Rocks and Stones

Last night I was looking for something quick to paint using my new watercolor set of Yarka St. Petersburg artist watercolours.  I had bought a 24 pan set which has a very good range of colors.  I was surprised how vibrant and rich the colors are.  So I got out an old photo of rocks and stones.  I was surprised how many pictures I take of rocks...too many to count.  Anyway, I applied the paint to some drawing paper scraps that had texture already impressed on the paper.  The paper absorbed the paint and dried quickly, rendering
rich deep colors.  My Daniel Smith watercolors are my favorite, but these could easily come in as a close second.  Never can have enough watercolor sets!!!

I have a secret....

I like playing $250 million cash spectacular scratchers.  For $10.  I have the chance of winning up to $250 million.  But I don't kid myself.  I just like the thrill of scratching off those boxes to see what I can win.  Usually I win another ticket.  But most of the time I've won anywhere from $20 to $50.  Well today I bought a ticket and I won $100.00.   I uncovered a "win" symbol and won all the 20 prizes automatically on the card.  I had to take a quick photo of it....  One can only dream of winning $250 million!!LOL

Boxer mix painting complete

I just finished this guy.  Daniel Smith watercolors, 300lb watercolor paper .

Daily Sketchbook

I took a online class called "Daily Sketchbook" by Gina Rossi Armfield over at www.sweetsistergina.typepad.com.  It's an online class that gives ideas and techniques of how to keep a daily sketchbook, using anything as an inspiration.

The first exercise was drawing and painting a eagles head. This is my interpretation.

She also had a rather colorful hawk on her website and I wanted to see if I could get the same rich and vibrate colors that she got on her hawk.  I probably will paint another interpretation of this hawk using different colors.

Up until I painted these two hawks, I really never paid attention to their beauty.  I plan to find more photo references and see if I can capture them using my new Daniel Smith Primatek mineral pigments.

Boxer mix WIP

This is a wip of a cute boxer mix puppy.  I just loved the expression she had on her face and the way she tilted her head for the camera.

Arc Custom notebook system

 I have a new tool for my art room.  I make watercolor journals with my rubicoil, which I love; but sometimes I want the ability to remove a page to work on.  At Staples, they have this customized notebook system called the Arc.  The notebooks with a leather cover cost about $19.95 and is filled with some paper.  It's not a bad price and I might go back and buy one.  Looking at this Arc, I realized I could punch my own paper and create a notebook using scraps of  card stock,scrapbook paper,transparent sheets, and watercolor paper.  So I bought the Arc punch,the notebook rings, and some of their pages.  I then went to Michaels and found some heavy plastic clear scrapbook paper with a simple design.  I bought two of those.  When I got home I cut the heavy plastic down to 7 x 10.  then I cut down my watercolor paper; transparent sheets,and went through my scrapbook scraps.  I assembled the pieces and created my own notebook with all the paper I like using.  I even got inspired to do a quick watercolor on a transparent sheet.  Now I can't wait to use this and fill the pages with my art.

Small Watercolor palette

With only 66 days until my trip to Italy, I thought it was about time that I put together a small watercolor palette with my favorite colors.  I wanted something compact that I could use while waiting in the airport and while on the plane.  I bought this empty watercolor box maybe 2 years ago from Ken Bromley Art Supply in the UK.

The colors I used in the palette are Daniel Smith: Yellow Cobalt, New Gamboge, Transparent Orange by Schimke, Alizarin Crimson,Ultramarine Violet,French Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Teal blue, Quin Gold, Phthalo Yellow Green; Sap Green,Green Gold, Burnt Umber, and Ivory Black.

In my desktop watercolor palette I had 4 more colors,but I thought I could go with the selection  I choose.  Some of these colors I can easily mix to create,but didn't want to bother.

Portrait of Johanna Staude

This portrait was inspired by Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Johanna Staude".  Painting my interpretation of Johanna came rather easily, which surprised me since I rarely do portraits...never can get the face right.  Away, I rather happy with the way this turned out.

Daffodils

Finally my daffodils are blooming in my front yard.   They make me smile whenever I see them.  Unfortunately the fragrance is not so pretty.

Poppies in a row

I think this is one of my favorite watercolors of poppies.  Instead of doing a pencil line drawing, I used watercolor pencil to sketch in the basic shapes.  Then I dropped in watercolor.  It's those tiny details that made this painting pop for me.

A lone pine imagination painting

The colors remind me of Bryce Canyon in Utah.  The oranges and reds and the glow of the fading sun.

red and blue sea

I must be thinking about the ocean a lot because a lot of my imagination paintings have an ocean theme going on.

One man walking through the foothills

I just love this concept of imaging a painting and see it unfold as I add color.  Even the small detail of the man hiking in the distance gives the illusion of him walking up the foothills

The raging blue sea

This is one of the small paintings I did the imagination landscape class that I took back in February.  When I was dropping in the paint, I was thinking of the sea right before a major storm.

Poppies

I love poppies.  This was just a quick study in my new journal. I plan to do a few more.

Handmade watercolor journal

I love making watercolor journals that I'll probably never run out of journals to fill.  This journal measures 7.5 x 7.5 and has 5 signatures that were hand stitched, then I applied book cloth to the spine.  Once the glued dried I added the cover.  I used scrapbook paper for the cover and used wasbi tape to seal the edges.

As you can see, I've already done a few watercolor paintings.

My new IPAD

Look what I got today!!!  I got the new IPAD 3.  Shamelessly I can now say that I'm a two IPAD household.  One for me and one for my husband. And I didn't have to wait in any line.   Last week I had gone to a local Apple retailer and they were taking sign ups.  I was third on the list.  So this afternoon I picked mine up.  It's in a black case and it's 64 GB.  The graphics are great and I love the built in camera and face time. 

Today I also got my two orders from Daniel Smith.  I bought 16 Daniel Smith watercolor sticks.  The colors are just as great as what you would get in the tube version.  I also bought two travel size watercolor brushes and restocked some of my wc's that I was running low.  You know what I'll be doing all weekend...painting and playing with my new IPAD....

Maddie...

This is my cute little Maddie before she got her hair trimmed.  I did this painting all free hand...meaning, no pencil drawing;  I just went straight for color and created wet on wet.

Roses...

I love flowers, especially roses.  Living in Southern California, we always have lots of sunny days, so my roses grow really fast.  This is a bouquet from my backyard.

dropping paint

I've been doing a lot of experimenting lately using various papers and just dropping watercolor paint onto a really watered down piece of paper.  In this painting I just dropped oranges,yellows, and reds and just moved the paint around.  Once it was dry, I went back in and added some red to form flowers.  When the paper was dry, I took my black sharpie and looked for shapes and lined those in.  The completed painting reminded me of sunsets that I sometimes see living in the high desert.