Caylie

 

I was asked to do a painting of a little girl named Caylie.  She is adored by her family.  I had only a small image from a phone to work with.  I asked for a few more photos so that I could get a better idea of skin tone.  From those photos I found another image that appealed to me.  So, I did two small paintings of Caylie.  In the first painting Caylie is one and a half years old.  In the second painting she is five.  She is a delightful subject.  I enjoyed the project.

 

 

Dogwood Fall Foliage II

In September I painted another dogwood composition showing the fall leaves in bright sunlight.  This is the way my eye and the camera lens saw the foliage.  This is just one moment in time.  On another day the same tree will have a different look.  The sun works magic and I was lucky to see and capture that one moment.

2012 Exhibitions

This year I entered many national and regional exhibitions.  At this date I have had paintings accepted in eight venues and am waiting for the notifications from three more.  It is gratifying to have my paintings selected by jurors whose personal works and achievements I value.  Here is the list of exhibitions with references to the blog posts where the paintings may be seen.

Gibson County Visual Arts Association, Trenton, TN. April 9 - May 11.  Cheng-khee Chee was the juror. MADRONE (see blog post Sept. 8, 2010).  ROSEMARY'S IRIS (see blog post July 26, 2010).  MADRONE won an honorable mention.

Tennessee Watercolor Association, Memphis, TN. May 4 - June 20. Gerald Brommer was the juror.  LEMONS AND TANGELOS (see blog post April 3, 2010).  MELANIE (see blog post Sept.8, 2011).  MELANIE was selected to be in the Traveling Show.

Texas Watercolor Society, San Antonio, TX, June 1 - 30. Steve Doherty was the juror. IRIS TETE A TETE (see blog post April 19, 2011).

Society of Watercolor Artists, Fortworth, TX, April 15 - June 22. Juror was Robert Burridge. EN GARDE ( see blog post April 3, 2010).

Dogwood Regional Fine Arts Exhibition, Knoxville, TN, April - 27. Juror was Terry Jordan.  SUN-LIT FALL FOLIAGE (see blog post Aug. 10, 2012).  This was a brand new painting.  It was sold at this show!

Southern Watercolor Society, Nacoochee, GA, June 9 - July 7. Juror was Frederick Graff.  PARTY TIME (see blog post April 3, 2010).  I had just joined this organization and was very happy to have one of my paintings accepted.  SWS includes 19 states and an impressive membership of very talented artists.  Nacoochee is in a beautiful area of northwest Georgia.

Fountain City Art Center, Fountain City, TN, June 8 - July 12. SPLISH - SPLASH (see blog post Aug. 11, 2011).  LEMONS AND TANGELOS II (see blog post April 14, 2012).  LEMONS AND TANGELOS II won an honorable mention. 

Aqueous USA, Kentucky Watercolor Society, Oct.3 - 28.  Juror was Ted Nuttal. MADRONE (see blog post April 3, 2010).

I am waiting for notification from three other watercolor organizations. 

Dogwood Fall Foliage

This painting may look very familiar.  Last Spring I painted a half-sheet version of the same subject.  It was accepted in the Dogwood Regional Fine Arts Exhibition and was sold at the reception.  I had just finished it and it was gone!  I decided to enlarge the composition and go a bit brighter with the pigments.  This is the result: a full-sheet painting of the vibrant fall foliage of the Dogwood when bathed in bright sunshine.

Elizabeth

This is a painting of Elizabeth, the grand-daughter of my friend Rosemary.  It was painted as a gift for Elizabeth from her grandmother.  Do you wonder what she is thinking?

A Paul Jackson Workshop

In April I was given the opportunity to observe a day in the Paul
Jackson workshop sponsored by the Knoxville Watercolor Society.  I chose to visit on the second day when the participating artists would have their subject sketched and would have begun painting.

Here Paul Jackson has begun his painting referring to his source photo.  He has made the sky much more interesting by using three vibrant colors in a very wet wash.  He used yellow at the bottom of the sky, Opera in the middle, and Thalo Blue at the top.

This is the source photo of the Empire State Building.

This is Paul Jackson's painting at the end of the second day.

Here  are a few of artists working in the workshop.  I thoroughly enjoyed my day of observation.  Paul Jackson and his wife made me feel very welcome.  It was a pleasure to meet them.  I hope some day to be able to take one of Paul's  workshops.  His paintings of colored glass are very interesting to me.

Lemons and Tangelos II

This is my second composition using lemons and tangelos. I like the shapes and the vibrant colors. This time I used a blue compliment in the bowl and vase.

My first "Lemons and Tangelos" painting may be seen in the April 3, 2010, post. It has been accepted by juror, Gerald Brommer, to be in the Tennessee Watercolor Society 2012 exhibition in Memphis in May.

A Gray Day

The source for this painting was a photo my fourteen-year-old grandson took with his Ipad of one of his classmates. He happily shared it with me. I like the mood he captured and am pleased with his sense of composition.

It was a challenge for me to work with such subdued colors, but they were necessary to evoke the mood of the piece. I gave in to my need for color by varying some of the hues, but keeping the values.

Last fall the leaves of a tree caught my eye. The leaves were a mass of glowing color set afire by bright sunlight. With a couple of clicks of my camera I saved that moment.

I asked a friend the name of the tree. To my surprise she said it was a dogwood! I have painted dogwoods in the Spring with dark leaves and white flowers. In the fall the flowers are gone and the leaves change from green to a rather drab red-purple. The sun changed those purplish leaves to vibrant reds, pinks, and gold. I have painted the image of the leaves as I and my camera saw them that particular day last Fall.

I learned last night (March 9) from an email from Denise Sanabria that this painting has been selected for the Dogwood Regional Exhibition. It will be shown at the Emporium of the Arts and Cultural Alliance, April 6 - 27, as part of the Dogwood Festival held every year in Knoxville, TN. I was surprised and pleased. This is the first time one of my paintings has been selected for this venue.

April 14, 2012 Update: Tonight an email from Denise Sanabria informed me that this painting has been sold. Perhaps I will do a new composition sometime in the future featuring the fall foliage of the Dogwood.