Green Orchids - Sold, and Some Good News from Juried Shows!

I have divided my time between this one and the Purple Hibiscus painting, which is also close to finish at this point. After doing several layers of glazes on the flower petals on this one, I realized that the value between my subject and the background is getting very close, therefore the flowers no longer stand out again the background. So -- up goes more darks! I mixed in Brown Madder Alizarin and Alizarin Crimson with Holbein's Undersea Green to create a very thick, creamy mixture and painted it over the left side background, varying the density and color dominations a little to create subtle value changes instead just a monotonous layer of black -- it's hard to see such subtle effects in photos because the value range of CCD cells on most digital cameras are far inferior than the human eye, but when viewed in person, the subtle variations are evident. I was happy with the results and decided not to finesse it any more. So here it is!

Green Orchids, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, 2012 #43

Bid at My DPW Auction (Starting Bid $40)

I've also received some more exciting news from juried shows -- my painting, "High Summer Dream", was accepted into Kentucky Watercolor Society's Aqueous USA 2012 National Juried Exhibition! The Jury this year is Ted Nuttall, an artist I greatly admire. It's a great honor to be selected into a national competition, and it's even more exciting that someone whose art you have looked up to actually awarded you such honor. I am really thrilled...

High Summer Dream, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 10"h x 14"w, 2012 #1

Sold!