Stone design

Daily painting #61

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Available for $50

Today's painting goal was a simple still life composition of several stones. Very handsome painting with black mat and dark frame.

thanks for looking!

Beginner's exercise

Daily painting #60

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpresss

My upcoming exhibit of watercolors takes a good amount of time to prepare so:

Today's painting goal was to have fun and let the watercolors work their magic! This is a simple exercise for all ages that will ensure a successful composition and give people confidence to use watercolors. Trace some leaves onto paper and then add the colors. You can see how the watercolors create some of their own design!

thanks for looking!

The beautiful bluejay

Daily painting #59

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Available for $150 plus shipping

Today's painting goal was to utilize a photograph for reference to create a realistic watercolor portrait of the blue jay.

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Halloween colors

Daily painting #58

5x7 watercolor on card stock

Available for $1 each, packets of 10 available

Here's my seasonal card design using Halloween colors. I am preparing for an exhibit of recent watercolors at the Moorhead Cultural Center which will open Friday November 2nd!

thanks for looking!

Wooden figure study #2

Daily painting #57

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's goal was another study of the wooden figure. The bright sunlight created dark shadows and as I tried to "catch the rapidly changing light" I also made decisions regarding compositon and balance.

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Serenade for a pail

Daily painting #56

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's goal was to create a balanced and linear composition of simple outdoor images.

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Some hats

Daily painting #55

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's goal was to paint a colorful composition using everday objects such as some hats.

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A road in the Loess Hills in October

Daily painting #54

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was to depict some of the vibrant color of autumn with a composition using simple shapes for the landscape elements with attention to balance of high, middle and low values.

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Autumn in the Loess Hills, Iowa

Daily painting #53

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Available for $100

Today's goal was a plein air composition. A mild and lively autumn day with leaves falling from an Iowa scrub oak tree and plenty of interesting shadows and dappled light.

thankyou for looking!

Harvest meal

Daily painting #52 created on October 22 Posted on Oct 23 due to local area network outage

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's goal for a painting was to compose a scene from my imagination that included figure and landscape elements.

What did I learn? I would need ample time to incorporate the details that are necessary to render more realistic figures, I would need to decide early to forego detail in favor of lights and darks to suggest form and simplifying the composition for a better balance. More than half way into the painting I realized this however I continued with this composition to see what I could achieve in limited time. The result?The figures appear primitive. I'll include this theme among those that I plan to rework.

thanks for looking

landscape and figure study

Daily painting #51

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's goal for a painting was to use from imagination, large blocks of color to create pictural elements of landscape as backdrop for figure in action, bicyclist.

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Young boy learning about Recycling

Daily painting #50

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's painting goals were to create imaginary landscape and architectural elements(rolling hills and porch....and cat) for a photographed figure in action,(the young boy recycling papers and cans). Another goal was attention to high and low color values.

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Bangladesh basketweavers

Daily painting #49

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's compositional goal for a painting was to include figures and emphasize contrast with low and high values.

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Love of learning Series

Daily painting #48

9x12 watercolor on arches hotpress

Available for $200

Today's goal was again to create a painting from my imagination that included figures.

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A love of learning

Daily painting #47

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Available for $50 plus shipping

Today's goal was to create a composition from imagination using a figure. I also used some simple props for the interior and exterior background.

thanks for looking!

Action figures study

Daily painting #46

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's goal for a painting was a composition from imagination using figures in action. As you can see, this is an interior setting with few props, 4 figures. Primitive depiction subject to my level of skill for this exercise.

An Orchard

Daily painting #45

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's painting goal was to create a landscape with animals and incorporate foreground, midground and background elements for interest. I am debating addition of washes to enhance contrast, or keep it as a midvalue composition. Also use of ink to depict detail of blossoms would be interesting.

thanks for looking!

Wooden figure study #1

Daily painting #44

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Available for $100

Today's painting began yesterday and was completed today. I used many thin washes. I am considering the possibilities of these objects as a series of ongoing works.

Holiday design series

Daily painting #43

5x7 watercolor on card stock

The object of this exercise is to paint and watch the kaleidoscope effect of color on the same pattern. This card allows a rest from paintings that require more than a day to complete while at the same time offers a painting exercise that can be completed in a short amount of time.

thanks for looking!

1936 Pious Jews from Carpathian Ruthenia at work

Daily painting #42
12x16 watercolor on Arches hotpress
Today's painting began yesterday and completed today. This is a continuation of watercolors from the black and white photographs of Roman Vishniac. Vishniac's beautiful photograph depicted these pious Jews moving logs down the river in a small village of Carpathian Ruthenia.

Roman Vishniac photograph copyright Mara Vishniac Kohn
thankyou for looking!

Holiday design series

Daily painting #41 Painted on October 11, 2007

5x7 watercolor on card stock

Individual cards for $1

I've been painting these cards for many years.

I am preparing to exhibit my watercolors at two locations soon and there are holiday fairs approaching.

thankyou for looking!

Paula Greene's Christmas Card

Daily painting #40 Painted on October 10, 2007
9x12 watercolor on Arches Hotpress
This painting uses my design for the card for the Christmas Holiday Season.
thanks for looking!

Geranium Design

Daily Painting #39 Painted on October 9, 2007

9x12 watercolor on Arches Hotpress

Available for $65

This painting carried over from the effect of the bright red of yesterday's painting of the red vine. There was one vivid geranium blossom in the outdoor pot and I chose to make the composition around the pattern of the unopened blossoms.

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Red Contrast

Daily painting #38 Painted on October 8, 2007
51/2 x 9 watercolor on Arches hotpress

A glance in the direction of the bright vine on the smoky trunk of this tree and I was compelled to record a suggestion of it's beauty.
thanks for looking!

Study for color washes

DAily painting #37 from October 7, 2007
51/2 x 9 watercolor on Arches hotpress

The goal of this painting is to use minimal washes to achieve an interesting composition. The design is referenced from a favorite photograph in a children's book about animals.
thanks for looking!

A Jewish child from Lodz in 1938

Daily painting # 36 painted October 6, 2007
12x16 watercolor on Arches hotpress
This painting was modelled from a black and white Roman Vishniac photograph taken in 1938 of a Jewish child from Lodz who was on her way home from the market with some delicious food.
Roman Vishniac photograph copyright Mara Vishniac Kohn.

Please note on Sat Oct 6, my computer went down and therefore I am posting the daily paintings from Oct 6 thru Oct 11 today.
thanks for looking!

Studio corner

Daily painting #35

9x12 original watercolor painting on Arches hotpress

Available for $35 plus shipping

Today's original watercolor painting goal was to use a view finder to expedite a drawing of boxes, yardstick, yellow bowl and a few other objects and experiment with paper that had been previously tinted for a different design. Much of the blue underpainting was for the original composition but I experimented to see if I could create a composition "around it".

(note also: the black sliver on the lower border is a marker that's required to get the full scan of the image, therefore, it is not actually included in this painting)

thank-you for looking!

Pottery study

Daily painting #34

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Available for $55 including shipping

Today's painting was an exercise to use different methods to compose a design. First I placed the object in the center of the composition. Then I used a one inch filbert brush. Thirdly I applied very thin washes of color and kept the paper wet, blotting off any unwanted color bleeding. I added minimal final touches to achieve some detail on the jar handle.

Two things about the image that you are seeing, the yellow is actually slightly more subtle olive, and the blue of the jar handle is less, the phthalo blue that you see, and more the slate color of ultramarine thin washes.

thankyou for looking!

Jewish child near Carpathian Ruthenia 1938

Daily painting #33

12x16 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's painting was an incorporation of many elements that I have been working with since beginning the daily paintings. First, the captivating black and white 1938 photograph by Roman Vishniac was used as a resource for the little boy. I then decided to create a new background, beginning with a bright blue sky and sunny day and incorporated some recent landscape elements that I have studied this month. I also added the goat to complete the composition because I want to believe that this Jewish child might have known some days like this in his small village. Photograph Roman Vishniac, copyright Mara Vishniac Kohn.

thankyou for looking

baby and mama pigs

Daily painting #32

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Available for $65

Today's painting was to make a study of some barnyard animals with the goal being to include animals in future pictoral compositions. For this study I used a photograph for reference. I am currently working on portrait commissions and an additional painting.

Study from Eugene Atget 1911 photograph

Daily painting #31

9x12 watercolor on Arches hotpress

Today's painting is a study from a 1911 black and white photograph of a street scene in Paris. THe photographer is Eugene Atget 1857-1927. He was known to travel the streets in early morning to take pictures and he would sell many of these photographs to the artists who would use them for studies.

thankyou for looking