Friday, May 30, 2008

Same Design, Same Surface, Different Palette

This rose is one of my favorite designs and it is very adaptable. I have done it in watercolor, oil, and colored pencil. Here is an example of how you can take the same design, change the palette and still get a beautiful end result. Both of these roses are painted using colored pencil on suede mat board. In each case, the color of the mat board dictated the colored pencil palette that was used to paint the piece. Both were developed using the underpainting technique with Prismacolor Premier pencils. The pink rose was underpainted with Indigo Blue. The yellow rose was underpainted with Violet which is the complimentary color to yellow.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Good Old Summertime!

I was asked to paint something on this fabric cooler/lunchbox. I've had it for almost two months and I've been trying to figure out what to put on it. It needed to be something summery. After all, you could carry a small picnic in it. The areas available for painting were pretty limited. I finally sat down with a bunch of books hoping for some inspiration. Here is the result. I used DecoArt Americana acrylic paints. Once the paint is cured, it will be permanent and will hold up well to daily use.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

A Watercolor Request

I have a student who requested a cardinal project. She wants to paint a gift for a friend and her friend loves cardinals. So, here it is. Male cardinals are not my favorite birds to paint. While they are colorful, they are pretty much one color and it is challenging to create his form. The female cardinal, while not as bright and cheerful looking as the male, is actually much more fun to paint.

Monday, May 19, 2008

A New Watercolor

It was time to work on a watercolor or two. I have students who need projects to work on. So, I put my pencils down and picked up a paintbrush. Here is a new watercolor--spring tulips. This piece is 9x12. It is painted on 200 pound cold press watercolor paper using MaimeriBlu paint.



Sunday, May 4, 2008

More Colored Pencils

I am continuing to play with my pencils and I am thoroughly enjoying them. I have collected a number of technique books that are very helpful. I am finding new and exciting techniques to apply to my own work. Here is a recent piece--three pears on a cloth painted on beige cardstock. The pears are painted using an underpainting technique with complimentary colors.