Sad Day

Today I found out that my dear friend, Jack Turner, passed away. He was a great potter, sculptor, watercolorist, great with a pencil...he could do it all. He had so much talent it was unbelievable. He even made a CD with his music talent. He died of cancer. I will miss him so much, but he will live on in the memories that I have of him and I have so many. I know where he is at and maybe as he is looking down on me, he will send me a hint or two on how to paint. Someday we will meet again...but I hope it is not soon . Peace Jack!!

Trying that new paper

watercolor 5 x 7

Here was the other painting that I did on that new paper. I thought I would splash around and do a little color comp for a workshop that I will be teaching on Aug. 15 at the Chesterton Art Center.

New Paper

watercolor 5 x 7
Busy day today cleaning house, washing clothes and finishing up my packet. So I decided to try this new paper that I was introduced to at the Art Expo in Chicago this weekend. The company said it is the best...so I said I would try a small block. It is rough paper and I wanted to go completely wet into wet. I couldn't believe how fast it was drying. It was fun working on it, but I need to try it alot more to decide if I like it or not. I will have to go and see if it is available and if so, is it available in 300#. That is what I enjoy working on.
I had time to get two 5 x 7's done so you will see the other one tomorrow. You all come back now, ya hear!

People Workshop

I was asked to post some work from the people workshop. This is what I had the students work on. First we were working on some action figures to warm up. From there we went onto making a strip of people as a group. We will be doing more figure work in September when regular classes begin. I am running this workshop again on July 24, there are a few openings.

Today I had a DVD shot of me doing a demo. It is one of waterlilies. Right now it is being edited. It was strange having 3 cameras looking at me while I painted. The photographer had headphones on...was he listening to me or to a baseball game???

I am hoping he can get this editing process done so that they will be available for the art fair next weekend.

Workshop

Had a workshop this week and will run it again on July 24. This one was on putting people into your paintings. I think they really enjoyed this workshop. In the fall we will continue to try this in our regular classes.
Today I went to the Dick Blick Expo in Chicago. There were a lot of vendors there and I came home with lots of "stuff." I even picked up some new colors of paint to try out.

Fall Barn

watercolor - half sheet

I was asked and challenged to do a packet of one of my paintings. This is where you do a painting and then you make up a packet which has the photo of the painting, a drawing to work from and then step by step info on how to paint the painting. The instructions along with your supply list are about 4 pages long. I just jotted down my notes as I painted and I think I might have 22 pages. lol. Maybe I will make mine into a book.
Now it will be fun putting the text together. This is something new for me...you don't know if you don't try. I swore I would never do this, but my mom always told me never to swear. I always thought writing a book would be fun. We will see what happens.

Loose Lilies

watercolor 1/2 sheet

I said I would try those pink lilies again to see how loose I could get. Both paintings are done on 300# wc paper. The top one was the original painting that I did on Monday. The second painting (middle frame)was sponged to get it totally wet. Then I began to paint. This frame was done as a wet-into-wet wash. While that was drying I did some framing. Then the bottom frame is where I came into it and tightened it up and added some of the detail. I used a different pink on the second painting. I think the first pink is prettier and brighter.