Lily Pads in the Fountain   24"x30"   $675.00

This painting was put together from several photos taken at the fountain at Jane's Restaurant, in Naples Florida.  This was a great place for breakfast.  The French toast was to die for. 

 I always checked the fountain out for blooms after we had visited the farmer's market on 3rd Street.  Over a period of time I had collected several images of the lavender lilies. 

 Then  task of printing off and blowing up images, exactly to the size as I wanted for the painting. Hours were spent in constructing the drawing.  Lighting also had to be adjusted, because of the different times the photos were taken. 

 After first painting each lily in detail and then the water, I put the photos aside and worked to pull the piece together.  This one came in and out of the frame a few times.  Now It is ready.

Speckled Crab   17"x20"  $320.00

I found this crab washed up on the beach one morning.  He was dead and on his back.  Flipping him over I positioned all his legs to a good pose.

Originally, this painting was started as a day painting.  Returning to it, I worked on detail and the sense that he is resting in a hole in the water. 

One of the hardest tasks was finding out what kind of crab this was.  Hours were spent on the internet to find his picture with a name.  Finally I had it: The Speckled Crab.

Feeding Time

This is the second painting of this small octopus.  I have several shots of him.  It was feeding time at the Key West Aquarium. 

Seeing this photo I think that I still have to work on the leg that goes over the body.  It does not pull forward enough. 

Tomorrow I think I will try a made up doodle of an octopus.  The suction cups fascinate me. 

Music in the Night.

Night Jazz

On Thursday nights in Naples musicians are on the street on 5th Avenue.  People dance in the streets.  It makes for a very pleasant evening.  There was another singer but very obscured, so I had to make up the background.  The microphone was there.  I just followed my gut and was going for look good. 

This is an appropriate painting for today.  I had my piano swapped out changing from a digital to an acoustic.  The sound is much better.  My ears are happy, and so is my paint brush.

Hermit Crab

Hermit Crab

This is about as loose as I get. 

Larger hermit crabs are red.  I ran into one once in the surf, just before sunrise.  I was the size of a 1lb. lobster.  It was red with a fleshy tail, and without a shell.  It looked like a lobster, but lobsters are red after they are cooked.  It took me awhile to find out what this red clawed thing was on the internet.  Finally I saw a poster showing the parts of a hermit crab.  Bingo. 

I used to find shells hard to draw.  I think it was more of a perspective thing. Now shell are not such a challenge. This comes with practice, practice, practice.

Sunflower Stages

Sunflower Stages

12"x9"

Watercolor

on watercolor canvas

This is a rework of a start from many years ago.  I did not have the reference photo, so I winged it.  I am sort of happy with this.  I did go back to get rid of some hard edges that formed with drying.

I don't like to paint on watercolor canvas much.  It is hard to build rich dark color.  I find little brushes becoming a go to tool, because they will not hold much water.  Water does not have much opportunity to soak in like paper, so it pools quicker. 

The good points about this support is that it can be taken back to white without much effort and there is no damage like on paper.  I thought this was not interesting enough, so I hit the piece with a spray bottle and let it drip and run. 

Of course some pigments will drip and run better than others.  Then some pigments are heavy and stay put.  

I will spray this with UV spray and then matt varnish, then frame without glass. 

I prefer regular canvas coated with watercolor ground.  It gets rid of the canvas texture and does not reactivate with water like gesso.  There is a little more water absorbency.

I went with less control on this painting which is fun, and can be very rewarding.  I am still in there pushing and pulling to control the final outcome, but must also go with the flow. 

White Welk

Day 5, 30 Paintings in 30 Days

This is also card size.  I have been working on a larger painting most of the day.  Being white the darker background helps define this shell.  Lines play an important role here.  I usually have a hard time getting the inside to curve and fall in.  The Welk has a bend at the upper part of the inside.  

When live, the animal buries itself in the sand point up.  Must watch where you step in low tide.  Smaller ones are sharp.  I wonder it the whelk's eyes are near the point.  I will have to pull one up and check this out.

I heard today that I may be able to enter the Gallery group I want to I have been waiting for a space to open up.  Fingers crossed.  The will put me into super paint mode. 

It is off to bed tonight.  I want to get the tree out of the living room and then I am having friends over for pizza night.  I better hit the brushes really early tomorrow. 

Yellow Rose

Yellow Rose

This is small enough to glue onto a thank you card.  I used one rose from my photo of my farmer's market bouquet as a reference.  It was a little difficult to draw one rose and not include petals from other roses.  The drawing was not exact, but I was able to paint using the photo for value and color changes. 

I used different yellows.  I probably have about 10 on my yellow pallet.  Red and orange was used for shadows, with a hint of green.  Before the painting was done, I stopped looking at the photo and just tried to make the painting make sense. 

Hookers green and violet were used for the foliage, being complementary to yellow and red.  at the last minute I decided to use cobalt blue with texture for a sky, throwing in rose hints. 

I like the composition of this painting.  It does not bother me that a couple of the roses pedals kiss the edge.  Sometimes breaking rules works. 

Ripples

Ripples--I started this painting using a liner brush to make ribbons of color that would show up as light.  Then I splattered Opera with a large sloppy brush. HWC finally makes an Opera that is lightfast.  This hot pink has always been rated as fugitive and never allowed it in my palette.

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I used Indigo, Sepia and Ultramarine Aqua for the darker ribbon.  I used  a violet watercolor pencil, dipped in water,  to do the lining. It added interest and pulled the colors together.   I switched to a fine liner brush in violet paint to painting lines when the pencil became frustrating.

This was just a playful abstract.  When painting the light ribbon it was foreground or subject, but after the lining I now see the dark coming forward and the lighter colors receding like a sky in the background. 

Floral Design

Here we go again.  This time I plan to be a little easier on myself.  The paintings this month will be smaller.  In February I want to enter a show called the power of small.  I may prepare a few canvases also.  Then the allotted space will be all painting and not matting.

This one was in a journal.  Using different reds, but getting contrasts between the shapes.  The green areas were a balance in color and then I went  to all play in the background.  I do not shake paint on the surface often, but it is a good way to add interest and keep an otherwise tight painting loose.