Trees

Then I started working on defining the clumps of trees and brush in the background.

Next are the rocks

Next I laid in the first wash on the rocks.

Yosemite Painting in Progress

Here are some of the differents steps I went through while working out this painting. Here I've just laid in a wet-in-wet wash of blue and yellow for the sky and foliage.

Yosemite River Sketch and Planning

During our trip to Yosemite our group decided to hike to the bridge at the base of Vernal Falls. When two of the group decided to continue on to the top I took the opportunity to start planning a painting of the river, where the water from Vernal Falls meets the Merced River. I've always been interested in how artists are able to capture moving water.

I started with a VERY loose thumbnail sketch which I later developed further at home, trying to work out my values. Here is my sketch and set-up.

Practice Study

This is just a little practice study (from a book) that I did on vacation.

Portrait of Lindsay with Swim Cap

For lack of a better name, here is my portrait of Lindsay with Swim Cap. I've always wanted to be able to paint portraits in watercolor but I find it very intimidating trying to capture a likeness as well as getting the skin tone right. Those same concerns stopped me in my tracks with this project after I laid down the initial wash of color. It took the encouragement of a couple of painting pals to get me going again. Once I finally got over the fear of messing it up, I took off and completed almost all of the painting in one day. I'm pretty happy with it since it is a new thing for me but I'm not sure I quite captured her sweet face. The eyes gave me quite a bit of trouble. I feel happy to have completed it (although I might tweek the bottom a bit after I stare at it for a while), and I'm excited to start my next painting.

Tahoe Art Faire

My computer Internet crashed so I had to get my IT guy (definition: my hubby!) to get it up and running again. This a is a painting that I've been working on for a long time. Actually, I started it, putting in all the shadows with a lavender under painting and then got "stuck". I've never started with the shadows first so I wasn't really sure how to proceed. At one point I had everything in but it wasn't really cohesive so I put a glaze over the entire thing to unit it but it ended up causes my darks to bleed and give it a gray overtone. I tried to lift a little of the gray and add more details. I never could get the sky back to it's sunny day appearance. Here is my final product.