portrait study

Daily watercolor painting #121

12 x 16watercolor on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal continues to be study use of deeper watercolors coloration for portraits, this time using pastel portrait for reference by master pastellist Larry Blovits.

Rockwell study

Daily painting #120

approx 8x 12

Today's painting goal continues with experimentation with color intensity in portraiture. Today's reference was a Norman ROckwell illustration.

thanks for looking!

intensity watercolor study from oil portrait

Daily watercolor painting #119

12 x 16 watercolor on hotpress

Today's painting goal is a continuation from yesterday to increase intensity and contrast of colors for watercolor portraiture. As a instructive reference I used the beautiful oil portrait by Seth HAverkamp, one of the successful American portrait painters featured in a special edition of American Artist magazine.

thanks for looking!

watercolor portrait study from oil portrait

Daily watercolor painting #118

approx 6x9 watercolor portrait on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was to intensify colors and contrasts for a watercolor portrait. The subject used was a beautiful oil portrait by Seth Haverkamp who was featured in American Artist magazine that showcased successful contemporary American portrait painters.

thanks for looking!

here it is!

Daily painting #117

9x12 watercolor painting on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was to continue to develop the theme this week of baby exploring in the kitchen. Using the same color scheme I chose to compose a close up baby image so that I could work on portraiture elements. thanks for looking!

exploring new worlds

Daily watercolor painting #116

9x12 watercolor on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal continues the exercise of developing the theme of an illustration which began 4 days ago. Using the same color scheme and creating "a scenario with the leading characters, baby and pet pooch, at home."

It's been an interesting exercise, there's some built in freedom of utilizing the same color scheme and characters and yet, the challenge of creating a composition from imagination remains substantive.

thanks for looking!

illustration exercise

Daily watercolor painting #115

9x12 watercolor on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal is a continuation of preceding day's, which is to create from imagination an illustration of a baby with a pet pooch in the kitchen from a different perspective, this time sitting up at the kitchen table with pooch looking watching the activity! So the exercise uses the same color scheme of the kitchen, and baby's clothes and builds on these elements, while adding the element of the holiday season.

thanks for looking!

early steps

Daily painting #114

9x12 watercolor on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was to develop yesterday's theme by imagining a different activity for a baby from another perspective of the kitchen and adding rooms in baby's home.

baby pats pooch

Daily painting #113

9x12 watercolor on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was to create an illustration of a baby patting a resting pooch in the kitchen, attending to design of shapes of foreground and background details.

thanks for looking

winter fun watercolor sketch

Daily watercolor painting #112

approx 6 x 9 watercolor on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal: imagine an illustration theme for a child playing in the snow.

thanks for looking!

figure study watercolor sketch

Daily painting #111
approx 6x9 watercolor
Today's painting goal was a quick figure watercolor sketch.

Baby sitting up

Daily painting #120

9x12 watercolor painting on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was to pay attention to clothing folds, flesh tones and color values for a portrait depicting an engaging pose of a sitting baby.

children illustration study

Daily watercolor painting #109
approx 6x9 watercolor on arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to attend to flesh tones and fabric textures for an illustration of a baby.
thanks for looking!

action figure exercise

Daily painting #108

approx 6x9 watercolor on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was a continuation from yesterday to create a scene from my imagination using figures in action in an outdoors foreground with middle ground and background elements.

Thanks for looking!

cheerful memories

Daily watercolor painting #107

Approx 6 x 9 watercolor on arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was to create from imagination a cheerful scene of a child playing outdoors with a pet dog, using the landscape and action figure elements that I have been working with since September.

thanks for looking!

Maxy

Daily watercolor painting #106
6x9 watercolor on arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was a continuation from yesterday's linear, simple color blocks for a pet portrait.

simple domestic design

Daily painting #105
6x9 watercolor on hotpress
Today's painting goal was to create a picture of an every day image using 3 to 4 colors and suggestion of lines.

color exercize

Daily painting #104
approx 6x9 watercolor on hotpress
Today's painting goal was a simple memory exercise using range of values of winter colors for a minimalist style landscape.

Awesome Loess Hills Iowa Sunrise

Daily watercolor painting #103

9x12 watercolor on arches hotpress

Available for $40 plus shipping

Today's painting goal was to capture, from memory, some of the dramatic reds and bold contrasts of an awesome western Iowa Loess Hills sunrise!

thanks for looking

a little red a little grey

Daily painting #102

5x5 watercolor on bristol drawing paper

Today's painting goal was to take up a brush, take up some water and some color and dab the color onto a very wet piece of paper and watch the colors mingle and create their own shapes.

thanks for looking!

Loess Hills December bales landscape

Daily watercolor painting #101
9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to create a western Iowa Loess Hills landscape from memory. This week after the snow, these fields are seen along many roads.
thanks for looking!

Mondamin Iowa landscape study

Daily painting #100 !
approx 6 x 9 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Wow, 100 painting milestone! Daily painting is a challenging and beneficial process!
Today's painting goal was to study landscape and structural details to compose a winter scene that can be seen in the Loess Hills area of western Iowa.
thanks for stopping by!

winter scene

Daily watercolor painting #99
approx 9x6 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was to add more detail to snowy landscape theme.
thanks for looking!

sunset colors study

Daily watercolor painting #98
5x5 watercolor painting on hotpress
Today's painting goal was to utilize colors that depict a dramatic sunset, modelled from photograph, copyright Georginne Wessell.

landscape with snow

Daily painting #97
5 x5 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal was a study of some winter landscape elements, snow covered structures, some depth of field using additional structures in background, to create a simple composition.
thanks for looking!

color surprise exercise

Daily painting #96
9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Today's painting goal: Start at the beginning with primary colors, a surprise composition that creates itself simply by laying on thin and thick color washes ...two compositions related by the proximity of the paper and executed consecutively on the same day.
thanks for looking!

December 2007 Loess Hills Iowa landscape

Daily painting # 95

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was to use an economy of lines and color washes for a composition of hills, cows grazing and snow covered drive on an overcast December day in a simple landscape scene that can be seen in the Loess Hills of western Iowa.

thanks for looking!

color exercise

Daily watercolor painting #94

5 x 5 watercolor

Today's painting goal was to reproduce specific colors from memory. It was a fair exercise in that these are not quite the colors that I recall in my mind. Although the design is entirely simple and primitive, I think that these type of exercises are valuable for what can be learned regarding choice of color and composition in future paintings.

thanks for looking!

"Lamplight"

Daily watercolor painting #93

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Available for $100

Today's painting goal was to use the contrast of high and low values to create a sense of spatial depth and light created from the light of the lamp.

thanks for looking!

simple landscape sketch

Daily watercolor painting #92

approx 6x6 watercolor sketch on cold press

Today's painting goal was to compose a simple landscape design to convey perspective and depth.

Loess Hills ice storm

Daily watercolor painting #91

5x7 watercolor painting on cold press

Today's painting goal was to use available paints to create a design based on today's sights during an ice storm.

thanks for looking!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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 !

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.

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.

Jess

Daily painting #80

12 x16 watercolor on hot press

Today's painting goal was a portrait from a photograph.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!