Bonney's Bachelor Buttons

"Bonney's Bachelor Buttons"
Original Watercolor by Michele Cooper
Size: 3x5"

I recently had lunch with some fellow artists. These bachelor buttons were in the garden path as we walked up to the house. I now have a few added to my blue and white garden.

Hmmmmm. The background greens are much more yellow green than they look here on my monitor.
See yesterday's post.

I want to keep it

Have you ever planned a gift for someone who really deserves something special...then it turned out so well that you wanted to keep it for yourself?

Well, here is my hand painted thank you note, temptingly sitting on my studio window sill. No, no, It was intended for my friend. I am putting it in an envelope right now!

Tuscany-the little frog pond

 "Secret Pond in Tuscany"
Original Gouache Painting by Michele Cooper
Size: 8x10"

We stayed at a lovely villa in Tuscany. If you take a walk in the late afternoon, you will hear frogs. Follow the sound and it takes you down a farm path to this lovely secret spot in the cool shade.

The Gate at San Gimignano

"Gate at San Gimignano"
Original Watercolor by Michele Cooper
Size: 15x11"

We've recently been out of town, then had a succession of out of town visitors. Sorry for the wait as life has interrupted my painting and blogging.

 (I took this from my travel paintings while in Italy.)

Art & Wine, Watercolor Lighthouse

"Watercolor Lighthouse"
Original Watercolor by Michele Cooper
Step by step painting for Art & Wine
Size: 9x12"

Tonight was my 4th Art & Wine workshop for Kirkland Arts Center. What a great group of people....and I think they were amazed at what they could do.  After a little wine, cheese and some step by step instruction, they realized that they were artists, too!

Art & Wine is where you come and taste wine, paint without having to bring ANY supplies, and have fun from 3-6 on a Saturday with me. I'll lead you through a colorful watercolor painting (this time it was a lighthouse) step by step. Bring a friend, no experience necessary! It's Art & Wine. Details here.   Or we could set one up in your area this summer. :-) Write to me and I will send the FAQs.

An Impromptu Dance with Watercolor

"Sunlight on the Sidewalk"
Original Watercolor by Michele Cooper
Size:10x9. Sold

The sunlight dancing on the colors of the tulips by my sidewalk caught my eye.
I was interrupted from painting the "last five strokes" so I put this on the easel and glanced at it from time to time. Click here to see the beginning of this piece.

Every once in a while, I engaged in a light flirtation with the negative shapes, a stroke here, a stroke there. It was an impromptu dance with watercolor until I stopped today. I think it's done now.
"A painting is never finished. It simply stops in interesting places." It's a bit like dancing, isn't it? We're never really finished dancing, either.

How to fix a Watercolor

Cattle Point Light
Original Watercolor by Michele Cooper
Size: 5x7"       Price: $75 (with mat and sleeve)

Here's the corrected painting after I fixed my demonstration from this morning.

As you can see below, I removed a lot of the dead, overworked paint in the background trees. I lifted the dry previously painted area with a clean damp brush, gently scrubbing until enough was removed.

Once it dried, I reapplied softer, more varied middle tones and better tree shapes. I still wanted the contrast of the darker background against the white of the lighthouse, but with more atmospheric edges.

Bandon Lighthouse

Bandon Light
Original Watercolor by Michele Cooper
Size 5x7"   Sold
 
Here's an example of my "Warm/Cool--Light/Dark" method of painting the watercolor wash on a line drawing.

Lower left is the line work done with a Micron pen.

Still life Composition and Concept

These are two still life set ups that I composed for my classes. The assignment was to create two compositions that expressed different concepts and/or approaches.

These floral still life compositions can be approached with theses suggestions:

1. This has a more formal arrangement with geometric shapes, quiet meditative color, subject matter, and more serious concept. It was inspired by a documentary that I recently viewed, "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom", about the effect that both had on the people of Japan. I painted this in line and wash to express the clarity and gratitude that you would feel after an experience like this.

2.  This one has a much more lighthearted concept: The simple joy of picking flowers from my garden and setting them in a marmalade jar in the window. The cheerful complementary colors, plain white cloth and simple jam jar communicate  the idea of a moment of  beauty and joy. It was painted simply and loosely wet on wet.

I am posting the reference photos now and will update with my watercolor paintings soon.

Line Drawing for Spring Blossoms

Here's what's on the easel today. I am about 2/3 of the way through the line work on a line and wash painting.

Yesterday I put a handful of flowers in a glass of water and left it in my kitchen window. I haven't been able to stop looking at it. So, in between the rest of my life this weekend, I plan to see if I can capture the cheerfullness of life during my garden's spring bloom.

Come back for a visit tomorrow, when I plan to do the watercolor work.
Update: Sorry if you have experienced broken image link. Having trouble with uploading images this weekend. Working on it. Soon as I can, I will post the wash stage of this one.