Peggy's Cove

I painted this one for Bill Guffy's virtual paintout blog. Each month he posts a location and artists pick a spot to paint using Google's streetview maps. This is the second month that I have participated and I am really enjoying it. I almost missed getting one done this month because of travel and the holidays but I barely squeaked it in before the month ended. I can't wait til Tuesday to see where the next location will be. This is done in oils which is much easier and faster for me to do than watercolors. My oil paintings are very simplistic because it's a fairly new medium for me but as I get more experience I hope to develop more depth, detail and interesting color. I still feel like I'm fighting with the paints because of their thickness. I'm so comfortable with the fluidity of watercolor and silk dyes that I'm feeling a bit out of my element with oils.

Peggy's Cove

Image Size 11" x 14"

Oil

Unframed
$150.00

Pink Hibiscus

First, I apologize for the blurry picture. I didn't have my regular camera with me on our vacation. We've been in Mexico for the past week and I painted this down there. I took many reference photos with me so I could paint a lot but I was so busy doing absolutely nothing that I didn't have much time to paint. :-) I painted this for an artist friend of mine that works at the resort where we stay so I don't have the actual painting here with me to take a better picture of it. Over the past few years, Vidal has given me several sketches that he's done so I thought it was about time for me to paint something for him. A few years ago I was painting out by the pool at the resort and he was watching what I was doing for quite a while from about 6 feet behind the table where I was working. I could tell that he had more of an interest in what I was doing than most people that watch an artist work so we started trying to converse. He speaks limited English and my Spanish is extremely pathetic but with the help of sign language we got our ideas across to each other. A couple of hours later, he brought me a sketch of a rose that he did for me on the back of one of the hotel's paper coasters using just a ballpoint pen. Since then, I take him art supplies every now and then because he doesn't have access to any in the small town in which he lives and he gives me artwork in return. I don't expect him to do that but you should see the sense of pride on his face when he sees how much I appreciate his work.

Three Hibiscus

Image size 4" x 6"

Watercolor

Reach for the Sky

Wow, I'm really on a roll. Here is yet another project that was left unfinished for several years because my frustration level reached it's limit. This is a watercolor on watercolor canvas which, at the time, I thought was a brilliant new surface. That was until I tried it. I like to paint watercolors by building layer after layer of color, gradually achieving value contrasts. With this surface, when I tried to add another layer I lifted the previous one so it was hard to add dark values. I'm sure these canvases work well for many artists but it's not for me. This painting has been staring at me in the studio for far too long and I have been pushing myself to not give up on paintings so I decided to finish it. All I can say is that I'm glad it's done. I have one more of these watercolor canvases in my stash of art supplies but I will probably paint it with acrylics or oils unless I have a day where I'm feeling really adventurous.

Reach for the Sky

Image Size 14" x 11"

Watercolor on Canvas

Unframed

Three Birds

I finished another unfinished project this week. I started this one in March and was very frustrated with it because it is painted with acrylics and I was really fighting with them. I put the painting aside and planned to finish it with oils but hesitated to admit defeat with the acrylics. I'm becoming much more comfortable with acrylics now and this was almost a joy to work on this week. Will this medium become my favorite? It probably won't but it does have it's place in my arsenal.

Three Birds
Image size 24" x 24"
Acrylics
Unframed, gallery wrapped canvas, no framed needed
Sold

Magnolia Duo

I decided to push my frustration level this week and finish this painting that I started about 5 years ago and which, after much cursing, I had put into my unfinished pile. It is small, 5" x 7" and is painted on clay board. That surface is very unforgiving and working on it is so different than the way I like to work. I worked more loosely (which is a good thing) and actually enjoyed it. Will I buy more clayboard in the future? I probably won't but I do have some aqua board, also made by Ampersand that I'm excited to try. I does feel good to finish another old project.

Magnolia Duo
Image Size 5" x 7"
Watercolor on Clayboard
Unframed