Remember Autumn?

Now that we are experiencing winter in my neighborhood, I came across the painting I did outside a few months ago. I was inspired to paint the trees as they were turning colors. I wanted to post this painting on my blog a few months ago to encourage anyone who wanted to go outside and paint with me. Unfortunately, the painting was not at my fingertips then but it is now so that is why I am posting autumn in the midst of winter.

Visions of Greece at Christmas Time?

Here is a painting I finished recently of the island of Santorini in Greece. Even though it is a bleak cold rainy day where I live, just painting turquoise water provides me with an escapist moment. I have a painting and pen & ink sketching trip planned for Santorini this coming June 12th and I thought I'd better start practicing painting Greek water ahead of time so I am familiar with the colors and textures.

Painting of One of the World's Must Visit Places

I highly suggest this location to anyone who likes quaint picturesque 500 year old buildings, charming churches, small off the beaten track Tuscan towns and Italian shoes. I had read about Monteriggionni in a guide book and was fortunate to be in the neighborhood when I was teaching in Cortona last April. Walking along the cobblestone roads I could not believe my eyes when I saw this sign, "Shoe Factory". I had been looking for a pair of black shoes that were priced within my budget all through Italy and hadn't found any. I had almost given up hope when I followed the arrow on the sign down a back alley and found a small building nestled in the back of the village. It was chock full of designer shoes! Guess what, I found the perfect pair at a great price. So besides having 14 towers, cobbled streets and a wonderful location, Monteriggioni has an abundance of designer shoes! Truely, heaven on earth and that is the title of this painting.

Mad Artist's Experiment

In the advanced watercolor class I teach for Placer Adult school I did this painting as a demo. We were experimenting with the technique of pouring watercolor mixed in saucers onto wet watercolor paper. Although this painting doesn't look like the examples in the books I brought to class, I like the loose application of color and the activity. The subject is the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence, Italy. I took some pictures of this bridge and was hesitant to paint it as I wasn't sure I could do it justice. Well, I don't know about justice, but it was fun.

Finally, a new post!

I haven't been slacking off painting since August, I've been busy teaching watercolor around town, cooking and trying to be an adequant wife and mother. While these are worthy pursuits, the blog has been dormant of new paintings and any fans I might have had are probably now busy checking out rival watercolorists blogs. I now plan to keep my blog going regularly regardless of the needs of my family and community. Watercolor painting needs to survive in our consumeristic, cyper-dominated society and I am taking the responsibility seriously of developing a new generation (regardless of your age) of watercolor artists so the art of painting doesn't die out. Anyway, here is one of my latest paintings. It is larger then I have been painting for a while, approx. 22x24 matted. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.