Lin's River

Done on Lama Li with DS paints. Photo ref was from Lin Frye. I painted the background first, wet-in-wet, using a band of Fr UM at the top and then switching to Indigo and Sedona (mixing on the paper) and then scraped in the trees when the sheen had left the paper. After it was completely dry, I painted some of the trees and did the ones in the foreground with more detail. It was a fun exercise -- and my first heavy wooded forest! Thanks, Lin, for the tip on scraping in those trees!!

Easter Lily 2008

I'm a day late - but Happy Easter everyone!! This painting gave me FITS!! It's on canson block using DS paints. I completely covered the background with graphite pencil first, then laid in two layers of indigo paint--wanted it as close to black as I could get. That part was successful. I painted the leaves next and that went okay. I erased my pencil lines on the flowers before I started painting them and THAT'S where I ran into trouble. I'm pleased with the lower two flowers and with the bud behind the middle flower, but the flower on top!! Ohmygoodness!! I had such a time especially with the lower petal and I've overworked it and absolutely can't scrub out and start over ANYMORE - so this is it.

Parrots in Love!
Done on Lama Li using DS Paints. This is a March project for the yahoo group, Watercolor Workshop. It was fun to work with tube paints after working with w/c pencils so much lately. I AM thinking about redoing this using pencils, though, for an upcoming lesson on birds/animals. It was a good ref photo and I enjoyed painting it.

Tulips

Done on Lama Li paper with Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils. Still working on projects for my class. The reference photo for this was found in WetCanvas. Not much to say about this one. . . I see plenty of places with room for improvement, particularly in the leaves. I like the foreground yellow tulip and the purple tulip on the right, but don't like the other two blossoms. I almost forgot! This was drawn with colored pencil -- so no erasing, and that's a stretch for me!!

Pink Flower

The photo reference was posted on Watercolor Painting Techniques yahoo group for a March project. Since I'm currently in Kate Johnson's watercolor pencil class, I figured this would fit the lesson on flowers! I used Derwent Inktense watercolor pencil on Lama Li paper. The background is a technique I read about in a Karlyn Holman book where you wet the watercolor paper and then sand the pencil tips with 100 grit sand paper. It's really fun and easy! Just cut a piece of sand paper into a square, it needs to be small enough to fit in your cupped hand. Choose the color/colors of pencils you want to use, wet the paper in small segments at a time. Rub the tip of the dry pencil across the sandpaper, that is cupped in your palm -- kind of a funnel shape cup-- and direct the shavings onto the wet portion of the paper. Let it dry and then hold it over a trash bag/can and blow the residue off. Continue on, doing a small portion at a time, be very careful not to wet the part that's already been done or it will run. Surprisinging enough, very little pencil is wasted. I sanded and then tapped the paper and then sanded and tapped again -- repeating in this way kept the pigment from building up on the sandpaper."

Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City, CA

Crescent City is in northern CA, at the Oregon border. It rains a whole lot there and so Battery Point is covered with green moss! This is done on Lama Li paper and I used DS paints for the sky and the water and Derwent Graphitint watercolor pencils for the rest. Still working with w/c pencils for my class with Kate Johnson. I'm not real thrilled with this, but have some nice ref photos of Battery Point so will probably do another one or two.

Pt Arena Lighthouse - Second Attempt
This is a redo where I applied the suggestions made by Kate Johnson in the watercolor pencil class. I raised the waterline to be a little bit above the landline and lowered the lighthouse so it wasn't topping the edge of the paper. This one is not totally done in watercolor pencil. It is DS Watercolor paint and Derwent Graphitint pencils done on Lama Li paper. The only area where I used the pencils is the cliff, the rest of it (including the rocks in the water) were done with tube paint. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the pencils worked on the Lama Li! I really, really like the graphitint pencils for certain subjects and I like my Lama Li!! What a wonderful union - LOL.

Pt Arena Lighthouse

Lesson 3 of Kate Johnson's watercolor pencil class. Done on Arches CP block using Derwent Inktense Pencils and Derwent Graphitint Pencils. This scene combines our exercises for lesson three which is water, skies and rocks. I've combined a lesson with a challenge because in WetCanvas, there is a March challenge to do lighthouses. When I read about that challenge, I immediately thought of Pt Arena Lighthouse which I've been to and even climbed to the top! It was interesting, exhausting (ha) and an awesome view!! This lighthouse is located in northern CA and sits on the San Andreas where that fault enters the Pacific Ocean. The great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 destroyed the original lighthouse and it was rebuilt in 1907. It is 6 stories tall. You can see some awesome aerial shots of it and read more about this interesting lighthouse here http://www.mcn.org/1/palight/