Star Gazer watercolor

My latest in my floral series...

A Star Gazer

Arches watercolor block

Cold Press

9 x 12 inches

Daniel Smith Watercolors

Check out my Slide Show!

Beginning Watercolor Journaling DVD

I just got this wonderful DVD on "Beginning Watercolor Journaling by Christinea Lopp and Gay Kraeger" in the mail yesterday and spent the afternoon watching it. This DVD is a treasure trove of practical information, but also a new way to journal. So go check out their website and order a DVD too! You'll be glad you did.


http://www.watercolorjournaling.com

Red Poppies

My latest watercolor of Red Poppies.

Arches 9 x 12 cold press watercolor block

Daniel Smith watercolors

With this painting I did something different with the background. Usually I'd mix on my palette sap green and FUB to get a dark value of green. This time I applied the sap green first and then over that added my FUB. This was so much easier and I liked the way it looks once it dried.

Loki...a white boxer

My girlfriend Rosemary, who lives in Chicago is adopting a rescue boxer named Loki. She emailed me the picture and I thought I'd surprise her with a watercolor painting of Loki for Xmas. I've never seen a white boxer before, but she looks like a sweetheart. Rosemary loves roses, so I added a collar of roses around Loki's neck. I plan to print out note cards to go along with the framed painting.

Carson 9 x 12 cold press watercolor block

Daniel Smith watercolors

Three daffodils Watercolor

Here is my latest watercolor

Arches 12 x 16 watercolor block cold press
Daniel Smith watercolors

Had difficulty in picking up the detail of the white of the daffodil when I took a picture of this watercolor...just could be the lighting I used when I took the photo.

Pink Dehlia WIP

Here is my latest WIP watercolor of a Pink Dehlia.

Arches 140lb cold press watercolor block

12 x 16 inches

Daniel Smith watercolor paints

I just need to fine tune some of the areas and then I think I'll be done.

Chinese brush paintings from class

Yesterday was my once a month Chinese Brush Painting Class with Nan Rae. We worked on leaves and mums. With each lesson I learn something different allowing the pieces to form in my mind. Nan always makes doing these exercises so easy, but it's not! Learning how to load the paint onto the brush,having just the right amount of water in the brush, and the applying the right pressure...all these factors determine the outcome of each piece. I'm hoping with time and practice my hand will shake less and I'll be able to produce some nice pieces. Until then....practice,practice, and more practice.

Slippery Lady Orchid Watercolor

My lastest watercolor...a Slippery Lady Yellow Orchid.

Arches 140lb waterclock block 12 x 16 in

Daniel Smith watercolors

Blue Flower Poppy

I love painting flowers. This is a macro painting of a blue flower poppy

Arches 140 lb paper
12 x 16
Daniel Smith watercolors

Echinacea flower

I was up until 2 in the morning painting this flower.

16 x 20 watercolor

140 arches cold press watercolor block

Tiger in Watercolor WIP finished

I believe this guy is done.

Tiger face in watercolor wip #2

Here's an update on my watercolor. I pulled out the instructions on the Fredrix watercolor canvas and learned how to add darker values without lifting the paint. More paint, less water on the brush.

Trick or Treat...

Happy Halloween from the Just Crazy About Dogs!

Tiger watercolor on canvas board wip#1

I'm doing an experiment using this Tiger face. I did him in soft pastels and I wasn't too happy with the pastel dust.

This guy was done with watercolor on Fredrix canvas board...9 x12. This is my first time using the canvas board. I liked the way the watercolor looked, but also if I made a mistake, I could easily lift the paint without damaging the canvas. I still need to figure out how to apply more washes without lifting the color...that seems to be the only down side to this canvas board.

Tiger wip #4

Here is another installment of my Tiger. After
laying in and defining all the areas, I wasn't too happy with the way the color came out. The black was very
muted. So I went into photoshop, using the layer feature, I punched up the black area by dropping in black paint.

I'm going to sit on this drawing for a day or two and decide if I'll leave "as-is" or try something else.

Tiger Wip update

Here's another update on the Tiger. I'm now at the stage that I have to fine tune the details. Since I'm not happy with some of color around the tigers mane, I plan to incorporate some colored pencil to see if I can make his mane pop. I plan to also use colored pencil to add the detail to his eyes because I can get a sharper point using my colored pencils.

Tiger WIP #2 update

I worked a little more on the Tiger. He seems to be coming together. The new easel is working out too. One thing I have learned about working with soft pastels...I need to work from the top down,otherwise the pastel dust falls on the surrounding blocked in color.

Tiger WIP done in soft pastels

About 5 years ago I tried working in soft pastels, but the dust was a killer for me. After spending several hundred dollars on soft pastels, I inhaled pastel dust once too much, so I put them away figuring I'd donate them to some one.

Recently when I was looking through my art supplies I came across my different sets of soft pastels and pastel pencils. I thought I'd give working with soft pastels one more try, this time investing in a desk easel so the pastel dust could just fall to the bottom of the drawing instead of me blowing it away.

I love my new desk easel and I think I'm finally going to be able work in soft pastels without inhaling the pastel dust. I found this easel at Swains in Glendale and it was on sale for $44.00...what a deal. When not using the easel, the top folds down and is held in place with buckles that snap in place. There is also a nice size drawer to hold supplies.

So here is another WIP of a Tiger done on 8.5 x 11.5 Fabraino pastel paper using Faber-Castell pastel pencils. So far I've just started to block in the main colors. Total time working about 1 hour.

Plums Chinese Brush Paintings

Yesterday was my once a month Chinese Brush Painting class with Nan Ray. We worked on painting Plum trees, in ink and then colored with watercolor. Nan also demo'd pumpkins for a Thanksgiving card and Pine cones for Christmas cards. I haven't had a chance to try doing the pumpkins or pine cones.