All Is Happily Busy in Class

I felt like a "real" teacher ... one of my students brought me roses from her garden!

And here is Nancy [of the roses fame] with one of her latest works.

Mark and Melanie [husband and wife who were curious about watercolor] very intent on their work.

Mark has had some art experience with acrylics, and is having a blast finding out what watercolor can do. And Melanie is fascinated with it. Yay!! ... converts! 

Ann always has her own floral projects.

I wanted to demonstrate the poured watercolor technique.  I also had a craving to paint some more geese. So I got this ready ...

 ... did the first pour in class, and took it home to work on it. I had no idea where it was going from here.

Thank you so much for dropping by! 

In a Hurry to Finish These ...

Good effects around the dogs,  though I think it is too dark on the walkway. 

I do like the spatter effect. If I was finish this as a proper painting, I  would do at least one more spatter with more concentrated color. And the shadow does nothing for the piece at all.

OK, that's two experiments finished. On to something else ...

Thank you very much for dropping by!

More Thinking and Sketching Rather than Painting ...

I did a quick poured type of watercolor of Miss P. and a friend, heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge. I had sketched all sorts of San Francisco backgrounds - they were at the pier at Embarcadero, up in Pacific Heights and Nob Hill - till I finally found this one to look best.

This was a more traditional portrait drawing. I quite like this one. I'll try painting it, once I decide on colors.

And this is the other sketch I did. This one was from a photo of Miss P. at the beach. She looked like she was having such an utterly fantastic time. From her owner, I found out that sunning is one of her big loves, just one down from food!

Well, I have a few ideas percolating in my head. I'll get working on them this weekend as paintings, once I decide on format and color.

Thank you so much for dropping by! 

"CATAWAMPUS" ... Another Process, This Time a Poured Watercolor

I must have used a quarter of a large bottle of masking fluid.

I poured, using permanent rose, aureolin and indanthrone in very dilute applications.

I masked some more, and did another  application of the same colors. I missed photographing the next step. There I went from pink to alizarin crimson to get darker shadows.

CATAWAMPUS
32.5 x 19.5 cm.

This is the painting now, in need of some careful glazing here and there, but basically done.
I love that word "catawampus" - it means kitty-cornered or at an angle. As my purpose and focus with this painting was the backlighting on the cat creating that angled shadow, I thought the name perfect.

Pumpkin obliged for the reference photo.

Thank you so much for dropping by - hope you enjoyed your visit!

The Old Grey Pony Is Finished, and BOY!!! Do I Need Practice with Pouring Paint!!!

Old Grey Pony
11 x 13 in./  28.5 x 34 cm.
Available at Daily Paintworks

I wanted to demonstrate poured watercolor to the class last Saturday. So I quickly found an image [of one of my favorite subjects] with strong values, got the drawing on watercolor paper, masked it, and took it to class. I think I started with the paint too concentrated, but went ahead anyway. I used hansa yellow [just because I had a lot, and never use it for anything else], alizarin crimson and indanthrone blue.

I made a mistake or two along the way, but it is a very enjoyable painting technique, and I will come back to it. I guess a better-prepared value study would be a good idea next time!!??? ... or ANY value study!! Must get into the habit of doing those!

Meanwhile, here in Lotusland [aka Vancouver] the rains have started. It is coming down so hard, you can hardly see across the street! Must be making up for the dry summer we had. So Bruno is out in his paddock wearing snorkeling gear and flippers, and I am inside with the rest of the menagerie, trying to decide what to paint next.

Thank you so much for dropping by!