It Takes Two to Tango - Day Twenty-Nine of the 30/30 Challenge

It Takes Two to Tango, 

Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 11"h x 7"w, 2015 #31

Master Study, Not for Sale

Day Twenty-Nine of the challenge -- never thought I would make the whole challenge again! Yay! It is almost the end!!! This painting is a study of master watercolor artist Jan Kunz, whose work I have admired since I took up watercolor a few years ago. The clean, colorful washes that radiates with light just grabs my heart the first time I saw one of her books. Since I haven't painted many still life setups, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to experiment with different texture -- glass, silver, wood, etc., before to attempt assembly a grand still life and paint it. So this is my practice for capturing the texture of clear, thick glass. It combines something that I am familiar with and feel comfortable painting -- rose, with something I am feeling a little bit timid about -- glass. I had a lot of fun doing it, and painted it over a few days of this month, whenever the day's painting did not take up too much time and leaves a few hours to spend on other projects. I have discovered that painting glass is not unlike assembling a big piece of puzzle -- I have lost numerous times over the different patterns of reflection and refraction painting the ball jar, and it is just one simple little jar! Clearly I needed more practice on this subject, but it was so much fun. The next step is to assemble a still life of my own similar to this setup and see if I could carried out what I have learned doing this master study into my own painting. Can't wait to do that!

A Still Life Study, A Small Landscape, I Am Hanging on There...

It Takes Two to Tango,  
Watercolor on Saunders Waterford #140 Cold Press Paper, 7"h x 10"w, WIP 2

With a dear family member falling ill of cardiac issues and later myself getting sick with flu when in hospital taking care of him (thank you all who have sent me kind words and prayers!), I guess I have fallen off the bandwagon of "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge this time. I have decided not to beat myself up for it, and just try again next time in September when Leslie is hosting this challenge again. In the mean time, I found out that floral/still life painting actually suited the fragmented schedule I have in between hospital visits and bed rests better than landscapes, so to get back into the groove and also actually learn how to paint glass, I have resumed this study from master artist Jan Kunz's tutorial. Unlike most of my floral work, the two roses here are mostly done wet on dry, so that I could practice softening edges with a damp brush, while in the mean time try to make good shapes with each brush stroke. It's amazing how time consuming all the small shapes of the flower petals and especially on the ball jar are -- I have an increasing appreciation of the amazing work you do, Carrie!

Frosty Morning,  Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 7"h x 10"w, WIP 1

When I actually have some chunks of time at hand, I worked on several more small landscapes. Most of them still have not taken shape yet, so I've only included one here. It started as a "Sky" painting in the challenge, and from that palette of Cobalt Blue, Turquoise and purple grey mixed with transparent primary colors, I decide to portray early snow in the mountain highlands, with lake water in the foreground, and some small shrubs still exhibiting fall colors reflecting in it. The focus here is to try to evoke the feeling of chilly late autumn morning air in the highlands. We'll see how it goes! :-) 

In the mean time, if you have an image of a beautiful landscape, or a flower you like, or anything you might want to see painted, please email them to me at arena.shawn@gmail.com. I will paint them and post them here. From every 10 paintings I make from them, there would be a random drawing, and the lucky winner get to take a original back home for free! Interested? Then send me your photo!

You can now buy high quality Giclee prints of many of my sold paintings, both on paper and canvas, as well as some note cards with my paintings here:

Work in Progress: Greetings of May, and more Sanchez 50-50

Ok, ok, I admit -- after painting a grouping of 6" x 6" sizes I did feel a little constrained in terms of composition, and took a break from them by working on this piece I started in May. I worked multiple layers of very wet washes of mingled colors in the attempt to created the airy, light-filled space behind the flower, which reminded me of the feeling of early summer when I took this reference photo. I love the effects I have obtained so far -- the soft-focused ring effects and the delicious granulation of pigments, but the painting surface overall is looking a little too busy right now, so I think I will darken some area and lose some of the "light rings" to provide resting area for the eye, and emphasize the light-colored flower a bit more. The Lanaquarelle Cold Press paper I am working on is very lovely -- easy enough to lift but still allows glazing provided a light touch is used. I will be very careful not to saturate the surface of the paper before the designed value range is reached...

Greetings of May, Watercolor on Lanaquarelle 140# Cold Press Paper, 11"h x 7"w, WIP 2

But, I did not slack off on the 50-50 project! I worked on this group of green(! yes, it is the actual color of the flower...) orchids. Contrary to the Blue Delphiniums, the subject of this painting -- the group of several orchid flowers -- is itself complicated enough, so instead of trying to add more soft-focused foliage in the background and make it way too busy, I opted for a soft, smoothly gradated background, mostly dark to contrast with the light flowers, hoping it would provide a "quiet area" for the viewer's eyes to breathe. Unfortunately, this is not an easy task, give I don't want to use masking and the background shapes around the flowers are complicated with interlocking edges. I also had to glaze multiple times to obtain the smooth gradation, leaving some lighter yellow-green areas to hint more flowers in the background space. I still have lots of work to to on the flowers in the foreground -- it's going to be a long night again... :-P

Green Orchids, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, WIP 1

... And, I am really really excited that I finally finished the preliminary work required to open my Etsy Shop! All that shipping policy, story of the shop, greeting message -- everything takes careful drafting and a whole lot of typing! But it's finally there, and I've uploaded the first item, optimized the title and tags for it to be easily reached via the all mighty search engines! (A lot of reading of FAQs and Forum Postings on Etsy, and thanks to the great introduction by the wonderful Crystal Cook -- you really rock!) I know it takes time to build a potential clientele, so I will be patient. But this is a new chapter for me and I am really excited...

Work in Progress: Petal Light #2, Beauty Queen, & Starting of a New Rose Painting (What?! Another One?!...)

Following the advice given by Kara, I'm putting aside "Petal Light #1" and worked some more on "Petal Light #2", starting to add complementary color -- blues and purples on the stamen. 

Petal Light #2, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 8"h x 10"w, WIP 2

I also added some more localized washes on the background of "Beauty Queen", starting to break up the leaf shapes a bit more. It's still very soft and unfocused at this stage, and the colors are light. I will add one more wash to define the shadow shapes on the leaves, then starting to develop the flower.

Beauty Queen, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 7"h x 5"w, WIP 3

And... Mad as it is, I just started another rose painting! I was so inspired by the glass paintings of Carrie Waller, that I decide to do a still life with cut crystal glass in it... The small facets on the crystal create numerous small shapes, which is quite daunting to me, but I think it will be fun to try to get that sense of light and transparency of it! The background is quite soft and out of focus, ideal for practicing what I have learned in the amazing Jeannie Vodden's class. I can't wait to work some more on it...

Greetings of May, Watercolor on Lanaquarelle 140# Cold Press Paper, 11"h x 7"w, WIP 1