AUNT BARBARA'S ROSE

watercolor

10 3/4" x 7 1/2"

ROSE OF SHARON

watercolor

10 3/4" x 7 1/2"

PERENNIAL SUSANS

watercolor

10 3/4" x 7 1/2"

 

Black-eyed susans planted and painted in my garden this summer.  Have green thumb and brush.

CYCLAMEN

watercolor

10 1/2" x 7 1/2"

Another watercolor from flower series this summer.  Many layers to darken background enough to make the flowers stand out.

RED HIBISCUS

watercolor

10 3/4" x 7 1/2"

SHORE 1

oil on canvas

36" x 48"

This wasn't done in a day!  From a series of sea and sky paintings I'm working on.

PINK CANNA LILY

watercolor

10 3/4" x 7 1/2"

SUNFLOWER

10 3/4" x 7 1/2"

watercolor

Yellow Canna Lily

watercolor

10 3/4" x 7 1/2"

DIPLADENIA

10 3/4" x 7 1/2"

watercolor 

First in a series of watercolors I did this summer.  Again, mostly one a day although I tweaked them for days afterwards.  Painted on Arches 140 lb cold pressed paper (my favorite).  Winsor & Newton watercolors, and Winsor & Newton Series 7 Finest Sable brushes.  (Worth the price, last for years.) 

Spent days hanging around nurseries in Aiken, SC with my camera.  When the sun hit something just right I snapped away.  These paintings are made up from several reference photos and imagination.  Changed values and background colors to make them work.  I'm really pleased with the shadows on white in this one.  Mixed alizarin, ultramarine blue, and a touch of raw sienna.  Worked in many (many) transparent layers. 

RACHAEL'S FOUR

oil on canvas

12" x 9"

GULL REFLECTIONS

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

Last of shore bird series.  I find it helpful to paint a string of paintings with the same content and style.  These were all painted one day at a time.  Same format, same subject, bird and water, and same size.  

PELICAN

Oil on canvas

8" x 10"

Another in a series of shore birds painted this summer.

Took about a day to paint. Combined and moved around

a lot of photo reference to capture what I see here in Florida

very often. Still used limited palette. I love to paint

water. Even with the best photo reference, most of it is

still invented.

SANDPIPERS

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

 LAUGHING GULLS 2

8" x 10"

oil on canvas

More gulls painted from the trip to Seabrook Island, SC this summer.   

 RIPPLED GULL

Oil on canvas

8" x 10"

Another gull painted this summer.  Didn't hold still long enough for plein air, photo reference helped here.  Again, limited palette, alizarin, ultramarine, white, over yellow ochre underpainting.  

I like to stain all my canvas so the white glare isn't blinding if painting outside.  I also like it when the underpainting shows though the layers.  Yellow ochre helps give an overall warm atmosphere.

Tip: Use up left over paints by mixing together as mud and painting a staining layer on white canvas.  

Day One

TAKE FLIGHT

Oil on canvas

8" x 10"

Laughing gull on Seabrook Island, South Carolina.  Painted in July after family reunion.  

Under painted with yellow ochre, and used limited palette with ultramarine, alizarian, burnt umber, and white.  Lemon yellow with white to give highlights a hint of sun. Used larger brushes in an attempt to loosen up.  Completed in about three hours.