Apple Blossom

Found a nice little picture of an apple blossom on pmp-art.com.  Couldn't help myself, I had to paint it.  I think it came out ok.  I'm working on putting light next to dark and smooth transitions of colors.  Also If I can get multiple colors into each space, so much the better.  The leaves are mostly HBC green #1 and #2 but I've snuck in some Perm. Yellow Lemon and some Viridian too.  The petals are Rose Madder and Vermilion. 

In the original picture the whole branch must have been set on a white sheet, because it had a very soft grey shadow.  I tried to replicate that here. 

I hope you like this one.  I think I'm gonna do a video for htis one, keep a check out for it.

Sketchadoodling

Just a few quick sketches I did.  I'm trying to recycle and reuse pieces of paper that I have laying around that have a bit of whitespace on them.  I've got more paper on the way, but in the meantime, I've got these bits to use and since they paintings aren't  great and were just sitting around anyway.....   So you might be forced to view through a few more before I've exhausted all my scraps.  Enjoy.

Hydrangea and Cherry Blossom at lunch

Spring has definitely sprung in my little part of California.  Everything is green, everything is growing, most things are in bloom.  It hit 80 here today!

Continuing on with my new fun painting style, I decided to revisit my cherry blossoms, and add a hydrangea.  I chose a simple cherry blossom.  Simple rounded petals, 5 to each bloom.  As for the Hydrangea:  4 petals, each diamond shaped.  Simple, right?  What could go wrong.  As it turns out, quite a lot.  But since I am trying to loosen up, I made an attempt to let mistakes go by the wayside and incorporate them into the final painting.  I don't know if you will even be able to pick them out.  I think probably I can pick them out because I painted them.  And if I hadn't mentioned it you wouldn't even know there were any mistakes.

Glad you could stop by to take a look at the pictures.  Hope you enjoyed the.  I thoroughly enjoyed painting them.

Oh, and sorry the pictures have a slight blue tint.  I don't have my scanner with me right now, and am sorely missing it.

An Attempt at Cherry Blossoms

OK, I wanted to continue on with this style of watercolor painting, but I didn't want to do the same thing I've already done.  So, I decided on cherry blossoms.This is my first attempt, so they might not be quite right, but I had fun painting them, and hey, that's the point anyway.

I did get a little heavy handed with the color in a few places.  Especially in the bottom paintings.  Also, as you can see, I put a background down on the bottom painting before doing any work with the flowers.  I don't think it worked, and I wont be doing it again (at least I have no current plans to do it).

This style for me is all about putting a dark next to a light.  The contrast between the two is what gives the form its shape.  On the top twig, I did a fairly good job of it, but kind of lost my way a bit on the second painting.  Also, I got some of the shading on the petals correct, and some horribly wrong.  What can I say?  Sometimes I forget to define top and bottom and from what direction the light is coming from before i begin painting.  I get all caught up in having fun in putting paint to paper, and really should step back a little to think a bit more.

Yes, I was trying to limit my palette.  You really only see two colors, or more truthfully you see variation on two colors.    In my next iteration, I may try to work a third color into the mix.  It might help it to be a bit more dynamic.

Well, I'm done havering.   Hope you enjoy the paintings, and thanks for taking a minute to look at, and read about them.