Hot hot hot
Hot Cannas – 11 x 15 watercolor on paper
SOLD
As I get ready for the show in a few weeks, I’ve been painting numerous large florals which I might offer for sale matted, but unframed. This is one of them, which I think fits the climate pretty well right now. We’re having an extreme heat wave in LA at the moment, with high temperatures from 109-110 where I am. It feels even hotter with the humidity being served. The air is chewy, sort of. If you go outside at midnight it’s still in the 90s – it’s that hot. In that spirit, I painted some cannas that thrive here as long as they’re planted in a wet soggy area. I grow mine in a bucket – literally with their soil underwater. They like it that way – they’re bog plants.
Thank you again, EBSQ
For the second time this summer, one of my paintings has been chosen as EBSQ art of the day.
EBSQ is an organization of self-representing artists who sell their work on eBay, and I’m delighted that the curator chose this as an example to represent the weekly theme of Portraits of Men.
In the studio, I’m hard at work on several large paintings and should have something to post soon.
Daisies and Crystal by Karen Winters
Daisies and Crystal 9 x 12 – watercolor
I’m working on a rather large watercolor for a special project, but in the meantime, to have something to post, I did this quick sketch of some flowers in one of my cut glass vases. As it turned out I became more interested in the facets of the cut glass than the flowers. This is 9 x 12, painted freehand with a #14 round brush and a 1″ flat, nothing smaller than that. I didn’t do any pencil underdrawing because I was using this as an exercise to draw with the brush and do some negative painting.
The grays and neutrals in this were composed of the primaries used in the flowers. In other words, palette mud.
But mud can be a very nice thing when it’s used to harmonize and serve as a background to brighter colors.
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Cottage – Central Coast California Watercolor painting by Karen Winters
Thanks to EBSQ for picking my painting, “Santa Barbara Cottage” for Art of the Day this past Saturday
This 11 x 15″ painting, when matted, will fit perfectly into a 16 x 20 frame.
Road Trip
“Napa Purple House – sketchbook entry – 4″ x 6” – watercolor and felt tip pen – orig. not for sale – print available
This weekend we made the trek to the SF Bay area to visit with our daughter before she heads back to business school in the fall. We had a great time brunching in the Marina district, visiting Mt. Tamalpais and hiking in the woods, dining on tapas, seeing some Shakespeare, more brunching in Napa and visiting a winery. I sketched and painted along the way, so here’s a quick page from my sketchbook, done at brunch on Sunday. Yes, this house really was painted bright purple with blue accents. It was across the street from a charming cafe, and I was fortunate to get a window seat to sketch this souvenir while chatting and munching.
Brand 36 Show – coming fall 2007
“My Offering – My Confession” – watercolor on paper 22 x 30
I got notification today that my painting (above) has been accepted into Brand 36, The Brand Library and Art Center’s national “Works on Paper” show. Some of you who are regular readers of this blog might recognize the painting as very similar to Ofrenda, which I painted on Yupo in November of 2006. That small painting served as a starting point for this larger work. There were 650 entries, so I’m very honored to have my work chosen for the exhibition beginning Saturday, October 6 and continuing through November 17.
I am very excited about this opportunity to show my work in a new (to me) venue. The theme of the show is “Secrets and Confessions” – that of which you do not speak. I didn’t have anything particularly juicy to confess in an artistic form – other than my unnatural addiction to buying art supplies, which is probably rather common among artists, and not at all salacious. Because the show encompasses the time of the year in which the Dia de Los Muertos falls – I was inspired by the idea of someone visiting the cemetery and to make a confession as an offering. Who is she confessing to? And what is she saying? I will leave that story to your own imagination.
It’s been a very exciting few days for me. Yesterday I enjoyed my first group exhibition and sale with the California Art Club and two of the five paintings I brought found homes with collectors. More about that event tomorrow … time for me to get back to painting …
Descanso Camellia
“Descanso Camellia” – Approx 15 x 11″ – watercolor on paper
SOLD
This is probably the largest floral piece I’ve done so far – and I enjoyed the process very much. Essentially it’s no different from working small except I have to stand back more frequently and use larger brushes to avoid getting too many picky details.
Busy, busy. I don’t have time to write much right now – I’m up to my ears in framing and gathering materials for a new class I’ll be attending tomorrow. Plus, our son is graduating from UCLA on Saturday and we’re co-hosting a grad party for him and some of his roommates.
OK, back to work for me …
Gloriosas and Delphiniums
9 x 12 – watercolor on Canson cold pressed paper – Gloriosas and delphiniums
Well, here it is 1:50 am again. I was drifting off to sleep when Ripley (who sleeps at the foot of our bed) suddenly barked once and woke me up. If I am awakened as I am making that first descent into sleep, it seems to take the edge off my sleepiness and I might as well get up and do something. Which I did (exhibit A, above.) I think these yellow gloriosa daisies are called “Irish Eyes” because the centers are as green as the emerald isle.
I got a pretty cool new brush the other day and I was eager to try it out. So I clipped a piece of paper to my easel, vertically, did a quick sketch and painted this as only a half-awake, half-asleep person can do. This Davinci Cosmotop is just dreamy – it holds a lot of paint and releases it smoothly.
Now that this is done I feel a little sleepier – I hope.
Peonies Plein Air
Plein Air Peonies – 11″ x 15″ (quarter sheet) Arches 140# watercolor paper
SOLD
Well, the show was a success in every way and I have lived to tell the tale. Kudos to Lori and her family for not only organizing the event but offering their home as our gallery and creating an atmosphere of conviviality and creativity. We all arrived an hour before the studio tour began to set up our easels and help with last minute details … but everything was in perfect order so there was little we needed to do. Tour guests began arriving promptly at 1 and continued throughout the afternoon with only a few lulls and many surges. The organizing committee asked if artists might have some sort of demo set up at their studios, and several of were happy to oblige, setting up our easels around a beautiful still life arrangement artfully presented by painter Carolyn Jean. I haven’t done very many floral still lives but I loved the challenge of these peonies – which we cannot grow in Southern California. These buxom blooms came from Whole Foods market, and I understand from my artpal Nan that Trader Joes is carrying them as well.
The light changed quite radically during the hour or so that I was painting these, but I tried to keep the memory of the glow even while they slipped into the shade of the umbrella and grapefruit tree. I invoked the muse that speaks to Charles Reid to please give me a hand with the looseness – that is to say, to please stay my hand if I should try to get too fussy. Because I paint landscapes more than arranged flowers, this experience has given me the incentive to do more painting out on my back patio this summer.
All in all, we had a good day. I sold this painting of the garden at Casita Del Arroyo
to a lovely collector, and Robin, Ginny, Carolyn, Louisa and others in our group had sales as well. It was an auspicious beginning. But the best part was being in the company of good painting friends, family and art lovers on a perfect late spring day. Assuming the stars all align correctly, I can hardly wait until we do it next year.
Easel setup
I’m out for the day watching some master painters at work at Pitzer college at Claremont. In addition to seeing them paint I’m also interested in observing their tools and methods. Speaking of plein air, here’s a photo of my current setup when I’m painting watercolor. The little shelf is cut from one piece of masonite and attaches to the legs just by pressure-fitting (no screws or clamps.) It also helps to add extra stability to this lightweight Daler-Rowney easel. In this case I was using my studio palette because I wanted to use big brushes. The mist bottle helps keep the paint damp, especially when there’s a warm breeze blowing. Value sketch is there for reference, because light (and shadow forms) change really quickly at the end of the day. My water bucket hangs conveniently nearby. I use the mat to help evaluate what I’m doing when a painting is in progress, as this one was.
If you’re in LA, I’m going to be taking part in a group exhibition on Sunday afternoon at the studio of Lori Koop in Sierra Madre, where the city is hosting an open studio day. Several of us will all be painting outside for the duration of the event. If you want the address to stop by, drop me a note – address is in the left sidebar in the About Me area.
