Watercolor of Girl and Cat

I have begun this watercolor but it is a real struggle. I was not going to post but decided to do it as it will be a learning experience for us all! This is the new Arches watercolor board. I am finding it gets a gray cast when wet and so very hard to determine the value of the paint you apply and also is really not easy to lift. However it is a nice smooth surface so maybe I can learn to work with it...who knows...another media might have to be added to bring it to completion. So here you go...calling this step one. We will see how it goes!!! I want to keep it a very unified piece with color so hoping to just be very careful about adding anymore to this...we will see!

SPLASH - 13 Book ACCEPTANCE!

I am happy to announce that Monday's Wash was accepted into Splash-13 which is about alternative approaches. Of course when I sent it in to be juried I knew what was alternative about it but a year later I cannot remember that good comment I had! ha! I have to sit down and think because I really had a good thought on this at the time.

Monday's Wash

21" x 29"

My good friends Diane Morgan, Thomas Schaller and Laurin McCracken are also in the book along with many awesome artists. I am not sure but this is maybe my 4th or 5 time in a splash book...so it is a real honor to get in again!
For those of you who did not see the segment on Public tv here...I was working on this piece and this is the link for that. http://www.lptv.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=9&video=451

At Attention

For now the title of this is "At Attention" as that fits so well on entry forms! ha! This watercolor is done. I have had it photographed and want to move on to something new. I am worried it might be dark...but I have added darks so you might see a change in the coloring some. I am hoping to enter this is Birds In Art. That is a tough show to get into but I want to at least try.
I want to point out here as a teaching thought...the leaves remained more like shapes with little interest in them because I feared they would detract from the house and the bird. It was very tempting to go in and add something to them but I have not and I think that was the right choice. Backgrounds are always hard for me because I do not want to settle for a dark background just because that is easy or a solid one...I am always looking for another solution and because I am so stubborn it will always be my challenge I guess! Ha! Thanks for following me on this through two illnesses!!! Next I will work on a cat with a girl...some would say girl with a cat but I think the cat is going to steal the show if I can pull it off!

Auction For Japan

"Winter White Peony"

14 1/2" x 22"

Original Watercolor

Current Bid amount is: $1800.00  CLOSED

I am joining several artists to raise money for the Red Cross in Japan or a disaster group of our choice I have chosen ELCA Disaster Relief for Japan as it is volunteer and 100% will go to the people. As artists we do not always have money to dish out like we would like but we have our art and we are hoping to sell our art and donate 100% to this cause. I wish I could do more but this is what I have. By each of us doing our part we can make a difference.
My painting will be available for bids through March 20th. You can email me with your bid and I will keep that posted by the painting so every one knows where the bids are. Email me at Jane@janefreeman.com I will also ask for a small amount if the painting has to be shipped to far but otherwise I will try to cover all costs myself.
Bidding starts at $50.00.
For some reason my blog is not allowing the upload right now but I will keep trying. The painting is Winter White Peony and it was finished just this Feb.

The Artist's Magazine Blog

I have a group of artists at my blog at Artcolony...http://artcolony.blogspot.com and it has been such a nurturing area for those of us there. So I decided to write an article about it to let others know and perhaps they will build their own blog for that purpose! Here is the article!!! Hope you enjoy it!  http://artistsblog.artistsnetwork.com/ 
A side note...I finally finished teaching a workshop here locally...we will come back together in two weeks to talk about how to finish a painting so at that time I will take photos to share!

At Attention-Sparrow Watercolor

I am really close to done and decided to post it now. I still could refine a few edges but will be sending it off for a scan and that takes awhile so wanted to post it. I am hoping I pulled it off as I was making up this background but it was so much fun I could not stop! I did not want anything with crisp edges but needed it to still  read foliage. I am sure I could have done it better with a real photo but sometimes I like to just play and this is one of those. Hopefully the sparrow still stands out enough. I liked the attention sign, although it was for dogs...I made it into something perhaps about birds or nesting...who knows...but thought the arrow helped tell a story.
I will be teaching a workshop here in Bemidji the 10th -12th so have to begin preparing for that but I do have a drawing nearly complete so hopefully I will be able to post something on that before too long! Any questions...just ask!