Friday, November 30, 2007

Abraham Lincoln monument portrait


Daily watercolor painting #90
9x12 watercolor painting on arches hotpress
Available for $125
Today's painting goal was to utilize grey and indigo washes to build up the form of Lincoln's monument.
thanks for looking.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

quick study

Daily watercolor painting #89
9x12 watercolor painting on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal- put together a composition, get some punch, some vitality into it. How? Utilize large areas of contrasting high and low color values. Result? Interesting and eye catching composition.
thanks for looking!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

A thaw

Daily watercolor painting #88
12x16 watercolor painting on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to depict people in action using a photograph as a reference.
Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Wonderful day at the park

Daily watercolor painting #87
12 x16 watercolor painting on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to utilize a photograph for reference to depict figures in action outdoors.
thanks for looking!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Lillebror and Trine

Daily watercolor painting #86
12 x16 watercolor painting on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to create a double portrait from a photograph. Lillebror Vasaasen and Trine Melby are loved musicians from Norway. They toured the U.S. this year and visited western Iowa's Loess Hills. Everyone who heard them in concert, heard Scandinavian folk music played by virtuoso musicians.
Thanks for looking!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Western Iowa Loess Hills Sunrise


Daily watercolor painting #85
9x12 watercolor painting on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to record the colors of the sunrise from memory.
Thanks for looking!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

A wooden bowl

Daily watercolor painting #84
9x12 watercolor painting on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to minimize color washes, allowing only essential color to create a realistic image of a still life object, a wooden bowl.
thanks for looking !

Friday, November 23, 2007

Interior Study

Daily watercolor painting #83
9x12 watercolor painting on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to utilize lines of perspective to emphasize an interior setting and with an American flag.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Landscape with flag

Daily watercolor painting #82
9x12 watercolor on cold press
Unable to scan and post today
Today's painting goal was to create a simple landscape surrounding a waving American flag.

Shaggy dog study

Daily watercolor painting #81
9x12 watercolor on Arches cold press
painting from Nov 21 unable to scan and post
The goal for Dailypainting #81 was to observe a challenging subject, my pet mix breed terrior with shaggy hair. It was a quick study, but a study nonethe less, using negative space and a washes to suggest the form.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Jess

Daily painting #80
12 x16 watercolor on hot press
Today's painting goal was a portrait from a photograph.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Sunshine in winter

Daily painting #79
12x16 watercolor on arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to create depth and space in a painting from a photograph of a family enjoying a sunny winter day.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Decorative gourds by a window

Daily painting #78
9x12 watercolor on cold press
Available for $50
Today's goal was to celebrate the colorful design created by these decorative gourds!

Friday, November 16, 2007

November sunset

Daily painting #77
9x12 watercolor on Arches cold press
Today's painting goal was to deliver a composition in 30 minutes that included time of day, perspective and attention to high and low values.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Gazing Southwest from a Loess Hills Bluff

Daily painting #76
9x12 watercolor on Arches coldpress
Available for $100
Today's painting goal was to create a landscape from my imagination that one would find in western Iowa's Loess Hills.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

A Loess Hills Sunrise

Daily painting #75
9x12 watercolor on Arches cold press
Available for $100
Today's painting goal was to capture the colors and forms of this morning's dramatic sunrise and like yesterday, create a landscape composition from memory of a typical scene one could encounter in western Iowa's Loess Hills.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Sunrise in the Loess Hills Iowa

Daily painting #74
9x12 watercolor on Arches cold press
Available for $40
The colors from a dramatic sunrise this morning dictacted today's painting goal: create a landscape from imagination that depicts a sunrise scene in western Iowa's Loess Hills.
thanks for looking!

Monday, November 12, 2007

THe U.S.S. Constitution

Daily painting #73
9x12 watercolor on Arches cold press
Available for $40 plus shipping
Today's painting goal was a study of an oil painting by Tom Freeman of the U.S.S. Constitution. I was interested in a nautical theme and this study gave me the opportunity to learn about the structure of this famous ship.
thanks for looking!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Enjoying the great outdoors


Daily painting #72
9x12 watercolor on Arches cold press
Available for $30 plus shipping
Today's painting goal was to utilize a painting exercise from yesterday's watercolor workshop with B. Perkins. It was so much fun and gives such good results for a landscape using simple triangle shapes as the foundation for the land forms and water. Even creating the parade of clouds was a simple manner of blotting out the forms from a blue wash! Today I added the distant hills, the rowboat in the fore ground and the people for a great outing!
thanks for looking!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Peppers

Daily painting #71
9x12 watercolor on Arches cold press
Available for $40 plus shipping
Today's painting goal was to follow an exercise given by B Perkins,watercolorist, 30 years teaching art, at her watercolor workshop held at the Grand Lodge Art Center, Modale,Iowa.
We concentrated on warm and cool colors, mingling the washes of colors by tilting the paper to and fro. We all had a good experience and I enjoyed seeing the interesting unique creations of everyone in the group.
thanks for looking!

Friday, November 9, 2007

Aloe plant

Daily painting #70
9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Available for $60
Today's painting goal was to include fabric and use dark background in a composition.
thank-you for looking!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Mary Katherine in the kitchen

Daily painting #69
9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to create a composition from my imagination telling a story that would include a figure in action and a sense of season. Here's the story,

It was a cool November Day and the soybean fields had been harvested. Mary Katherine was thinking about the Veteran's Day supper at the community center coming up. Everyone always had a good laugh at Aunt Harriet's cooking but she could make oatmeal and raisin cookies just fine. SO Mary Katherine decided it was time to help Aunt Harriet get the mixing bowls down from above the cupboard.
thanks for looking!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Colorful fruit

Daily painting #68
10x14 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Available for $60 plus shipping
Today's painting goal:use large washes to paint a colorful still life composition of fruit and everday objects.
thanks for looking!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Raphael painted Villa Farnesina ceiling 1517

Daily painting #67
10x14 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Available for $200
Today's painting goal was to depict the architecture and depth perception using a photograph of The Ceiling of the Loggia de Psiche 1517 , Fresco by Raphael. As you can see, the paintings by Raphael on the ceiling of Villa Farnesina are not depicted here.
thanks for looking!

Monday, November 5, 2007

the tide

Daily painting #66
9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal changed during this painting. I began painting with the goal to achieve a realistic composition and then made the decision to experiment with colors.
thanks for looking

Sunday, November 4, 2007

The Moorhead Cultural Center, Iowa

Daily painting #65
9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Available for $50
Today's painting goal was an interior and exterior composition of the Moorhead Cultural Center, Iowa, where I am exhibiting my recent watercolors. Towards the end of the day, we had a visit at the center from a group of people who are visiting from Russia. It was a really nice surprise and some of the people in the group were aware of the areas in Eastern Europe that are depicted in my "Vishniac watercolor series" and enthusiastic about learning more about the photographs of Roman Vishniac.
Thanks for looking!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Wooden figure study #3

Daily painting #63
9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Available for $70
Today's painting goal was to use the wooden figure with these familiar objects that I've included in the previous wooden figure studies to create an interesting composition.
thanks for looking!

Friday, November 2, 2007

white chair

Daily painting #63
9x12 watercolor on Arhces hotpress
available for $39 plus shipping
Today's goal: allow the chair design and plant to do the work, keeping the shapes with blocks of color.
thanks for looking!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

The gentle teddy bear

Daily painting #62
9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Available for $65
Today's painting goal was to create a respectful portrait of the gentle teddy bear.
thanks for looking!