Silky Bougainvillea - Silk Painting

I started to work on this a few weeks ago intending to paint it while I was demonstrating silk painting at Chemers gallery.  I put the resist on 3 silks and ended up working only on one - the clivias that I posted earlier this month.  Like that silk, I used a design that I have painted before (I didn't have much time to get things ready for the day) but I made changes that I think make this look entirely different.

The first time I painted it, I used very bright colors and a wrought iron design for the border as you can see below.  For this new one I painted a soft background, more delicate flowers and changed the border.  I also left some of the flowers out.  I think the new one looks more traditional.

I still have one more silk painting to finish that has the resist on it.  I'll probably work on that one this week since I'm trying to clean up my studio and the best way to do that is to finish some of my many unfinished projects.

Silky Bougainvillea
Image Size 13.5" x 24.5"
Silk dyes on silk

A Nice Award - National Orange Show

Last night I got some good news.  I had entered two paintings into the National Orange Show All-California Juried Art Exhibition in San Bernadino, CA.  Both were juried in and I was awarded third place for one of them in the Citrus category.  When I originally saw the prospectus for this show and saw that there was a citrus category I knew I had the perfect paintings to enter.  The paintings could be up to 5 years old which is unusual for an art competition.  Usually the requirement is that they must have been painted within two years.  Three years ago I painted a series titled "Paradise Lost", my statement about the over-building of Orange County.  The first two paintings in the series were my favorites and they are the paintings that I entered and were juried into the show.

Paradise Lost II is the one that received the award last night.  I was really happy because I've always liked this painting and have entered it into many shows where it has been rejected.  I was glad to have this one last chance for it to get some glory before it is retired from entering shows.

Paradise Lost II

And here is the other painting that was juried into the show.

Paradise Lost I

Paradise Lost I was awarded third place in Watercolor West in 2009.  This series has been good to me.  If you would like to see the other three paintings in the series, click here.

One of a Kind

Hmmm, what to say about this one?  I think the paper I used for this is Arches 140# cold press which is the paper I've always used the most but for some reason this seemed to react differently. I had a hard time getting my colors bright which is odd since I used a lot of yellow, orange and red.  The colors looked really bright while wet but faded so much when it dried and I had to keep adding layers and I would like it to be even brighter.  Maybe I'm just getting used to how beautiful and bright colors are when I use silk dyes on silk and the watercolors pale in comparison.

I think I will try painting a similar subject in another medium and see if I can turn up the heat.

I was playing around with the background and can't decide whether it is distracting or interesting.  What is your opinion?

The Traveling Chicken - Poolside

Here's the result of a fun project that Jill Polsby invited me to join.  Jill is a fellow artist whose blog I follow.  She and I have never actually met but like so many other fellow artist bloggers, I feel like I know her.  I think that someday we will meet in person because she lives only about an hour away.  I was happy that she thought of me to participate in this project.

This small ceramic chicken was purchased in England by Azra to use in one of her paintings.  She decided to offer it to other artists to paint and The Traveling Chicken was born.  This chicken has her own blog so you can keep up with her travels and see each artist's ideas for a painting using this ceramic dynamo.  You can sign up as a follower if you are on blogger or sign up to get e-mail updates as this world traveler is immortalized in each new city (or country).  I am the fourth artist to participate in this venture and I must say it was a lot of fun.

This was painted on 140# hot press Lanaquarelle.  The reason I picked this paper was because I had a few pieces left on a watercolor pad and it was the size I wanted to use - not the best reason to chose a paper.  I don't have anything against Lanaquarelle, I really don't like working on any 140# hot press paper.  It's very different than a cold press or rough paper because the paint sits on the surface more and when additional glazes of color are added, the previous layers are easily lifted which is frustrating to me because I like to use lots of layers of color and build up my darks.  It's also hard to get smooth washes on this paper.  The hot press paper that I really love is the Arches 300# hot press.  Wow! That is a wonderful paper.  It's the thickness of the paper that seems to make the difference.  It has a soft surface and the paint seems to settle into the paper better and it gives a beautiful end result to the painting.  Waterford's 200# hot press also seems to have that softer surface that allows the paint to settle better.

Anyway, this was a nice side project to get the artistic ideas flowing.  Thanks Jill.

The Traveling Chicken - Pool Side
Image Size - 6.5" x 9.5"
Watercolor

ACEO - Spirit Island

I haven't done an ACEO for a long time but I got a notice from an e-bay group that I've been part of for a long time (but never participated in) about a photo challenge so I decided to try it.  One of the members, Leola, posted a photo and gave permission for everyone to use it.  I usually don't use someone else's photos for my paintings but it was a requirement for this challenge. 

ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals.  They are all 2.5" x 3.5" and are basically artist trading cards.  If you visit E-bay and search ACEO Originals, there are thousands of them up for bid.  I've sold a few of them in the past and it's fun to play in that arena - not profitable but still, it's always fun to follow an auction.  I've posted this one just to see what happens.

This is done mostly with colored pencil with a little bit of watercolor added.  The surface I used is Terraskin, which I've used a few times in the past with watercolor.  It's 80% stone dust and 20% resin.  It's very smooth so it's a great surface for colored pencil and this small format is also good for colored pencil as far as I'm concerned.  I don't usually have the patience to use that medium although I really admire artists that use colored pencil as their main medium.  Those larger drawings can take forever with it.   The Terraskin I used was very thin so I attached this to a mat board to give it some thickness and stability.

Click to bid

ACEO - Spirit Island
Image Size 2.5" x 3.5"
Colored Pencil and Watercolor

Gone...Again

I was missing doing my fun watercolors so I did this painting.  I've been thinking of this concept for awhile but never took the time to actually draft it.  "Draft" is a good word because it is very structured.  I played with the perspective so that it would look like the piano keys were floating.  I hope that is the effect you see.  The background is many layers of glazes which finally gave me the depth of color I was trying to achieve.

Gone...Again
Image size 11" x 30"
Watercolor

Silk Clivia II - Silk Painting

This is the silk painting that I was using as a demo piece on Saturday.  I finished painting it today but it hasn't been steamed or stretched yet which is why it looks wrinkled.  Also, the white lines will be brighter once the resist is washed out.  At least I finished painting it.  : )  

This is a design I have painted before but the first one didn't have a border.  I'll post the first painting at the end of this post.  This one also has lighter flowers.

These flowers are Clivias, also known as Kaffir lilies.  Typically they are orange but a few years ago I saw some pale yellow ones that I had to have.  They are a lot harder to find than the orange ones. The yellow is such a soft yellow for the garden.  Usually yellow flowers are pretty bright.

I was so happy when I finished painting this without having any bloopers.  I was really nervous painting the black.  It's really easy to flick the dye while lifting the brush and have it go in the worst places.  That would have ruined the whole painting if black had gotten on the flowers or leaves.  Originally, I painted the border a flat green.  The flowers are so delicate that I didn't want a busy border to clash with that.  After painting the border, it looked really blah to me so I held my breath as I added a different color.  

When a color is added over an already painted area, the underneath color is activated enough to cause hard lines very quickly so it's impossible to get a smooth color wash.  The effect is actually pretty cool but it would be hard to control the effect on a border because I have to start in one spot and switch off painting in both directions so that the dye doesn't dry and create an even harder edge.  I added salt as I painted to create a more overall texture.  I'm actually very happy with it.  The salt drew the color that I added (brown) but didn't lift the original color (green) so the color mix is really pretty.

Below is this painting with the green border before I added the brown and salt.

And here is the original silk clivia painting I did a couple of years ago.  After I steamed it and washed it, I noticed a white area (you can see it in this photo in the lower left corner area) in the black background so I repainted it and re-steamed it.  I learned a lesson.  The black and oranges bled in a couple of areas so even though most people think it looks fine, I could never sell it so I've always intended to re-paint is because I really like the design.  This photo was taken before I re-steamed it so you can't see the color bleed. 

Which of the three versions do you like best?

Silk Clivias II

Image Size 22" x 22"

Silk dyes on silk

Scenes of Tustin

Well, both of my paintings are in the Scenes of Tustin show at Chemers Gallery.  The opening is tomorrow night, April 28th from 5:30 - 8:00.  I didn't get an award for either of them but it's always fun to try, right?

Also, tomorrow from 12:00 - 2:00 I'll be doing silk painting in front of the gallery and other artists will also be painting.  Enderle Center, where the gallery is located, is having their Spring Fling.  I'm not sure exactly what will be happening but I've heard there is a DJ and food.  Sounds good to me.

If you're around the area with nothing to do, you should stop by.  The address for Chemers Gallery is
17300 17th Street, Suite G, Tustin, CA 92780

Lone Fuchsia

I wasn't in the mood to paint today but needed to get something done to post so that I didn't miss my self-imposed deadline to post a painting each Monday.  I was out of town until yesterday so I had to do a last minute painting today.

Usually I can dig up some motivation but today a combination of it being a drizzly day and having no ideas of what to paint made painting a frustration. I started looking through my old, tired reference photos and found this lone fuchsia.

I also tried a different paper for this one.  A friend gave me a sample pack of Kilimanjaro paper and I chose one of the 300# pieces.  I've used Arches 300# before and generally like it but all of the heavy papers tend to suck up the paint and the colors that look so nice and rich when wet fade dramatically when they dry.  I lost all of my lights too but that had more to do with not paying attention than a problem with the paper so I played with a pen that has opaque white ink that I just got to add some playful white accents.  I'm not sure whether or not I like this paper but I will give it another try when I'm in a better mood.

Lone Fuchsia
Image size 4" x 6"
Watercolor

McCharles House

Here is my second painting that I'm entering in the "Scenes of Tustin" juried show.  I'll find out next week if they got into the show.  The McCharles House is one of many beautiful Victorian style houses in Old Town Tustin.  It is a tea house (I don't think that's what it's called but can't think of a better term right now) and they also have small weddings there and special events I think.  Anyway, it's a charming place and the food is good too!

This started out as a poured watercolor.  Usually I would use mainly just red, yellow and blue and let them mix on the paper to create the other colors.  For this painting though, since the house is green (a much brighter pea green than I've painted it) I also used a green paint.  It is definitely a green painting, isn't it?  Of course, I love green paintings - they are my favorites.  I think it doesn't have the look of a traditional poured painting because there is so much green in it but really, if the house is green and the foliage is green the painting is going to be green, right?  I'm happy with the soft, antique effect the muted greens gave to this painting.

Mc Charles House
Image Size 15" x 22"
Watercolor