The Beet Goes on ...

Out of all my works shown this year the favorite and most discussed were the Red & Gold Beets.

I have been often asked how I achieved the rich color mixes in this painting. It is very simple, I worked on wet in wet for a first layer, and then dry brushed about 10 layers onto the red beet and 6 on to the golden beets. Slow and steady work. 

All of the paints used were Daniel Smith watercolors.  On the red I used Trans Pyrrol Orange, Quin Red & Ultra Violet and no masking fluid, just white spaces left that I gently worked the color into stippling the paint into the white. I am not very experienced in using masking fluid and its something I intent to work on in 2017.

For the gold beets I used Gamboge, Quin Gold & Rich Green Gold with touches of Burnt Sienna.

I alternated between several brushes, including a Billy Showell #2, ProArte Minature 0 & 1, A Connoisseur filbert 10/0, and Billy Showell’s Eradicator brush. I used the filbert and even the Eradicator to smooth and fade out the paint.

I did not use under painting for the shadows but if I was doing it again I would. I am very keen on 2 colors for underpainting, DS Moonglow, & Shadow Violet, & from time to time, Raw Umber Violet.

Of course like all artists I am continually experimenting with paper, brushes and paints and we learn as we go along. Look out for some paint experiments in the New Year. Small companies are popping up with limited handmade water colors – exciting!

Wishing everyone a great start to the New Year. I hope you all get an opportunity to try out new creative ideas.

The Un Blogger

It’s been ages since I blogged, in fact I think I should be called The Un Blogger! I have been so busy in the 2nd part of this year that there was no time for anything but painting. It has been a great year for me. I made my decision in the New Year to open up, mix more with other artists and generally try to get my work out there. It worked!

I did enter our local fair exhibit with 4 paintings and won 4 first ribbons! I felt so honored. It was great fun as I was also a judge for the Childrens Art exhibit. So interesting and so many young talented artists out there. It was great to be part of the local community.

Elvis even made an appearance at the fair!

I have entered a juried exhibit that is being held by the Lan Su Chinese Gardens in Portland Oregon. We will know our results in January 2017. The exhibit is called Lan Su in Bloom and will open March 1^st 2017. I had never been to the gardens and so Ian and I took off for a weekend to Portland to check them out. They are a hidden jewel of Portland, a Shangri-La in a busy city. I had no idea. We went on an autumn day and it was packed with people but somehow we never felt the crowds. I took many photos and made sketches. In the end I ran out of time due to other deadlines and have only entered 2 paintings but I have lots of ideas for other paintings.

I also received an invitation to take up a once a week teaching post at the Calyx school where I was a guest earlier this year. I couldn't believe it, it was such a lovely offer. I am so busy I am not able to take them up on that but I counteroffered with a proposal. So I will be teaching one workshop a month and then the group of 10 year olds will work on the project and I will see how they are doing every month and give the children guidelines. I am very excited about it. We are opening in 2017 studying bulbs and roots working with graphite and pen and ink.

I had 2 exhibits going on at the same time for November and December in MUSEO Gallery in Langley and in the Flower House Café in Bayview. To my delight I sold several paintings mainly to people from Seattle visiting and even bartered a painting with another Whidbey artist for a large roll of Fabriano paper!