...and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

I apologize for being away so long...

I've been working on various art projects and will share them with you soon.

If you are a painter of florals there is still 9 days to enter the International Artists Floral and Gardens Competition by going here. I entered the Poinsettia..."It's That Time of Year," and the crystal roses, "Spring Enchantment."

Check back in a few days...I have something to tell you...

"Spring Beauty ~ Revised"

This is the revised version of the Rhodie (below) that had the brick wall as a background. After scrubbing the bricks I layered Winsor Violet then Cobalt and Winsor Yellow allowing each layer to dry before proceeding to the next.

Finally I dripped color (including some opera and rose madder) and let it run while I held the painting upside down. I also took some of the WV and darkened some of the shadows on the petals, added some highlights to the leaves and lost some of the edges.

I am not sure if this shows on your monitor but the main color of the background is Winsor Violet which seems a little too blue in this photo. I will live with this for a few days and probably end up tweaking it a little more.

I still plan to paint this on a full sheet at some point AFTER I finish the crystal vase of roses.

Have a great day!

Ruffled, Yellow Iris

Here is the progress on the ruffled, yellow iris. This painting is about 10x14. The smaller paintings are completed much faster which is a nice change from the full sheet paintings. 

Here I go again...

This is the line art for my next painting. I never thought much about painting flowers but here I go again. I have painted some portraits and a few still lifes, which I love to paint, but I seem to be on a roll with the flowers.

This is on a quarter sheet of 140lb. Arches watercolor paper which is what I use most of the time.

I still have to adjust the petals in a few places. In the main photo I am working from it is difficult to tell exactly how some of the petals curl, so I am studying several photos to determine some of those correct shapes.