Daisies I - A Work in Progress

After working on yesterday's painting I thought it may be interesting if I did another as a companion piece with the taller daisies on the opposite side and who knows I may do a third one in the landscape orientation.

Once again I used masking tape as a resist to create the daisies where I wanted the white of the paper to show.

I used various mixtures of Antwerp blue, alizarin crimson, raw sienna, burnt sienna, new gamboge, Cerulean blue and French ultramarine blue for the under paint which was applied wet on dry paper.

I set this painting aside to dry and will post it again at a later date once I start to work on it in the negative.

Daisies - A Work in Progress

This is a painting I started earlier this year in a watercolour class with Emil Varga (see post on 05 March 2014).

The under painting was already completed with the basic growies and grasses and now it was time to add more details by painting in the negative which is a slow and thoughtful process.

I mixed various dark colours using Antwerp blue, French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna, Cobalt blue, Payne's grey and alizarin crimson.

Using the blacks, browns, greens and purples I gradually added the dark grasses and growies and wove them in between and behind the existing grass shapes.

Sometimes this can be discouraging, when you spend a fair amount of time and at first it doesn't seem as though much has been accomplished. But the end result is usually well worth the effort.

I will post this piece at a later date once more work on this painting is completed.

Daisies - A Work in Progress

This is a painting I started in the Tuesday afternoon class at KAGS with Emil Varga in watercolour.

Rather than taking the time to carefully draw out very detailed daisies and then masking them with a liquid friskit; we changed things around and did the daisies in a looser style more toward the abstract.

We used masking tape to create the "daisy" flowers by ripping strips for the petals and having them radiating out from a central spot.

I made five main daisies that will show as the white of the paper once the tape is removed.

Then the tape was pressed down firmly onto the paper to prevent the paint bleeding under the tape.

Various blues, yellows, reds and browns were loosely painted into the background in the shape of growing vegetation. The colours were allowed to mix together on the paper forming a wide range of greens, mauve and greys.

I will post this painting again after next week's class when more work on it has been completed.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork and I hope you will return often.

Enamel Water Pitcher

After doing yesterday's small still life I decided to work on another piece a little larger in size.

I made a few changes; since I already had some reference sketches and photographs of the old enamel water pitchers they have at the church for holding flower arrangements.

Once again I drew in the pitcher and where I wanted the daises I made small circles to keep those areas white.

For the background I put down washes of raw sienna and burnt sienna and before the paint had a chance to dry completely I added washes of French ultramarine blue with a touch of alizarin crimson to warm the shadows.

A pale wash of shadow mixture was applied over the tablecloth and used to give shape to the pitcher.

With French ultramarine blue and a little raw sienna the green of the foliage was applied and the petals of the daisies were painted in the negative.

Using raw sienna the centers of the daisies were painted. While they were still a little wet using pure burnt sienna the shadows were added, as well as the rust spots on the enamel of the pitcher.

The shadows on the daisies were put in with a pale wash of blue, then alizarin crimson was added and a darker shadow was put at the base of the pitcher.

Burnt sienna was added to the shadow mixture to make it darker and the handle and edge at the top of the pitcher were added.

This original 5" x 7" framed watercolour is available for $95.00.

Daisy Doubles and Daisy Duet

Daisy Duet and Daisy Doubles are original 2" x 5” framed watercolour paintings.

Daisies are such happy flowers and come in a wide variety of colours. They are a wonderful addition to any garden.

They can often be found growing wild in fields, along the edge of roads and sometimes in gravel parking lots.


Daisy Doubles

Daisies are a very hardy flower and will thrive in just about any soil, from rich loam to very poor sandy soil where little more than weeds will thrive.

Congratulations to returning collector Mr. James Douglas of Cedar Hill, Missouri USA on his selection of both these paintings.





Daisy Duet