Mural

 I painted a mural for Mad Dog Cycles for their "Fat Bikes" display

W.C.W. Week 4

Painted this one from a photo I took.

View my other paintings HERE.

W.C.W Week 3

Only one this week.  Finally painted yesterday evening after the kids went to bed.   Painted this in a vignette style.   Different for me and all that white space is kind of hard to get used to.

View my other paintings HERE.

W.C.W Week 2

I've been painting everyday!

This first painting here, I painted once before the one shown.

(The first one was a disaster)

This second one here below, I painted twice before the one shown.

It is helping me learn from my mistakes to keep trying until I get a result I like.

This one was painted from a photograph I took.

You can view my other paintings HERE.

W.C.W. Week 1

I am trying once again to start painting every week, maybe even every day.

I painted this from a photo I took.

It is up South Fork Canyon

It's been almost 8 months since I've painted and I am feeling a little rusty.

This was the second one I painted of this same scene.

I changed some things from the first one I painted.

There are still things I don't like (Like that HUGE embankment of blue on the left side)

But I learned from the first painting and improved and that's what matters right??
That is one thing I'm going to focus on this year.  When I've painted something I don't like, I'm not just going to hide it in the closet, never to try again, but I'm going to try it at least a second time, and use what I learned the first time to improve.

Watercolor Painting

So I gave out 6 Watercolor paintings for Christmas gifts this year.  It got me in the mood to paint again and I did the above painting.  Go me.  I need to make it a New Year's Resolution again to produce at least one piece of art work a week.  

There I did it. It's made.  Now I have to do it.  Especially since it's in type now.

Now to add to it, I'm going to work  on teaching my children about different artists too.  One a week.

Watercolor Wednesday

Look at me!  Two Watercolor Wednesdays in a row.  Let's hope it sticks again!

Both of these paintings are Oriental inspired.

My Grandma lived in Japan for 2 years while her husband was stationed there in the Air Force and she loved all things Japanese and especially their Watercolor techniques.

Before she passed away she gave me a few lessons on the subject.

I am quite pleased with how they turned out.

You can view my other Watercolors HERE.

Watercolor Wednesday

Inspired by a photo I took.

Watercolor Wednesday

No idea what week I am on, but having a 3 week break has been nice.  I actually WANTED to paint.  So here are the two I've been working on the last day or so.  A little rusty and not completely satisfied with the results but what can you expect when you haven't done any painting for 3 weeks.

Both were done from photographs.

View my other work HERE.

Watercolor Wednesday Week 7

Having a rough time this go around.  Painting and sewing for that matter have felt more like a chore than something fun and something I LOVE to do.  I don't want that to be the case.  I think I'm just burned out on it.  I've been so gung-ho about it since starting this blog 2 years ago and I just feel run down.  I've really started dreading it. So I took a couple weeks off and honestly I didn't miss it.  Not.  One.  Bit.
Yesterday I was sitting outside watching the garden grow and listening to my kids playing when I suddenly felt like drawing.  I was looking at the peas in the garden and thought those would be fun to draw.  So I grabbed some paper and a pen and started sketching and when the sketch was done, I looked at it and thought, this needs some color.  So I grabbed a small set of watercolors and painted away.

Excuse the horribly warped paper

After I finished the peas I though "that was pretty fun and different" so I ripped off the "garden peas" picture and started sketching and throwing paint on the next piece of  paper.  As someone who paints primarily from photographs, It's fun to paint from the imagination.  I think I'm going to do it more often.  I was inspired from our trip to ZIONS and all the beautiful rock formations.

I used india ink, pen, salt and spray webbing (and watercolors of course)

View my other work HERE.

Watercolor Wednesday Week 6

These two are the same painting under different light.

It's interesting to see the difference the lighting makes.

I used spray webbing 

Salt

A pocket knife to scrape out whites

india ink

View my other work HERE.

Watercolor Wednesday week 5

These were both done by first spraying the paper with a bottle of water and then throwing paint onto the paper and then spraying more water and tilting the board around to flow the paint where I wanted it.  I waited for that to dry and then painted over it.
I also made stamps out of scraps of mat board and scraped grass blades into them with an x-acto knife.  I used the stamp to create the grass in both pictures.
In the second one I masked out the road and splattered masking fluid in the foreground to create the white flowers.
View my other paintings HERE.

Watercolor Wednesday Week 4

View my other work HERE.

Watercolor Wednesday (err... Thursday) Week 3

Almost didn't make it this week.  Busy being a mom and that leaves very little room for painting or any else.  I guess I'd have more time if I used it a little more wisely, but I'm just not sure what to cut out.  Eating?  That's not going to happen, Exercising?  That's not happening either.  It's the only thing I do for myself.  Sigh.  Guess I need to cut out blogging or Facebook.
Anyways this is getting depressing.
I'm fairly happy with my painting.  It almost got the trash bin at least a dozen times during the process. Salt and rice paper were used as well as a small amount of white paint.
View my other work Here.

Watercolor Wednesday Year 2 week 2

This first painting is done in a John Blockley style.  The textures were achieved by splattering both water and paint.  The Mountains base texture was done by blotting the wet paint with a piece of tissue. I also used India Ink to achieve the black. 

It measures 15x11

The second painting was done by first applying a wet on wet wash for the sky and while still damp, applied the distant blue trees.

I used wet on dry to achieve the rocks.  I purposely left some areas white and sprinkled salt into some areas.  I also used the edge of a credit card to scrape the rock shapes.

A sea sponge was used for the yellow and orange trees and the edge of a credit card was used once again to scrape out some tree trunks and branches.

Rice paper was used to create the spray for the rapids as well as the branches on the fallen trees.  I also splattered white paint to simulate water spraying on the rocks.
It measures 15 x 11

View my other paintings HERE.

Watercolor Wednesday Year 2 Week 1

 Had my mother in mind when I painted this first one.  It was fun to paint something different and out of the norm.

The second one is from a Polaroid that my Dad took.  I have loved the photo for years but never felt like my painting abilities were up to par enough to try it.  I've always loved the mystery behind this shack.  What was it and why is it beside this lonely dirt road?

View my other paintings HERE.

Watercolor Wednesday Week 52

Painted outside today.  Very Very windy and difficult to paint.  Much quicker drying time.  Fairly happy with the results regardless.  It's been at least 2 weeks since I've painted as I've been working on Easter outfits for the kids and I.  It's funny how I can tell a difference in even that short of a time.  Here's to painting more often!!!
View my other work HERE.

More Watercolors

I've been busy painting up a storm.  I've never really had anyone ask me to paint them a picture (except for art teachers) and so even though it's my aunt, I've still been nervous about the whole thing.  Probably unnecessarily, but I always get nervous to give people things that I've made, especially if they've offered to pay, cause I guess I feel like I'm not that good.  I need stop comparing myself to my father and grandmother (who were amazing artists and Watercolorist)  everyone has their own style and although mine is similar, it's not like theirs and I suppose I see that as a flaw.  Anyways these paintings in this post are what I've done so far.  She wanted something similar to the one my Dad had done and in the red, orange and yellow color family.  

Here is the one my Dad did:

Here are mine:

Watercolor Wednesday Week 51

I've been asked by my Aunt Kristy to paint a picture for her to display with one that my father did for her years ago.  So I've been practicing.   Here's what I've come up with so far:

I'm going to do a few with rice paper and then I'll see where I'm at.  Both pieces are 5"X 7".
See my other work HERE.

Watercolor Wednesday Week 50

I can't believe I've almost hit one year of my goal to finish at least one painting a week!  I've not counted the 3 or 4 weeks during the last year where I didn't paint.  I've had a few people ask me if I sell my work and I am open to selling, I've just never sold a painting before.  All of  my work is done on quarter sheet Arches Watercolor Paper (which is 15 x 11 1/4 inches) or half sheet (22 1/2 x 15 inches).  None of them are matted or framed.   I know how to matte and frame and would consider doing it, if someone was interested and the price would need to be negotiated based on the kind of matte and frame and then shipping if applicable. The prices below are "Pre-Matte and Frame " and don't include any shipping.  To see all my other paintings click on the link below.
Quarter sheet- $40
Half Sheet- $70
 Anyways here are my paintings for this week, since it has finally decided to be winter around here, I've been in the mood to paint winter scenes!  Both are done on quarter sheet.

View my other work HERE.