SHELLS AND CHINESE DISHES

watercolor and gouache 6 x 11 inches

This is my favorite painting of the last couple of months.  And I really enjoyed doing it.  I've loved seashells as much as I love flowers since I was a child and love painting them as well.  And they are much better models than flowers.... they don't move.   The gray background is gouache.  The rest is watercolor except for some little touch-up on the shells.  I wasn't planning to paint the design on the plate, but like it better after I did.  Here it is before.

BEST WISHES FOR SOLSTICE

                                                 watercolor and gouache 11/5 x 8 inches

I was planning to print this out for a card to send to friends for a season greetings, but didn't finish in time to have printed.... my printer doesn't print color anymore and there is no place to go to have it done here, so I'll just post it here and wish all of you the best for the holidays.

I've collected several odd shaped frames over the years and am trying to use them.  I cut my paper for one of the frames and started out just painting the cactus and then decided what else to put with it.  I was thinking a seasonal theme.... the persimmons were going bad in one of our stores and I got them free.  I invented the container that the plant is in  as I couldn't find something to go with the bowl and plate.  After finishing it, or at least filling up the paper, I noticed my little swan (in a little painting here) that would have worked well with the rest.

I'm reminded, once more, after doing this painting the importance of planning the composition before I start.

CRANE AND LILIES

                                                 watercolor and gouache   8.5x8.5 inches

This was going to be pure watercolor, but I painted the background pattern too dark... the origami crane got lost in the pattern.  So I painted over the too-dark pattern with gouache.

LILIES ON BLUE

                               LILIES ON BLUE  watercolor & gouache painting  10x10 inches


I always seem to have some of these lilies blooming and I've painted them numerous times.  I use to think they were  Belladonna lilies, but recently learned they are Barbados lilies (Hippeastrum puniceum).  The bulbs form lots of baby ones.  Last spring I repotted a couple of large pots and had about a hundred bulbs.

I noticed after posting this that I had cropped out some area on the top when I matted this but didn't do it on scan, so if you notice something different, I'm putting the cropped scan in now.

STILL LIFE WITH GERANIUM

watercolor, 14 x 6 inches

The geraniums are still blooming after bringing them in from the sun-room last month.  I set this still life up to fit in a red frame that I've had for years.  An artist told me last summer that tall, narrow paintings will sell faster than  wide ones, because they are easier for people to find places to hang. Must be true.... I've already sold it 

SPAIN PAINTING

This is one of several little paintings I did in Spain last month.  You can see more at my other blog, Watercolor Postcards, by clicking here.

THE REST OF SUMMER

I've surely got some catching up to do here.  As the summer is ending and I'm preparing to go on a trip to Spain next month, I'd better get something  here before another month passes. 

Its been a good summer despite the rain.  I had one of those decade marking birthdays last month which make for some celebration and deep thoughts on where I've been and where I'm going in this life, and evaluating priorities.  My blogs are on the list, but not at the top; still something I want to keep doing.   So time to get going again. 


                            
                                                         SUNROOM  watercolor  7x10

There still hasn't been much painting getting done.  Here is the latest one that is finished, done on my sun-porch. There are a few small things I'll put on my watercolor postcard blog.

                                                         
                                                        7 BLOOMS woodcut, 5"x3.75"

I did this woodcut in July for a Baren Forum exchange.   I used 4 blocks, not reduction this time.


                                        


I've been opening my little gallery most days of the summer for a couple of hours.  I added some old glass, china and other  things to hopefully sell that I've accumulated over many years, filling up unused space and making a more interesting place for people to come to.   I definitely have too much stuff and it feels good to get rid of some of it. 

 

 This has been one of the best berry years ever here, and there is a fantastic field of wild strawberries behind my gallery.  I, along with several friends, have picked gallons and there are still a few out there.  I've also been picking wild blueberries.  Most of the berries are going in the freezer, but we've been eating lots of them for the last few weeks.

The garden took a while to get going with lack of sun in June and July.  Having Van here to help keep the weeds down is a big help.  I'm keeping the slug population down by going out at least 2 times a day and picking them off.  I've gotten about 60 so far today.  I use a spoon and put them in a cup of ammonia water. 

I've made a couple of trips to Juneau.  In July, I went to a retirement party for a friend on a whale watching boat and enjoyed the most spectacular show of humpbacks I've ever seen..... a pod of about 15, bubble net after bubble net.  I wish I'd taken a good photo. 

 I've spent lots of time studying Spanish and planning my trip to Spain next month. I'm getting pretty excited; will be leaving home on the 8th, with a few days in Juneau before flying to Barcelona where I'll stay for a few days.  I'll be meeting friends there and then off to this place to relax and paint for a week.  After that I'll be on my own for a week, and plan to paint and/or sketch everyday.

NOT MUCH PAINTING

Not much has gotten painted the past few weeks.  I have been pretty busy.  I got my little gallery open 2 weeks ago and am  at least a couple of hours there in the afternoon.  I'm getting out and walking more, dispite rain most days.  And the garden is finally all planted.... later than usual.     The weather in June hasn't been much better than in May.... there was only one day in May that it didn't rain and the temperature didn't get above 60.  The sun finally came out last week and the temperature was around 80 on Saturday, but it's now raining again.

Below are the only things I've painted this month that are getting matted and in the gallery.  I started them both and got stopped with rain, then went back a week or 2 later to finish: 

 This one I started with a pen and ink drawing, added watercolor and some gouache.  5x7 inches

                              This had some under-painting and is pure gouache.  3.5"x5.5 inches

This is the first summer ever that my husband has been home all summer, as he has sold our boat and retired from fishing.  I'm liking having him here, and its good to have some help with the garden.

FINALLY FINISHED

gouache  painting  8x14 inches

I haven't counted the hours I've spent painting this, but there have been a lot of them.  It finally
seemed to have come together today.   I think the reason my gouache paintings take so long is that I never seem to get the right value the first time because the paint changes value as it dries, sometimes darker and sometimes lighter... that and the fact that I start with an under-painting in a different color.  

This was painted from a photo I took of my friend Kim in her kayak in Cross Sound a couple of years ago.   The stuff  in the water is bulb kelp.  The only person that has seen the painting thought it looked like kelp and foam.  I might have to  do some more work on it.    And I think I'll straighten out the waterline on the right.  It was like that because of the surge, but its bothering me.  I always see things wrong when I put them here.

 

THREE MORE LITTLE OILS

These are  little water soluble oil paintings, each about 6x6 inches that I did in the last month.  I had scanned and /or photographed them all at least once before my computer problems and lost them.  At least one might have been on a previous posting and deleted by mistake when I was editing the size.

 This one was done on cotton canvas that I taped down.  The other 2 are done on gessoed board.

I'm still spending a lot of time getting updates on my laptop.  My connection is so bad at home that I have to go to library for downloads which isn't much better .  I didn't save my addresses in Apple Mail but am finding them in gmail  with thousands of emails I never deleted there.

PLEIN REIN RETREAT

Last weekend, I joined the Plein Rein Painters of Juneau  for a fun and inspiring retreat.   The talented group of painters have been getting together every Saturday for several years and have for a few years gotten together for a retreat,  usually in March or April.  This year they decided to have it later when the weather would be better, but who knew that this year the weather in April would be better than in May.

The retreat took place at the  Jubilee Cabin at the Shrine of St. Therese.    and though it rained most of the weekend,  the view from the window was beautiful and some of us went out on the covered porches and painted.  I did a couple of little paintings with water soluble oils and some watercolors.  This is one of them, the view from the window.

                                           

                                               watercolor  7x7inches 

  I was working on a gouache in the studio before going to Juneau and I haven't touched it since coming home on Monday as  I've spent most of the week getting my computer to work right which I've elaborated about enough on my other blog. I have continued to do my daily small drawings/paintings and after the computer problems, started  posting them again today. 

PEARS

It is a struggle to take good photos of the paintings I've painted in the last month.  This is the best I can do after several tries in different light.

water soluble oil 6x6 inches

water soluble oil 6x6 inches

I really got bogged down painting the handle of the cup.  I think I finally got it right, but now the ellipse looks a little off..... and now the ellipse on the jar.  I'm liking the fact that I can fix things more easily with oils than with watercolor.

RABBIT AND EGGS

RABBIT AND EGGS  water soluble oils on board about 5x8inches

With this little painting, I discovered that I am able to get the paint down much easier with a flat synthetic brush than with the bristles I was using before. 

These are fresh eggs that I get from a local farmer.  They are many shades, sometimes green.

WATER MIXABLE OILS, AGAIN

I decided to give the water mixable oils a try again and have been working with them for most of the month.  With the help of inexpensive tutorials called Artbytes by Carol Marine on the Daily Paintworks website, I feel like I'm starting to make progress.   

 

 

WHITE RABBIT #1 water soluble oil on canvas 6x6 inches

Besides the tutorials on the site, there are challenges.  One is to paint an apple or other fruit in 10 minutes then do another and another to fill the canvas.  I've done several canvases of these.

                       APPLES water soluble oils, 9x12 inches

The next challenge for me is figuring out how to take a decent photo of an oil painting.

ANOTHER SQUARE PAINTING

I don't know what is is with all these square paintings.  I guess it is my admiration of the paintings done by some of the Daily Paintwork  artists, especially those of Carol Marine, that I have been looking at a lot lately.

After getting home from my trip south last month, I did this painting   from a photo I took in my garden a few years ago.

                                     CABBAGE watercolor, 10"x 10"



Gardening has been much on my mind with the warming weather since I've been home.  There have been  lots of sunny days and the snow is almost gone in the yard and garden.  I've got seedlings coming up in the house and looking forward to digging  outside soon.

My trip south was good but am glad to be home. I posted some sketches from my travel journal on my other blog, Watercolor Postcards.  

Last week I brought out my water soluble oils and have done a couple of little paintings which I will try to get photographed soon and post.

THREE SQUARE PAINTINGS

gouache 15"x15"

 

 

 I worked on this for over a month.  Its the largest gouache painting I've done, painted from a photo I took at Reid Inlet in Glacier Bay last August.

watercolor 8" x 8"

This is of Lamplugh Glacier from a photo from the same trip.  In the photo, my friend Judy was standing next to the large berg in fron of the glacier.... it was taller than her.

gouache 8" x 8"

                          
And this is on the flats near the beach, one of my favorite places to walk.  

I'll be leaving tomorrow on the ferry to Juneau then south down to warmer climates in Arizona, Texas and Florida where I will visit friends and family for about a month.

Year of the Dragon

about 6 1/2 x 4 inches

This is the eleventh year I've made a print of the Chinese zodiac animal for an excange sponsored by the Baren Forum group.  The Chinese NY began on January 23 and I mailed them on that day, so they are probably getting to the 45 people that I sent to about now.  Here is my print.

This is a cloisonne matchbook holder which I used for reference.   I used 2 blocks of shina plywood and printed each reductively.... the first printed with yellow, blue and black in that order and the second printed with light red and red.  I used 3 different papers.... this one is Rives BFK.  As usual, I used hanga technique using waterbased paint and methyl cellulose and printed with a baren.