WIP's slow but going....

Brad's Angel
Watercolor, 22x30

Orchid
Watercolor - half sheet

Well, I've been slowly moving along on two paintings that have been on my desk, the Angel is relatively new, but the orchid was done earlier this year.
I started the Angel as a tribute to a Best Friend whom I' lost a month ago to an unexpected illness. Brad had asked me to paint him an Angel when he was alive and I never got to it before he left us.
So during my grief process, I started this for him. It interestingly the colors have come out very vibrant when I was in such a blue state, but I'm not surprised since he was a very bright soul. I still have more work to do on the feathers and defining the body.
The orchid was something that I started, but didn't like how it turned out, so I tossed it aside till I could be inspired to work on again. It's kinda fun to work on these "dud's" because I don't care if I mess them up, and I get to play with them.

Painting Waterlilies & Lilyponds Workshop results!

Kathleen Alexander with the waterlily demo she painted with our class.

I spent a wonderful weekend learning to paint waterlilies and lilyponds with Artist/Teacher Kathleen Alexander .
I've always admired Kathleen's work since I found her on the web. I love the colors she use and the subjects she paints and wanted to learn from her.
I was so pleased with the whole experience and what she taught. She has a amazing eye for color, and showed us how to see deeper in the subject. I could see more details about the picture than before, my eyes became more colorized! Even after class when driving home, I could see more colors in the clouds, mountain ranges and sunsets, my brain was interpreting a deeper range. It was surprising to me but expanding and wonderful.
She likes to work with fresh squeeze paint and mixes up her mixes before painting and keeps a brush ready in the mix for each of the colors she's using at the time, usually two three are going. She likes to mix colors right on the paper versus mixing on a palette and applies rich colors right from the start instead of many glazes. Her darks are dark from the start. In her picture, the dark is a deep mix of indigo. She also softens alot of hard edges and blending with water.
It was a great class and if you want to see her work up close, she's part of the co-op gallery Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos, CA.

And here's what I painted in class. I still have some softening to do with the highlights and some work on the lily pads, but overall, I'm very happy!

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