills...meeting up with my new Rheumatologist who happens to be a very published book author. I decided to take my small prismacolor portfolio along so I could work on my new horse drawing. I exchanged the colored pencils with watercolor pencils. It's a good thing I did because I had a lot of down time waiting to have tests done.

I layed down the initial colors and thought I brought my portable watercolor water brush, which I didn't. When I got home much,much later, I used a small #4 round brush to activate the wc pencil color. I was not happy with the Cretacolor aqua monolith pencils. The color did not blend very well so I used my Daniel Smith watercolor paints. I was much happier with the results.

Working 4 x 6 postcard size is a good size to experiment with. I also was working on this painting on my patio. The breeze was so strong that the wind dried my wc paints rather quickly allowing me to work fast and add a few layers.

Horses

I thought I'd devote the month of August to painting and drawing horses. Since I've only painted one horse in my life, I thought it would be fun to learn something new.

I plan to paint horses using my own color combination...getting away from traditional colors.

I also plan to paint these guys in a really small format 4 x 6 watercolor postcards.

trees

This is my last landscape for the month of July. I used my liner brush and my deer foot brush to do some of the detail in this painting.

I still have a lot to learn about painting landscapes. Each one presents a different task to workout. But now, I'm ready to move on to something else. I will continue do landscape sketches and hopefully in time will feel comfortable executing them.

Japanese Garden @ Butchard Garden, Victoria, Canada

Even though I didn't get to paint 31 landscape paintings for the month of July, I did paint!!!! Each piece got easier and I found I was using a lot of my watercolor tools that I've collected over the years.

This is from a photo of mine that I took last year in April at Butchard Gardens. April through September is the best time to really see this garden at it's best. Silly me bought a year pass thinking I'd be visiting the garden monthly, not knowing my life would move me further away from the garden. At least I have over a 100 photo references pictures to work from.

Painting landscapes really stretched me artistically. I found I had to figure out how to convey more without being a slave to a detailed sketch. I also found my hundred watercolor technique books helpful. If I got stuck I could usually find a solution in one of those books.

Bryce Canyon Utah

I know the landscape is more red,but here is my interpretation of Bryce Canyon.

reflective painting

Tried to capture the reflection of the hills and trees.

No painting today

On a sad note, today my mother-in-law died. She was 82. She had been ill for the past year and her health steadily declining. I was just rather thankful that my husband was able to fly home in time to say his goodbyes before she passed. Sometime in August we will fly to Canada for the memorial service.

cliffs, rocks, and ocean

This painting was relaxing and fun to do. The only problem I had was with the grasses between the rocks. It wasn't until I was almost done that I found my liner brush and was able to do some of the grasses with the liner.

The beach

There is always something relaxing about the beach.

Meadow

This is a landscape from memory. I've been playing all day with my Derwent watercolor pencils on various papers, and I've come to the conclusion that the wc pencils are most effective on traditional watercolor paper 140lb or 300lb with a smooth surface.

This drawing was done on Lama Li paper. I didn't like the fact that the paper is rough and the watercolor pencil doesn't glide on when the pencil is dry or even when it's wet. I tried applying the wc pencil to a wet brush and then applying it to the paper. If the brush is too wet the Lama Li just soaks up the color and the paper itself starts to lift.

I have used Faber Castell watercolor pencils on 300lb paper and the pencils work with no problem. The color goes on smooth and when you take a brush to the wc pencil, it moves like traditional watercolor paint.

So If I do use watercolor pencils in the future, I'll stick to my Faber-Castell and 300lb watercolor paper.

Experimentation is good and that is what this whole blog is about.

Another view of yosemite

Another view of Yosemite. I did this in my Lama Li watercolor book using all of my watercolor pencils.

Somewhere in the UK

I decided to try my Derwent signature watercolour pencils. I had bought these years ago, and recently found the 24 pack tin when I was setting up my studio in my new house.

I also used Prismacolour pencils as the first layer and then added more colour with the Derwent wc pencils. I used my watercolour brush, the type that hold water on the top to fine tune the painting. This was a quick sketch and I like the intensity of the wc pencils.

Landscape done in Chinese Brush painting "Love & Good Luck"

Today was my monthly Chinese brush painting class that I'm taking with Nan Rae in Burbank,California. www.nanrae.com

The lesson of the day was using black ink and creating a landscape painting. I've been putting off working with the black ink because I wanted to get another set of Chinese brushes that I would use only for my ink work. Anyway, using the ink was easy and found the whole process rather relaxing. I basically did a very thin line drawing in ink of the tress; then filled in some of the branches with ink and then with watercolour. I was amazed at how easy it was to make images of mountains with just the side of the brush. The paper I used was rather thin flower paper...it absorbs really well. Once the painting is dry I turned the painting over and on the back side I used a large hake brush and wet the whole backside. Then I came in with a very faint colour, which I spread on the entire back of the painting.

On the bottom right hand corner is my official Chinese Chop or Seal. The seal establishes the artist's identity and is used to authenticate the painting. So my seal is my first name translated phonetically with Chinese character representing each syllable.

So "Irene" translated means I= Love; rene= Good Luck;

So my artist identity is "Love & Good Luck." I just think having my own Chinese Chop/Seal is so cool.

Rocks

Another small landscape piece of a rock fence.

Grove of trees

Grove of trees 6" x 6" wc paper. Daniel Smith watercolours.

Mountains

I think I work best at midnight. I was up again painting and was rather surprised when I looked at the time.

Italia wc paper 6" x 6", Daniel Smith WC.

Monet's Giverny Waterlillies

I think the best part about traveling is all the great photo references one can store up. I was going through my photos and I came across one of the many photo references that I took the last time I was at Giverny in France.

This piece was done on Stonehenge paper 9"x12" using Prismacolor colored pencils and then Daniel Smith watercolours.

I started this last night at midnight using just colored pencils. Sometime this afternoon I was getting frustrated with the drawing not coming together. So I brought out my watercolors and just started dropping watercolor over the colored pencil. I wasn't sure what the out come would be, but I found that by using the watercolor over the cp...the watercolor filled in the white specks of the paper that the colored pencil didn't cover. Then I was able to go back over the drawing with colored pencil to give the piece more dimension. If anything I learning about myself is that I'm getting more confident in trying new things with my art.

Wet on Wet

I was a rather busy girl today creating art. I like working in various sizes, smaller the better! This watercolor was done on Italia watercolor 140lb paper 6" x 6", using my Raphael watercolor set.

Raphael watercolour travel set

Yesterday when I was at Dick Blick I also got a Raphael watercolour travel set for under $20. I wasn't so much interested in the pans of paint,but more the compact size of the travel set. So I decided this morning to try out the colours that came in the travel set on my Lama Li paper. I did a colour swatch and this small practice piece. I'm convinced that any type of watercolour will look good on this paper.

I was pleasantly surprised with the saturation of the Raphael wc and just as I thought, Lama Li makes any wc paint look good. I'm not sure if Raphael wc are student grade, but my guess is that they probably are. Anyway, once I use up the paints I'll just squeeze my favorite Daniel Smith paints in the set.

Yosemite reflective colored pencil

When I lived in Northern California, my husband and I would go to Yosemite for a couple of days several times a year. He'd take large format photographs and I would attempt to either paint or draw. Plein Art at Yosemite during the summer is the pits. You have to contend with the bugs,heat, and the tourist. But what can I say...it's Yosemite and I love it there.

Yesterday I took an artist break and drove down to Pasadena to Dick Blick. I went to buy a couple of tubes of paint, but ended up buying a 24 pack of Derwent coloursoft pencils that were 1/2 off;two new art books;a Raphael travel set of watercolours, and 4 watercolour brushes.

So this morning, while my husband was working on the shaded side of the backyard, I took my new Derwent colored pencils and my Lama Li sketchbook outside and did this 8.5" x 11" colored pencil drawing in an impressionist style. The Derwent coloursoft pencils are nice, but would of liked a larger range of colors...I ended up getting some of my Prismacolors to enhance my drawing. Also, as much as I love my Lama Li sketchbook paper, the paper really isn't suited for color pencil work. It is fabulous for watercolors, but with colored pencil I found I had to really press hard on the surface to fill in the ridges

I really like working in an impressionist format and I completed this drawing in less than 2 hours.

Geeky Illustration Friday

Sometimes we just need a book.

Somewhere in Greece

I know the perspective is off and I can't seem to remember where this is, but I do know it was somewhere in Greece, on one of the islands. I was just playing around with a limited palette of Daniel Smith watercolors. Who says mountains can't be blue,water shades of yellow, and trees purple. I rarely just play when I paint and after I realized the perspective was off, I just went for it. Next I'll use a ruler!

Lama Li 8.5" x 11" paper.

Ocean and beach

I love the ocean and this beach reminded me of Santa Cruz in Northern California.

Lama Li wc paper; Daniel Smith watercolors; 8.5" x 11"

Montana Clouds

It's been a long time that I've been excited about watercolor paper and paints, but when you have a combination of Daniel Smith watercolors and Lama Li watercolor paper, painting is so much easier and fun. 8.5" x 11".

I felt like the painting painted itself. I think too finally all the years of struggling to paint, I finally just allowed the paint do it's thing.

Lavender fields of Provence

I think I'm finally back on track. This month I'll be focusing on doing landscape watercolors from some of my favorite places. What I would like to accomplish this is month with my paintings, is to be able to filter out a lot of the information that I see on my photos. Less is better.

This painting was done on 8.5" x 11" Lama Li watercolor paper. I used Daniel Smith watercolors.