Finally Finished.

For anyone still interested in these freakin daisies, I have finally finished. ;-) It really didn't take me too long to do the actual painting, which is why it is strange it took a year and a half to get it done. Well, now it's complete and we can all move on with our lives!

I can't honestly say this is my favorite painting I've ever done, it was really more of an experiment for me.  I'm usually very tight and detailed and I wanted this one to be a little more free.  

When I was doing the background, I had the flowers outlined in masking fluid so the background wouldn't wash into them.  When I decided to give the background a very spattery look, it started dripping into the flowers and I thought, "oh no!" But then I just decided to go with it.  I knew the spatter and drips would show through when I painted the flowers, and thought it might give it an interesting effect.

I'm also not thrilled with the composition. I don't know what it is...but either way, it was fun to paint and I love the colors of gerber daisies. I'm sure I'll be doing more in the future. 

Many things all at once!

I've made a little more progress on the daisies.  I finally finished the yellow one! 

Yes, it's been slow going on this painting, I think it's been in the works for about a year now. Or longer? I know it was started in Krakow last year before going home for the summer. Yikes. 

I'm taking an art class at the local art museum here in Edinburgh.  We're using an exhibit at the museum called "Witches and Wicked Bodies" as inspiration to make an artist's book full of fun, witchy artwork.  The final class is on Tuesday, and I will really be sad when it's over. It's been one of the most fun art classes I've ever taken. Here's a sneak peak on what I've been doing for that class:

I'm really loving all the fun creatures and familiars.  I'll do a separate post on this when it's finished. :)

Daisies Are Back...

I have finally gotten back to painting those daisies that I started I don't know how many months ago...I think last time we saw them, they looked like this:

Only the stems had been completely painted and a few bits of yellow on the top daisy. Well, now it looks like this:

Got a bit more done on the yellow daisy and started playing around with the orange one.  We just moved again and while I was waiting for a shipment of our stuff with my watercolors in it, I tried using watercolor pencils on the orange daisy. I didn't get too far and figured I'd just wait for my watercolors to show up. So now I will continue to work on these, and keep you updated on my progress :)

Also, over the summer, I also got a new paintbrush! 

I know, I know, you're so excited about it, too! Well, I told you I'm an art supply dork and stuff like this thrills me. I love this brush! It holds so much paint and water and it's ridiculously fun to splash paint around with it. So anyway, back to work!

The Barn Painting

I finished another commissioned painting about a month ago for my neighbor. (He's my best customer! haha). Sorry I haven't posted in a while, my Painter program where I edit my photos hasn't been working and I just got it fixed today (thank you, Fiance ;-) ) I don't like to post photos where you can see the background of where I photograph my work, it doesn't look too professional. :-/  So, here is the reference photo he gave me:

Here is my finished painting (watercolor and gouache on hot pressed smooth paper, 14"x20"):

Sorry for the poor quality photo. I took all these pictures with my phone and thought they came out fine.  Only when I uploaded them to my computer did I realize some were blurry, and by that time I had already given the painting to my neighbor. :-(  It looks much better in real life, I think. But anyway, here is how I got there:

I had first masked out all the trees and the moon with masking fluid and then painted the sky, using cobalt blue, ultramarine blue and permanent rose (I think those were the colors...). Once I was happy with the sky I started painting the background trees by basically scrubbing some shades of brown and purple into the background and blending it a little at the edge where trees meet sky. I removed some masking fluid to paint in the larger trees and started painting some of the darks in the barn. 

I started working more on the barn using burnt umber, burnt sienna, sepia and ultramarine blue. 

Putting the fence in using similar colors to the barn, burnt umber, sepia and ultramarine blue. 

Working more on the trees...

Pretty much finished with the trees and the fence behind the barn. 

Finished the trees and put all the snow on the branches, same for the fence and painted the snow on the ground (hard to see, I know, it's snow, but in person it looks better haha). All that was left was the shrubs and plants in front of the fence, and we're done!

And there again is the finished painting. 

Hope you like it!

Part 3

Still working on this painting, although a bit slowly. Not going for photorealism here, just picking colors and having fun. I finally got the stems painted, and now will be starting on the petals! 

Daisy Painting Part 2

I've finished the background for the painting.  I definitely went a little crazy, and far out of my comfort zone with this one.  The end result though, was worth it and I really like it.  I'm still a little nervous, because obviously it isn't finished yet so it is still kind of in the "ugly stage".  Once I start painting the flowers, I will feel a bit better! 

First, I wet the whole paper with a large mop brush.  Then I picked some blues and purples and just started putting them all over the paper, and since it was so wet, I picked up the painting and moved it around, causing the watercolor to move around. I've never tried that before and it was really cool! The colors run, mix and blend in a way you can't get with pushing paint around with a brush.  So I let it dry, and repeated that process a few times, giving it several layers of paint. 

When I was turning the paper all around trying to spread the paint, it started dripping over my masking and into the flowers.  I decided to keep the spontaneity and let the paint drip through the flowers. Why not?! This is an experiment in loosening up, after all.  The drips and splatters will show through even after I paint the flowers, but it will give it some interest, I think. (Hope!) 

I then decided to add some texture, so using the back of my paint brush I just started scribbling into the paint like cursive writing.  I didn't write anything legible or of any significance, just scribbling because I like like look of cursive writing, but I didn't actually have anything to say lol.

I figured at this point, the masking is pretty irreverent, so I removed it.

After the scribbling, I did more layers of paint and let it dry. Then I started just using a wet brush to move some dry paint around, hoping to cause some blooms in the paint. I thought it still needed something, so I mixed up some very dark versions of the colors already used and started flinging paint at the paper randomly.  Some got in the flowers, but again, so what?! :) Flinging the paint was the most fun!

So now I have this crazy background and I hope it doesn't turn out ugly, but we will find out! The background is done, and onto the flowers! Stay tuned ;-)

A step by step daisy painting...

I want to start another painting of gerber daisies, and I've had this particular one sketched on watercolor paper for about 8 months.  I had been busy with commissions and now I have some time to work on my own projects. So I'm going to post step by step as I work on it. I forgot to photograph the drawing before I started masking, but you'll get the idea. I'm using my own photos of gerber daisies, three different photos and made them into one painting. So first step, I had to go buy some masking fluid because I left mine at home in the US.  Then I got out my ruling pen so I would have nice, even lines and not worry about using a brush. 

Also, you might notice the ripped tape around the borders...I want it to have an uneven, kind of ripped paper looking border, hence the strange tape job ;)

I'm going to mask only around the outer edges of the flowers, since I'm going to work on the background and I want to keep the edges of the flowers crisp and visible and not worry when I'm busy splashing paint around.  I'm using the ruling pen carefully, to avoid gouging the paper.  You don't need to press hard. 

I really love the ruling pen, it gives you such clean lines! I highly recommend it!
So now the flowers are all masked...

And I wait for it to dry, then have fun with the background!
With this painting, I really want to try loosening up and not do my usual tightly rendered style. I want to splash paint around and not worry about a lot of detail.  I want to mask the flowers to keep the shapes while I go nuts with the background, but after that all bets are off. We'll see how it goes! More tomorrow...

First sale from my Etsy shop!

I've finally completed and mailed my first sale from my Etsy shop!  On Etsy, I started out with my custom drawings of wedding gowns, and then someone suggested I paint bouquets, too.  I thought that was brilliant, since flowers are some of my absolute favorite subjects.  My first customer contacted me in mid October and asked if I could get it done and to him before November 12, his first anniversary with his wife.  Sure!  Then Hurricane Sandy hit and I was without power for a week here in New Jersey and managed to finish it anyway, sometimes painting by candlelight! (Which, by the way, is not a fun way to paint!) But I finished it in time and he gave it to his wife yesterday.  He told me that they loved it, which makes me so happy!  I'm always nervous doing commissioned work for people for fear they'll see all the little mistakes and things that bother me, plus all their expectations...So when a customer is happy, that makes me very happy. 

I even remembered to take pictures of the painting in progress so I can share them here.  When I paint watercolor, I usually paint wet into dry, which is how I did this painting.  It's more precise and when you have a lot of detail work, I find wet into dry works best. 

The first steps I took were to paint the parts the customer told me were important.  He really wanted the peacock feather to be highlighted, since they were special to his wife and came from her family farm. He also wanted the cloth around the flowers stems to be visible.  I painted the fabric first, since it was a pretty pattern and looked fun to do.

Next, of course, came the peacock feathers. I was a little scared to paint them, but they came out pretty well and I had fun mixing the dark blues and greens in their centers. 

After the fabric and feathers were done, I started to paint by color.  I did the little green berries and some leaves.  I figured going by the colors was an easier way to paint then being all over the place, mixing all different colors and being fairly disorganized (in my opinion). 

I then started in with my reds and purples. I painted the first layers of the red flowers, then went in with the purple flowers. When the first layers of red paint were dry, I went in and finished the red ones. I find red a tricky color and it needs several layers and a lot of attention to be just right. 

Finished the red flowers, and a few more pink and purples ones. 

Starting to put in some of the white flowers as well.  The painting is really starting to come together now and it's exciting to see it looking like an actual bouquet of flowers!

Almost done!  I put in the blue ribbon and finished all the flowers.  All that's left is some detail work with the wispy pieces that are sticking out and finishing up the larger leaves on the outside edges. 

And here again, the finished bouquet.  Watercolor on cold pressed paper, 9"x12".