Fields of Gold (Private Commission)

Fields of Gold, Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 8"h x 8"w, 2013 #36

(Private Commission)

I realized the lacking of updates on this blog for the past few weeks -- no, I have not been slacking off; rather opposite, I was very busy trying to catch up with deadlines of all sorts -- a set of paintings as gifts to friends for their birthdays, and some private commission pieces, as well as preparing for some local spring themes shows. I had quite a few exciting news from juried show circles as well as in the sales department, which I will share with you in the next few days' posts. It's rather late now and I just finished this commissioned piece of yellow tulip, which is for a very sweet guy who commissioned it for his wife -- as a gift for their wedding anniversaries! Isn't that something? She is dutch so tulip is a must -- and I tried my best to convey the sense of a sea of golden tulips with only one clearly painted in the center stage, the rest just hinted through various blurred shapes. I must say doing glazings of yellow is hard -- they lift so easily and you can't really paint them thickly on, for they will appear chalky and dead-looking! But I had fun combining the flower in one reference photo with leaves in another, and background from yet another different photo! and painting the leaves gradually from in focus to out of focus and blurred across the page is a lot of fun too...

You can purchase my 2013 wall and desk calendars here:

Island Beauty - White Plumeria - Framed - Available at $125

Island Beauty - White Plumeria 

Watercolor on Fabriano #140 Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w Framed to 10" x 10", Front View

Sold!

Island Beauty - White Plumeria 

Watercolor on Fabriano #140 Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w Framed to 10" x 10", Back View

Back in December I entered two paintings in the Randy Higbee Gallery's 6" Squared Show and I have just received this one back in the mail today -- I have to say that I am very very impressed with how beautiful they framed and presented the painting. It is framed with their signature Catalina Black Wood Frame with Gold Lips, which beautifully showcases the golden center of this white plumeria flower. I am offering it for sale with the fame at a lower price of $125 for anyone interested, so that it will find a permanent loving home...

Here's the image of the painting without frame:

Island Beauty - White Plumeria 

Watercolor on Fabriano #140 Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, 2012 #12

Sold!

You can purchase my 2013 wall and desk calendars here:

Fire Bird Completed!

Fire Bird, Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 5"h x 7"w, 2013 #35

Bid at My DPW Auction (Starting Bid $50)

After taking the good advice I got on facebook regarding this one, I gathered my courage and put in a near black mixture of French Ultramarine and Hematite to darken the background value, and put in the shadow shapes on the leaf behind the flower in approximately the same value. Now the yellow of the flower is really popping out! Thank you all who gave the much needed feedback, my artists friends!....

Jungle Fire, Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 8"h x 10"w, WIP 7

After a couple more glazes I have now taken the masking fluid off this one -- as usual the resulted white shapes appear to be quite harsh. Now for the finishing touches the challenge is to tone down and refine the edge of these masked shapes using thin glazes which does not disturb the thick, saturated pigments which are already on the paper... I started with the petal on the right most side, using squirrel quill brush to gently lay in a warm yellow glaze on the right side of the petal, then changing to a No. 2 Kolinsky Sable brush to put in all the thin red lines suggesting the reflective pattern on this very shiny petal with a very stiff mixture of pigments. The previous washes for most part stayed unmoved -- which is great. Now I just need to repeat it for the left side petals... Fingers crossed!

You can purchase my 2013 wall and desk calendars here: