3 Colours, 6 Tiny paintings!

During my visit with my friends Lauren and Sue in Michigan, we took a day off from Plein Air painting and had a day in the studio. While Lauren and Sue got out their acrylics, I played with my watercolours, using a great triad of colours from the Daniel Smith line of paints. I tried this triad quite a while ago when I heard about them on Wetcanvas, and saw all the interesting paintings using this unusual combination of colours. They are: Ultramarine Turquoise, Transparent Pyrrol Orange, and Quinacridone Deep Gold. I painting all of these on small scraps of paper, none of which are larger than 6 inches on any side.

This one has some pencil added to the outline.

I was trying to use some of the techniques we learned while watching some art DVD's in the evening. Not sure if it succeeded, but it was fun!

Not the greatest apple painting in the world!

I used gel pens on this to create an interesting look.

The beautiful sumacs that we had seen all week inspired this one.

A quick sketch with watersoluble pencil and a watercolour wash of my tea mug.

And this is the painting I did a few years ago using the same triad. It is sold and is living in Belgium!!

Fun, Friends and Fresh Air!

I just returned yesterday from a great week of fun and laughter at my friend Lauren Finn's house in the upper part of Michigan near Lake Michigan. I drove up there with another artist friend Sue Galos, and witnessed the trees becoming more and more colourful the closer we got to our destination.

We enjoyed some lovely crisp weather, perfect for painting outdoors or "plein air". It's always challenging trying to capture the essence of a scene, while coping with changing light and shadow, and wind. But I love it!

Here are some of the sketches I did, using my prismacolor .01 pen, waterbrush and moleskin sketchbook.