A Return To Birds

No, I couldn't stay away from birds for too long.

I think I got just a little sloppy with my paint and the red bled into the blue in a couple of places.  This guy seems to be a little fluffed up.  It must be cold wherever he is.  

Just a quick little painting to get ready for the holidays.  Enjoy.

One for the Weekend (Pin Up Girl, Feet Up)

A pin up to last you though the weekend.    This one, too, is red, with a green background.  I'm gonna claim Chritmasness because of it.

Ok, now on to a funny story.  I painted this last night during the worst storm of the year. It was, of course, dark.   I got all set up, mixed a few colors, had just started putting brush to paper when..... the power went out.  I had to immediately rethink my strategy.  A quick trip to the office to get a flashlight.  Then a better idea.  A headlamp.

Power was out for about 3 hours last night, and this got painted by LED headlamp.  Not optimal conditions, but interesting.  Given the circumstances, I think this turned out really well.

I had a lot of fun painting it in the dark.  Hope you enjoy viewing it.

Pin Up Girl, Bending Leg

This is the second one, so I guess I'm starting a series.  Though if I am going to paint a series of painting, this is a good one to pick.  

I didn't notice this quite as much looking at the real picture, but I might have to darken the background a bit to make her stand out just a bit more.

Yes, there is a bit of backrun on this painting, and I thought about going in and trying to get rid of some of it.   But I rather like backrun.  Watercolor is the only  medium in which you see it, and it really makes paintings distinctive.  So, I decided to leave it.  

As with them all, I had fun painting this one.  Hope you enjoy it too.

A Departure From Birds and Flowers (Pin Up Girl)

 I am trying to paint much more loosely.  On this painting I got the entire sheet wet, blocked in some basic colors, then went back to put in details.

You can see that the paper is really warped.  I used some student grade paper that I had gotten for my kids.  I don't know why I did that, but I did.  I quickly realized my mistake.  I couldn't control the water at all.  Everything flowed everywhere.  I think you can see what colors held the most weight on this paper.  I was hoping to have a nice blue background, but when I went to block in some red and grey, BAMMO, back runs.  Oh well, that's ok.

Letting things dry, I went back and, using very little water, started to put in some details and shading.  This is what I came up with.  I got some good, and some bad.  I think its a good effort, but you decide for yourself.

Thank you and enjoy.

Chinese Lanterns

Thanks to our friends over at The Frugal Crafter, I've got another painting for you.

I dind't have a ton of time to do this, and having previously seen her video, I knew this one wouldn't take forever to do, so I gave it a shot.

Notice that this is a lot looser painting than most of mine.  It really does kind of feel good to let go and not worry about things for a bit.  I just figures, well, I'm not really expecting a whole lot, so I'll just throw the paint on and see what happens.  Well, much to my surprise, it turned out pretty good.  I even think I learned a few techniques that I'll be able to work into my every day paintings.

Well, Here it is, I hope you enjoy it, and thanks to Lindsey at The Frugal Crafter.

Holiday Cards

Here they are!  Hot off the... desk.  A batch of Christmas  Holiday cards.  I think they turned out pretty nicely.  They are painted on Strathmore Watercolor Cards.   I got mine at our local hardware store.  The cards are 140 lb paper, with a nice fold in the middle and come with an envelope for each.

Yes, these poinsettias are a bit stylized.  I tried a few (ones you didn't get to see) with fatter leaves, and it just didn't seem to have quite as much movement or life to them.  Each leaf or petal has a slightly different color than its neighbor.and the center has a nice yellow patch to punch it up.

I do have to give a bit of thanks to Lindsay Weirich at TheFrugalCrafter.  Her YouTube channel has a bunch of fun stuff like this, and I stumbled upon her page at the right time.  I was looking for something to paint on these cards , and she had a great tutorial.  So Lindsay, thank you.

Well, thats all for now.  Hope you like them.

Prepping for Christmas cards

Last year it was trees.  This year I am thinking I'm gonna do poinsettias.  I saw a little tutorial on this and thought I would give it a go myself.  Yes, these leaves are a little stylized.  The real ones are a bit fatter.  I might have to do a page of these where I do a bit fatter leaf, but I think these are gonna be what goes on the Christmas cards this year.

The two on the left have a yellow ochre behind them,  on the right azo yellow.  Not exactly sure the direction I'm gonna go.  Brighter, more in your face, or a bit more demure.    I'll decide after the next group of tests.