Day 40 - Is there a flood??

Seems along forty days today. I wonder how Noah did it?? My new granddaughter was born at 12:45 am today so we are all a little tired.

So I am posting a painting I finished I earlier this week.

Out my Window

This painting gave me a fit. The clouds were far too dark so I took the piece of Mr Clean to them and lightened them. Then I lightened them some more with a white inktense crayon but I didn't wet it like you normally would so it stayed bright white.









But I think perhaps there's still too much sky. Sometimes you have to crop a painting to improve it. Here it is cropped. Which one do you like better??

Day 29 Only OnE More DaY

And I will have blogged daily for thirty days. A true miracle. Now vaguely thinking what if I could do it daily for a year!!?

The Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art is an Augusta institution offering art class for all ages. It's in a very old home in downtown Augusta called Ware's Folly because of the huge cost of building it. You can read more about the house here.

View from the Garden

I have often thought that the back and the garden of the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art is just lovely - and not nearly as complicated as the front. So I painted the back!

I thought about using artistic license and removing the tree but the old pecan tree is there so I left it.

TIP:  Because this is a small watercolor...about 6x8" the architectural details were problematic...I went back in with a permanent black pen - Uniball Vision Needle Pen- to straighten and tidy them...and then I added Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen to reestablish some of the whites and add more sparkly highlights.
Try it...you might like it!!

Next time I am downtown I will have to paint the front-challenging. And there's a fantastic FLOATING spiral staircase inside. Three or four stories of spiral staircase. On the National Historic Registry and a true thing if beauty!!

Day 19 Hot off the brush

This was a terrible pencil sketch of a cardinal in my moleskine. I found the moleskine story paper in the back and thought glue it down on that page and redraw. I did and I really like it now!! Should have taken a before!! 

 I am going to use more of that flyer!! Nice buff color and it was easy to watercolor over it!! 

In case you were wondering the background is Cerulean and Yellow Ochre.  I can hardly paint without it anymore.  Gives such lovely delicate colors and delicious greys. 

I also splattered the background with a wet cerulean!

Lettering is done with my Pentel brush pen...my fav pen and I went back over some of the original lines done with pitt pens because the watercolor dulls it a little I think! And I LOVE the character of the line the Pentel brush pen does!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So another day...closer to the end...another sketch of the backporch...the fuschias are now in full flush...lovely plants...petunias and impatiens abound...cant wait till the asparagus fern fills out...
the porch is perfect in the early morning before it gets too warm...birds singing and flitting thru the bushes along the river...playing chase...GREAT breakfast spot...