I painted these pink miltonia orchids last spring but I couldn’t resist re-posting them now that I’m able to capture a better likeness of the original painting using my new scanner. This painting was based on a tutorial in the book, “Orchids in Watercolor” by Ann Mortimer.
Happy spring, everybody. I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful Easter weekend. The weather is finally warming up, the redbuds and cherry blossoms are in full bloom, my phlox are beginning their annual spring show, and the tulips will soon be on full display. After the long, cold winter I’m so excited to see these signs of spring.
Pink and white tulips in watercolor.
I’m still playing around with my new scanner this afternoon on yet another rainy day (goodness, when will it end?). Laundry and housework can wait; I’m having way too much fun.
Learning how to use watercolor pigments was certainly a challenge, but it was well worth the effort. I love the bright, transparent, highly saturated colors.
Cymbidium orchids in watercolor. This painting is based on a tutorial in Ann Mortimer’s book, “Orchids in Watercolor.”
What a beautiful scan. My watercolors never looked so good. The Epson Perfection V600 photo scanner is affordable, compact, lightweight, easy to set up, and a snap to use. Since I typically photograph my artwork in the evening, I was plagued with artificial lighting issues and shadows that I couldn’t easily correct in Photoshop without distorting the color. Bye-bye lighting issues and unwanted shadows. Hello gorgeous color.
The Epson Perfection V600 also solved a problem I was having with my camera capturing the texture of the cold press watercolor paper that I typically use. I don’t want that texture to appear on high-quality prints. Thank you so much for the fabulous gift, Mom, Greta, and my bestie, Tami. It looks like instead of doing housework and laundry on this rainy day, I’ll be playing with my new scanner.
Night fairy in watercolor on cold press Acquarello Artistico paper by Fabriano. This painting is based on a tutorial in the book, “Enchanting Fairies–How to Paint Fairies and Flowers,” by Barbara Lanza.
Today is a spectacular fall day with crystal clear blue skies and temperatures in the high 70s–not too hot, not too cold–just the way I like it. The leaves are just beginning to change colors and I can’t wait to see the show. All this fall goodness got me in the mood to paint something with a fall theme, so I whipped up this colorful fall fairy complete with a magic wand and pumpkins just waiting to be turned into Cinderalla’s coach. Now All she needs is some white mice to be turned into horses, and away she’ll go to meet prince charming.
This painting is based on a tutorial in Linda Ravenscroft’s book, The Fairy Artist’s Figure Drawing Bible. I’ve learned so many new painting techniques from the tutorials in this book. It was definitely money well spent.
My daughter painted this beautiful yellow Asiatic lily during a recent mother/daughter painting session. We haven’t painted together in a while, so it was nice to have my favorite painting partner join me for an evening of painting, small talk, and pumpkin lattes. To create the background texture, she sprinkled sea salt on the paint while it was still wet. It adds a lot of interest to an otherwise very simple painting.
As usual, she completed her painting first, so I’ll be showing my latest painting as soon as I finish it.
I’m working on something a little more challenging today. I’m using a wet-on-wet painting technique this time, and I’m happy with the results so far. Here’s a preview:
Afternoon Artist 