Lucky Dog Pet Portraits

Our Trade Show booth-Seattle Amazing Pet Expo

    What a great weekend!  I'm happy, tired, and relieved that it's over.  I loved meeting all the people and seeing their pets.  But what stayed with me was the stories of adoption, rescue and compassion.  One woman wore a shirt that said "who rescued who?"  The owner of this little guy was telling me of all the medical milestones she and her dog had to reach together.  His back is damaged which resulted in his hind legs becoming completely useless.  She has no regrets paying for all the medical care he has needed,  because when he looks at her with those big brown eyes- she sees the love there.  I'm hoping for a steady stream of pet portraits because of the joy they bring to me while I paint them, and to the owners who love their pets so tenaciously.  Their kindness is so refreshing.

Paint or plant?

     Three White Roses- 13x22 watercolor on Arches paper, $575.00

   I am a frustrated gardener.  My yard is in a woodland setting and much too shady to grow these beauties.  Not to mention my assistant gardener- our dog Mocha.  If she becomes too suspicious about something newly planted in the backyard, she rips it right out of the ground with her teeth.  Since my camellia suffered this fate recently, I have been reluctant to plant anything as regal as a white rose.  Painting them my be the first stop in my gardening therapy.

   I knew I would be painting roses for the floral show May 6, at the Inn at the 5th.  You can't have a floral show without the queen!  Even though these are white, there are still colors on their petals that depict light and shadows.  Warm light trapped in the folds intensifies and glows a peachy gold.  I chose purple and blue shadows as a good compliment color.  The dark background is saved for last and has to be thickly applied- usually in several steps.  It's a secret sauce, created by my watercolor teacher, and it can be mixed using Pereleen Maroon, Ultra Marine Blue and a little Mineral Violet.  And poof! Instant roses!  

   These roses and more can be seen May 6 at the Inn at the 5th.

Painting to Bloom!

Hydrangea- 22x30 watercolor on Arches 140lb Paper.  $2,500

 

   Im having a lot of fun painting florals for this upcoming show at the Inn at the 5th.  They have a celebration called Bloom every year and this year, my art will be featured at the First Friday Art Walk, 

May 6, 5:30-8:00.

   I have been fiddling with photo shoots of flowers for this series because I wanted a floral noir kind of look- mysterious dark background with deep shadows to play off the creamy whites of the flowers.  This hydrangea was so much fun because it captured some of the light inside the blossom, giving that warm glow.  In an attempt to capture that look with colors , I kept all the petals on the outside of the flower in cool blues and lavenders while every thing inside the petals is warm oranges and greens and greys.  I added colors to my palette for this project,  cobalt blue and mineral violet are the old standbys, but I added Verditer blue from Daniel Smith.  For the warm tones I used Gamboge Yellow and Azo yellow but added a yummy orange called Scarlet Pyrrol, and Cad Red Scarlett along with some Rose Madder Genuine.  

   Your colors become your friends.  You become familiar with the way they perform together.  Adding new ones can be risky.  How do you know they will "play nice" with your old friends and give you the effects you want?  I kept a strip of paper next to me and mixed the new colors with the old before I used them on my painting.  The test strip is a bit like training wheels- feels annoying and slows you down.  But disciplining yourself to throttle down and use it gives you your predictability back.  That way you dont have any ugly surprises on your painting.  I have a lot of bad color mixing stories that you dont have time for!  After having to literally scrub color off your painting in the sink, you become more careful the next time.  Lesson learned!

Surprised!

Every month I enter an online art contest called The Bold Brush Painting Contest.  I opened my email to find this notice that I won the Outstanding Watercolor award for February.  I'm honored they chose this painting I gave to my son for his office.  It is a sign up the McKenzie River that no longer works but has a lovely veil of rust due to our Oregon rain.  

Here are a few places my art will be featured locally:

April 1-  Pacific Rim Gallery, 160 E. Broadway, Eugene, OR.  First Friday Art Walk.  There will be several of my favorite florals and I will be painting a floral still life at the event.  5:30-8:30

April 9,10,11- Watercolor Society of Oregon Spring Conference, Silverton, OR  I have a painting hanging in this competition.  It's a double portrait of two snorkelers that always makes me giggle.  They are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary, so it's entitled How Deep is Your Love.   I will let you know if I win any prizes.

May 6-  The Inn at the 5th, 5th St.  Eugene, Oregon. First Friday Art Walk.  Every year the 5th Street Public Market has a celebration called Bloom.  They will be featuring my watercolor paintings of white peonies, roses and light blue hydrangeas in a show called Flowers Noir.  Each subject is spotlighted to create dramatic shadows and softly glowing highlights.

Peonies, 22x30. Watercolor on Arches paper, $ 2,500.

Finish Well

        

           Dragon Dance 15x22  

    

Definition of insanity- Doing the same thing over and over yet expecting a different result.  

   Why would I start this painting over again after just finishing the first version?   Simple- I changed my mind about a few things.  Isn't that a girls perogative?

    First, I decided it was an image of such complex rendering, concentrated color and unique subject matter that it deserved to be bigger.  

    Second, I became intrigued with the notion that the watercolor could create more interesting smoke than I did.  I loved this element in the first painting but I thought of it too late and it was created over the top of other painting in the background painting.  While you can't see anything amiss in the smoke, it isn't as organically watercolory ( is that a word?!?!?) as in the second painting.  It may not seem as impactful of a change in the photos unless you zoom in or see them in person.  Yummy color fusion!

    Third, I wanted to take more time and have larger shapes so I could concentrate on creating a beautiful finish.  Finishing well is a worthy goal in life as well as in painting.  As I am connecting all the lines, smoothing out fields of color, eliminating unwanted brush strokes and properly forming the shapes of objects, I am trying to make the painting look resolved.  

   I can't help but be reminded as I'm working that this is also my goal in my life.  To live my faith in a loving God in a way that my kids and grandkids can someday say, " If that is what a Christian looks like then I want to be one too."  Can I be that kind, that loving, that determined to do what's right, especially when it's not convenient or fun?  I doubt it, not without His help and a little more humility on my part. Maybe doing something over again is the only way to get it truly right. Connecting the lines and removing the blemishes- who knew that art and life could sometimes overlap?

   Come see my show called, East West Fusion, where this painting as well as some others painted from photos I took while visiting China will be featured and on sale.  First Friday Art Walk, February 5, at the Pacific Rim Gallerry, 160 E. Broadway.