sparkle of christmas

gouache

6 x 10

arches artboard

working with gouache and color. these pieces are varnished. with this one i added a gold that gives a holiday sparkle !

trees of color

6 x 20

gouache

arches artboard

these studies are allowing me to learn about using gouache. again, no drawing, no brushes... just gouache and a palette knife. these are varnished with a mat varnish which is consistent with the gouache paint.

colors of Christmas

6 x 10
gouache

arches artboard

this is gouache and palette knife. this stuff dries in a matter of a few seconds so there is absolutely no planning. i do love the color intensity of gouache especially against the white white of arches artboard. i am experimenting with gouache and plan to apply a coat of varnish tomorrow.

hwy 32 dogs tallahatchie county mississippi

11 x 22

watercolor

140lb fabraino

there is a festival in town this coming weekend around our court square. so i wanted to paint something very local. this scene is just off one of the local highways and i painted just the landscape first. i found it lacking and very boring so i just added a few dogs. unfortunately, it is not uncommon to see this type of hound dog moving around the highways.

where did they go?

19 x 22

watercolor

140 lb fabriano

this is a rather large painting. i do enjoy a larger format as it allows for more interesting water/color formations. this is Sam (my favorite) looking for the small herd he lives with around here. it is not unusual for them to leave him behind and i have to wonder if they know he's the favorite. my newest stray cat does give an idea of size (he's a very large cat - i've been calling him Cowboy). my son lives about a mile up the road (as they say) and he did adopt this cat from me but it found its way back here within a day. regarding large watercolors, i now know why most watercolor artists stick to small formats. i have learned to allow plenty paper to carry the water. this also makes framing easier in that there are a few inches that could trimmed and make it a standard size for ready-made frames.

watercolor horse

11 x 17

watercolor

140lb fabriano

this took me two tries. it seems that it is good to do a (involuntary) preliminary one to just let it go to mud (usually the result of too much water) then the second try stays free of mud. i have not figured out why this is but it does seem to work okay. i guess the trick is to not give up after the first one...

when no one's looking

11 x 15

watercolor

140lb fabriano

this is Izzy and Dammit Kitty (a well earned name). they really do like each other but if they think i'm looking then the dog chases the cat. I did this as a color study for a larger donation piece for the local humane society's annual art auction but ended up spending more time on it so may not paint it again. Izzy is actually from the humane society and Dammit Kitty was dropped off with her mother and a litter.

sweetheart rosebud II

 

watercolor

10 x 10

140lb fabriano

These were actually in my mom's garden. i totally underestimated how hard pink would be to paint... very little pigment and a lot of water.

sweetheart rosebud

watercolor

10 x 10

140lb fabriano

not easy to get the color of this rose! this is again the same rose as below, just a few days ago. after not painting for a while, it takes a few paintings to get the kinks out. the paper is actually 11 x 11 leaving plenty of room to frame in different shapes (square, rectangle).

sweetheart rose II

watercolor

6.5 x 8.5

140lb fabriano

same rose as below but obviously i know much more about watercolor than gouache. still working on backgrounds in watercolor...

sweetheart rose

gouache

6.5 x 8.5

arches artboard

taking back everything nice i said about gouache! I struggled with this flower. it had lots of leaves but i just left them out. maybe its not the gouache but just that i haven't picked up a paintbrush in a while or maybe its because its not a dog or horse.