Day 19: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"North Shore Cove"    $99
11" x 14" image       Watercolor

For all you blog followers who are not from Minnesota, this is what our North Shore (of Lake Superior) looks like.  My favorite spots are Lutsen Resort, Solbakken Resort, and Cove Point Lodge. It is peaceful, quiet, and serene.  We used to own one of the condos at Lutsen Resort.  Beautiful area! In November, the waves can get as big as a house, but in summer, most of the time, the waves gently lap onto the rocks and really create the perfect sound for getting back to your inner soul.  Every year, I try to make it up there at least twice.  It's about a 5 hour drive from Minneapolis.  Life slows down there.  Even when you get groceries, the employee takes the time to ask you about your day, and gets into a conversation with you.  I remember the first time, when I was waiting in line, waiting for her to stop talking and start ringing up the person's groceries.  I was being impatient and was in my City Mode of busy, busy, busy.  Then, when it was my turn, I got the same friendly conversation.  That was a great life lesson, and it's when it struck me, to take it easy, and just breathe!  My blood pressure always goes down there.  This painting is available for only $99, during January.  Then after that, it goes back up to a normal price.

Day 18: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Colors of Fall"    $99
11" x 14" image      watercolor

Today, I chose a simple lake scene that is very much like the view from our house!  I'm trying to paint several paintings ahead so that I will be able to enjoy our son and daughter in law's visit when they come in 2 more days.  This paper was wet on both sides as to allow me to work wet into wet for a long period of time.  I even painted the foreground tree when the paper was still damp so that it would be very slightly out of focus.  MN lakes are so beautiful, and we Minnesotans are very proud of our 10, 000 lakes!

Day 17: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Sing like a Cardinal"      $99 SOLD
11" x 14" image      Watercolor, charcoal, and collage

I had started this painting last week in prep for the Cape Coral workshop.  So I decided to finish it up for one of my 30 paintings this month.  Cardinals are such a fun bird to watch, especially in MN when I spot them in the trees in the Spring.  It's like our first bit of color all winter, and of course, it's my favorite color, red!  This painting, started with a charcoal pour, explained in earlier blogs this month.  The preparation process is in the book by Virginia Cobb, Discovering the Inner Eye, Experiments in Water Media.   Then I added collage for the wings and in the background.  I love collage! This painting is available for purchase at the special January price of $99 plus shipping.

Day 16: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Favorite Meditation Spot"     $99   (SOLD)
11" x 12"         Watercolor and charcoal pour

I am playing catch up, after hosting our daughter and 2 granddaughters at our condo in FL for the past 3 days.  (Great time!)  When we were swimming in the pool, I floated on my back and it felt so good to just BE.  I think I'd like to make that a part of my every day routine.  Finding somewhere that is special to me to meditate.  When in MN, that place is the North Shore of Lake Superior, where the sound of the waves, lots of birch, pine trees, and great rocks make the perfect spot for me to get back to my soul.
This painting started with a charcoal pour, where I sprinkle ground charcoal on a paper and throw a huge bucket of water on the paper, which disperses the charcoal towards the outer edges with great force.  Below I have my start to this painting.  I could envision a landscape from this beginning. Using a credit card loaded with paint, I scraped in the markings on the birch trees.  It's a great technique.  This was a very limited palette, so that the charcoal markings could match the paint.  I used burnt sienna mixed with ultramarine blue.  At the end, I added a little raw sienna to warm up the painting.

Charcoal Pour Start

Day 15: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Bird's Eye View"   $99 SOLD

This was my demo for the Cape Coral, FL workshop. It was so fun to show my eager students how to complete their charcoal pour beginnings. This lesson included collage, charcoal pour procedure, negative painting to create depth in the branch area, and how to paint the bird's eye. They seemed to enjoy the eye lesson the most. Even tho the eyes are very small, there are about 7 steps to creating the glassy look. Their paintings turned out so well!  I'm back in Venice, FL now, enjoying the beaches and warm weather.  :)  We are renting a condo for all of January and I love it here.  Nice to escape the cold winter of MN.

Day 14: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Rest Stop"        $99 (SOLD)
11" x 14"   Watercolor and collage

Yes, another bird!  I've done so many crow paintings, and I still get excited every time I start a new one!  Adding collage for the feathers and adding brightly color napkins and collage papers is such fun.  I always have loved quilts, and I think my paintings even resemble quilts sometimes.  Too much work to actually sew one. To read about the process of the charcoal pour for this painting, check back to Day 11 of my blog.  Almost to halfway of this challenge!! Thank you, Leslie Saeta for posting this 30 day Challenge.

Day 13: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Birch Tree News"        $99 (special discount price during January)
11" x 14"        Original watercolor and collage

What fun to collage newspaper onto the birch trees!  It adds the look of the linework on the birches like magic.  I love collage and learned how to collage from Gerald Brommer years ago.  He is the master of collage, and a great, great man and artist.  I have so much respect for him, as an artist and teacher, but also, for the gentle spirit that he is.  He has written many books.  Check them out!

Day 12: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Time to Reflect"       $99 (Special discount price during January)
11" x 14" image       Original watercolor

This painting was such a pleasure to do.  I purposely kept is as simple as possible.  Picking only 3 colors, burnt sienna, cobalt blue and raw sienna. Then I wet both sides of the paper and put in the sky and then waited for a bit to add the distant tree mass, using thicker paint.  Then it was a waiting game to add salt and create back-spills and runs on purpose.  Timing is everything in this piece.  Although it was a pretty fast painting to do, you have to be pretty experienced painter to pull it off.  I would recommend reading Zoltan Szabo's books about this procedure.  He was one of the most influential artists for my instructor, when I first took classes back in 1985.  I love testing my timing skills with one of these from time to time.

Day 11: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Crow's Perch"   $99 (only during January) SOLD
11" x 14"    watercolor and collage

Today, I'm preparing for the charcoal pour workshop that I'm teaching in Cape Coral on Thursday - Saturday.    This is one of my favorite workshops.  We sprinkle charcoal powder onto the watercolor paper and then throw a big bucket of water onto the paper, so that the charcoal spreads outs in a splatter fashion.  We do this outside, of course.  It's nice to be in Florida, where it's nice and sunny for this procedure.  This procedure is explained in Discovering the Inner Eye, Experiments in Mixed Media by Virginia Cobb.  This is my favorite mixed media book!  It's filled with inspiration and great paintings by one of my favorite artists, Virginia Cobb.  The bird's feathers are collaged, using napkins, collage papers, etc.
So, I figured I could get away with saying that this is a landscape because the bird is perched on a tree.  You knew I'd have to cheat somewhere along this journey, right?

Day 10- 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Birch Trees in red and green"     Original Watercolor

11" x 11"      $99 (during January, 2017

My favorite color scheme these days is red and green.  My house is decorated in those colors, and I wear those colors often.  I remember a workshop with Donna Watson, where she said you should keep to the colors you love.  Her paintings are lovely variations of grey.  I love the simplicity of her paintings.  My problem is that I love many other colors too.  But red and green are my favorites.  You probably will see many more birch paintings with different color schemes.  I think it would be a fun challenge within this challenge!