Wet Your Whistle! Watercolour Wednesday

 It's a really good time to wet my whistle after working in the garden all afternoon with an ice cold beer! Here's another one from the sketchbook...a little wonky, but who cares! :-)

Wet Your Whistle!

11" X 3.5"

From My Sketchbook

"Hoppy" Watercolour Wednesday to You!

I've had little green frogs hopping around in my brain all week! I was commissioned to paint a bunch of tiny tree frogs by a lady who found me on Etsy. So far I've done five 3" X 5" paintings. Then I realized that it's watercolour Wednesday! So I stopped what I was doing and did a sketch of some of the paintings! With my client's permission I might be able to post the originals at a later date.

 It was coincidental that I saw on Facebook today that scientists have discovered a  tree frog in Costa Rica that looks just like Kermit! Real Life Kermit

Kermit's Kousins

From my Sketchbook

3" X 5"

Watercolour Wednesday ~ Easter Lily

A little history for those who are new to my Facebook Page or Blog. I recently retired from my "day job", and have been enjoying spending more time with art. I've really fallen in love with collage or "torn paper paintings", but want to keep in touch with my  watercolour  beginnings. I challenged myself to do some kind of watercolour every Wednesday, just to keep my brushes wet. And then I post them, no matter if they turn out good or bad. It's also a good drawing exercise, as I have been starting to sketch the majority of them from life. 

The Easter Lily that my hubby got for me is still blooming away on the kitchen counter, so I sat and sketched it this morning. I love the unpredictability of Hot Press paper. It is not very absorbent, so the paint sits on the surface a little longer while wet. It tends to create some interesting "blooms" here and there. Especially when you are impatient like me and don't let things dry long enough!

Easter Lily

12" X 7.5"

Arches 140 lb Hot Press paper

Watercolour and Ink

Is it Wednesday Already?? Wishy Washy Sketchy Violets

It's funny how Wednesdays sneak up on me! Thankfully I had done a very quick sketch earlier this week of some of my African Violets. I've never had violets like these that are almost ALWAYS blooming! I love them.

Wishy Washy Violets

(from my sketchbook)

Strawberries Two Ways

Who knew three little strawberries would give me so much trouble? After doing the sketch last week, I thought I'd attempt a collage with the same three berries. I usually do a complementary colour scheme for the background, so I went with a green background for the red strawberries. Wellll....the first green I chose was too bright and garish, so I covered it up with a more dull green. That turned out to be too dark, so did a wash of white over top. That made it kind of dull, so I added a wash of yellow. Now I had an olive green, which was kind of drab. I added some pink to tie in with the berries, which was okay....but, I wasn't really sure about it. Also the green tops of the berries didn't show up very well.

So, yesterday I thought I'd start all over. This time I chose a blue background. I think I like this one better, but as usual my camera hates all things blue or turquoise, so it doesn't show the completely correct colour here.

So here are the two versions:

Strawberries on Blue

6" X 6"

Gallery wrapped canvas

Edit: SOLD!

Strawberries on Olive Green

6" X 6"

Gallery wrapped canvas

Which do you like better?

Darling Clementines! From my sketchbook on Watercolour Wednesday

These darling Clementine's are so sweet and juicy, I just had to sketch them before I eat them up! I was happy with the whole one, but had fits painting the partially peeled one. So, not so happy with that one, but it's just a sketch for me. And I had fun doing it and that's all that matters!

Darling Clementines

In my Moleskine Sketchbook

3.5 " X 5"

(The photo is a bit dark, but you get the idea!)