Glistening and Shining Snow

I recently completed this painting for the December project of Watercolor Workshop in which we were to paint something shiny and glistening. I decided that glistening snow would be an interesting subject for this project - easier said than done - as I found out! I did a poured background with indian yellow, antwerp blue, and quinacridone cherry red. After that dried, I thought I could retain snow like shapes by spattering Winsor and Newton Permanent Liquid Mask and then doing my painting over these spatters which would give the appearance of glistening snow - little did I know! It gave an interesting texture to my painting, but it didn't glisten. So - I continued to do my painting and finished it by lifting areas of color for highlights and then spattering white gouache over the surface with a toothbrush. This technique resulted in interesting textures without glistening snow! Oh well................if at first you don't succeed - try something else, I guess!

Annual Family Christmas in Cleveland

Every year we all pack up and go to Cleveland for our annual Christmas Celebration with the family from my side. I was born and raised there, and, for the most part, the majority of the family still lives in that area, except, of course, for my husband, my children and grandchildren and myself. My brother still lives in our family home and it is very wonderful and nostalgic to have our holiday celebration there, as we have for almost 60 years. This year 34 of us were able to be there. My oldest child and her husband and daughter were in Puerto Rico visiting their son, Matt, a pilot for American Airlines, who is headquartered there. Nephew Jamie is in Abu Dhabi with the Air Force. Otherwise everyone was there - it was great. The top picture is of the group and the bottom picture is of my 2 brothers and me with Santa Claus - who was quite a hit at the celebration. Great fun, delicious food and especially loving family - what more can you ask?

Jamie and Sampson

I thought I would post a picture of my nephew, Lt. Jamie Hart, saying goodbye to Sampson, his Great Pyrenees dog, the morning he left for the middle east. He and Sam are very close and I know he misses Sam, the family and his girlfriend, Kira, especially now, during the holidays.

Merry Christmas, Jamie! We love you and miss you!

Love,

Aunt Barbara, Uncle Rock and the Family!

Gullinsky (Gull In Sky)

This painting was done for the December project for Watercolor Workshop where everyone paints from the same photograph, provided by Gina Hall. This painting is small - 7" x 5" and is painted on 140 lb. cold-pressed Arches watercolor paper. One more painting to go for this month's projects - something that glitters - what will I find to paint? Any suggestions?

Rachel's Christmas Creation

The other night my granddaughter spent the evening with me in my studio and she did a wonderful composition to celebrate Christmas. It has all the elements for a festive Christmas Eve- a decorated house, a tree with a star, a little girl in bed upstairs and Santa's sleigh hanging to the house. I think it is really cool for a 2nd grader - especially that she spent 1 1/2 hours on this creation. Rachel - this is GREAT!

"Do You Suppose Santa Needs a Reindeer?"

I would like to introduce you to Brutus! Brutus is 1 year old and belongs to my daughter and her husband, Marilyn and Matt Kohler. Inspite of the name Brutus, which sounds very "male", Brutus is a dear "little" female St. Bernard who weighs around 155 pounds. She is the sweetest, kindest, dog, and the whole family adores her. I did this painting for their Christmas card, which has the caption of the front, "Do you suppose Santa needs a Reindeer?" The painting is 7"x7" and is painted on Arches hot-pressed 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Yellow Sky in the North Woods

This is a painting I just finished for the Aquanet watercolor web site. The theme for this month is winter scenes. The source for the painting is from my mind using very fond memories. I tried to use a stylized approach emphasizing shapes and values rather than realism. The paper is 140 lb. Arches hot-pressed w/c paper with mostly Holbein watercolors and Winsor Newton white gouache. The size of the painting is 7 1/2" x 11".