Watercolor is fluid color in motion, dancing from brush onto paper

 I keep thinking of watercolor as kind of a dance between color and water, brush and ‘artist’s eye’ as I apply paint to create a painting…

I paint light and color but in order to do that, one must paint shadow and neutrals…life is a balance, right?

                                              Watercolor - Stepping Stones     

Plein Air painting in the sunflower fields with friends!

 Yesterday, I had the absolute delight of getting together with friends to paint in the fresh air at the sunflower field that Tecumseh Land Trust plants yearly!  It is in it’s prime and the colors were VIBRANT! So, of course, I used my brightest hues and values…so fun!

Painting BIG!

 Painting a large piece pushes me, loosens up my tendency to tight brushwork because…tiny strokes would be of little impact.  Most important is value, color and shape/composition!  Even more important than painting the perfect leaf or reflection…the painting relies on me looking at it abstractly.  Does it feel right?  Do the shapes tell a story, draw the viewer in to travel throughout the scene?

Here’s the progress so far on my fall scene - - -

Wish me luck ad I continue to add darks (but keeping some sparkle), shapes and reflections!

The sketch - tbd if it’s right…

I’ve been asked to create a large piece of work and oh my, it is an honor to make a piece of artwork on commission.

My brother asked me how long it takes to make a big watercolor.  
Well, that depends on the subject and how well the planning works out, right?
 I make sketches until I really like one, then do a value sketch.

I may make a small mock-up in color before I launch into the actual piece of art.
That way, I can work out the lights/darks, colors, focal point and see if all 
seems to balance, to draw in the eye,   to make the viewer sigh with delight!  

Then….I will need to cut a big ‘ol piece of watercolor off the roll since this beauty
is far bigger than my usual Arches blocks or even my ‘full sheets’ of wc paper.  I’ll    tape or clip it onto a big board and launch into it, 

building up the colors and darks,

leaving the lights and brights to lead the eye into the place I want the viewer to 
dwell for minutes, maybe hours?

AND I recently had the delight of watching master oil painter Tim Horn paint en
PleinAir at a local Tecumseh Land Trust protected farm…

so fun to watch him 

select his scene and build from tones 

to values and colors 

and beauty on canvas. 

Days exploring mountains and valleys with friends = painting inspirations!

Everytime we travel, I take way too many photos to save the colors/shapes/natural designs that I see as we hike. Well, we got to stay in a yurt on the highway of Big Sur and hike lots of the beautiful parks, beaches, redwood forests there. We also visited the Sierras ad hiked up to mountain tops with their 2 horses and 2 dogs...more inspiration. Then we came home and skipped off to stay in a yurt in Red River Gorge where again, nature outdoes itself with the beauty of the rock, mountains, waterways and flora. The first painting that I made was of the light filtering through the redwoods, then a quick one of the mists that wrap around the pines and scrup by the ocean at Big Sur. Today, I completed a piece of the sweet pup that we walked daily in the foothils of the Sierras and in the mountains. It was a crisp fall day and she was especially eager to skip prance along the roads and trails. Here is 'A Walk with the Pup'