A Red Bubble feature for my Clematis

Red Bubble had a nice surprise for me this morning with this feature for my Clematis, Garden Kaleidoscope, that I have recently finished  Thank you, Red Bubble!
I have not started a new painting yet, but have been looking through and playing with my pictures. I think I need playing/experimenting time before I tackle another labor intensive painting:-)
Happy Sunday to all!

Thank you for your patience: Clematis finally finished!!!

The Clematis painting is finally finished!!! I almost tore it up ten times before it got done. But, I like it!

I want to thank you all for your great patience and encouragement during this painting which gave me tons of worries:-)

I even  framed it  ( temporarily) even though I will still go back to it in the next few days for the finishing touches. Framed it looks very much the way I saw it in my head. The only part that is totally different is the top dark portion in the middle - that was supposed to be a green leaf....but it looked horrible, so I glazed all kinds of layers of purple on top.

And now, I promise that my next painting will be a nice, easy one:-)

Clematis Update - Wip Part 5

Since have not had a chance to be at home very much during daylight hours in the past two days and I hate painting at night, I have not yet finished this Clematis. It is slow going...not sure if it is worth all this effort:-( It is not turning out the way I had seen it in my mind.

The picture was taken inside, near a window, on this very, very gray afternoon...so the colors are undoubtedly a bit off.

 As always, I love to hear your comments. Positive or negative, they keep me going!

Clematis WIP 4 and Red Bubble Feature

Here is the 4th update of my clematis watercolor. It is coming along slowly, especially since I did not have a chance to paint at all yesterday.  I have touched up the center of the flower and have put in darks at the bottom of the center. (The picture was taken inside.) So far so good, I think. Do you agree?

I was quite pleased to learn that my Pink Peony had won a feature on Red Bubble in the group "Peony Perfection" which focuses more on photography than painting.

I hope that you are nice and warm...here in Ottawa it was -25 Celsius (minus 13 F) this morning and it will be -32Celsius overnight ( minus 26 F.). Brr...that's a bit chilly :-)

Clematis Update- WIP Part 3

I have worked some more on my Clematis. This picture was taken inside, but have adjusted the picture at least on my monitor.
About 2/3 of the colorful petals are done - the rest will be mostly mauves and purples with highlights. I will put some dark green in the upper right background. Opera would be the best color for some of the pinks, but I don't trust it since it is such a fugitive color.
 
Somehow, I feel very tentative about this painting...What do you think of it so far?

Clematis update WIP - Part 2

Here is what I have done so far on the clematis.I am not finding it an easy painting so far. I am having trouble getting the color effects I am after.

I took this picture inside near one of my windows ( reason for the shadows) - it is very sunny here in Ottawa today, but we are freezing - it was -25Celsius this morning ( minus 13 degrees F.) and it is now about minus 17 C. Brr.....Can you believe that the forecast for tomorrow is rain!

Still lots and lots of work.I won't be getting much more done today since I have to drive my daughter to the airport this afternoon: she was home for part of the weekend since her office in NYC is closed today for a holiday.

New work started - Clematis WIP Part 1

I have started a new watercolor floral: a clematis. My reference photo is from WetCanvas, but I have cropped it and intend to modify the colors significantly.  It will be fairly small, 11" X 14" on Arches 140 lb CP paper.

I have started with the heart of the flower and not the background as I usually do: I was really scared of those filaments criss-crossing and did not want to waste my time painting the entire painting first to find out that the center was a failure. At this point, the heart of the flower is almost done - will come back later to fine tune everything - I think that it is ok enough for me to continue with the painting. I hope that you agree.

The darks spots that you see are areas masked to preserve some highlights.

Have  a great week-end. We are having our first real  snow storm of the  year - it is very pretty, but the roads look very slippery.

Red Bubble Feature, final version and thank you!

Wow! The Red Bubble people are so supportive. Within minutes of posting my latest version of my Fuschias ( Garden Ballerinas), my painting was featured in one of the most respected groups of Red Bubble: Just Watercolours

Here is the final version of this painting: I followed your suggestion and toned down some of the highlights in order to focus more on the left bud.  I also darkened the two horizontal stems that distracted me and painted them dark reddish brown, as suggested by Rhonda.

Thank you all for your fresh eyes, support and friendship!

Fuschias -Completed for now

I have completed my Fuschias painting at least for the time being. As I am looking at the photo that I have taken, I see the need for some adjustments: for example, the horizontal stems at the center top portion are too light and are distracting.

What do I like about this painting or what did I enjoy about the process:
- I like the addition of the colors in the leaves.
-I really enjoyed working one petal at a time
-I enjoyed applying glazes on the petals - I am becoming more comfortable doing this.

What do I still find difficult:
- leaves and greens are not my strength

What do I want to work on:
- putting in a very dark and solid background is probably the easy way out
. I want to work on dark backgrounds that show more of a glow around the main subject

Remaining questions:
- is this painting too busy?
- are the highlights too distracting?
- are the colors clean enough especially in the large leaves? Should I have tried to apply more sections in one dark brushstroke rather than with so much layering?

I am looking forward to reading your thoughts about this.
I will eventually post for purchase it in my Artist International Gallery

First 2011 Post and Update 3 Fuschia WIP

Amazing...we are already getting used to saying "2011" instead of 2010, but Y2K seems almost like yesterday. How time goes by quickly!  Another good reason to plan our activities for the new year...if we don't know where we want to be in 12 months, how could we ever get there? In the next week or so, I will sit down and set my goals and priorities for the coming months.

I already have two resolutions concerning my artistic activities:

1. regain the risk-taking attitude I had when I first started to paint in watercolors.

Rhonda and Mollie commented on my last post and suggested that I use more colors. This made me realize that lately my work has not shown the bold use of colors that could often be found in my early works...Have I become too cautious and am not taking enough risks with color? After all, it's only paper and each painting should be a chance to push our own limits a bit more...
2. learn something totally new.

I have signed up for an online class called "Texture Town" which deals with creating textures in acrylics. I have  purchased some of the supplies and have watched most of the videos, but I have not yet started any of the exercises. I intend to start in about two weeks and hopefully I will have something to show on my blog soon after.

Meanwhile, I have worked some more on my Fuschia WIP and, as per resolution # 1, have added more colors especially in the leaves area - mostly violets and some blues as well as almost invisible hints of pink ( yes, I am still being careful). Does this improve the painting? I am not sure at all...is it now too busy? I think that up close it is more interesting....what do you think?

Please note that there are still some unpainted areas at the top. The next WIP should show the finished painting.