Joan Stephens lily from Watercolor Workshop

This is the same watercolor subject painted by my friend Joan.

It's fun to see how different she interpreted the same subject.

Lian Zhen workshop: second painting

Lots more abstract Wednesday.

I had more difficulty relating to the compositional elements in this one.

Each of us placed our water lilies in different places in our compositions...both portrait and landscape.

This and previous one are half sheet of 140# cold press Arches wc paper.

As in the boat painting just before this, the technique involved spraying drying paper with a sprayer..pouring or dropping 3 basic wcs onto the wet paper and moving them with your fingers or with blowing the paint. All background is "brushless". We all used Graham (honey) watercolors in 3 primary colors. He prefers Hansa yellow, Prussian blue, and either Quin Rose or Pyrrol red. (Graham can be found at Dick Blick.) Pyrrol has an orange leaning while Quin Rose has a cooler, bluer cast.

After everything dries then the brush work begins...flats and rounds. Painting the flowers wet on dry and then negative painting around the lily pads. I used a blend of red/blue on the left bottom corner that I am not sure is working. I may wash this down to a lighter level as it is nice color but too dark for a corner of a painting. So I have some tweaking to do on it.

In all the workshop was great fun. And I'll post a few more photos of the teacher applying his techniques soon. Right now I am busy typing the Fine Art booklet for our art show here at Hawthorne park, hosting company which includes two grandsons, and keeping up with my drawing class which will draw to a close next Tuesday.

A day with a Chinese Painter

"A beautiful painting depicts the harmony between nature and imagination."
Lian Quan Zhen

Monday and Tuesday I spent painting this painting in Sarasota, Fl with Lian Zhen. What a happy time. Here is my first painting.




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Drawing Class continues

Trying to get my "homework" done is quite a challenge with all the distractions here in Florida!

For week two class I completed the eggs (as posted in beginning stage). Lucina felt the pencil was better than the ink (I think) only because the dark dark background in the ink draws your eye away from the egg. That can be fixed. She also like my use of texture in the background. I did a rubbing over a rubber stamp.

Also this ink egg needed more "darks" in obvious places. I found the ink cross- hatching to be tedious and would never attempt something this large in ink again! The egg is about 8" x 10".

I am busy now working on some one and two point perspective for Class 3 homework. Challenging also. More on that later.

I am into getting some framing done now for upcoming shows. As you know I whine about that periodically.

But as I read recently on Robert Genn's blog:

There is a deeper reason to express ourselves: just as the author's "journey" is complete when his words are read and possibly taken to heart. For the visual artist, merely creating anything is not the end. Without the creation being enjoyed, shared, observed, it would be like an orator standing in an empty room talking to himself! Betty Billups,

So I am working at how to display a wc on canvas that is not stretched. Now there is challenge. I probably will think twice about doing an un-stretched canvas again. But the arches wc canvas comes in a book of canvas sheets and it was a more economical way to teach the fractured wc on canvas technique. Any idea about that? I am thinking of using a spray glue and glueing to a foam core backing. But am worried about it leaking through the canvas and spoiling the painting. I don't want to get into buying stretcher bars. I could stretch it over another canvas I suppose? Hmmm.