The good, the bad, and the ugly!

In thinking about doing this blog, I realized that not every painting I did would be great, so the decision to go ahead and use this blog as a visual diary means that I will post even the work that I am not so proud of, and let the chips fall where they will! This is my first oil painting done 'en plein air' this year. I haven't painted in oils since last fall, and needless to say I AM rusty! This was a view from the Moose Mountain road, done on a day when the clouds were plentiful and the landscape kept changing in amazing (and frustrating for a painter) ways. Looking forward to more plein air sessions, and an improvement in the results! For really good plein air paintings, see my website!
Enjoy

Iris Garden

watercolour 11 x 14" image

I am just loving this loose watercolour floral kick that I am on at the moment. It is really touching my heart and filling my spirit-I can feel the movement of the flowers in the breeze, just the way God made them.
Enjoy!

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Leighton Centre Art Show Demos

Returning Home, 11x14" watercolour

Poppy Garden; 11x14", watercolour

These are the two demonstration paintings I did at the Leighton Centre Clothesline show and sale today. I got there at 1pm and the weather began to turn cloudy and windy, but no rain thank goodness. These were each done in about 1 1/4 hrs, mostly because tons of people came up to me to talk about the painting process, which made focussing a bit difficult. But I was very encouraged because the loose style just made people want to go home and paint -there is nothing better than that for a teacher! The wind made it interesting as the paint was drying unpredicably -just adds to the fun and energy. I tried to capitalize on the bleed backs and balloons as much as possible. As I look at the work now, I think I did pretty good given the circumstances.

Enjoy!

Poppy Riot

watercolour, 9x12" image

This was yesterday morning's class demonstration. What fun to just wing it! I just love the feeling of freedom and movement that painting in this style brings.

Enjoy!

Dancing In The Rain

transparent watercolour, 7x11" image

This was another class demo that I did. I decided to put salt into the background wash to see what would happen. I liked the idea, but the contrast was too great, so I glazed over it again (ultramarine blue) which toned it down. It kind of reminded me of raindrops, hence the title. It is currently at the Leighton Centre for their Annual Clothesline Sale on June 1st. If it doesn't sell there, I think I will add some rain drops to the blossoms to strengthen the link with the theme.

Back at it again!

Daffodils ii, watercolour 7x11" image

OK, my daughter has now left and I am able to paint my heart out! This is another go at the daffodils, this time using pure transparent watercolour with no watercolour pencil. I took the same composition as the direct, no drawing painting previously posted to see the difference some planning and more careful execution can bring to the painting. The result is much cleaner, but it's success lies on the back of the risky proceedure that preceeded it. Sometimes it is just fun to let it go and see what happens. Good for the creative spirit!

Today is the DAY!

Today officially begins my journey into blogging! I have been inspired by what I have seen on the Daily Painters website (http://www.dailypainters.com/artists) and thought that it would be a cool thing to commit to do 5 to 7 paintings a week and post them here on this site. I also thought I could use the site to expand my teaching audience, and to show you what some of my wonderful students are doing. I know that is a BIG agenda, but hey, it could be fun -or else it could just suck more time out of my available painting time! We'll see how it goes. Please feel free to leave comments for me!
Today is the first day of the rest of our lives- yipee!!