Burst of Beauty

"Burst of Beauty" 8 by 10, Original Watercolor Painting

"Burst of Beauty" is my latest watercolor painting. I had some help from a Facebook friend with the title and I think it's perfect (Thanks Chris!). I couldn't resist painting that bold, detailed center. I also loved the color of the flower even though I did change it a bit. 

I used two different types of masking fluid for the center of the flower and when I peeled it off I couldn't help but notice that one caused the paper to yellow while the other did not. I used a Masquepen for the outside and Incredible White Mask on the center. I experienced the exact same thing on the previous painting. I either never noticed that the Masquepen caused yellowing before, or it's only happening now because the bottle is just about empty. In any case I'm going to make a mental note and see what happens when I open a new bottle. 

This fun painting is available for purchase in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested. :)

Purple Fuschia - Mini Watercolor # 2

"Purple Fuschia" - Mini Watercolor Painting

Mini watercolor painting number 2 is complete! I so love Fuschia flowers and I have to do a larger painting of them at some point.

This is only the 2nd mini painting I've put up, but I'm very disappointed in how they appear on the computer screen. Scanning them and blowing them seems to take away their beauty. These look SO much better in person.

Anyway, I'm going to continue doing them and remember, they're only $15!

Have a great Friday!

Hibiscus Watercolor Paintings

 "Hibiscus" 9 by 12

"Tropical Hibiscus" 9 by 12

I decided today to list my two hibiscus watercolor paintings on Etsy. I painted "Hibiscus" and "Tropical Hibiscus" a couple years ago. They were experimental doodles I guess you could say, but I ended up liking them a lot. I've also sold several prints of each. I've had them hanging in my studio, but I think it's time to let them go.

If you're interested in either of them please visit my Etsy shop. :)



Charitable Item for March

"Tennessee Rose" 5 by 7, Watercolor

Well it's that time again and I have selected a new Charitable Item of the Month on Etsy. This month the item is this original watercolor painting. 100% of the sale will be donated to the American Red Cross. As you know the Red Cross does a great deal of different things from blood donation, recovery after a natural disaster, to helping military families. When you donate to the American Red Cross you know that your money will go where it is most needed at that moment.

My charitable item for last month sold and I was able to make a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I was so happy to do it and to be able to give something back. I hope this one sells too!

Have a great day!!

Free Shipping on Etsy

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving! Mine was pretty quiet, as it was just my husband and myself. He even did the cooking!

In the spirit of "Black Friday" I thought I'd have a sale on Etsy this weekend. Now through midnight on Sunday, I'm offering free shipping on all handmade items (this excludes pre cut fabric). Just use coupon code "freeshipping" at checkout.

Happy Holidays!!

Summer Pond

"Summer Pond" 8 by 10, Pastel Painting

Available Here

I have been working the past 3 days on this little painting. When I first came across the photograph I said, "This is going to be fun," with all those variations of color and detail. And it was a lot of fun. I was unsure of how it was going to turn out, but I'm pretty happy with it. I've never spent so much time on a painting, and I've never painted something that's so "busy." But I loved painting the reflections in the water and all the different shades of green in the lily pads.

The size is 8 by 10, and it was done on pastelbord with pastel pencils.

Have a great day!

"Like a snowflake we are the beauty of one." -Kathleen Arnason

Blue Poppy

"Blue Poppy" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

"Blue Poppy" is a soft pastel painting done with pastels and pencils on Bristol board. I did a little experiment with this painting. I've been having some trouble blending pastels on the Bristol board, particually with the backgrounds, so I decided to try applying some Colourfix primer to the background to see if that would help. I drew the flower first, and then went around it with the primer. It actually worked pretty well. I was able to apply more pastel and it was easier to blend. So that worked well, however, this paper presents a whole new problem for me... It doesn't scan or photograph very well. In fact scanning a painting done on this paper is a lost cause. I photographed "Blue Poppy" and tried to correct the color as much as possible.

So anyway, I don't know how much more I will be using Bristol board in the future. I was playing around with some different papers that I have yesterday and I just may have found a winner! I've had it for months and never even tried it. I'm going to play around with it a little more before I reveal which paper it is :).

I really enjoyed painting this poppy. This painting is very sweet. I don't think I've ever used that word to describe a painting before, but the colors are so nice together (the greens and blues). It's so much prettier in person!!

Have a lovely afternoon! :)

When Life Gives You Lemons

"When Life Gives You Lemons" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! I don't know where that saying came from, but I like it, and I was thinking about it as I was painting these lemons today. This was such a fun little still life to paint. It's on Ampersand Pastelbord, and was completed with pastel pencils.

I'm not quite sure if I want to sell this painting, or keep it for myself :). If I decide to keep the original, I will make prints available in my Etsy shop.

Fresh Fruit

"Fresh Fruit" 8 by 10, Pastel Painting

SOLD

I started painting "Fresh Fruit" two days ago. I wanted to try a painting a little larger than what I've been doing lately. So I pulled out one of my 8 by 10 pastelbords and got to work on this still life. I soon learned that I really prefer to work small, at least with still lives. But this painting was a lot of fun to complete. I particularly enjoyed capturing the fresh, bold color of the fruit.

This painting is listed in my Etsy shop and can be purchased here.

Creativity Boot Camp Day 12

"Smooth Sailing" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

The word prompt for day 12 of Creativity Boot Camp was "Smooth." Water first came to mind, and then I thought of this picture that I took from a ferry boat on my way to Mackinac Island last summer. It worked perfectly!

I'm slightly disappointed by the scan of this painting. It just didn't pick up the subtle colors very well. There is a lot of soft purple and pink the sky and water that you can't really see from this scan. Oh well, you get the idea.

I used mostly soft pastels for this painting, and just touches of pastel pencil for the sail boat. I absolutely love painting skies and water, especially together. It's been quite some time since I have, and my love for it was rekindled with this painting! :)

Just one more painting to go for Creativity Boot Camp!

Creativity Boot Camp Day 11

"Hush" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Well I'm just on a roll today! Actually my last painting "Full Bodied" was just about done this morning. It just needed a few finishing touches. I managed to complete two paintings today, and I baked a batch of oatmeal cookies! Yum!

"Hush" is my painting for day 11 of Creativity Boot Camp. I thought of night right away, so the moon seemed like an appropriate subject for this painting. I have to thank Kate Young for allowing me to use one of her photographs as inspiration for this painting!

Have a great evening!

Creativity Boot Camp Day 10

"Full Bodied" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Here is the my next painting for Creativity Boot Camp. Of course, the word prompt was "full bodied." Wine was the first thing that came to my mind, so I had to paint it! I'm really enjoying painting still lives. I never painted them before this challenge, and now I've painted quite a few. I wasn't sure that was something I would enjoy, but I really love it! Maybe next I'll work on setting up my own still life!

"Full Bodied" is 5 by 7, on pastelbord, done with pastel pencils and soft pastels. I'm really growing attached to that pastelbord! It's wonderful to work with, and not too terribly expensive.

Well I'm off to begin my painting for day 11!

Creativity Boot Camp Day 9

"Drizzle" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

I don't know about you, but this painting makes me hungry! :) And I think it certainly says "Drizzle," which was the word prompt for day 9 of Creativity Boot Camp. The end is in sight, only 4 paintings left!

This painting is 5 by 7 on pastelbord done in soft pastels, and pastel pencils. I wanted to remain consistent with this challenge, so that is why all the paintings are the same size and are done in pastels. I may try the challenge again in a different medium, or with photography.

I hope your week is off to a good start!

Creativity Boot Camp Day 6

"Fluid" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

The word prompt from day 6 of Creativity Boot Camp was "fluid." I knew that I wanted to paint a cup of tea or coffee for this painting, and I chose a picture from Aiken House and Garden. Thank you Carolyn for allowing me to use your beautiful photograph! We were supposed to challenge ourselves for this one. I don't normally alter photos at all, but I added some things to the painting that were not in the original photograph.

The shadows on the plate, in the photo were so difficult to achieve. If you look at it from a distance, it makes sense and looks good, but it doesn't look that great up close. So, I'm not really happy with this one. But I wanted to share it anyway. I guess they can't all be masterpieces! :)

Creativity Boot Camp Day 5

"Grow" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Here is my response to day 5 of Creativity Boot Camp. The word prompt for day 5 was "grow." I thought this one would be easy! Again, I wanted to challenge myself and not choose something easy. I had a rather difficult time getting the background of this painting just the way I wanted it, but I'm pleased with the result.

"Grow" is 5 by 7 on pastelbord, and I used a combination of soft pastels and pastel pencils.

Thank you Kathleen Young for allowing me to use your beautiful photograph!

Creativity Boot Camp Day 4

Well I finally finished my painting from Day 4 of Creativity Boot Camp. The word prompt was "heavymetal." This one was a challenge! I'm noticing that the word prompts open up all kinds of ideas for photographers, but it's a little more difficult for us painters! :)
Anyway, this painting is 5 by 7 on pastelbord, and I have named it "heavymetal." I have been asked if I'm going to sell any of the paintings from Creativity Boot Camp, and I'm not really sure. I wanted to complete them all first, and then decide. Even if I decide not to sell the originals, I can always make prints.

The word prompt for Day 5 is "grow." I have many ideas for this one!

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Creativity Boot Camp Day 2 - WIP

"Fruit Picnic"(Work in Progress) 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

The word prompt from the 2nd day of Creativity Boot Camp was "Picnic" and this is my response to that. I started it today and it took me about 2 hours to complete what you see above. It's a few slices of grapefruit on a mat, or cutting board. The background is pretty much done, but I have a lot of work to do on the fruit. I had a lot of fun working on it this morning, and I can't wait to get back to it. I do have to give credit to Kathleen Young for the photograph. She's a wonderful photographer and she's graciously allowed me to use her photos as references for paintings.

I just wanted to let you all know that I will be working on my art for Creativity Boot Camp daily, but I may not be able to finish a painting everyday. I just don't have several hours to set aside each day to complete a painting. As far as I know I am the only painter participating in the challenge. It's been great watching what others are doing! You can check out all of our work on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/groups/creativitybootcamp/

New Paintings

"Carnations" 7 by 10 Watercolor

"Greenhouse Iris" 6 by 11 1/2, Watercolor

"Zebra Butterflies and Lilacs" 6 by 11 1/2, Watercolor

Whew! Things have finally calmed down around here. I had a nice time with my company this weekend but it's nice to have things back to normal. These paintings are not ones that I've done recently, but they're ones that I've held onto because I wasn't sure if I wanted to sell them. They are now available for sale in my Etsy shop.

I completed a painting today, but I'm going to go back to it tomorrow to make sure that it's finished. I really like it and can't wait to share it! I combined watercolor and pastel for the first time on pastelbord. It was supposed to just be an experiment, but it turned out really good.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

New Studio

I've been working on my new studio for months. This room used to be my bedroom, but I moved it to the 2nd floor of my house. I put up new curtains, pictures, and tried to organize everything. Let me tell you, there is a lot of stuff in this room! I can be very creative when it comes to storage and organization. I absolutely love my new studio space. I guess that's good because I spend a lot of time in there! :)

Day 13 - Painting Challenge

It's a photograph today. I love this picture. The colors of the Dahlia petals are just stunning. I think it would make a great pastel painting.. hmmm... All I need is more ideas! :)

I received an order of art supplies yesterday so I'm excited to break them in and try some new things. I mentioned botany artist Billy Showell the other day. I've been wanting to try some realism in watercolor (inspired by her), because I have more of a loose style, but I didn't have any hotpress paper. I've never even seen hotpress paper before, so I was quite surprised at the type of surface it is. I generally enjoy painting on rough watercolor paper, so this is very different. Now my only problem is finding the time. I'm expecting some company next week, and I've been busy getting the house ready. So, I will continue posting what I can, when I can. :)

Today's Quote: "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers." - Claude Monet

Have a great weekend!!!