IF -- Asleep

This use to be a typical sight of my two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Bella and Maggie, trying to fall asleep together.

IF-- Soaked

"If only we had an umbrella, we wouldn't get soaked"

Watercolor flowers simplified with Lisa Engelbrecht

This weekend I took a class with Lisa Engelbrecht @ ASW in  Westminster,CA.

How to paint watercolor flowers simplified.  Her technique was wet-on-wet, dropping in paint and moving the paint around with water to create shape and drama.

IF -- Safari

He's saying "I see you".

IF -- Safari

This is an illustration that I had completed sometime ago and when I was going through all my paintings I found him...just perfect for today's Illustration Friday.

Blue bird

Today was one of those days that I really love.  It was sunny,no wind, and 80 degrees.  It's those types of days that I love taking my painting supplies outside and paint on my patio.  So how appropriate that I would paint a blue bird who happened to be in one of the trees in my yard.  It was so peaceful hearing the bird talk with other birds in the near by tree.

more poppies

I think I've become obsessed with painting poppies.  Each one comes out different.  I'm either satisfied with the poppies itself, but not the background, or the stem and leaves don't come out the way I see them.  So I'll be painting poppies until I get them right.  I normally don't have this much problem when I paint, but I'm painting these free hand, wet-on-wet.  I'm still not certain if I like painting wet-on-wet.  In one way it's rather freeing to paint this way,but  frustrating because I'm not getting the results I want.

Afternoon delight...wet-on-wet

 Yesterday the weather was so nice that I spent the afternoon painting in my backyard patio.

I'm trying to paint more wet-on-wet and really love the the fact that I can build up color fast.

With each painting I applied paint to form my image without having to use a pencil to sketch in the subject.

Chinese Brush

 It's been a few months since I went to my Chinese Brush class.  I've also haven't practiced my Chinese brush technique in months either.  So the Magnolia was a good refresher.   Nan my Chinese Brush teacher demo on green and brown Chinese paper.  With tinted paper you can use white watercolor.