Watercolor Portrait from Life

My adult watercolor class has been working on portraits from live models

and this is the demo that I did for the class today.

Watercolor, 11x14 inches

Watercolor Portrait

Just Daddy and Me...

portrait commission

11 x 14 inch Watercolor

Watercolor Halloween Pumpkins

I had hoped to have this finished today to wish everyone a happy halloween but it will have to be a Happy Halloween with a work in progress photo.

Watercolor on quarter sheet watercolor paper

Ok, finished now.

Night Watercolor Study

Just a quick demonstration/study I did for the class today to show what you can do with night.

The lit gas station, dark against darks, highlighted roads, silhouettes...

I will definitely do more of these on bigger paper.

The students had many references to choose from. 

You can see some of the photos they had to choose from here.

http://mklart.blogspot.com/p/homework.html

watercolor on 5x14 inch paper

Tissue Paper Watercolor Texture Sunflower Painting

We needed to loosen up in my adult watercolor class so we did some very loose sunflower under paintings on quarter sheet watercolor paper. Then took some tissue paper and 50% water/mod podge mixture to glue the tissue (some use rice paper) paper down controlling the wrinkles. Then painted over the dried tissue paper with washes and color letting drips and the color settle where it wanted to. It is hard to let go sometimes and just let it happen. We were feeling the sunflowers, not painting details. Does that make sense? A good lesson.

Below is the Heinz factory in Pittsburgh that I used this technique on from a while ago.

Where's the Grapes?

I went out a few weekends ago to photograph some grapes as reference for my adult watercolor class. Drove to many places and found they were harvested or none on the vine. So I went to Costco, bought some grapes, cut some vines and took them home. I used twist ties and the backs of chairs to set up the grapes and vines against a strong evening sun and photographed.

This is the demonstration painting that I did for the class. We focused on the warm light coming from behind and the cool light reflected from the sky above. Using my artistic license I took out the twist ties and darkened the background to keep the focus on the warm glow.

Well, now what?

sold

I  wonder what this Basset Hound is thinking?
I kind of feel like I interrupted his morning.
watercolor dog portrait on quarter sheet watercolor paper

Succulent Demonstration

This is a quick demonstration I did for my teen art camp today. We talked about point of view, mixing grayed greens and layering with shadows. This was a tough class for them, but they worked and came up with some wonderful paintings. You can see their work at 

www.room101art.blogspot.com

acrylic 8x8 inches

Plein Air in Peninsula, Ohio

 

sold

I had such a wonderful time a few weekends ago participating in a plein air competition in a little town called Peninsula, Ohio. If you are ever in the Cleveland, Akron area, you should stop for a visit. The town has a railroad station that is part of the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad, bike trails (bike one way, take the train back for $2), an old canal, river, shops/galleries, art center with classes, food, and super nice people. It is part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park area... so much to do...
Anyway, I found a quiet street corner to paint this fun wooden chicken advertising a Bar-B-Que fundraiser... and I just found out it won second place in the plein air competition.

Lemons and Glass Watercolor

My adult watercolor class has been such a joy to teach. It seems like all the pieces have been falling into place for my students and their last few projects have been the best. Here is the demonstration I did of our last project. Believe me, they nailed it!

watercolor on quarter sheet