Spruce View, Finished!

The finial touches of this painting were finished tonight... though the paper did give me problems, I am pretty happy with the way this one turned out. I have another painting in-progress cut from the same paper that this one was cut from and it is co-operating much more. A weird spot on the paper I suppose.



"Spruce View"
4" x 6" watercolour
© 2009

Unnamed Marine Landscape

No chickadee update tonight, I spent my day working on a ol'boat painting that I started many moons ago. I've been working on my colours and premixing them a bit more than I used to. The result is much closer colours in real life and a more pleasant painting experience. I'll have to remember that as I go onto other painting projects....



a Work in Progress
11" x 14" oil on stretched canvas
© 2008

Almost There, Chickadee WIP

I'm so close to finishing this one... it will definitely be done tomorrow. Just a little bit more work on the branches, cone, and other spruce-y details. Still having some troubles with the paper, but I am managing. There is not as much detail as I would have liked in the branches and the colour is too difficult to lift in the bird for any details to be added their.


"Spruce View"
work in progress
4" x 6" watercolour
© 2009

I spent most of the day painting on my of my 'almost' forgotten oil paintings. By almost forgotten I mean I hung it in a temporary frame some time ago to see how it looks and completely forgot about it. I'll post a picture of that one tomorrow when I have a bit better light to photograph it by.

Sunlight Pear

Another favourite summer/fall fruit of mine... one that I have been sketching for a while now and finally have (finished) a painting of it. These little sketch-paintings have been great fun playing with colours and trying to increase the contrast between lights and darks in my paintings. It will be back to birds tomorrow with another update on my latest chickadee painting.



Sunlight Pear
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2009

Summer Treat

Taking a quick break from the chickadee painting tonight and thought I would paint another one of my favourite summer treat... ruby red cherries. I can't wait until cherry season starts again... and soon, the trees in Vancouver will be in full cherry blossom glory.



Summer Treat
2.5" x 3.5" watercolour
© 2009

Spruce View, A Little More Done

I got a little bit further on this one tonight, adding some more blues to the sky and building up the greens in the lower horizon. The paper is still giving me troubles but I think I am working with it enough not to drive me nuts. Its mostly noticeable when I try to apply washes in the larger areas... and not in the details. The paper seems to develop little flakes of paper that seem to let go of the paper (ball up) when it is wet. The rest of the sheet of paper which I cut this from seems fine. Perhaps the sizing is not as good in this section... anyone else experience this?



"Spruce View"
work in progress
4" x 6" watercolour
© 2009

Spruce View, Work in Progress

I've been busy redesigning my blog and painting on the side these last few days. There is a little more work to be done on the template (pictures, tweaking...) but I am almost done. In between coding, I've starting working on a new chickadee painting (see below). I love the painting... I don't love the paper. I'm not sure what is up with it, but it is not behaving like normal 300lbs Arches paper. The paint is lifting and just generally not behaving well. The background was going to be nice forestly molted colour... but, not I think I am going to stick to a simple blue. Less possibilities of 'weirdness' happening.



"Spruce View"
work in progress
4" x 6" watercolour
© 2009


At the moment, the background has a subtle glaze of 'sleeping beauty turquoise (Daniel Smith)' and it will receive another layer or two of some other blues (not sure which ones yet) to add some depth to the sky. There are many more branches to come in the foreground which should also help with the depth.

A little ways to go yet on this one... hoping to finish before the weekend.

Spring Berries

Finally finished a painting that I have been working on for a few nights. I've fallen behind on my painting the last couple weeks, but, I'm hoping to finally have a little time to paint again. Chickadees are so much fun to paint and I noted as I saved this one that this is chickadee number 85. Almost at a hundred! Gotta love them cheeky birds.




"Spring Berries"
4" x 6" watercolour
© 2009

Another Cherry Sketch

Another cherry sketch tonight.. this time on a handmade 300lbs paper. The colour reacted much different than on the Arches (yesterday's sketch) and the paint seemed to lift much easier. It was a bit more tricky to get the glazes of paint to stay put and not lift. Tricky... but, it did add some wonderful texture to the cherry. A happy accident you can say.



Sketching Cherries
3.5" x 2.5"
© 2009

Sketching Cherries

Its been one of those weeks where I have started many but finished few paintings (well, finished ones that I am happy with). So, to break up my rut... I've started sketching/painting some little paintings on some scrap pieces of watercolour paper. And... I do have to say, that I am rather happy with this little one. So, perhaps I shall do a few of these tomorrow and get the happy creative juices flowing again.



Sketching Cherries
3.5" x 2.5"
© 2009

Cherries

I think I am done with this one, though I apologize for the glare on the picture (I'll retake that in daylight tomorrow). In real life, the cherries are much deeper in colour and the blue in the background is much more subtle. I'm still working on the photographing of my oil paintings and I am open to any suggestions on how to photograph better.



Cherries
8" x 8" oil on canvas
© 2009


edit: I've updated the picture with a much better, closer to real life picture.

Doorway

I spied this reference photo in the reference image library (RIL) at Wetcanvas a long time ago and I even sketched it last year with the thoughts that I would eventually paint it. So, when I was looking for some inspiration earlier this week I decided to give it a try on good watercolour paper and my Daniel Smith paints (the granulating ones are perfect for rendering stone). I really love how it turned out... and was a nice watercolour break from all the birds lately.



"Doorway"
4" x 6" watercolour
© 2009