Venetian shutters-Update 4

 Here is another update showing very little change, but taken without a flash, although still inside.

I need those shadows soon!!!!At this point, I really don't like these colors...too much dull brick color and yellows. It's just does not feel like "me":-)

"Laundry Day in Venice": a Red Bubble top ten challenge winner

I am very pleased that my watercolor Laundry Day in Venice was one of the Top Ten winner ( the 10th, I think :-) in a recent challenge of the Around the World group on the Red Bubble site. Mine was the only "non-photography" entry. Look at the other entries ...there are some extremely beautiful pictures!

Venetian Shutters - Update 3

I was tempted to start this painting over instead of finishing it...However, I decided to continue to work on it this afternoon. At least, I like the way the door turned out - for once, that was the image I had in my mind:-)

The painting is starting to look quite busy, but I am looking forward to painting the shadows....nice work for a Sunday afternoon, I hope.

The colors are somewhat off because I took the pictures inside with a flash.

Thank you for looking.

A second Sunshine Award!!!

One of my favorite artist and fellow blogger, Rhonda Carpenter, has just awarded me the Sunshine Award that I had awarded her...It gets complicated:-) Thank you, Rhonda!
I am hereby using her example with a twist and am doubling the Sunshine Awards I gave in my previous post!
If you are not a frequent visitor on Rhonda's blog, you are missing great posts, beautiful art and stimulating creativity!

Sunshine Award

Nora Mackin of  A Low Country Artist added sunshine to my day by giving me a Sunshine Award! I am honored, Nora, and thank you for thinking of me as one of the recipients of this  award.

I now have to give this delightful award to other blogging artists.The following recipients are all individuals whose work I really love. Some are terribly busy individuals and I want to honor them, but not add to their busy schedule - I will understand if they can't pass on the award except in their thoughts:-)

Please visit their blogs and admire their art. 

Barbara Sailor

Deb Ward

Irina Rekhviashvili

Joan Sandford-Cook

Krista Hasson

Patricia Henderson

Mary Paquet

Rhonda Carpenter

Srishti Wilhelm 

Vicki Green

Venetian Shutters: Update 2

I have done a bit more work on my "Venetian Shutters". The painting is not as sunny as I saw it in my mind - the bricks kept getting darker and darker:-)

The shadows under the flowers and to the right of the lower shutter will be very important in this painting. In my mind, they are beautiful and very colorful..how they will really look? I am keeping my fingers crossed.
 I wish you all a very pleasant Sunday afternoon and a good week.

Red Bubble feature of my pears

One of my watercolor paintings from the Dazzling Pears series has just been featured in one of the groups at Red Bubble. It is so nice to see those bright colors in February!

It's a bit of a coincidence since just this weekend I made this painting available on my other blog ( see menu on the right)  in the form of note cards- I print  these note cards myself and they re much smaller than the art cards available on Red Bubble

Those little poured paintings were a lof of fun to paint.

Venetian Shutters: Second pour and direct painting

In spite of all my good intentions, I did very little painting this weekend. I did a second pour for my background, and in the last hour, leaving most of the masking on, started some direct painting ....bad decision. I painted in poor light, and I feel that I have made a mess ( window arch and metal strip on the right hand side, especially)! For some strange reason,  instead of working on my lights, I put in some of the darks in the windows here and there...everything is very disjointed and after working on 300# hot press and cold press, I seem to have forgotten how to apply paint on my dear 140lb cold press :-)
I hope that I will be able to fix the messy parts...but I will get better lighting for working at night.

I wish you all a great week.

Venetian Shutters - First pour

The only work I had time to do this week on my new painting is the initial pouring. The colors did not quite turn out the way I wanted to. You will notice that I will be painting a much sunnier version of this scene and that the colors will be more pastels.However, I don't want it to be too similar to my "Laundry Day in Venice" that started with the same colors.  I hope to put the focus on the reflected shadows of the shutters and the plants.

I hope to have the chance to spend a few hours working on this painting during the weekend. 

Next painting in "Memories of Venice" series

During the last few weeks, I have just been experimenting with various papers without working on a larger painting.Today, I realized that after such a hiatus, I felt nervous about committing to what
I call " an attempt at  a painting worth framing". I am very good at procrastinating, so to avoid looking for excuses, here goes: I am posting the picture that I will use as inspiration....there is no turning back after this:-)

Some of you may recognize a portion of this picture that I used a while back for "Springtime in Venice". It is a picture that I took last April during my two-week stay in Venice. It is another Venetian facade to add to my series of "Memories of Venice"watercolors if the painting turns out ok.

I hope that my blogging friends are not getting too tired of these Venetian facades.For me, the main attraction of this scene is the opportunity to play with colorful shadows ( from the shutters and the plants). The smooth portions of the wall should also be great for pouring, my favorite technique.

I have finished the sketch and have used Pebeo masking fluid to keept my whites and main highlights.

Hopefully, after work this week, I won't be too tired to start the first pours.
I am using Arches 140 lb CP, my old faithful, and the painting will be approximately 15" X 20 ".

Wishing you a great Sunday.