Watercolor

I wanted to try this flower again, while it is still in bloom. I wanted to keep the vase and background simple so as not to take away from the flower. I don't know if that is boring or not, but a yellow Cymbidium from Ted, how pretty! I haven't had the courage to try the entire spray of flowers (actually 3 sprays!) but the single flower is nice.

Watercolors

7.5" square

This is one of the flowers from my yellow cymbidium orchid. I was experimenting with the dark background to set off the light flower.

9" x 12"

This is from a photo of the field behind our house with a large old Ash tree. A hedgerow to the left is casting the long shadows. It was hard to capture the large field. I tried the much-touted "spattering" technique in the foreground...Ted thought it was an improvement.

9" x 12"

We saw this scene the other day driving home. No camera on hand so I tried to remember it. This is a study to try to get the ideas down and see what needs work. The clouds need more gradation, but I like how the colors came out - Cadmium yellow, alizarin crimson, ultramaine, and grey, with some prussian blue. I'm going to keep trying since I like this scene.

Penguin Plunge

Here is Ted plunging with 6 students. (Two other women at the end are in a different group).

Lake temp was 34 degrees and you can see where they chipped the ice away for the plungers!

Thanks everyone for the donations, it goes to a good cause!

Watercolors

Poinsettia Watercolor 9" x 12"

After working with oils for a bit, it was nice to get back to watercolors. I enjoyed the bright colors of oils, and so decided to work on getting more vibrant colors in watercolor. I think I did that here! I also wanted to really use the water part of the watercolor. That is, to have the painting look more loose and liquid, rather than tight as I seem to have been doing. Even though I tried in the past. I think I made a good start toward that goal here as well. I like this painting and Ted loves it! Look for cards next year!

Southwind Road study 9" x 12"

This is a scene out of my kitchen window to the south. This is a "study" because I'd like to paint this scene well, and this is not quite it. I did the painting from memory, since the sun had set and I could no longer see out the window by the time I painted this. The clouds came out fairly well and I do like the trees. I tried to capture the remnants of the corn stalks in the snow, but it didn't work well and I might just leave the snowy field plain. Not sure. Also, there are a couple of houses on the road and I think I'd like to include them with their snowy roof tops. That shouldn't be a problem since it is currently snowing several inches, so I have some time.