Chinese Brush paintings

At my last Chinese brush class I worked on the following: Peony and ducks.

Once I got the over all shape of the ducks, it was fun to paint the same duck but with different color of feathers. As for the Peony...my teacher Nan showed me how I could achieve a more uniform Peony. I had been practicing Peonies on my own and was rather frustrated with my attempts. When I mentioned this to my teacher, she held my hand and gave me some tips on how I could paint my favorite flower.

Botanical Series Himalyan Poppy

I had finished this watercolor a month ago, just realized I hadn't added to my blog. Arches watercolor block, Daniel Smith watercolors. 12 x 16.

Faces of three ladies

I rarely have done portraits because I never can get the portions right, so I thought I start a collage of portraits of ladies. These are all made up from my imagination. I did each piece in my moleskin book and then used photo shop photo merge to stitch them together. I pulled out my neocrayons to add color and then used a tissue to blend.

Angel mix media art journal

I just love YOU TUBE because one can find all of these cool tutorials on line. I happen to come across a mix media artist ...Suzi Blu http://www.suziblue.blogspot.com/.
Suzi's blog should have her link to her you tube videos.

Suzi has 68 videos to watch and I have spent the last 2 days watching all of them. Her videos are full of information about creating mix media art, sprinkled with humor and her cute animals...Lulu her puppy and cat...can' remember the cat's name, but I think it's Poo Poo.

I've always have admired the work of mix media artist, but for my own work it's been just one medium at a time...mostly watercolors,or oil pastels, or colored pencils, or Chinese Brush painting. So after viewing all of Suzi's 68 videos, I decided to take the plunge and start my very first mix media art journal.

My inspiration has been my baby girl Sophie.

Angel Dog...gesso,oil pastels,acrylic paint, and glitter.

Angels everywhere...gesso,oil pastels,acrylic paint and glitter.

Sophie my Angel Dog...gesso,acrylic paint, watercolors, and oil pastels.
It's been rather freeing to work this way, finally able to use my assortment of art supplies that I've collected over the years. So now my days will include working on my Angel Dog mix media art journal.

Little bird Chinese Brush

I have been having fun this month practicing my Chinese Brush painting skills. Things I've learned...porcelain palettes and mixing trays are the best. To control water in brush, tap brush a few times to release the water; mix paint onto brush, dab paper towel to get excess, and then apply to watercolor paper. Now if I can remember this when I go to my class.

Goldfish chinese brush

Lately I seem to be practicing a lot of my Chinese brush strokes. I recently got a box of Chinese watercolor paints from China. Wow what a difference in pigment and shades of color. So here is my take on Goldfish!

More Chinese brush

Last night I did a couple small Chinese Brush paintings on watercolor paper.

A Crocker Spaniel

Gold fish swimming

Butterflies and bees.

A moment in time

One of the reasons I like learning Chinese Brush painting because it is so different to Western approaches to art. Chinese Brush captures a moment in time. It is very freeing to paint enough to recognize the subject and not worry about getting every fine detail down. So each day I've been practicing my brush work. Today I did these 3 using watercolor paper.

Yellow Alstromeria

Pontedaria

Meilin Orchid