Fordham Start

Taking a break from watercolors, here is the beginning of a charcoal/pastel piece. It is on canson Mi-Teintes paper, 18" x 22". This is from a picture I took when I was visiting the Botanical Gardens which is across the street.

More Daffodils

Sorry it has been a while. My wife took the kids to visit her parents and took the camera with her.

Here is another daffodil watercolor. 13.75" x 20.25" on strathmore 400 series watercolor paper. This is the second piece for the upcoming garden show at the Ridgefield Guild of Artists.

I ordered a pack of watercolor sample papers. They come in 1/4 sheet size so that is pretty big for a sampler. It has different paper brands and surfaces. I can't wait to try them out.

A splatter of Daffodils

Here is my latest watercolor. 14" x 20" on strathmore 400 series paper. I was very happy with this piece as I was working on it. But what is typical for me is a big let down when I finish. I'm not sure what the emotion is derived from but this often happens to me. I'll have to take a fresh look in a couple of days. Meanwhile on to the next piece.

xrooms #5 all done

Here it is all done. I'm pretty happy with it. Came out pretty cool. I'm tired of the mushrooms so it is time to move on. The Ridgefield Guild of Artists is having the annual garden show. The theme this year is spring so I am going to do some daffodils for the show.

Xrooms #5

Alright, here is the beginning of xrooms #5. This one is watercolor too. This is just the start, more to come.

xrooms #4 all done

I noodled it a little and called it done. I think it came out pretty good. I can't wait o start the next watercolor xroom.

xrooms #4 almost done

I'm very close to finishing this. So far so good. This time I scanned it in so it looks more like the original.

At this point I am happy with the piece. I'm thinking the mushroom caps need a little something to give them some interest.

xrooms #4 the beginning

I've been working on a watercolor xroom but it is slow going. I do a wash, sprinkle salt on it, then have to wait for it to dry. So I only get one wash a night. Here is a photo of my progress so far. The color is way off, but you get the idea where this is going.

So far I am pretty happy with it. I've not been very happy with previous watercolors. But this time I am taking my time and getting the colors right and planning my next move.

Super Sunday

Well here it is Sunday night. I went to a friends to watch the superbowl. Congrats to the Colts. I didn't go ice fishing this morning. I took my son sledding yesterday and he ran into a fence. He was howling in pain. He jammed his knee. It wasn't swollen too bad and he could move the leg, just not put pressure on it. The next morning he still couldn't put pressure on the leg so we took him to the emergency room. Seems we were about the 50th sledding accident. After x-rays and all he has a very bad sprain and will be back to normal in 5 or so days.

#3 complete

Thats right. I ended up liking the color and plowed ahead. I think it came out pretty good.

xroom #3 - the start

I've taken to calling this project xrooms because I am considering them experiments. Here is the start of xroom #3

In this first picture I show my technique. First was the ink drawing. Next I scrape some pastel with an xacto knife and get the powder on the paper. Then I rub the powder in with a rag.



And that is about it. The difficult part is getting the color right. I don't have much room for error. I'm trying to keep this light and airy so if the color doesn't work It will be difficult to change it. Like now, I am happy with the background color, but I am not sure the terra cotta is working with it. I stopped and want to wait a day to see if it grows on me.



On another front, we finally have some decent ice here in Connecticut. I'm planning on some ice fishing this Sunday. I will post a report and pictures. (depending if I take any)