Double lucky!

I grew up thinking buckeyes brought you luck.  My Dad always carried one in his pocket.  I thought they were magic.  Simple everyday things were special as a child, and I guess they still are now as an adult.  My little buckeye tree really suffered last year during the hot dry summer here in Southern Illinois.  It lost lots of leaves, and I was afraid it might die.  But it didn't, lucky.  This year the little tree has produced an abundant harvest of buckeyes. 

Now, buckeyes don't have any real value as far as I know.  But in the appreciation of the simple things in life, what a windfall!  I pick them up everyday, and have been delighted by the "doubles".  Lots and lots of pairs of buckeyes in the same shell.  I don't think I have every seen that before.

         And I do feel lucky...when I am painting with watercolors I am feeling VERY lucky.

 

This painting is available in my Etsy shop

https://www.etsy.com/listing/167096943/original-watercolor-nature-painting 

 

Thank you for joining me in this little slice of my life!

 

Watercolor Camp

I was lucky enough to get a full weekend of Watercolor Camp!  I met Spencer Meagher, an accomplished artist at the Rend Lake Art and Wine Festival in September where he was selling his art.  I was with Jack Russell Fish Company selling fish sandwiches.  I've got to admit, I was the painter instead of the fish fryer in my daydreams that weekend!  Anyway, I got acquainted with Spencer and he told me about the workshop coming up that he was teaching.  The workshop was a great experience for me, I learned some good watercolor techniques and made some good friends. 

Spencer's work can be seen at http://www.spencermeagher.com
He paints beautiful involved pieces with rich washes of watercolor.  I learned how to add depth to a painting through the washes and use of light against dark.  I worked on a small piece using the techniques when I got home.  I had started the pepper, but it was lacking.

After working again on the pepper, which was painted from a photo taken by my friend Di

who does amazing photography (and I have a stash of her photos waiting to be painted!)

I was much happier with "last pepper"

Thank you Spencer for sharing your expertise at Watercolor Camp!

 

Check out the next workshop from

Southern Illinois Art Workshop, Inc.

 

"Last pepper" and prints are available in my Etsy shop

https://www.etsy.com/listing/166224519/kitchen-art-original-watercolor-painting 

 

 

 

 

 

Eggs for breakfast

I fixed eggs for breakfast.  Maybe it was the morning light that made the shells so appealing, or maybe it was the carton which is a favorite color of mine, aqua.  Whatever it was, it caught my attention, I liked the empty shells better than the nice scrambled eggs actually!  I wanted to paint!

 
Very limited palette here, turquoise light and my favorite ultramarine blue and burnt sienna for the grays.  Several washes of the aqua color on nice heavy 300lb Arches paper and some touches of gray.  And I had eggs again!

 

I thank you for joining me for this little slice of my life!

Betty

Against the wind

Against the wind"

I love to paint with watercolors. My journey began about 18 months ago. I signed up for a 3 day watercolor workshop with the very successful watercolor artist Carol Carter of St. Louis. Having never worked with watercolors, I thought I might learn how to begin to use them in the 3 days. Little did I know the room would be full of accomplished artists! Yikes, did I feel out of place! Sitting behind me was Amy Woods Szymczyk of St. Louis who paints beautiful watercolor florals. Check out her work at http://AmyWoodsWatercolors.com
Carrie Waller was at the table behind me as well, she just won first prize in Daniel Smith's 11th annual competition!  http://carriewallerfineart.com

 

 

THIS, folks, was my painting that I did in the workshop. If you are familiar with Amy or Carrie"s work you can just imagine how uncomfortable I was.

I certainly felt like I was running against the wind!

BUT, despite my feelings of inadequacy, it was a great workshop and was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I have enjoyed many many hours of painting and studying on my own since then.

 

This is one of my recent paintings. "Against the Wind" I took photos at the sailboat marina near my home in Southern Illinois and have painted many birds from those photos. This little guy was really hunkered down against the wind, and his tail feathers were blowing around. Sweet, soft grays against a soft aqua background makes this painting very calming. It is a favorite of mine, a little looser than some of my watercolors, but not as loose as I am striving for. He is available for purchase in my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/listing/162122609/watercolor-painting-bird-art-seagull
ORIGINAL SOLD


I offer Giclee quality prints in 5 x 7 and 8 x 10 in my shop as well.

Please take a look at my shop!

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