Dreams Grapes

I did this painting this weekend using gel medium with watercolor. The gel medium allowed me to lift whites more easily.

Orange You Glad?

After taking a class from Frank Webb last week, I decided to use one of his compositional techniques for this painting. It gradates from left to right -- darker to lighter. It is a rarely used, good compositional technique according to Frank. I found that I had to make the one flower on the right (seond one in on the bottom) a much darker red to balance the painting. Before I did that, it looked like two different paintings -- one soft on the right and one bold on the left.

These poppies were in a side yard of a house that I used to walk past on my daily walks in my neighborhood in Rochester, MN. I took the photo three years ago and decided it would work for this side gradation technique.

The title comes from that corny joke we used to say as kids -- "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" Orange dominates and I think it is a happy painting.

My First Oil

I took a class in water soluble oils from Cathy Futral this week. I painted this in class in less than 2 hours. (You can click to enlarge.)




I found it hard to get the fine detail lines with oil. It seemed kind of gloppy to me. I missed the flow of the water I guess. But the painting does look richer.


Also, it is going to take over a month to dry!! I would definitely need a studio if I used this medium. I don't have enough space in my apartment to have drying art laying all over the place. Right now it is taking up a seat on my porch and I'm hoping there are no major storms.

Richards 48th Birthday Cake

My brother likes malted milk balls so I made this cake featuring them. I used my grandmother's "My Favorite and Best Cake" recipe.

He is now in St. Thomas on vacation with his family and I hope he is having fun!

Pinning, A New Beginning

I painted this from a photo of Maureen's orchid. We bought it for her when we went to Miami for her pinning ceremony. I used a turquoise background because that is a color she likes and it contrasts well with the yellow/orange centers of the orchids.

Turtle In The Tank

I painted a not too great watercolor this weekend at Autrey Mill Nature Center. While there I took this photo of a turtle (Red Eared Terrapin) in a tank inside the reptile section.

It was a pretty strange looking painting and you couldn't really tell what was going on until I decided to glaze the bottom with permanent green light. That helped distinquish the side of the tank from the rest of the painting. Adding some light lines in that section also helped.

Bird On A Limb -- Take 2

My friend at Watercolors Wet N Wild (ning group) suggested I darken behind the bird and also the leaves below. I took her suggestions and I think it really made a difference. Don't you?