My Chiaroscuro Apples

I prepared this painting for the intermediate watercolor class I am teaching at the arts center till the end of October. It was painted from a photo I found on the Wet Canvas web site. They have a wonderful reference section made up of photographs posted by various members. There are some beautiful photos.

I did this particular painting in the style of the painter Caravaggio, who was famous for his use of the technique of chiaroscuro which emphasized the use of a strong light source with strong darks and shadows. Actually, the background in the painting is much darker than the photo shows.

Lunch on our Birthday

Well...it came and went!!! My 70th birthday! Oh My! I was fortunate to spend some time with my dear childhood friend, Jacquie, who celebrated her birthday also. How many people are fortunate enough to have a best friend who also has the same birthday, same year? That has been a blessing. We met at a restaurant in Lima, OH for lunch. Jacquie and Nick were on their way from Dayton to Findlay - part of a trip around Ohio. We had an opportunity to catch up on what has been going on in our lives since we last saw each other - it was so much fun! Before we left, we convinced a waitress to take this picture for us. We don't look too bad for 70, do we?

Hibiscus Painting for Card

I did this painting last winter as a greeting card. I sold the original card, but kept the photo of the painting. I was happy with the painting because of the intense color - I love color! I also thought that it had an almost oriental quality about it.

"Happy" - watercolor 15"X 11"

This little man is "Happy!" He was painted in response to the September scarecrow project on the Watercolor Workshop. He is certainly not scary and has two good friends to prove the issue. This was a lot of fun to paint. Life certainly needs some humor, especially in this time of financial and political upheaval.

This is Thursday, and Thursday is my day to paint with the 6 Muses. I like setting aside an afternoon a week to meet and paint with my dear friends. When they can't be here, I still paint! Just throw dinner in the slow cooker and paint, paint and paint!

Linear Frenchman 2

I finished this painting tonight. It is the second challenge picture of the Frenchman for the Creativity Journey blog by Myrna Wacknov. I used a black sharpie marker for the lines, watercolor washes , and stamps I cut with a linoleum block cutters on the ends of an art gum eraser. The stamps were painted with watercolor and stamped into the background of the painting.

"Bountiful Harvest" I finished this painting late this afternoon for the September project for the Watercolor Workshop. This was done from the photograph supplied so everyone paints from the same subject. This one was a lot of fun to paint. I LOVE pumpkins! It 1/4 sheet of 140 pound Canson Tientes watercolor paper - 11" x 15".

"The Linear Frenchman" I painted this portrait yesterday in response to a challenge on Myrna Wacknov's Creativity Journey blog website. She provided the source photograph and the challenge was to create a painting in which the major element of art is line. We were also to limit our palette. I did the initial drawing with an ultramarine blue watercolor crayon and then went over the lines with a wet paint brush, spreading out the color and shading the features. Then I used red-orange, indigo and ultramarine watercolors to finish the composition with washes. This was a fun challenge - very enjoyable!

"Barb's Tulips" This is a painting I did last year for an adult intermediate watercolor class I was teaching at the Riverside Arts Center in Wapakoneta, Ohio. I prepared a drawing for the students which they could use or they could draw their own. I painted along with them showing them how to paint the various items in the painting and at the same time discussing composition and the effect of light and shadow. This painting is a half sheet of 140 lb. Arches watercolor paper.