Wet Watercolors

Fruits(and Vegetables) of My Labor

2011-02-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

I definitely have not posted much on my blogs because I have been busy painting every chance that I can when I am not teaching or working on assignments for my botanical class.
My sister and I decided to form Linadona Botanica, LLC, a business based on my botanical watercolors inspired by our love of garden, kitchen and home and a shared fondness for Italian culture and food. We are creating several collections of designs that will be available for art licensing this spring for the stationery, gift, home, kitchen, tabletop and garden markets. My sister, Dona, is my best critic (besides my daughter) and will handle contracts and business leaving me free to create. We have always wanted to work together creatively and the time seemed to right.
Right now we are working on finalizing our website and getting our display materials ready for the Surtex Show in New York City from May 15-17 at the Jacob Javits center. We will be in booth #657 where we will be debuting our fresh, new collections. I am very excited about all the possibilities. I just wish there were 48 hours in a day!
What you see above is our ad that will be appearing in the Surtex print directory. I thought it would be a good way to introduce Linadona Botanica. Our website is still just a splash page but will be up in the next month.

Holiday Baking

2010-12-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

I have been painting lots of botanical studies on my break. I sit in my studio and listen to Andrea Bocelli sing Christmas songs and paint away. I wanted to make some Christmas gifts instead of buy them so I got this idea to make some homemade granola that I love and put it in bags with illustrated labels. I came up with the design above. The pyrocantha seem so festively colored this time of year so I selected a branch and painted this watercolor and then brought it into Photoshop and designed it. The granola recipe I use is from Spannocchia in Tuscany where I teach Plein Air Painting Workshops each summer in watercolors and sometimes oils. The recipe is American but I love it. I put dried cranberries in it this time of year.

Paphiopedlium Maudiae

2010-10-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

This is a detail from latest botanical assignment that I did in watercolor for the Botanical Distance Learning course I am taking through the Society of Botanical Artists in England. Though this is not how I paint normally but as I stated in my previous post I am enjoying the challenge of this discipline. It is teaching me to be a lot more patient! I chose to use Lanaquerelle Hotpress paper and I really like it. It seems to respond well to washes.

Turnip

2010-10-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

I am busy painting for a Distance Learning Class in Botanical Painting through the Society of Botanical Arts in England. It is the most challenging thing I have ever done. I work somewhat loose and though I can draw realistically I have never applied myself to painting that way.There are a lot of rules to follow and the room for creativity is narrow but I like doing it. It helps that I have been doing watercolors for a long time but mastery is a ways off. In fact, I read somewhere that it takes 10,000 hours to master something so not sure I will get it in this lifetime :)
The turnip above is from my sketchbook and shows how I like to work–loose but still realistic.

Daniella's Garden

2010-08-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the little watercolors that will be in my upcoming show Chasing the Light opening August 9th at the Art League Gallery on Hilton Head. It was a dusk scene and everything was seemed to be blue or green. It was painted on smooth Khadi paper which is definitely different than the rough. I find every time I change papers it affects my way of working to some extent. This scene attracted me because it evokes a kind of contemplation and intimacy.

Fattoria Doorways

2010-07-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

I liked the way the light was hitting the grass in this view with the simple rustic wall with doorways.

Painting in Italy

2010-07-19T13:53:00.001-07:00

I spent the month of June in Italy painting in watercolors and oils. I received a presidential fellowship from SCAD to do this. I also taught a watercolor workshop at Spannocchia, a green hotel and working organic farm in Tuscany. We painted on location and on the farm. I painted several of small studies so I could demonstrate but still leave have time to help students. The experience of being able to immerse myself in painting for a month was unforgettable.

I will be having a show of my work entitled Chasing the Light at the Art League of Hilton Head Gallery on Hilton Head in South Carolina. The show opens August 9 and goes through September 10. The opening reception is on Tuesday, August 11 from 5-7 pm.

Too Many Pitchers

2009-11-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of Arts and Crafts pitchers and pottery that keep attracting me to paint them. I find their shapes challenging. I decided to contrast them with the dried artichoke. For me, watercolors is so much about colors and shapes and making the "washiness" of the medium work for me.

2009-10-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is a study done from a photo. I always have to do a bit of practice before I demonstrate in class.

Raining in Savannah

2009-10-28T09:05:00.001-07:00

This is a little plein air study that I did in City Market in Savannah in the absolute pouring rain! I think the rain helped with the atmosphere of the painting.

Tuscan Doorway

2009-09-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

Here is another sketch from my trip to Italy this summer where I taught plein air painting. This is just a sketch of a doorway with a grape vine growing over it at Spannocchia, the working organic farm where I taught. I am planning to conduct a watercolor sketchbook workshop next year. Stay tuned for more details.

Workshop Description:
Watercolor is a medium that is perfectly suited to the sketchbook format and working on location. It is a wonderful way to capture the travel experience and develop your sketching and watercolor painting skills. This watercolor workshop is paced to savor the unique experience of Spannocchia and some of the surrounding scenic areas of Tuscany.
There will be daily demonstrations regarding painting onsite and working with watercolors. We will be painting exclusively from life in our sketchbooks daily with sessions in the morning and afternoon. We will also spend time painting some studies out of the sketchbook as well. We will spend 3 half days painting on site.
This class is suited to beginners with some drawing experience and intermediates. No previous watercolor experience required.

2009-09-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

This is from my sketchbook. It was done in the botanical gardens in Florence.I hope to do a larger painting from this area. The lotus flowers were incredible.

Joseph Zbukvic Workshop in Fallbrook, CA

2009-05-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

I am currently taking a Plein Air Painting Workshop with Australian painter Joseph Zbukvic(pronounced Z+book-vich). He is unbelievably talented. He painted this demo painting before the workshop. He completed it in an hour. It is so crisp and captures a profound sense of light.
I feel so fortunate to be having this experience. I would recommend him to anyone. He is professional and knows his stuff. Very sharing with information too. I followed his work for years in the book Mastering Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolor. The book is now out of print and is available on Amazon.com for between $280 and $900!!!

Italian Farmhouse and Vineyard

2009-01-11T12:09:00.000-08:00

This is a sketch from my trip to Italy last year when I went to Spannocchia, a wonderful organic farm and green hotel. I painted "en plein air" for a week in oils and watercolors. I am teaching a plein air painting workshop there this summer from June 22-29. If you are interested please email me or visit my website.

Sketchbook

2009-01-04T09:22:00.000-08:00

Here are some little watercolor sketches from my sketchbook. I worked on Arches coldpress paper and used my favorite Kremer Pigments. The granulation in the figure on the right is due in part from their cobalt blue. Love the color. It is so easy to be seduced by the interesting ways that watercolors move around on the paper. I especially like the way flesh tones look when the paint mixes on the paper in the portrait study on the left. By the way these are small studies about 5" by 6". I have no idea how these two characters wound up on the same page. Hope you enjoy.

Watercolor Sketch of City Market in Savannah, Georgia

2008-11-03T16:34:00.000-08:00

This sketch was an onsite demo done at Savannah's City Market for my Illustration class. It was done on Fabriano Artistico. It is small around 6" by 8". Probably the greatest challenge in watercolors for me is to work as loosely in larger paintings as I do in sketches.

Arts and Crafts Pitchers Sketch

2008-11-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

I have a collection of several arts and crafts pitchers in all shades of blues and greens. This was done on Fabriano Aristico which is a rough surface paper.

Onions Watercolor Sketch

2008-11-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

Needless to say I have not been posting watercolors as much as I thought I would initially but I am getting back into it now. This little sketch of onions was done on Khadi paper rough surface.

Window Box

2008-08-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

This is study I did for a larger painting. I just could not get over the colors that I saw in this image. I might have rather done this on the Khadi paper because I would have liked to get more granulation in the shadow wash, but like I tell my students, watercolor is a performance art.

Welcome to my Watercolor Journal!

2008-08-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

I am starting this blog in hopes that is fosters the same discipline as my A Passion for Small Paintings blog - painting on a regular basis. I have always loved watercolors and I have been so consumed by my oil paintings lately that I have not painted watercolors as much as I would like. I am not sure where I am going with them. I might sell them. I get attached to my watercolor studies though so I will just have to see.

It rained most of the day so I set my computer up like I was looking at this scene and painted it. I use Kremer pigments and this study is done on Khadi paper - 200lb. I like the texture of the Khadi paper and the way the pigments granulate on it. I am always challenged with this media. I like watercolors that show what a wash can do and maintain a wet, washy quality. I try to (forgive the pun)go with the flow when I am painting. I hope you enjoy them.