Sunday, June 17, 2012

New WIP: Coconut Palms

Already Sunday evening! The weeks go by so quickly.
This week I started a new watercolor painting in the spirit of the summer and the heat wave that we are having in Ottawa, Canada: coconut palms from the Bahamas.
I am having fun with the colors of this painting - I certainly don't want everything to be yellow or green, so I am dropping a riot of colors here and there. This is not a commission, so I feel very carefree about it:-)
The large coconut at the front is still in its initial stages.  I am showing only part of the painting at this point - I may decide to crop it from my original sketch of 15"X 19".  I thank Li Newton for the beautiful reference picture.

I could not resist from making more earrings this week. I love working on them. Here is the fruit of this week's labor:

The first pair below is called " Carribean" and is probably inspired by my working on the coconut palm painting:-)
Next, another large pair, with more subdued colors, but with nice textures, called "Desert Glow":
The next earrings are small and delicate and are called " Summer Sky":

The last pair for this week ( yes, I worked on these earrings for hours and hours) called "South Seas" has a very unique texture! I added layers of medium between layers of paint, found a way to make some of the paint bubble a bit. I wish I could do the same on a large canvas...Food for thought:-) \The first image is closer to the aqua color of the earrings

 But this second picture of "South Seas" may provide a better idea of the texture under the glossy surface.
 I will be showing my jewelry also on Fine Art America...Do check the jewelry there...there is something for every taste and every purse:-)

As always, I really look forward to hearing from you and I wish you all a great week!

8 comments:

  1. Christiane, my but you are prolific! i especially love the blue earrings by the way and the bubble effect. Perhaps you could as you say use that on a canvas. I'd be curious. You've inspired me to use canvas now and plan on doing something in the summer. We shall see.
    The painting is coming along very beautifully. Great idea using a riot of color to offset the greens. It is working.
    Thanks for your visit the other day. Always nice to hear from you as i appreciate so much your comments. happy painting!

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to leave such nice comments, Ross. The bubble effect was created by heat...maybe a small torch would do the trick on a canvas as long as I did not burn the house down first :-) .
      Now back to the coconut palms...Happy painting to you.

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  2. Christiane...first off...I love your earrings...they're so cool. Hope you sell a bunch. Secondly, I'm really in love with all this color you're putting into a sometimes boring subject for a painting. This is going to be really stunning...can't wait for the finish.

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    1. Mollie, I am so glad that you like the earrings: they have been accepted in the current show at the Foyer Gallery in Ottawa, so we will see how the public responds to them:-)I will try to post an updat of the coconuts within the next few days.
      Take care.

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  3. Loving your watercolor earrings! You led me to view some being made on youTube - very interesting and time consuming process but I can see there might be joy in the creation of these :) I first met Li Newton through WetCanvas and her photos there and her All Media Challenges. Then met her in person twice on San Salvador Island (she helped my husband get to that infernal cave for research this past trip!).

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    1. Rhonda,
      The earrings are indeed time consuming, but then, I can do the sanding anywhere: outside, away from my studio etc...I am using only acrylics now to paint them and am adding various medium and gels: this allows me to play on small items before using these on my new line of mixed media. It's all a lot of fun.
      Li Newton has wonderful photos. It is indeed a small world, isnt'?

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  4. Christiane, the painting is coming along so nicely. I love the flow of color and the abstract quality of a real object that you have nailed.

    Oh, the earrings. I must order a pair soon -- in the midst of a remodel so watching the budget a bit.

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    1. Mary, I had just posted part 2 of this WIP when I saw your message. I hope that you will still like this painting with the progress that I have made on it.

      The earrings are all in a show right now until July 8th. After that, let me know if you have a favorite and I will put it aside for you...or eventually, I could make one with the colors that you want:-) I am very pleased that you like them.

      Good luck with the remodeling work!

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