Field of Dreams - 30/30 Challenge 2016

Field of Dreams, Watercolor on Arches #140 Cold Press Paper, 12"h x 12"w, 2016 #4

Bid in My DPW Auction (Starting Bid $195)

I really want to play with the limited palette on this one, and try to see if I could get the soft, dreamy, wet-in-wet like background by painting in thin layers wet-on-dry. I had so much fun... Using a limited primary palette of Vermilion, Aurelion Yellow and Ultramarine Blue, the color harmony was achieved without much conscious effort, which is the largest advantage of using a limited palette... I was a bit worried about color monotony resulted from all the red in the poppies, and really played up the warm vs. cool, saturated vs. muted variation of different reds. In the end I am very pleased with the result -- and I really missed painting flowers!

Fire Dance - Day Twenty- Four of the 30/30 Challenge

Fire Dance, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico #140 Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, 2015 #26

Currently on Hold ($175)

Day Twenty- Four of the challenge -- this is a painting that I have labored on and off for the past few years, and each time after putting it away for a while and taking it back out, I find something to add or change here and there. But the most recent examinations have revealed less and less changed that I feel necessary. So today, after doing a few last little tweaks, I've decided that it is time to call it done and let it go to the wide world! As a cherished child this is the first painting that I feel hard to let go... And there is a collector that I have promised first dibs when I finish it, after which I will let it go to the open auction. A personal favorite of mine...