Hydrangea Blooms

Hydrangea Blooms   Watercolor   13 x 10

is a painting that equaled the preconceived image in my mind.  That rarely happens, as I usually don't have such a clear image of my goal....I am a wanderer, I'm afraid.  Each autumn, I clip a few of these papery spent blooms for my front door wreath....they are so very beautiful.....they make my heart sing.  I planned to oppose these light papery things with a hard glass jar....polar opposite textures.  Two sessions were spent in painting the image monochromatically with raw umber.  My new tube of this hue is by Daniel Smith.  I have found it to be more brown than the  more yellowy hue by Winsor and Newton that had been on my palette for years.  Whites were held for most of the progress....more than you see here.  The last session was spent in glazing and dropping color onto the forms....lightly, very very lightly.  On the blooms, the color was absorbed off after a few minutes with a paper towel.  The pattern of the darkest darks was laid in last of all, including the small pockets of dark within the blooms.  The painting was then fine-tuned to my liking.  I am pleased.

S. and C.

S. and C.   watercolor   7 x 5

is a small monochromatic work in watercolor done on a Strathmore watercolor card.  The card was given to our son S. as a wedding card.  He and his bride C. were married in  September in a remote location near Pisgah National Park in North Carolina.  Family and close friends stayed in cabins near a stream....we hiked, played ball and floated in the tubes in the days previous to the nuptials which were held on a sandy beach.  It was so very lovely!

I have made these cards for each of our sons...and I tend to diddle way too long on them...I guess in search of perfection.  Painting family members is always more restrictive, as they are so much more precious.  This time I chose to use only brown and am satisfied with the result.  The card was taped to the masonite support both to keep it flat and to create a border when complete.  The artists' tape these days is way too sticky.  I have been using painters' tape (the blue or the green kind) instead, and always rub the tape on my clothing to reduce its tack.  Even then, the nap on the paper is roughed up on its removal.  A slight burnishing with a bone folder can smooth it down again.

Congratulations S and C!

Norma

Norma   watercolor and thread   16 x 6

is another steadfast watercolorist from our Monday evening class.  She has the distinct advantage of seeing simple shapes without cumbersome detail.  She also creates lovely travel journals with small watercolor sketches in whatever surroundings she finds herself on travels with her partner David. 

In this exercise, photos were shot (by me) of each artist the week before.  Photocopies of all were laid face-down on the table.  We all drew one as we entered.  So....our paintings were done on-the-spur, as it were.  The goal:  to try to be able to see only valued shapes and masses without our left-brain, naming-brain getting in the way with messages such as "This is a hand... 4 fingers and a thumb....better paint small....better get it right".  We painted monochromatically using a brown pigment of choice.

My only issue was the paper being too short for the perfect frame that I had on hand.  The solution:  I painted a strip with cad red and stitched it on by hand using gold thread.

Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver, the other gold.

Here's to Norma!