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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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