Winding down in 2009

Well, that's about all for 2009. It has been nice to have some time off from classes, but I am busy looking over my thousands of photos betting ready for the new classes to start in January.

This is a painting I decided to do at the last minute for my Christmas cards. It is a poinsettia that I photographed last year in Jan. and kept going back to it because of the different shape of the leaves. It was a rather large straggly plant and had probably been there for years. It isn't your typical poinsettia bloom. That is what draws me to a subject, something that is a little different or has interesting light patterns.

Getting Started In Watercolors

After many years of painting in different mediums, I attended a watercolor demonstration that just spoke to me and said give this medium another try. I had experimented with watercolors back in college, but wasn't impressed with the style being exhibited then, I felt it was too wishy-washy. But after watching a marine artist who jumped in with strong washed of vibrant colors and brush strokes, I realized that this was where I wanted to go with my painting. Of course it took many years to figure out how to use these water based pigments to achieve the look I was after. My journey has been one of experimenting and pushing the limit, one has to get past the fear of failure and possibly ruining a painting in order to allow yourself to experiment . . . it's only paper! I never could find a class where the instructor actually taught you about the paints, paper, brushes, how to achieve a good wash and glaze, let alone techniques of this wonderful medium. I have always taught my beginning students this right off the bat, believing that if you understand what you are working with, then you will enjoy the journey even more.