Adventures in Art, Product Design, Home Decor, Cooking, and Gardening
This painting, which is based on a tutorial in Fiona Peart’s book, “Tulips in Watercolor,” showcases my favorite Winsor Newton paint colors–permanent rose, Winsor blue green shade, Winsor yellow deep, green gold, and alazarin crimson.
I love our family watercolor sessions. We have a great time painting, listening to music, chatting, and sharing good food. My niece, Jenny, is the latest addition to our painting circle. This was her first introduction to painting and watercolors, and I was blown away by her talent. Wait until you see her completed painting.
Jenny chose to paint the same leaf fairy that I painted a few weeks ago. Here’s a sneak preview of her work.
She’s a meticulous painter with an eye for detail and a delicate hand–a winning combination.
She really enjoyed working on the shading.
My sister Cindy also joined the painting session. Here she’s taking a break from painting to snack on some homemade chicken noodle soup. I’ll be posting the recipe next.
My sister chose to paint a fairy artist. Here’s a sneak preview of her painting. This is her third painting–she really rocked it. Wait until you see her finished work.
My niece, Karen, also joined us. She painted sunny yellow trumpet flowers surrounded by a lovely blue sky.
Here’s a close up of Karen’s work in progress. The colors are bright; the feeling is fresh and sunny. I just love this painting–which is only her second attempt at watercolor painting. How amazing is she? I’ll be posting the completed paintings next.
Tulips are my favorite flower to paint. They’re simple but elegant, they come in a variety of colors, and the leaves offer a lot of opportunities to play with a range of blues, greens, and yellows. I wasn’t sure if the pastel background would work with this painting, but I think I pulled it off. This painting is based on a tutorial in Fiona Peart’s book, “Tulips in Watercolor.”
Here’s a close-up view:
During our Columbus Day family paint fest my daughter painted these gorgeous stargazer lilies. I love the combination of yellow, pink, purple, and touches of blue she used on the petals and the fine details she added with acrylic ink. This painting was based on a tutorial by Wendy Jelbert in the book, “Flowers,” by Wendy Jelbert, Michael Lakin, Fiona Peart, and Wendy Tait.
Here’s a close-up view of her painting:
This is my sister’s second watercolor painting. Aren’t these tulips gorgeous? For this painting she combined two tutorials. The tulips are based on a tutorial in Fiona Peart’s book, “Tulips in Watercolor” and the background is based on a tutorial in Janet Whittle’s book, “Watercolor Roses.” What a great combination. You rock, sissy!
Sometimes you have to leave your comfort zone to make magic happen. Today I left my comfort zone, slapped a variety of colors of paint on my paper, tilted the paper to encourage the colors to run together, and came up with this wildly intense background.
Those are roses I’ve sketched (the shiny areas are masking fluid). Can I take a traditional subject like roses and combine them with this wild background and come up with something magical? Only time will tell….
I went to the farmer’s market this morning and followed that up with a visit to a quaint Amish store called The Farmer’s Wife plus a quick stop at a local Mexican shop called Cinco de Mayo to pick up some goodies to get us through the week. I love living in a small, rural area. Everyone calls me by name when I enter their shops and we chat for a few minutes and catch up on what’s going on around town.
I spent the remainder of the afternoon working on a new painting but had to stop at sunset when the shadows got so intense that it was difficult to see my sketch on the paper. That’s normally the time when I grab my camera and snap a few pictures to post on my blog. I love how vibrant the colors look in the strong afternoon light.
I hope you did something equally relaxing and enjoyable this weekend. Watercolors on cold pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.
Another tutorial from the book, “Tulips in Watercolor,” by Fiona Peart. I used only three colors in this painting–Winsor blue (green shade), permanent rose, and green gold–my three favorite colors by Winsor Newton. Watercolors on hot pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.
I worked on this painting for several hours yesterday and again tonight, but I got too tired to finish it. I’m happy with my progress thus far, so I’m posting a sneak preview. For this painting, I reversed my usual process and painted the background first. I used masking fluid to prevent the dark paint from bleeding into the lighter parts of the painting. It was my first attempt at using masking fluid. I found it a bit tricky to apply; it dried quickly and became thick in a few seconds. I’m not sure if this is typical or if the masking fluid I purchased was a bit on the old side. I used only three colors in this painting–Winsor blue (green shade), permanent rose, and green gold–my absolute favorite colors by Winsor Newton. Watercolors on hot pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.
Another quick study my daughter completed from the book, “Painting Butterflies and Blooms” by Sherry C. Nelson. Watercolors on cold pressed Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano.