Sunflowers

It feels like summer, so that means it's time for sunflowers.

Daisy

We had a vase full of happy daisies, so I used them as inspiration for my watercolor daisy.

Poppoes

I was going for abstract poppies. They seem like such a simple shape, but it's like the apple all over again.

Two steps back. Though I do like how some of the colors mixed together.

Wild Flowers

I painted a few little sketches of wild flowers. I like how dainty they look. Next, I need to combine a handful of them into one composition.

Pink Flowers: I've Lost the Magic

I just painted a wonderful abstract flower and then I produce these two less than fabulous paintings. Guess I won't be paying any bills with my paintings anytime soon.

Tulips

I found a wonderful watercolor painting of tulips, so I used it as a reference for this painting. I'm not yet able to achieve the style of painting I would like from painting real life subjects, so I thought I would try to reverse engineer this painting.

Radish & Thistle

Simple little paintings.

Pink Fruits

More colorful fruits. Pink makes all fruits look amazing!

Colorful Fruits

Tonight I played with my watercolor pans, which I have in an assortment of colors. I just doodled these fruits, mixing all sorts of colors.

Solanacea Close-Ups

Here are a few close-up shots of the plants to see the details. I used lots of color glazing in this painting, and most plants ended up with a final yellow glaze, which brought a sense of continuity to the painting. I didn't think a glaze of yellow would look good on some of the plants, like the eggplant, but I loved how it turned out.

Solanacea Family Painting Progress

In one class period, I finished up my Solanacea plant family poster. This took at least four hours, if you can imagine it. Having gone through this larger painting, I learned so much and feel if I was to paint it again it would look much better.

Marbles

A decent first attempt at painting marbles. I like the color washes of my background.

Another Apple

I refuse to let a fruit beat me...much less the common apple. I painted it from the top this time. The side leaked a little where I had taped my paper down.

Cinderella Themed Bridal Shower Invitations

I'm throwing a Cinderella themed bridal shower for my sister and painted all of the invitations. I went with a simple pumpkin with a twisty stem. I painted the pumpkin in four stages: two pink layers, the green stem, and a final gold layer. This took me way longer than I expected, but I had fun doing it. Fortunately, watercolor is a major trend right now in stationery.

M&Ms

For this past class's assignment, we had to paint candy. I chose to go with M&Ms in a circular pattern. I used my watercolor pencils to tidy up the edges of the M&Ms and for the shadows, which turned out nicely. Masking fluid was used to keep the highlights. There isn't much of the colored background, but I used the chalk again--it's just so fun.

Matches & Buttons

A new technique I learned was to use different materials as stencils. For the matches' background I used this type of wire tape and a cardboard doily for the button's background. Neither turned out great, but with a little less wet paint and a slower speed, I could see how this might look good. The buttons are just deformed.

Lunchtime Watercolor

On my lunch break, I took my watercolors out to the park across the street and just had fun with my paints.

Onion & Garlic

For my watercolor homework this week, I tried my hand at painting an onion and a garlic. Neither of them turned out as fabulous as I'd hoped, but it's the first time I tried painting these. Next time will be even better.

Peppers

I do not enjoy eating peppers, but they were fun to paint. I originally wanted to keep a distinct highlight on the peppers, as in the top photo. Unfortunately, I ended up painting over them.