TMC #31, Hot Wheels

I collect a few Hot Wheels cars and decided to put this one on a dirt road instead of the window sill for the twenty minute challenge.  Watercolor on gessoed wc paper. 

TMC #30, Before Sunrise

For this 20 minute challenge painting, I was trying to capture the look of the night just before dawn, as the sky was beginning to lighten in the east behind the mountain..  Lost the yellow glow of the light next to the building and a bit of the trunk in the large tree on the viewer's left.  Still I like this fast study. 

Facebook Deactivated & Flowers Photo

I'm thinking Spring because we had a dusting of snow last night with more expected today.  Next week it will feel almost warm when the temperature reaches the mid-40's. 

Just wanted to let you know that I deactivated my Facebook account.  It was a simple reason that led to that decision.  I installed Facebook photo installer on my computer this morning.  I was going to add more of the 20 minute challenge photos when I saw that when using that installer, Facebook has access to everything on my computer and I do not, in any way, like that.  I enjoyed Facebook and reading the posts by artists, friends and family but will just have to visit blogs or write e-mails.

TMC #29, Brushes in Hand

Couldn't sleep so decided to start the morning with a 20 minute challenge.  5" x 7" watercolor.  Didn't have time to finish the fingers or reshape the brushes. 

TMC #28, Watercolor Brushes

I am trying to incorporate more objects and more color, pushing myself to do more complicated.  This was done very wet on gessoed watercolor paper. 

Practice Doodles

It looks strange doesn't it, to have a tulip above trees but this is a small sheet of practice doodles.  It is obvious that I want to get better at painting those tulips and their leaves.  I also want to get better at painting tree shapes and ground cover.  The trees in this one is a study of mass shapes and how trees lighten as they recede to give a feeling of depth or separation of land plane.  Ground cover is also something with which I struggle.  Learning to change colors, color temperative and directional flow is all a part of learning to paint the terrain.  Doing these little doodles help.

TMC #27, Silk Tulips Again

TMC #27

Silk Tulips

5" x 7" 

Watercolor

TMC #26, Tulips Again

Instead of getting better at the 20 minute challenge paintings, I appear to be getting worse lol.  Did these tulips this morning and am going to do them again.  I used a round #10 and a #8.  I must leave white between the different areas so the colors don't run together, especially with a limited time to paint. 

20 min. warm up

I was really trying to paint the look of dead leaves and twigs at the top of the tree and the evergreen tree with the snow on it.  I didn't get enough of a connection with the branching limbs to the dead leaves and foliage.  Also tried to paint in a hint of a building between the trees.  And yes, there really is a building sitting almost like this between those two trees. 

Today's Photo

 

The sun came out this morning.  

Wanted a photo of the shadows cast by the trees.  

My plans for today includes starting a new drawing 

and a 20 minute challenge.  

I've neglected those the last couple of weeks.

Graphite Sketch

This is a sketch of my nephew as I familiarize myself with his features.  It feels good to be sketching again.  Used a 4B graphite pencil on drawing paper.  In the drawing I will have to pay particular attention to his eyes which always appear to have a twinkle in them. 

Snow & Ice Photos

Our area was one of the fortunate ones as we didn't get much ice or snow.  The areas of central and western Oklahoma fared much, much worse as there are tens of thousands without power.  Crews from different states have come in to help our local crews.  I feel for them out in this cold, cold weather and for all those who are having a problem getting heat and/or food.  I haven't heard or seen a car on the highway this morning.  It is so quiet except for the tapping of the keyboard. 

Yupo Roses

 Yupo Roses - top photo taken at 2:00 a.m.

 Yupo Roses - photo taken outside this a.m.

7" x 9"

Watercolor on Yupo

Finally finished this tonight.  Again, this will sit for a day or so to see if there any changes I feel need to be made.  Now I have to find out if this needs to be sealed or if it can just be matted and framed. 

Yupo Adventure, In Progress

My first adventure painting on yupo and thought I would share this stage with you.  It is difficult to tell where one rose ends and another begins.  My next step is to reform the roses, wetting a petal, wiping it off and repainting it.  It truly is an adventure trying to smoothly form each petal with one stroke.  Since this has set overnight, I am wondering how well the red will lift.  No doubt there will be a pink tint to the yupo.  Do you see the whitest, white in the leaf area on the viewer's right?  That is the actual color of the yupo

Turtle, Updated

The shape of the large rock bothered me as can be seen in the photo in yesterday's post.  I felt the shape was about the same size and shape as the turtle shell and it was also quite vibrate.  So I changed the shape of the rock and redid the water as well as working a bit more on the turtle.  This is it for this painting as I'm ready to go on to something else. 

Turtle, Watercolor & Gessoed Bristol Board, WIP

Turtle

Gessoed Bristol Board

Watercolor

8 3/4" x 11 3/4"

This is close to finished.  It needs to set for a day or so to see what changes, if any, need to be made. 

Watercolor & Gessoed Bristol Board, WIP

 

When you view the above photo of this painting, I bet you are asking yourself, what is this?  It is the upper right corner of an in progress painting on gessoed bristol board.  It is the first application of paint and I am thoroughly enjoying laying down the paint and studying it to see what happens.  See the brush strokes?  The paint can also be lifted or wiped away quite easily unless a staining color is used. 

Thanks to Rhonda of the Colorful Watercolor group for the tip that paint applied to gessoed paper or Yupo works best with less water. 

My palette for this painting is mostly granulating colors.  The only pale yellow (not earth tones) that I have that granulates is Daniel Smith's Nickel Titanate Yellow which is semi-transparent and non-staining.  Along with that yellow, my palette, at this point, includes French Ultramarine Blue, Indanthrone Blue (for darks), Ultramarine Violet, Undersea Green, Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Viridian. 

This one painting will be submitted to two online groups.  Painting Friends has a Friday Foto challenge and  I chose the photo for this week from the Wet Canvas RIL  This same photo is also ideal for learning textures and colors which we are studying at the Colorful Watercolor Yahoo group. 

January Mindbender, Painting Friends

January Mindbender

5" x 7"

Watercolor

Painting Friends online art group has a monthly Mindbender Challenge where a photo is posted by one of its members.  From that photo the members are to choose a composition to paint.  It could be all of the photo or just a very, very small detail.  As you can see in the photo below (taken by Madmum) there is a lot to see and from which to choose.   I tackled the area outlined in white simply because I was too chicken to paint even a portion of the buildings lol.  Oh yes, the white let on the paper can either be rocks or sheep, whatever you see. :)

For this painting, I used Quinacridone Gold, Hansa Yellow Light, Quin. Burnt Orange, Cobalt Blue, Fr. Ultramarine Blue, Indanthrene Blue, and Quin. Magenta, all by Daniel Smith.

TMC #24, Watercolor Tubes

Daniel Smith Watercolor Tubes

5" x 7"

Fabriano Aristico Paper

I thought I would pick something simple to paint today, wrong.  They look simple but anytime there is writing it takes me longer.  As you can see, I didn't get very far as there was only a couple of minutes left on the timer when I started.  My goal was to have the darks, dark enough on the first go around.  I used masking tape for the white label areas.  I hope to use the 20 minute challenge to learn to mix the value and try for one stroke and leave it.  It didn't happen this time as can be seen in the shadows,  but with more practice I will learn.  The hardest part is leaving the stroke alone.  In looking at these tubes, I think it is time to order more paint.