Watercolor Workshops

There is still space available in my workshop in Maine this year in July. It is right below the Arcadia National Park which is very beautiful and there are bike trails from where we stay right into the park. There is whale watching as well! You can view the site here and if you are thinking next year, I will teach July 7-11 for 2008 there. I will give you the link here to the workshop so you can see the area. www.acadiaworkshopcenter.com Thanks! Janie

Gravy Boat Step 4

I am so sorry this is taking so long. There have been a number of things that have traspired over the last few weeks that have kept me hopping! First I was signing a contract to license all my images which is final now so I hope that some good things happen! Second, my other business has taken off unexpectedly and so have had to make more time for that. I design and reconstruct clothing for small girls. It is a popular fashion on the westcoast where recycling is important. They have been selling well and I thought it was just going to be a fun thing to do for a few weeks and that was that! Hopefully this next batch of clothes will be done this weekend and I can get back to this painting.
Gravy boat has been a challenge because of the lace. There were so many folds that it was a case where I finally had to just find the shapes and patterns to make sure it would read correctly. I believe I have that now so it will go much better as I do not have to worry about the shapes but can just paint. Nothing is done at this point but it is reading lace and most areas are filled in so I believe it will be much more fun now and go faster. The colors in the lace are Transparent Brown Oxide, Quin. Gold Quin. Sienna and Carbazole Violet. I have tried to keep a variety of values even at this stage but now will have to go in and define things better and get more darks in so the holes in the lace pop better. Thanks for your patience!

Gravy Boat Step 3

Well, I am not setting any world records with this one but I am enjoying some other things now since I finished the book...so taking my time. I have placed the first wash into the background just to give it some substance. This will allow me to do the rest of the painting and then work gradually to the depth I want in the background without going dark right away...I like to wait and see if I can get by without using that trick. Going dark always adds alot of drama but it is not the only answer so I am going to work on it slowly to see if a lighter color will work as well. I will only work on the darker grapes at this point because once everything is done, it is sometimes surprising how little has to be done on those light bright areas...I will wait to determine if they[the lightest grapes] will need more color.

Gravy Boat Step 2

I am sorry I have not gotten much further but have another project going and this keeps taking the back seat...partly because it is so difficult to draw as well! The pattern in the lace has been tough so I think I will switch now to do the gravy boat and background which will make me feel I am 1/2 done and help encourage me to keep on with the lace. Hopefully that part will not take too long if I find the time to get to it. My second business has sort of taken off and so I am having trouble keeping up with everything! The photo seems to wash out the yellows and peaches that are present in this as I took the snap outside in the sunshine which seems to usually work ok for me. I guess true colors will not appear until the actual slides are done but gives you a pretty good idea. Thanks for looking!

The Gravey Boat

Not sure that this is the title however it is a gravey boat and found that to be kind of a funny title...we will see if it lasts. This one will take alot of patience and I am not sure I will last! Some have called me the Lace Queen but I am afraid this lace will be the end of that history! HA! I am also testing the transparent Lunar Black from Daniel Smith in this painting to see how it works and it granulates very nicely and I think will lend itself to sterling well. The grapes are Yellow Gold mixed with Phthalo Turquoise or Manganese Blue Hue depending on which grape and sometimes just straight Yellow Gold all of which are Daniel Smith. I hope this painting comes together as I have loved this photo for several years but hesitated to paint it because of all the lace. I will continue to post but it might take some time before there is a real noticable difference so you will have to have some patience too! Thanks for looking!

Waterlily Slide Scan

I just scanned the slide I had made and am not sure I am still getting the correct colors with this picture. I think sometime I need to project the slide itself and see if the colors are off somehow in the slide! I surely hope not but will post this so I can compare.
Now that it is up it is way toooooo blue but the purple is better. I hope that it is just my computer but these colors are just not correct. The water is quite gray, not blue but the lily is quite purple and that is not showing up either...hmmm I will have to improve this before I put it up on my website!
I just redid this again hoping it is coming up better!

Purple Waterlily Demo Finished!

My photographer just sent this jpeg. I might scan the slide when it arrives to make sure we have the most accurate colors so this might change some. The problems with the water were solved by a glaze of Indigo very lightly applied to allow some of the blues from below to come through. The shadows and ripples were needing some jazz so i applied some Phthalo Turquoise and yellow into the water in areas. I never am afraid of color to liven things up. The same with the purple waterlily. Being only purple was very boring so in the final stages I started using Quinacridone Rose and Quinacridone Gold to liven up some of the purples. Both in the pictures and in my drawing I did not see a problem with the lower leaves but they became a problem and I had to leave them rather undefined or they would have been too dominate. I did the same with the background leaves so that they had little interest but supplied nice shapes and values. I hope it worked well enough. Now I have to live with it for awhile as once I finish a painting, the problems are too fresh in my head and I cannot enjoy the entire piece for what it is. It feels good to have it done and I have begun the next drawing, silver and grapes with lace. Joel from the Philippines has told me that this lily is commonly called Midnight in the tropical countries. So thanks for that info and now the title of this waterlily is "Midnight Waters". Isn't technology amazing? Ask a question and someone in this world will give you the answer!