Flower Pots at Heathcote

Flower Pots at Heathcote
9x12 acrylic on canvas

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

"Margaret's Zinnias"



"Margaret's Zinnias"


8 3/4 x 11 watercolor


$125


Margaret planted some gorgeous zinnia bushes from the garden center and they have just grown and withstood the heat beautifully. They look like "painted daisies" sort of....I guess "painted zinnia", with streaks of different colors in them.

Click on it to see details. I like the loose background---just colors washed in together.



Saturday, July 23, 2011

"Left Behind:



"Left Behind"


10 1/2 x 14 watercolor


$200


A strange little red truck was in the tractor graveyard. These three vehicles seemed to be a particular family. If they were cartoons, I am sure the tractors would be whispering words of comfort to the poor little truck. Will they forever repose here in the tractor graveyard: Wonder what is their destiny? As rusty and old as they are, still I think they make an interesting and colorful painting, just like people, huh. Interesting analogy!

Click on it to see details. I threw on some sea salt on the wet paint to give texture and at the bottom foreground, I used siran wrap laid on the wet paint to simulate rough and slightly muddy ground. Your comments welcome.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

"Red Wheels"

"Red Wheels"

10 x 14 watercolor

$200

I am having so much fun with these old rusty tractor paintings! I suppose eventually they will end and I will push on to something else, but who knows when?! In visiting the tractor graveyard, I spoted a bent wheel in the shape of a heart....don't know if someone did it on purpose, but I took a photo and I've put it into the foreground of this painting. Do you spot it? Please click on this to see the heart shaped wheel and all the detail. I will be so glad to get my better camera out of the shop (the power button had stuck) because this one tends to reduce the color intensity of the paintings. But enjoy anyway and just imagine all the memories these old tractors hold. Thanks for looking.

Monday, July 18, 2011

"Spare Parts"



"Spare Parts"


9 x 12 Watercolor


$200


I'm still painting away scenes from the tractor graveyard! I love all the beautiful colors found in the rusty relics!

I am painting mostly wet into wet, which means that I apply a nice, juicy brush load of a color right next or even on another wet color. The colors mingle and mix and it is quite fun. The ground was painted by washing in burnt sienna and Paynes gray, then laying down some siran wrap on the wet paint. I manipulated the wrap a bit to get the sweep of shapes leading to the center of interest, the tires. Click on this to see a close up of how the ground was made using the siran wrap and also the mingled colors in the rusty metal. Your comments are appreciated, too.

Friday, July 15, 2011

"Rusty Tractors"



"Rusty Tractors"


9x12 Watercolor


$200


You really must click on this to see the detail and colors. Even though these old machines are no longer used and are rusty, the selection of colors I used is anything but depressing! I think they are actually happy to be languishing in the Florida landscape among the palmettos and Spanish moss.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

"Covered with Vines"



"Covered with Vines"


7x9 Watercolor


$85


Another old tractor painting! I am having so much fun with this series of paintings. This tractor was covered with vines, and seemed to just become a part of the landscape! I love the colors in this and thought it turned out pretty well. Hope you like it. Click on it to see the details.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

"Old Tractor"



"Old Tractor"


10 x 14 watercolor


$150


I went to the most interesting local place the other day---you might call it a tractor graveyard! It was 10 acres of old abandoned tractors, tools, machines and trucks! I was completely carried away and took 111 photos to use in composing paintings! Many of the old relics were almost covered in vines and wild over-growth, so there is a lot of editing to do. But I am going to do a series of old tractors. So this is the first and I love how it turned out. My camera died, so I had to photograph this painting with an old camera and the colors are dulled and the photo is not as crisp as I would have liked. But maybe you can tell something about this painting if you click on it and enlarge it. I love the colors in the old building and I used a sprinkling of salt to get some texture in the grass around the tractor. Notice the Spanish moss in the right top of the painting. In painting this from photos, I had to delete much of over-growth and other things in the photo to establish a good composition. Hope you like the outcome!


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Thursday, July 7, 2011

"Summer Daisies"

"Summer Daisies"

10 x 10 Watercolor

$85.

Another painting done working in a new way for me. First I washed on colors of Permanent Rose, Cobalt Blue and Windsor Yellow around the outer edges of most of the paper. While wet I dropped in more of each color and let it run and blend. When totally dry, I drew in the daisies, well, a few of them. Later I added more. So this painting was not planned in advance. It was a "happening"! Lots of fun to do, I think it turned out pretty nice. Click on it to see the details and how I added some faint stems and flowers in the background to give it dimension.

Monday, July 4, 2011

"Hot Summer Zinnias"



"Hot Summer Zinnias"


8 x 8 Watercolor $45


June seems to be the month that turns hot here and makes all the flowers die, but here it is July and the Zinnias are loving the heat. I love the colors, too. They mirror the hot weather. Even the background I chose adds to that hot feeling.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

"In the Garden"



"In The Garden"


11 x 14 watercolor


$150


I did a bunch of masking in this painting. First, I painted lightly in the hollyhocks and the delphinium and the leaves in the left hand corner. Then I painted on a mask over all the flowers and leaves very quickly, not precisely. Then I washed the whole thing with strong cobalt blue and Permanent Rose and Quinacridone Gold. I allowed the paint to run and drip by holding the piece up and even blowing on it in places. When dry, I removed the mask and proceeded to "clean up" the composition, add the tree and the bird for center of interest. It was an experiment and I thought it turned out pretty good. The bird is supposed to represent a red winged blackbird. Your comments are welcome! I love hearing from you. Hope you are having a good weekend and Happy Fourth!