Since it's become far too obvious that I'm not blogging regularly anymore, I'll just make it official and declare that once in a while I'll do a painting update. here's a compendium since I last posted in April.
I was longing to plant my little patio garden, but the date of last freeze here in Albuquerque is May 20, so I decided to scratch the itch by doing some flower paintings. While I waited I painted.
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| 3"x 3" gouache |
I've been longing to learn a little more about painting with transparent watercolors. I've been acquainted with
Maggie Latham since the old WetCanvas days, back in about 2004, and reconnected with her on Facebook more recently. We even traded ATCs last year, which is a sad story, as it turned out that two paintings she sent me never arrived. (I hate to think some unscrupulous person received them, and still harbor a small hope that they'll turn up one day, perhaps one of those times when something is found in a crevice in the Post Office 20 years later. <sigh> I know, unlikely.) She's so generous that she surprised me with other paintings of hers! Isn't this one lovely?
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| Maggie Latham 2017 ATC watercolor |
Inspired by Maggie's beautiful watercolor washes, showcased in personal challenge she she did in April, painting 100 4"x4" watercolor seascapes, I realized I had a LOT to learn about how to use transparent watercolor effectively. All of her "little gems" were done with multiple colors, as she skillfully let the paint do what it does, not trying to over-control it.
I needed a subject to play with, however. I bet you can see where I'm going with this. Flowers, of course! Have you seen the work of Jean Haines? I mean, she's world famous for her very loose, wonderfully washy watercolors. I loved looking at
her floral paintings and derived a lot of inspiration from her work, as you'll see here.
The paintings below are small, so I've posted them with a white mat to keep the scale closer to the original.
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| Daisies, 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor |
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| Poppies, 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor |
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| Glories, 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor |
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| Looking Up, 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor |
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| Blue and White, 6" x 2.5" watercolor |
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| After Jean Haines, 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor |
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| Glads, 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor |
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| Hollyhocks, 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor |
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| Pink Rose, 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor |
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| Mini rose, 1' x 1.25" watercolor |
And these are a fun series I did, returning to gouache, all 3"x3" on different watercolor papers,
So that's it for May and June. Hope you enjoy looking at them!
