Would you like to see what I have been working on...?

Waterlily 

9 x 12 Watercolor 2013

Hi Art Students! Each summer I take some sort of art class and spend some much needed time, honing my own artistic skills. This summer I had the privilege of  having a private art lesson from a local artist and one of my dearest friends, Laura. She had taken a watercolor class from Jeannie Vodden in California and thought I might enjoy this watercolor technique. Boy did I ever! I have painted one painting(above)with this technique and I am working on my second. I am painting from photographs that I like. In Quite a Pear I have changed the colors of the pears to be pleasing in the area where it will be hung. The really amazing thing is this technique utilizes three colors (a rose, yellow, and Phthalo blue) for most of the painting! Hard to believe but it is true.

 Quite a Pear

18 x 22 Watercolor 

So students think about this, I am mixing colors by layering thin coats of pigments, but I am also changing the values of these layers to get the different colors. Pretty awesome! The picture you see above is still in process, maybe two-thirds of  the way done. However, you can see how I have laid down thin layers of rose and blue and yellow on the right and on the left it has a couple layers of yellow, can you see the difference?

I hope you spent some time this summer working and practicing and honing your own art skills and are ready for a great school year!

Students if you are looking for some tips to prepare for class click here

Watercolor Peony

I spent the day yesterday, with a dear friend, watercolor painting. We had a wonderful time together and I wanted to share the results of our day.  My goal was to learn some preliminary things from her and practice before we took a watercolor class together.

I have never taken a watercolor class, so I wanted to learn from Laura whom I admire. Her artistic talent is inspiring and captivating. Not to mention she is a great teacher, wonderful encourage-er and helps me see God's world through a colorful lens! I am so glad we are friends! We had a lovely day together. Once I got over my initial nervousness and the feeling of being awkward and not knowing what I was doing, the paint started to flow. At one point, the feeling of defeat was creeping in around midday and Laura suggested that we start working on our background as a contrast. Boy that did the trick! We both were able to get a better picture of what we were trying to accomplish.  I can't wait for our Kay Barnes Watercolor Class.

This is my first ever, large format watercolor painting, it is 15 x 24.  It was painted from a photograph of a peony, one of my favorite flowers.