At The Hip

At The Hip   Watercolor   25.5 x 16

 Oh Yes!...a scene that I am very familiar with...dressing up young boys for a formal event...in this case, a wedding.  These young lads...cousins...are ready to attend the wedding of their uncle.  Baseball caps and ties askew are part of the look.

I began with what is a darling photograph, and tried to give it a bit of my own flavor with capitalizing on their joint gesture.  The faces have been underplayed.  The horizontal line of the arms and waistbands of the trousers have been given dominance.  These boys are besties!  Color is kept to a minimum.

I like this work...and it represents much of which I hope to achieve in future paintings.

Brown Eggs

Brown eggs   watercolor   13 x 9.5

 One of my spring rituals is to paint eggs...'tis the season!  

This year I decided to paint brown eggs, which is a bit easier than painting the subtle shading and reflecting that occurs with white ones.  Although the scale of the eggs is a bit larger than in reality, I still enjoy this painting as it is, to me, the quintessential watercolor painting, i.e. the use of savored whites and the splashiness of application.  In order to accomplish this, I have had to let go of perfection by resisting the urges to smooth over brush strokes and to generalize the patterning on the bowl.

Distinct realism is difficult to release.  

I like brush strokes so very much.

Simplification.

I enjoy this work.