More Watercolour!

 "Tulip Power", 15 x 11", matted watercolour
Available to bid in auction here, starting bid $75

 This is my demonstration from the second day of my Watermedia Florals workshop. The object of the lesson was to 'draw' with the brush -no drawing allowed. Following the form with a brush loaded with luscious paint and then puddling colours in and watching how they mix is fascinating, and is a key to understand how to let watercolour have its way. Some caligraphy done with watercolour pencil and brush adds a fun movement to the blast of colour.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Back to Watercolour!

 "Daisy Power", 11 x 15", watercolour
This painting is available at auction here -beginning price $125

Many of you will be happy to see that I have returned to painting in watercolour again. It is a medium that I have always loved, even if it is somewhat limiting for creative expression, as it requires a fair amount of planning before brush ever touches the paper. In order to circumvent this, I like to make a wet on wet chaotic mixture of sumptuous color, and then pull out shapes from it. This works wonderfully with floral forms as they are so forgiving. The form I am using is a 'daisy type' form -I have these growing in my garden, but I don't know the name of them -if you know, please tell me!  Below is a step-by-step outline of the process.

This is the first step. I have soaked my 140lb watercolour paper in the sink and then began puddling in analogous mixed of yellow through red. Make sure to put various oranges in rather than just go from yellow to red without the visual bridge of the oranges. I left a lot of white paper and into some of it I popped in a variety of greens (yellow-green through blue-green using different yellows and blues). Some of the green puddles into the yellow and some into the orange-reds, making more neutral greens. I have tried so save some of the white as well. Make sure to bring your colour all the way to the edges of the paper -you don't want white paper there as it will draw the viewer to the edges of the painting, and perhaps right out of it!

This is the next stage. I am finding some daisy shapes by negatively painting some parts of the flowers with darker mixtures of the colours in the underpainting. Don't always do the negative painting with green, if you negative paint with the flower colours, you have new opportunities to find new flowers under the top ones. I am very careful to vary my edges between lost and found around EACH flower. You don't want them to look cut out and pasted on. 

 

Further work on the painting, finding some stems and leaves as well. Notice that some of the flowers and leaves have positively painted parts as well as negatively painted ones -this adds variety and keeps the viewer intrigued. Try not to say ALL the flowers, leave lots of colourfully suggested forms. The question to ask here is, if it says flowers, how much more do you need to do to it? Stop earlier rather than overdoing it. Better to be 80% done than 10% overdone!

This painting was done as a demonstration in my current Watermedia Florals workshop. Please see my website for upcoming workshops.

Enjoy!

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Last O'Hara Painting

 "Cathedral from Schaeffer Meadows", 9 x 12", plein air oil

$595.00 beautifully framed, free shipping and handling

This is my last painting from Lake O'Hara. We had to leave to catch the bus in a couple of hours so we decided to give one last shot at grabbing a painting before the rain that was threatening really came down.We managed to get a spot out of the cold wind and quickly got this in. And so ends another fabulous painting trip in the most beautiful of all places Rockies.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Still More Lake O'Hara

 "Bear Grass Trails", 12 x 9", plein air oil
$595.00 beautifully framed, free shipping and handling

This one was painted just around the corner from yesterday's post. I was just looking for a place to get out of the wind and get warmed by the sun. As I was walking along the trail, I spotted this view and couldn't resist. Although I was blocking the trail for the hikers, and had to lift up my easel to let them pass, I think it was worth it! The bear grass was a challenge to paint, needing to have their tiny edges softened so they didn't look cut out and pasted on. Thanks Patti for the tip :)

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Still More Lake O'Hara!

 "Snow On Opabin", 9 x 12", plein air oil
$595.00 beautifully framed, free shipping and handling

I painted this at Hungabee Lake on the Opabin Plateau. I have painted from this location before (see here -that painting focused more on the flow coming into the lake) but this time the snow added a whole lot of sparkle to the scene. I really like the way this one turned out, and so did a Japanese tourist who was sharing the EP hut with us. He wanted to buy it, but unfortunately was not equipped to transport a wet oil painting back home with him. While I did offer to ship it to him, it was just too much uncertainty for both of us. Maybe next time...

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Another Day at Lake O'Hara

"MacArthur's Contrasts", 9x12", plein air oil

SOLD

 We hiked all the way up to Lake MacArthur, and I managed to find a good location out of the wind to paint this. The turquoise in the background is actually the lake, as I was looking down on this scene. I have painted up there before, but never with snow on the ground. I loved the way the soft snow led into the angular rocky ridge and the Larch and other Evergreens behind them adding their own texture. Playing with the edges where the snow met the rocks was critical to making the snow 'read'. (Click on the image to see it enlarged)

Enjoy!
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More Lake O'Hara

"Changing Weather -Lake O'Hara", 9 x 12", plein air oil
SOLD

I did this painting just after we arrived in Lake O'Hara. It had been snowing for the previous several days, yet the sun was trying to push its way through the clouds upon our arrival -how wonderful! The fresh snow made for some wonderful paintings over the following 3 days, and we had mostly sunny conditions the whole time, although it was a might windy at times. The view in the painting is the classic one of Lake O'Hara, but the clouds made for an interesting change. It is difficult to paint moving clouds, you just have to chose a scenario that you like and stick with that -although you must make sure that the lighting conditions on the ground are possible with the pattern chosen.

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Lake O'Hara Paintings -Finally!

"Cathedral -Outside My Door", 12 x 9", plein air oil

$595.00 framed, free shipping and handling

I have been SO busy travelling and painting, but I thought I would slowly bring you up to speed with the results. In the middle of September I was fortunate enough to once again join the Canmore Artists Guild for an unforgettable 3 nights at Lake O'Hara. Now if you have been following my blog for a while, you know that this is my absolute favorite place to paint in the Rockies. This painting was done just outside the Elizabeth Parker Hut where we were bunked. The fresh snow added richness to the beauty, but also a fair chill in the air. I caught this one quickly late in the day, while being served wine and appetizers by the dinner crew for the day. Not too hard to take eh? Stay tuned for more to follow....

Enjoy!

To purchase this painting, or commission your own painting, please email me.
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Upcoming Watermedia Florals Workshop

 "Bursting Forth", watercolor, 15 x 22" SOLD

I will be teaching a 5 day Watermedia Florals (that means watercolour, acrylic or watersoluble oils) workshop at the Erlton Campus of the CBE on October 26, 27, 28, 31 and Nov 1st (Wed to Friday and Monday and Tuesday of the next week). My teaching this year has been switched to a workshop format, so that I can accommodate my hubby's retirement schedule :) By popular demand I have agreed to a split week workshop so that you can have the weekend off to rest, contemplate and maybe even get some painting done. If you are coming from out of town, perhaps you can find someone to visit here in Calgary for the weekend, or even take a trip to the mountains. You can find the workshop details here. The course description is: Explore more advanced elements of painting and design in your chosen watermedia (watercolour or acrylic), as well as reinforce basic principles in your knowledge base. Discuss colour theory, edge control, paint application and composition. The focus of the class is on finding and developing your own personal style and artistic expression. Explore new creative avenues working from life as well as from photographs.

Sounds like fun eh? (and super good price for a 5 day workshop!!) There is still room so make sure you sign up SOON if you are interested. Please feel free to pass this on to someone who might be interested? You guys are great!
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