Morristown Art - Cherry Tree On Gesso Board

Today's project was a watercolor cherry tree on 1" 5x5 gesso board.

Watercolor Cherry Tree On 5x5 Gesso Board

Pen, Ink And Watercolor - Snowman

Snowman I painted to night for my Holiday series using pen, ink and watercolor.

Pen, Ink And Watercolor Snowman On 4x6 Paper

Morristown Art - Quick Watercolor Sketch - Autumn Field

Last night I painted a quick little watercolor sketch of a field I drove past several weeks ago. The contrast between the green grass and beautiful flowers and the fall foliage was eye catching.

Autumn Field - Watercolor On 4x6 Paper

Brush Painting - Roses

Today's quick lunchtime project was a small painting of roses. Created using watercolor paints and sumi brushes on 4x6 watercolor block paper.

Brush Painting - Roses

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Last Day

Forgot to post this one yesterday! Pen and ink and watercolor on 4x6 paper.

Autumn Tree

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day 20

I sold Day 18 & 19's projects today at Arts In The Park, so while I sat at my booth I painted some replacements to count as today's project. I'll try and be a little more original tomorrow. 

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Days #18 and #19

Yesterday and today I worked on a few small projects for Arts In The Park coming up, yikes, TOMORROW!

Three different trees on three different types of media.

The bonsai tree on the left is watercolor on 3x5 watercolor greeting card stock.

The willow in the middle is watercolor on 5x7 watercolor canvas.

The cherry tree on the right is watercolor on a 5x5 gesso treated wood block.

Watercolor Tree Paintings 

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #17

A little miniature brush painting was my project for tonight. I also painted a quick tree for the Art Show this weekend.

Bamboo Brush Painting On 4x8 Watercolor Paper

Watercolor Tree On 5x7 Watercolor Canvas

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #16

Tonight I attempted to paint a Weeping Cherry tree. Had no clue how to make this one work, Definitely going to be trying this one again now that I know what does NOT work.....

Weeping Cherry - Watercolor on 5x7 Watercolor Greeting Card

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #13 and #14

A few pieces for the upcoming Arts In The Park festival.

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #12

Tried to incorporate a few of my favorite brush painting elements in today's painting.

Watercolor Heron On 9x12 Paper

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #11

I still get a visceral reaction every year on this day.

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #10

Was going for loose, light and dreamy, almost surreal. Think I may have gone TOO light..,

And then the border tape ruined the edges. Grrr....

Watercolor Tree On 6x6 Paper

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #9

Scrolled through my "Things To Paint" folder tonight and found a photo of a field of flowers. Decided to give it a shot as a quick exercise before hitting the sack.

Field Of Flowers
Watercolor on 4x6 paper

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #8

Today one of my Facebook friends changed their cover photo to a beautiful scene of a tree on a country at sunset or sunrise. I was very intrigued by it and immediately knew I wanted to make an attempt at painting it.

I also knew there was NO WAY I would be able to handle the lighting and the mist in the photo, so I figured I would try painting the scene at mid-day instead. Harsher, "easier" light and less shadow.

Here comes the word I use frequently - FRUSTRATING. This is the kind of attempt that hits home and makes me realize why I stick with small, simple compositions. I simply do not have the skill or vision at this point to make a scene like this work, much less pop.

Tree & Country Road - Watercolor On 9x12 Paper

30 Paintings 30 Days - Day #7

Today's project is one of my standard tree paintings. I have my first show coming up in a few weeks, and I need some simple pieces to fill out my display. My plan is to complete several of these before the show. They are plain and simple, but I enjoy painting them. I also REALLY like painting on the watercolor canvas.

Autumn Tree In Watercolor On 5x7 Canvas

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #6

Tonight I had the urge to paint a new flamingo for my mom. I found a photo I liked online. I loved the blues of the ocean and the sky and they way they contrasted with the pink of the flamingo, so I gave it a shot.

Watercolor Flamingo on 6x8 Paper

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #5

Wasn't feeling overly inspired yesterday. Started one painting and totally hated it and trashed it. Decided to work a little on calligraphy instead. Took more practice strokes and overall time to paint this symbol than any of the paintings I have done over the past few weeks.....

30 Paintings 30 Days 2014 - Day #4

I actually painted twice today.

For the first, I saw a painting online that I liked . I only had a few minutes before I had to leave to pick Aubrey up from school, so I decided to give myself a little challenge. 

I wanted to see if I could come up with my own interpretation of the painting with my preferred palette of colors in 10 minutes. This was the result. 

I did not have the time to be as careful with the tree as I normally would, so that was probably my biggest disappointment. There was a time though that I could not have even gotten something like this in an hour though, much less 10 minutes, so I will take it. Definitely a fun exercise that I should not have gotten away from doing.

Watercolor Tree on 6x9 Paper

The second painting was the one I had planned for the 30 Day Challenge. I have been experimenting with flowers lately. A few weeks ago I tried a loose bouquet, and tonight I wanted to try a bouquet in a glass vase. 

Ehhhh. Learning experience. 'Nuff said.

Watercolor Flowers on 6x6 Paper

30 Paintings 30 Days 2014 - Day #3

Today was a blah day. Not enough sleep last night combined with a lingering feeling of just general "down-ness" made it a little difficult for me to get into choosing a subject for today's painting.

So I visited the folder I keep in my Dropbox of photos and other paintings for inspiration, and I saw a photo of a tree I liked. I remembered that when I originally put in in the folder I had planned on painting it as a springtime cherry tree.

Needless to say, I was not in a springy mood tonight, so I decided to go with fall colors instead. Hey, at least I did not opt for full-on dreary winter!

The original tree was by itself in a field, but since I had gone with the plain tree last night, I decided to add a few more simple elements to the composition and sketched in the mountains and a little fence to give it just a few more lines to draw the eye.

I briefly considered some buildings off in the distance but decided I was too tired to go there, and Lord only knows what kind of disaster I would have turned them into anyway.

I was prepared to very unhappy with the end result. Goes with the mood I guess. But now it is photographed and up on the shelf where I put all my latest work. Sitting here in my chair and viewing it from across the room, I like it.

From a distance, its hard to see the little flaws that normally drive me nuts. From a distance, it looks like a scene I would like to step into. A tree I would like to sit under on a cool fall day and get lost in a good book.

Sometimes our days and lives are like that, aren't they? When we are all up close and nitpicky, they seem so flawed, and its easy to let our mood take a nosedive. But if we take a few steps back and view them with some literal and figurative distance, sometimes we can see them for just how beautiful they truly are.

Now, I just need to remember that the next time one of these moods hits!

Fall Tree Watercolor On 6x6 Paper

30 Paintings 30 Days 2014 - Day #2

Wasn't really sure what I wanted to paint today, so I started looking back through old paintings to see if there was anything I wanted to change a little bit. One of my most popular little trees (meaning someone actually repinned it on Pinterest) was one that leaned to the left, so I decided to see if I could give it maybe a little more depth and life.

I ended up with the tree below. The dreaded bloom monster reared its ugly head again. Maybe one day I will slow down enough to keep the monster at bay, but I'm starting to think its going to be one of my many curses.

Its not a huge change from the original painting, but I think it does have a tiny bit more "life." So I'll give myself a slight "mission accomplished" rating.....

Watercolor on 6x6 block paper.

Lone Watercolor Tree

30 Paintings 30 Days 2014 - Day #1

My family and I spent Labor Day Weekend at the beach. It was our first beach trip since 2011, so it was great to feel the sand underfoot and breathe the salty air!

How could I spend that much time at the beach and not attempt to transfer some of that beauty onto paper?

This is my attempt to do so. I have a hard time with perspective, so I removed a lot of elements from the scene in order to keep things as simple as possible, a common theme with my paintings.

Watercolor on 4x6 block paper.

Myrtle Beach

Quick Lunchtime Paintings

Today and yesterday I set aside a few minutes to try and get back into the swing of painting. It's not really that I haven't been painting regularly - I have. But I have been working on improving my small orchid paintings, so that's pretty much ALL I have been painting.

Wednesday I went with this little bouquet of flowers. Originally it was going to be a little more complex, but I decided once I got started I liked it simple with lots of white space.

Bouquet Of Flowers - Watercolor

Today I went with a cherry tree branch. I really like cherry tress and I have painted a ton of little ones. I decided to "zoom in" today and concentrate on just a couple of branches.

Cherry Tree Branches - Watercolor

I have thoroughly enjoyed myself, and i am very much looking forward to next months "30 Paintings In 30 Days" Challenge!

Bamboo In Color

The artist that inspired me the most to want to be able to paint myself is named Michael Kopald. He had a gallery in Lexington, VA where he created some absolutely stunning brush paintings of bamboo. Amie and I just happened to walk into his gallery back in 2003 and I was transfixed by the beauty of his work. I couldn't afford $800 for one of his small paintings, so I left the gallery dreaming of learning to create one myself.

Last night one of his paintings popped up in my newsfeed in an advertisement for a showing in Lexington this weekend. I have an obstacle race and can't go. Boo. It did give me an idea though. Aubrey has always asked me why my bamboo paintings are all in black. I told her I don't have the traditional inks to do the colored paintings. Thats true, but I also just don't feel comfortable with color for bamboo.

Today I decided what the heck. I grabbed one of my favorite greens, Hookers Light, and mixed some up. I played around with the same basic bamboo stalk in two different sizes, 9x12 and 12x16. I like my leaves better in the small painting and the bamboo better in the larger one.

Leaves are always going to be my achilles heel. I just. can't. relax. when its time to paint them and they ALWAYS turn out stiff. Its ok though - one of these days I am going to have a breakthrough, and my doggone leaves are going to flow!!!

Anyway, Aubrey loves them ("you used color Daddy, you used color!") and that's all that really matters to me! 

Limited Palette

One of the painters I follow on Facebook posts what he calls his "colors of the day." He picks two watercolor colors that he feels fits the mood of the day. I decided last night that I am going to try to take those two colors and create paintings with ONLY those colors. I figured it would be a good exercise to help me learn to work with a limited palette, rather than relying on an extensive one.

Todays two colors were Sap Green and Lavender. I think that is about as easy as I am going to get. I decided to revisit the lavender fields from Virginia that I talked about last month, and this is the result.

Working Bigger

This weekends project (well, Sunday and Monday) was to try and paint one of my dream travel destinations, and to once again go up in the size paper I painted on.

I have been fascinated with the thought of sailing the Caribbean or the Med since friends of mine took a Windjammer trip back in the late 90's. The stories of their nights sleeping on the deck while anchored exotic lagoons have stuck in my head ever since. I still have 16 year old brochures in a box in my closet somewhere.

I am even more enamored with the Mediterranean than I am the tropics. There is something about the French Riviera, the Ligurian Sea and the Amalfi Coast of Italy that gets me fired up. The amazing hue of the waters and the beautiful structures built into the seaside cliffs seem to leap out of the photographs and pull me in.

I cannot paint from imagination, I pretty much have to have a photo to guide me. I could not find a good shot of a clipper ship (sadly the Windjammer company is out of business) on the Med with a good background, but I did find an oil painting of a sailboat off the walls of Amalfi. So I figured what the heck, why not paint a painting!

I used a 12x16 watercolor block for this one. This is the biggest watercolor I have ever attempted, as well as the first time I have tried a boat. I used masking fluid to block out the space for the boat, but unfortunately misjudged the space needed for the reflection.

The buildings were HARD. I could not find a balance between being loose and detailed, or get the relationship between light and shadow that I wanted. Those are things I know I am going to continue to struggle with mightily, but I have to learn.

It was a good exercise. I learned a few things about using masking fluid and perspective, as well as developed a little further my interpretation of how light plays with the surface of water. The large size of the paper was a challenge as I expected, but at the same time more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I predict that I am always going to prefer smaller paintings, but I will not shy away from larger ones to the extent I have in the past.

But the best part of the exercise was putting myself in my mind, however briefly, on the deck of that sailboat in one of the most beautiful spots on the planet, feeling the warm breeze and the gentle rocking of the boat, breathing the salty air, while taking in the wonder of the awe-inspiring view.

Art is pretty cool!

Thoughts On Lavender Fields

“Just living is not enough…. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” 
       – Hans Christian Andersen

I am not feeling 100% today. My sinuses feel like they are going to explode and the drainage has my throat raw. I’ve been hitting the burpees hard this week in anticipation of the Superhero Scramble coming up (I have vowed that none of my team will do burpees alone) – and that has my lower back screaming, something I am not used to. Stinks getting old!

So I decided at lunchtime I needed a distraction, something to get my mind off of the aches and pains. I ended up creating two painting today.

The first was a quick 5 minute brush painting. I try to make one or two of these flowers a week. I keep thinking eventually I get one “right.” I like to lose myself in the flow of the long leaves and the petals. I know that someday I will finally get myself in the zone and relax just right, and the leaves will take a life of their own and go onto the paper loose, flowing and natural rather than forced. There is so much joy contained in laying the pigments down on the paper and seeing the results, I can’t imagine how good it will feel when things finally click.

The second painting has been bouncing around in my head for awhile. At the end of last summer I ran the Spartan Super at Wintergreen Ski Resort in Virginia, one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. On the way to the resort, we passed several lavender farms in full bloom. They were all neatly laid out in perfect symmetrical rows and formed a beautiful pattern. Then we passed an open field neighboring one of the farms.

Here the lavender had grown wild. There were no neat rows or patterns, it was chaos – a riot of purples and greens.

About 6 miles into the race I was climbing a mile long, black diamond ski slope. I was delirious with fatigue, hunger, and the knowledge that I still had two more miles, a log carry and a rope climb ahead of me. I finally laid down on the soft grass (along with about a hundred other people) and rested as I looked out over the valley below and up at the clear blue sky.

As I drifted in and out of a nap on the side of the hill, I kept thinking about those lavender fields. The perfectly groomed and laid out field on one side, and the chaotic field on the other. They were both amazing in their own way. So many times in life we try to bring order into every aspect of our lives, to make it as perfect and patterned as that lavender farm. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I think we sometimes fail to see the beauty that can be contained in the chaos.

I know I am that way with my artwork. I want it to be perfect. Like I said earlier, I want it to be “right”, to follow the rules. But maybe I should remember that lavender field more often, and just let things stay loose and unbound by rules and order. Just enjoy the moment.

Anyway, I was finally able to pick myself and finish the climb, and eventually finish the race. I told myself that as soon as I got home I was going to paint that field. I got caught up in other things in it didn’t happen. While thinking about the race this weekend and feeling sorry for myself over the aches and pains, the memory of the field and my hillside thoughts came back, and I decided to give it a shot.

I was happy with the painting at first. I thought I was staying loose, and allowing the chaos of the lavender to take shape. Then I added the fence. Ugh. The “order” side of my brain kicked in, and I think it ruined the flow of the painting.

Oh well. I did get a tremendous amount of joy out of both remembering and painting that field, and I hope to visit it again this year. Maybe I will even take some paints and paper with me this time.

Meadows

"How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold." - William Wordworth

I was thinking today about how beautiful the meadows are along the Virginia Creeper Trail in the springtime, and about how much I would love to be riding on an a stunning day like today. Maybe I was a little bit jealous of those blooming flowers freedom to bask in the sunshine all day long, with no obligations or commitments to worry about.

Then I looked over at my little girl who has not felt well the past few days, and had to stay home from school with me today. She gave me a little smile and said "I love you Daddy." Jealousy gone. I wouldn't trade where I am for anything in the world.

Those amazing springtime meadows were still on my mind though, so I took a few minutes at lunchtime to practice painting once again on the bigger 9x12 paper. I found a photo of a meadow I liked, got out the watercolors, and this is the result. I will never be able to do those Creeper Trail meadows justice, but it sure is fun to try!

Sunday Morning Practice Painting

I'm slowly but surely trying to learn to work with bigger paper. The majority of my watercolor paintings have been done on 4x6 block paper. Late last year I started working with 6x8 blocks, and this month I have moved up to 9x12.

We drove through past English Mountain in Jefferson and Sevier County yesterday, so I was inspired to make this scene my practice painting this morning.

5 Minute Project - Another Redbud Tree

What can I say - I love this time of year, and I love blooming redbud trees. So for today's 5 minute project I decided to make an attempt at another redbud.

Watercolor on 9x12 paper. I have done a couple of paintings in a row now on bigger paper. Its not quite as big a nightmare as I thought it would be!

Lunchtime Stress Relief - Big Happy Tree

Decided to paint a little bigger today and broke out the 9x12 watercolor block. I also decided to incorporate the pen and ink as well. I love how painting drives all other thoughts out of my mind!

Pen, Ink and Watercolor Tree

5 Minute Fun

Tonight's 5 minutes of fun.

Redbuds

While in Atlanta a few weeks ago for the first Spartan Race of the season, I was excited to see the redbud trees and the bradford pears starting to bloom. I love spring.

So, that first tree sighting, and a really nice card I saw on Pinterest, were the inspiration for today's 5 Minute "Masterpiece." I wish I had taken the time to tape down a border before beginning, but I only have so much time at lunch......

Art Journal - Spring Tree

Today's quick lunchtime watercolor painting for my art journal.

Art Journal - Quick Painting

I took a few minutes at lunch today to make a quick painting for my watercolor journal. I spent February working a little bit with acrylics, so it felt good to be working with watercolors again!

A Gift

Painted this little tree as a gift for a friend.

I Sold A Painting

Its official. The world is coming to an end.

Someone bought a painting from me.

Someone bought a painting from ME!

I packed it up and put it in the mail today. That was a great feeling.

Winter Fly Fishing

"They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it. What happens is that you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore."
      - John Gierach

For the month of February I am being challenged to paint with acrylics as opposed to watercolor, and to paint bigger than what is usually in my comfort zone.

One thing I like about acrylics is the ability to keep layering the paint to cover up mistakes. I make a LOT of mistakes, so that comes in handy. However, I also make a lot MORE mistakes with acrylics, so I spend a LOT of time covering them up, even having to go back and re-do large sections.

Anyway, the theme this week was winter. So I decided to go with one of my favorite additional themes - fishing. I found a reference photo I liked and got to work.

I simply cannot, after a year of trying, paint fine lines with acrylics. It frustrates me to no end. Painting the fisherman, the fly rod and the fly line was a massive struggle. I've tried lots of medium and different brushes with no success. Maybe someday I will figure out the secret.

Despite the frustrations, I did thoroughly enjoy pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and I look forward to the next 3 weeks of paintings.

This weeks painting is on 11x14 canvas.

Winter Fly Fishing 

Art Journal - Winter Tree

Decided to get in a little practice today by painting one of the trees in our back yard.

Winter Tree

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #26 - Happy Little Tree

"Maybe in our world there lives a happy little tree over there."
      - Bob Ross

Painted this one in a cloud of fatigue at 3 a.m. When I shared it, I was told it was "a very happy looking tree." The name has stuck in my head.

This painting is growing on me. I like it.

Happy Little Tree

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #25 - Tree In Meadow

This is one of those paintings that just came out of nowhere. No reference photo. No clue what I was going to paint when I started. Just a desire to paint SOMETHING, and a vague impulse to paint a purplish sky. 

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #23 - Autumn Tree

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
      - Albert Camus

I am sticking with the tree theme today. I have a limited amount of time at lunch, and it is much easier to paint one of my small trees when I am in a bit of a rush. Definitely more relaxing as well. The tree below was painted in watercolor on 4x6 Kilimanjaro natural white block paper.

I thought the quote above was so cool the first time I ever read it, and I still love it. I like thinking of autumn trees as a garden in bloom, full of little "flowers" bursting with color. From a distance the leaves may all look the same, but when you see them up close they are like snowflakes, in they all have slight little variations in their shape and color that make them unique.

And every year that tree "garden" blooms just a little bit differently, so you can always look forward to a new and exciting show. God is an awesome gardener!

Autumn Tree

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #22 - Another Tree

"The trees are God's great alphabet:
With them He writes in shining green
Across the world His thoughts serene."
      - Leonora Speyer

Anytime I make a painting that I am really disappointed in (like last nights quickie sunflower - BLAH), I like to go back to my favorite subject: trees.

Even when a tree painting doesn't turn out quite the way I wanted, I am still happy, just because I like painting trees.

Shoot, the trees are my favorite part of any painting. Even when its just some vague, loose blobs in the background to hint of a treeline or forest, its my favorite part to paint.

Why? Because trees used to make me FREEZE. Totally. My first sketchbook has 3 drawings I did not complete because I had NO CLUE how to make the trees in the foreground or the background. It was a major sticking point for me.

My teacher tried to explain it to me, but without seeing it, I just wasn't getting it.

I'll never forget the night I had a breakthrough. I was sitting with some of the kids at a Parents Night Out I was hosting at my school. I sat out some watercolors for the kids to paint with, and I decided to sit down and join them. I was painting a pond I had fished at once that had woods along one edge.

I remembered my teacher had told me the trees did not have to be detailed. You just had to get some basic shapes in and let the viewers eye/brain make them into trees. So I loosened up and just splattered them in (well, thats what it FELT like anyway.) I was totally amazed when it WORKED. It looked like a treeline!

The kids were all looking over going "Wow - I didn't know you were an artist."

I was like "uhhhhh, not exactly, but thanks."

It was just a quickie little painting on a scrap piece of paper, but I was so excited. I remember how thrilled I was to show my teacher that I had MADE TREES!!!

That painting is still sitting on my desk.

So, tonight's painting attached below may not be anything special, but to me, the fact that I am able to accomplish even that, is a pretty big deal.

Watercolor Tree on 4x6 paper

30 Paintings In 30 Days - Day #21 - Sunflower (Sort Of)

Gave myself 5 minutes tonight to attempt this sunflower exercise from one of my books. The petals definitely look rushed. I'll go back and attempt a slower version in the future.