The Lily - On the Edge

This flower was extended from edge to edge, the flower itself becomes the composition and the design. What is the lesson to learn from this?



The Lily (Mixed Media)

 You do not always have to have a background or a foreground.  Most all of my paintings have both, in order to give it depth. This one the flower itself becomes three dimension on a two dimension surface.

Petal Tips! The lines in the petals, all joining in the middle ares the design. Each line leads your eye to inside the flower. This was a mixed media, I started with a sheet of watercolor paper, added gesso. A trick I have learned to do years ago. I will use white gesso, add a color by dipping an old brush in my watercolor paints, I work on a different surface, such as a plastic paper plate.

Don't use your good watercolor brush or your palette. Gesso is like acrylic and is death on your supplies. I add the tinted gesso in places, After it dries, then I begin to use watercolors on top of the tinted gesso. The watercolors serve as a glaze or a transparent layer over the colored gesso.

The gesso will keep the watercolor paints from sinking down and staining the paper. 

Meanderings~~~~ God uses a lot of different kinds of paint, strokes and methods to get the job done in us. Things I have thought was totally wrong, will end up being my salvation. Sometimes, He can not work on us in a conventional way, because we are not conventional.

I have brought on many disturbing problems, then I run to God and ask Him to solve them. He solves them with what I got to work with. Just like gesso, is a cheap acrylic. It is a water base paint used for priming. Whatever it takes to get the job done, God is willing to bend the rules just to show me how much He loves me.

Link: http://www.laurainesnelling.com

The Tattered Wing

This is another butterfly in my butterfly garden collection. I painted several in order to get this one right. I guess that's the way with life. We practice until we become free. Every mistake teaches us something that helps us to be us.

The Tattered Wing (Watercolor full sheet)

Petal Tips! This painting is on a full sheet 300# paper. The beauty of this one is the spontaneous response to the paint and water. I love the fact that some of the wing is missing. This makes the painting more appealing and interesting. This painting was done wet on dry. This means, I did not wet the paper first, but laid the paint on a dry sheet of paper.

The way this works, is that I worked with a very, very wet brush, full of paint and water and I kept a wet edge all through the painting. This painting was probably done in thirty minutes at most. There is no time to doddle. You need to know exactly where you are going. That's why you will probably need to practice on the back of some of your old paper first. 

Each stroke counts. I started with Payne's grey. I worked from the center out. I used a half inch flat brush with a chiseled slant. I use this a lot in watercolor. I lay it flat to get the paint down, but I also can turn it on its edge and get a perfect line. 

I laid in the Payne's grey first from center out. While I had a wet edge, I washed my brush and worked the yellow from the edge into the grey, then the purple into the grey, washing my brush between colors. While the paint was still damp,I took a credit card and lifted the paint. You can use the tip of the palette knife or the tip of your watercolor brush handle to do the same. 

Another way to get the lines in the wings, before you put in the color,  take a white candle, or a white crayon will do the same, and draw in the lines. Where the wax is, the paint will not stick to it. The lines will remain no matter what paint you lay over it. 

If you notice the drips. I was working so wet and it was on a slope, so the paint dripped. I liked it, I felt it had a story to tell. 

Meanderings~~~~I could write a book on The Tattered Wing. And where do I start?

If we look carefully, most of us have a few bruises which life has afforded us. Just as the painting, the incomplete wing becomes the most interesting part of the butterfly. That is where its story lies and that is where our story begins.

Most of us didn'tt get our story right the first time. It usually starts when we are in the cocoon. In the struggle to be free, the wings must have time to develop in the cocoon, it is the fluid in the struggle that produces the wings.

And yet we continue to fly because that is who we are. In each one of us, God has invested in us, Himself, who He is and who we are. He puts in us something that keeps us afloat. Maybe its determination, guts, integrity or the desire to be better than we are. Whatever it is, we fly because it is who we are and how we are made. 

The Cactus Flower

As  I filed through my photos of flowers I happened on this one, "Cactus Flower".I love to paint cactus with their blooms and pads. I have written many things about the cactus flower growing in the dry desert.

The Cactus Flower (Mixed Media 20X24)

Petal Tips!  This mixed media was fun to do. I used the cactus pads as part of the design. They are rough and with a lot of texture along side the delicate flowers. I started with a 300# watercolor paper, painted in the design in watercolor, then I added white acrylic in strips, showing creases in the pad. I added needles inside the creases just to give the impression they are  pads. 

It is an impressionistic painting so I had the liberty to paint the cactus pads turquoise, peach and purple. I used the white acrylic also to show the highlights on the flowers. This was a fun one and very rewarding.

Meanderings~~~~~ Yes, flowers can bloom in the desert, I know, because I have. The dry seasons of my life have made me go deep into the Word, prayer and faith, and eventually I come through with a new countenance.

 We can not do anything to bring about the flowers but yield to Him who has made us. It is the Holy Spirit working in us who will bring about His work in our lives. I am always amazed as to the gifts that seem to pop up in us as we wait on Him.

Such as writing. It is not my chosen profession, but it just seemed to happen. Yes flowers can bloom in the desert without water from the earth. It needs the dew in the morning and the rain from heaven to be what it is suppose to be. I pray for you grace upon your heart and hands.

The Earth will Bring Forth Its Praise

Art is a form of praise, it is giving back in recognition of what the Master Creator has done for us. Lifting up our talent to Him is like echoing back what He has done in us. He has revealed Himself in His creation and when we paint it, we are saying "So be it, Amem, Amen, Surely, Surely."

We are saying, "We see it." Hallelujah! Revelation has just occurred. The Lord has shined his Light,and I have respond."

 Petal Tips! This painting stands alone. It is the first and the last of this practical style. I always admired artists who painted in this matter and thought I would try it. I began with a 16 X 20 size canvas board. Canvas board, is not one of those flimsy panel boards. Don't put your good work on a panel board. It's cheap, it warps, and to me, it will waste your time.

I took a piece of masonite board, I bought loose canvas, cut it in a 16 X 20 square, I took Elmer's Glue and spread it on the face of the board, then I laid down the canvas on top. It makes a good sturdy surface. Then I sized it with Gesso. I thinned the gesso with water and applied 4 or 5 coats of thin gesso. I didn't want any lines showing through in the undercoat thats why it has to be put on thin.

I drew on the tulips. I blocked it in with a thinned down coat of oil paint. I have used different mediums over the years to thin oils. Any will do. Then I took a measuring stick and drewa grid on the surface. I then proceeded laying in thin paint in each grid.

 I decided on the light pattern before hand. I wanted to make sure I followed through with each grid and that the light pattern wasn't just haphazard and looked  like a tic tac game.

It was one of those paintings, I did it, I tried it, but it felt too constricted for me. But for some of you, it will be your cup of tea. It has its beauty in the eye of the beholder.

Meandering~~~~~Art is a form of praise!. We do not think about the earth praising its maker by bringing forth its vegetation, but it does. There are places that are barren; no water, no life, not substance. We call it wilderness, forsaken. My life has felt like that several times through out my life. There was no fruit on the tree or oxen in the stall but I continued to paint. I believe it was Ezekiel that said, "Thou I will praise him."

Did I know what I was doing in such a desolate state? No. Did I feel like I was praising Him? No. I was escaping from the harshness. I hunkered down into what I knew to do and that was to paint. Those were some very, very dry years, but I look back today and realize, even though there was no dew in the morning, and the heaven shut up its rain, I was exercising what God had put in me, the gift of painting.

And I painted and painted. I honed my gift in the midst of the trial and spent hours in the Word, trying to regain the Light on my life. I painted a painting called  "Drawn into the Wilderness". It was a little cabin in a cold winter scene, desolate and forsaken. It was a picture of me. I took it from Hosea 2:14, where it says, "I drew her into the wilderness to speak gently to her." Yes, God was in the midst of that wilderness experience. And yes, he was speaking to me gently through my art. 

I just remembered how I felt, like a lone tree standing on a hill with bare branches for the world to see. I was being stripped of everything that brought me comfort, everything I thought represented success with the Lord, i.e. His blessing. 

This painting, "The Earth will bring forth its Praise" was painted at that time. I am always so amazed when we feel like we are so alone, we aren't. The Spirit is lusting against the flesh, it is fighting for our soul.  It is a stripping away those fleshly desires. The tulip is the first flower of spring and it is always a sign that the winter has gone and spring is coming. Many times the tulip in this area in the Rocky Mountains is coming out of a cold ground, where the snow is just beginning to melt.

The Earth will Bring Forth Its Praise (Oil)

Pears in Gold

Pears in Gold

This painting is one of my favorite. I probably say that about every painting I paint. I love it when a painting takes me to another height in my art. This one did. Sometimes, a painting will take me to my bare soul; I have to surrender to the painting, before I can go on. Some times, the painting paints itself.

Petal Tips! I painted this as one of a series. The previous lesson on the golden apples is exactly the way I painted this one. Look at that one to learn the technique.  It is a large canvas, 24 X 48. It is horizontal instead of vertical. I painted the fruit in both paintings larger than life size, I wanted a bold statement. I laid out the design extending the fruit to edge. Very little background fills the space.

I made all the pears golden red, except the one in the front which is laying down instead of standing and I added dark green with a little light green for a highlight. The green comes forward from the red pear behind it. This is called pushing colors. The rim of the platter is god and also comes forward.

Meanderings~~~~ A songwriter said once to me when I asked him how he wrote songs on a whim. I told him that they seemed to come naturally.

He said, "Some times I write out of the pain and depth of my soul. I have to dig deep, almost out of a melancholic state or a state of frustration. Other times it comes out of the overflow. Painting comes the same way. Like I said, sometimes I work and labor out of the grind of life. Other times it is the grace of God that carries me along. Either way, they both will take me to greater heights. I love best the spontaneous of a painting, but I learn best out of the grind of  learning something new. I pray your hands full of grace and your heart full of love.

Apples in Gold

"Words fitly spoken are like Apples in a golden pitcher." Anytime I paint apples in a gold bowl or a gold plate, I remember these words that Solomon penned.

Our words mixed with faith are gold to anyone who is ready to hear what the Spirit says. Another proverb says that "Truth uttered will be heard throughout Eternity." I count on words of truth written will be around after I am gone. They will stay for the next generation and the next, if we have fitly spoken them.



Apples in God Oil 24X40

 Petal Tips! I painted a series of oversize paintings in oil on canvas. The surface is very smooth. This particular painting I applied thin coats of oil paint. I painted the white canvas with a pink gesso. I don't know if they make a pink gesso, but I just add some red acrylic into the white gesso and water to give a smooth finish. I will put five coats of gesso on first. Some people will sand it will a fine piece of sandpaper, I don't. 

I paint the canvas with pink I do this because I don't want to contend with the white, but also, the pink will be a back illumination. It's amazing when you put on a transparent paint such as Aliziar Crimson, how the under painting comes out.

I first blocked it in oil over the pink gesso, then I painted the shadows and the gold inside the apples for highlight. I worked from a scale in value from 3 to 10, the lightest being on the gold bowl in the background. A stark white reflection would have stood out like a sore thumb. I continued to apply thin coats of paint until I painted it the way I wanted it.This thin paint enhances the under painting which is just the sizing in pink gesso.

If you notice in the triangle, (just left in the bottom of the bowl), I painted it purple, the complement to gold. I needed to bring out the lip of the bowl to give that three dimension.  I placed a shadow on the left of the front apple to add to the dimension. The purple along side the gold brings the bowl forward, tricking the eye.

The thing that makes this painting electrifying is the polyurethane I painted on it after it had completely dried. I applied about 5 coats and it sunk the image deep into the canvas and the shine is beautiful.

Meanderings~~~~ Words fitly spoken. How often do we speak words that are needed and fit for the situation? I think a lot of our words just go into thin air. Once in awhile, we say something that we have no idea the impact it had on someone. They will say later, "When you said such and such, it touched my heart." 

I am thinking to myself, I didn't say that, I wished I had. When the ear is ready to hear, those words that the heart needs will hear them, even if the Lord has to change them around a bit, for the hearer.

It is a mystery how the Spirit works for us, in us and around about us. Our best shot is to surrender to the one who inhabits Eternity. In Isaiah it says, I'm paraphrasing, The high and lofty One will dwell in us if we have a contrite spirit and a broken heart. He will meet us in that high and lofty place and dwell in us there.

I am believing when I speak words of spirit and truth, my words will meet people in those high and lofty places in God. .So words fitly spoken is when God speaks through us.They are like apples in gold.

Turtle Doves and apples

Turtle Doves and Apples -  Mixed Medium

Turtle Doves are a seasonal bird. They know when it is their season. The Lord says in Jeremiah, The turtle dove knows their season but my people do not know theirs.

When the Resurrected Life came to the little Shulamite in Song of Solomon, the hart on the mountain top symbolising resurrected Life, calls to His beloved, "Come away with me... The turtle dove is heard in the land, the winter has past." She would not come with Him, but turned him away.

Petal Tips: This mixed media painting 16 X 20 canvas, is done on the same premises as the hummingbird from the previous lesson. It has several mediums, a base coat of acrylic, spray paint, oil and permanent marker. I love the technique because of all the interplay with lights and darks.

This is considered an impressionistic painting. The grapes and apple seem to be floating which is perfectly okay in this style. The birds are all turned to the center..  The eye begins at the left bottom corner and follows the white doves around to the apples in the gold plate. I love this painting, it feels spontaneous and alive.
Directions can be determined with color, values and design. This painting move with the doves.

Meanderings~~~~ The Holy Spirit is alive and spontaneous. He moves through our lives. He comes to us at the point of relevation knowledge. The winter has past, it symoblizes a  harsh and dark season. We all have them, but the Lord is faithful to bring us into the light if we will open to the relevation light.

I am afraid many of us are like the little Shulamite, we hear Him call, but we are too busy tending our vineyard and worried about the little foxes who will destroy our vines. We wants us to let go of our vineyard and allow Him to take us into His vineyard. One is earthly, the other spiritual. One has temperal value, the other eternal value. One is by faith, the other by sight.

The Holy Spirit will come with a notion, a nudge, an idea, a Word or even through other people who carry the Life of Christ in them. Our Spirit will know when the Lord is calling to come away.

Open Secret

As I promised from yesterday's lesson on a focal point as we looked at a hummingbird engulfed in creation, today I am going to show you how to paint a similar painting painted with the same particular technique.This is a mixed media.

In painting abstract or impressionistic paintings, you need movement and mystery, I believe this painting has both. There are hidden images and I wanted to show movement. 

Petal Tips! A Mixed media could mean anything with more than one kind of paint.  On this one I used four or five. I started with an under painting of acrylic.  Basically, I use acrylic just to get away from a white canvas. I start adding colors. Nothing in particular, just covered the white.

I then switched to oil paints. I took an old doily, layed it down on the canvas and used gold metallic paint. I sprayed it in places. Then I used other colors to do the same thing, all from a spray can. You can see at the bottom left, the polka dot texture. Then I decided where I should draw in the hummingbird. I wanted the gold to reflect on the wings and I wanted that texture on the wings.

I painted in the bird and accented the black head. I used light bluish white behind the head to bring it out. I wanted the head to be the focal point. I added red, the flower is insignificant, it is the red I wanted to show. I added red towards the bottom to give the painting balance. 

I used a permanent black marker to outline the bird. 

There is a partial butterfly wing and other things for mystery.

Meanderings~~~~ I love the freedom from this technique. I just enjoyed using several kinds of paint to get the effect. This is a painting that I let it speak to me. I was doing a series of hummingbirds, so I knew I was going to incorporate one in one way or another. I let the background just happen and then I used very little detail to pull the painting together. I made sure that I used the effects of the background to compliment the hummingbird. More detail, less freedom. I really watch when to stop on detail. I have choked the life out of  many paintings by taking them too far with tight detail. 

Isn't that the way life is at times, when we stop sweating the little things, (all the little details) we seem to have the freedom for life to take shape the way it is going to anyway, and we paint ourselves into the picture where we need to be. It's not a lack of concern or care, but it is the beginning of freedom. I pray your hands will be full of grace and your heart full of beauty, then you will be a wonderful artist.

All Nature Sings

Good Morning, Wake up and smell the coffee. It's time to paint. There are many things going on in my garden; birds, bugs and creatures. And of course there are flowers, vegetables and fruit.  I painted a series of hummingbirds and thought I would add to the collection.

Petal Tips! I purposely painted this in an obscured way. It is as if all naturing is singing and vying for attention. The attention goes to the hummingbird, only because it stands out in contrast. It has black on its head and wings and body. Everything is much lighter in value. A painting must have a focal point otherwise, the eye will skip along around the painting trying to find something to land on. It's like the hummingbird, they are always flitting around, never resting. Good for the hummingbird, but not for a painting.

I wanted the light to dance off the objects also. I worked the paint so that the light and dark are interlaced in and around.  There is much movement and a certain movement pattern  in this painting, it is caused by the the light pattern. The only defined object is the hummingbird and the rest is used to support the hummingbird. In the next lesson, you will learn how to get the light and dark patterns.

Meanderings~~~~~There is so much going on in this crazy world we live in and just as much in my head. Unless, we learn to set a direction, a goal, a purpose, we will flit around like the hummingbird, looking for the brightest colors. Bright colors excite us for awhile, then we burnout, and usually in disappointment.Do you wonder if the hummingbird ever gets tired. There little wings move so fast they are in a blur.

With a million ideas in my head and many projects on my desk and drawing table, I have to bring my mind into submission of Christ. I have gone on many wild trails thinking it was perfect for what I needed and the thing that would bring me success.

I am now learning, there is only one flower who satisfies, He is the flower of the valley, His name is Jesus. From Him and his sustenance, I am able to bring into focus the necessary things of the day. Out of this surrender I am confident of the thing I am doing will be of benefit. It will have lasting results, because it comes out of the life of Christ. It might take twenty years to see the fruition, but when I do it in faith and am surrendered to the One who holds it all by the power of His Word, I can rest assured. What I am doing in the moment will be necessary and will lend to the next moment and the next. 

Cotton and red chillies Oil 15X30

Good morning, are you ready for a lesson in oil painting? This is for you who paint traditionally.  

Cotton and red chillies Oil 15X30

 This painting in oil on canvas was painted in 1965 from a still life setup.  It was one of my first.  I was under an art teacher who painted very detailed work and a lot of blending, and this began the love I have for painting.  I think it took me a month, going every week to her house for a class.

I was thankful and relieved the day she said, "Sign your name, it is finished."

I took lessons from her for five years and I learned how to paint traditionally. I have painted a many cotton bulbs, thistles and white ceramic pots since, not only in oils but in watercolor. I've also painted a lot of red chillies in baskets, ristras and you name it. Once you learn the technique, then it is always the same.

Petals Tips: This is an oil painting with lots of medium.  I painted it very thin, and layered many, many coats of paint. It looks awfully gray to me today.  I would add dirty blue and lavender into the shadows of the white cotton and the  white pot.

Oils are totally different than watercolors. Oils you start with the darks, then add lighter colors, until you have a white highlight. I started the cotton bulbs with a dark gray (now I would go dark grayish-blue), then I added white and started blending with a large soft brush.  I lightly brushed over it until I sank the white down into the grey.  Then I added more white and continued the same process.  The paints need to blend without losing the whites or the darks.  I could improve on that cotton today. 

On the thistles, I don't think I could improve them unless I  added more raw sienna.  Start with burnt umber under painting, half the size of what you see there. (I would probably make up a rich goop with alizaran crimson, ultramarine and cad yellow.  Start from the outside of the dark, painting with raw sienna, with a # 6 brush. Use lots of medium and make strokes from the middle of the thistle to the outside edge beyond the dark circle. That's why you have to start with a small dark circle, the thistles need to be open, airy on the ends and I warn you, this thistle will grow larger in diameter. With yellow ocher start closer to the center and continue the strokes from inside the ball outward.  Then add white to your yellow ocher and continue to make strokes from the center. These last strokes will be coming from the center and will only be out a short distance from the center. This gives the feeling of the puffiness to the thistle, it is building in dimension.  It is starting to look full and thick.

The red chillies are painted dark red.  Add burnt sienna or black to Alizaran Crimson Paint in the shape of the chilli, then start adding red. Today, I would add ultramarine into some of the red chillies, makings them much more interesting. That's what happens over the years, you get bolder and color does not scare you, if you know how to control it.

I am looking at this painting, and since I painted it over forty years ago, I think the teacher had me use a lot of burnt umber in the shadows. I hardly ever use burnt umber today. It is too brown, and I want color. You can get dark colors. without using black or brown. That will be for another lesson.

This will give you a good start.  I pray your hands will be full of grace..

Meanderings~~~~ Things I did years ago still add to who I am today. Nothing is lost, not even the mistakes and bad choices. This painting was a beginning of my painting days and I have painted almost everyday since. When I fell in love with painting, I have not looked to anything else. I've done things that added to it, like changing mediums, styles; oils to watercolors, traditional to impressionistic, canvas to furniture and tee shirts, but there has always been with a brush or palette knife in my hand.

I didn't believe I was an artist for a long time, I thought artists were different; it was a high attainment and I surely didn't consider that I would ever be good enough to claim myself as an artist. But I painted and continued to paint and paint, until one day, I said, "I guess I am an artist. I don't feel like one, but that's all I do and all I want to do. I just want to create. I guess I will call myself an artist."

I look back today and know I was born an artist, I wasn't trained, encouraged or supported as a young person, but one day, I had the opportunity and I grabbed it. It has caused me to see beauty, grow as a person, and question myself a thousand times in a thousand ways.  It is the vehicle the Lord has used to know myself.  Have a great day, and think on good things.

Poppies in Glass

Poppies in Glass (Mixed Media Half Sheet)

This Monday morning I woke to see a mist in the air and our flag blowing slightly. There is a heavy dew on the ground, indicating winter is very close. Every thing has been brought in for the changing weather.

When I decided to do this project, it did not start out for these flowers to be a daily journal, just a way of categorizing my paintings. I planned to add one painting a day from my garden of color and I knew it would be at least a year's project.  These paintings are becoming a way of sharing where and what is in my heart each day. 

The Word says that "The preparation of the heart belongs to the Lord." He prepares our heart as artists to see differently as we are changing daily and evey thing around us is changing. I have no idea how I will feel tomorrow, but today, I have an appreciation for all of his beauty. Maybe that is why artists and writers paint and write, they record that moment of time that will never be a part of them again.

I look on this painting and think, "It must have been a freeing day, I painted bold, loose and with bright colors This is what an impressionist painting does for me. It gets me out of the box." My style has changed dramatically over  fortyfive years. I started out with a very traditional painter which harnessed me in, in detail and discpline.

Petal Tips! This painting is a mixed media, beginning with a watercolor on 300# paper. I would consider this painting more of an impressionistic painting. I didn't follow the rules.  I have always said, "Once you know the rules you can break them." In an impressionist painting, I do not worry about where the light is coming from, and where the shadows are. If it is a traditional painting, I am very careful to record it accurately. But this is what is so fun, I let the painting speak to me. I am more concerned with the design and balance than with the subject.

I brought some red reflections from the giant poppies to the table top. I didn't want all the red to be at the top. I wanted these floppy flowers to pull down in weight. I balanced the strokes, some are going straight up and some strokes are bending down with the flowers. It is to give a heavy feeling of big flowers too big for their stems. Those strokes could be leaves but lines are okay too.

I made a few diagonal strokes through the pot.from left to right. They could be shadows and light on the pot from the leaves or just an interesting directional stroke for the painting sake. Like I said, I just moved with the painting and how I felt..  That is an impressionistic painting. It captures the mood rather than the subject.

Meanderings~~~~~ The mood of the weather moves us in the same way. The dew makes the ground deep and rich in fall colors. The burnish trees, the golden and raw sienna leaves, the burnt umber tucked down deep at the base of the trees and the orange and red oak leaves all make for a beautiful painting which I want to run to my studio to capture.

The Lord does that for the artist. Being an Artist Himself, He creates not only nature, but He creates the moment for us. It's His preparation in our hearts that makes us see the moment which He has so creatively orchestrated

.

Every thing I look at I see a spiritual indication of God's beauty, His teaching, His Word, and special things He wants to say to me in this day. He has prepared my heart for this day, for bad or good weather, ups and downs, frenzied or quiet moments. In the change I am steadily planted in peace knowing things can change and will change, but I can stand still in whatever the day brings.

We serve a great God, His mercies endure forever. I love Him so much even with this fickled heart.

Whites (14X18 Watercolor)

Good afternoon, These whites could be anything.  I 'm not sure what they call these, but I know I love to paint white flowers. They paint themselves.



Whites (14X18 watercolor)

These whites are shaped like  bugles. I guess they could be called  morning glories. There are many things in life we can not identify, but we see something that draws our attention to paint. It is like Moses and the burning bush. He turned aside just for a second and he saw something that stopped him. When he looked on  the burning bush, he met with God. God's beauty is so inconspicuous that we miss the simple beauty of  a white flower.  I painted them in a very easy way. No fuss, no muss.

Petal Tips!  Draw out the shapes of the flowers with a pencil. Make them ragged or scalloped, they need to have a loose appearance. Paint the background first. I chose purple and green in the background because I knew I would be adding yellow centers. Again, it is pushing colors. Yellow is the compliment to purple and I allowed some yellow for the stems.

Also, give your background a direction.  What I mean is this. I am having the flowers coming from the right bottom and  with diagonial strrokes, I lean them to the left, giving the appearance the flowers are not just standing straight up, but are swaying to the left. There is very little background showing, but enough to give the flowers a direction.  

After you get the back ground in, leave the edges of the flowers white. Decide where the center is in the middle of the flower and how the flowers are leaning. If it is low, then the flower is tipped more forward. In the bottom of center of flower, put your dark color. It could be similar as to the background purple. Add yellow and yellowish orange.

The shadow on the top right is showing the bottom of the bugal. See how I cut the shadow along the line to show the white above.  I put a definite line up under the white and allowed it to be a gradual blen in the bud, making it rounded.

I wished I could be where I could show you with just a simple stroke.

I put a few veins coming from the outside into the center. Don't get too tight or you will lose the looseness of these flowers. Happy Painting.

Meanderings~~~~ I have found in life, the Spirit is not usually in the loud noises, the firecrackers, bells and whistles.  He quietly shows himself. That is what these white flowers do. They simply show themselves and reflect the true care of the caregiver, the One who made all of creation.

For years I wanted the goosebumps and something to say, "the Lord is in this place." He wanted me to see Him within my heart. We must  experience Him within and that is when, everwhere we look we see His beauty. It took years to understand how the Spirit of Christ comes within us when we yield to Him, surrender ourselves to Him, then He manifests Himself in us. Then we see the beauty without. That when a simple white flower will turn your head.



Bursting in Spirit

Today it has been drizzling rain all day, the leaves are falling from the trees and fall is fading into winter. One of the things we do every year is to protect the rose bushes in our yard.  It is amazing that these delicate roses can even grow in this 8,000 feet elevation.

One of the things we learned about caring for roses is that the Root has to be protected. If you will keep the roots protect, the rose bush will survive. So we put hay on the ground for insulation.

Bursting in Spirit (Watercolor 14X18)

The snow will lay on these bushes all year. They will not see spring or hear the turtle doves until next April.

Petals Tips! I call this watercolor painting Bursting in Spirit, because it has the feel of just coming forth without any effort. I remember the day I painted them, they just happened.

I wet the unmarked 300# paper, dropped in red and pinks, leaving white, then I dropped in some green paint around the red in places, still keeping the whites, darker green at the bottom to give it a feeling of strength, weight, shadow and roots below. The darks establishes it, where the light is airy and feels like sunshine coming in through the roses.

I also dropped in a little yellow  in the green, showing highlights on the leaves. Before it dried and after the sheen of the water was gone, I sprinkled course salt around. What I mean by the sheen is gone, the water has to dry to a point that when the salt is sprinkled in, it doesn't  dissolve but it crystallizes, making texture.  The course salt will mean bigger crystals. On this one I also threw the salt randomly, covering even some of the roses.  I don't usually do that, I usually keep the salt in the background.

It worked great with this painting.  After it dried, I took a small brush, whirled marks starting at the center with small circles, then larger, making the rose unfold from the bud. Happy Painting.

Meanderings~~~~~ When I went to a class on roses, I thought how appropriate. Protect the roots and the bush will survive. Our roots are so important, even if we don't like where we came from or what happened to us during those years, we are our history.  We learn from it, we take on the characteristics of our family, we lean towards it, it is who we are.

There is much to say about the roots and I will expound later. Take time to smelling the roses today.

Gate to my Garden



Garden Enclosed


Come with me through my garden gate and see the fruits and flowers and all that the lord has planted inside his garden. I just taught Song of Solomon today, and the King calls the Shulamite, his garden enclosed, a fountain sealed. He invites his friends into His garden. And invites the south wind and the north wind to blow on His garden.

This painting was done in an art class many years ago. I can not take credit that the design is mine, but the work is mine.  This is hanging in my daughter's home in Grass Valley, California.

Petal Tips!  This painting is tighter than I usually do, but on the other hand I painted it loosely. The particular artist I painted this with had a similar style as mine in watercolor.

It is funny, to tell you off the top of my head exactly how to paint it, I can't remember it. How I would paint it today in my style would be a little different, but I would get the same effect. 

meanderings~~~~ Maybe when we borrow words or ideas, they are not really ours.  Those thoughts have to be  tested in us until they become ours, then they will come out different in the language and style that is uniquely ours

We borrow words from great masters, then one day we surprise ourselves we wrote those words and can not believe we penned such words. . We take art lessons and we learn a certain trick or a new way of doing things and we incorporate it in our own work. It is impossible not to learn from others.

 I love this painting and find great joy in it. I am glad my daughter and family are enjoying this one too.

I love to meander with you in my garden of color. these paintings are so much more than paint on paper or canvas, they speak of an inner emotion or spirit that has uniquely been worked in me. I never mind you copying my work because I know that my touch is different from yours. It might be the same subject but it will not be the same feeling. We need each other. I thank you for all that you have given me over a life time, and I hope I have returned the favor.  

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Grandchildren and daisies

Grandchildren and daisies go together. I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed for my garden of colors. I need to clean house, but looking at my garden is much more exciting.

I painted this painting twelve years ago when my grandchildren were small.  They came for vacation. One family from Grass Valley, California and the other from Woodbridge, Virginia.  The span couldn't be any further in distance or they would drop into either the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean.

Grandchildren and Daisies (full sheet watercolor)

They came to the mountains of Colorado, its what they do every summer.  It is my most favorite time of summer when our family comes together.

These grandchildren are now teenagers. Two grandsons have moved here, our granddaughter is at Biola University. Our fourth grandson is in Grass Valley making skate videos.

Petal Tips!When painting white daisies,  the background paints them for you. What I mean  is it is the colors around them will define the shapes. Leave the white on the watercolor paper.Remember you do not have a white paint, so the watercolor paper serves as white. Draw on the flowers, then gently paint around the flowers with background color.

The daisies consist of a little dirty blue for shadow and a cad yellow center with a half moon of burnt sienna around the bottom of the yellow. They are probably the easiest flower to paint, it is the background that makes them pop out.

Meanderings~~~~~~This is one of those paintings you can't help but walk down memory lane with. That day the kids were standing in a field of daisies.  We had a lot of rain that year and there were white daisies everywhere. These are some of favorite photos we took that summer.  I painted several paintings from these photos..That was the year I was into painting children. I am so glad I did, those years are gone except in our memories and hearts. That is why artists paint, to recapture and record a moment in time.

At the time we are just enjoying the moment, but in that moment, memories are made. These memories build our lives. They actually become us. My granddaughter said just recently, I want to come to Colorado for Christmas. Is it to see us? I think it is to touch something that is familiar to her. It's her roots. 

In the process, they got to know their cousins. They remain friends and now they relate on face book.

Geraniums and Leaves

This is my pick for today. Geraniums and Leaves. These plants are hardy and will grow all year.  It was hard to bring them in for the winter.  With fall in the air, snow is on the way, so it was time to give them a new home in my art studio. At the moment I have about thirty pots of Geraniums. This winter when everything is under snow, there will be geraniums to paint.

I am not particular excited about their smell. Geraniums are not know for their exquisite fragrance but for their big beautiful scalloped  leaves and big beautiful clusters of little flowers.

Petal Tips! This watercolor is a great lesson for painting masses of leaves. The trick is to build the leaves on each other, and you do this with lights and dark.

With a large brush, mix yellow paint and lots of water. Do not use paint directly from well, add water to it on the palette with just a tint of yellow.  An under painting is color put down, dried or dried with a hair dryer. An under painting and "wet on wet" is totally different. A wet on wet is when the under color is wet and is mixed with the added color.  

Geraniums and Leaves  (Full Sheet WaterColor)

Then I separated each leaf by painting each one with a different color, adding blue green or dark green or yellow green or reddish green. I leave some of the yellow underpainting to show the light. I add a lot of different colors to the leaves, green is boring without a couple of reddish dead, dried up ones. " I made sure that the light leaves were in front of the dark ones, making them come forward and pushing the dark ones into the background. (It is a paradox, the yellow leaves are actually painted first with the under painting, but they will come forward when the greens are applied to them. Besure to leave some of the yellow on the leaves.)

Make sure the dark leaves are down around the pot and in the center where the light can not filter through. Leaves are not that easy, but once you learn how to build them one on one, you can paint any grouping of leaves or foliage. It's all about darks and lights.

Also under the light leaves add a shadow which will pop them out and make them fool the eye and look three dimensional.

Look at a geranium leaf, the vein starts at the bottom and all the veins come from that place where the stem connects. It will look like a fan of lines. Not like a typical leaf that has a center vein and the others comes off the veins. You can apply the green to the leaf, take a credit card of sharp edge and pull the veins through. If you do it just right, the yellow underpainting will become the vein. Also add veins with a dark color, I'll use green with burnt sienna, it becomes a rich dark brown.

I use the word green without any fancy names.  I make my own greens with cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, or cerelliam blue or prussian. I add different yellows to them. Even black and yellow makes an army green. Play around with the greens, don't count on the perfect green from the tube. .

Meanderings~~~~ The leaves are as important to this flower as the flower itself. Isn't that the way with the people around us. In our youth we think we are the bloom and it is all about us. As we grow and mature, we realize so much that has been put inside of us is from others who have supported us along the way.

This painting has other things around it to make it a complete composition. I selected just odds and ends to bring out the design, color and balance. When we think about our lives, it takes all the odds and ends to support the complete painting  in us.

God has done a marvelous thing when He created each one of us in His image, then He takes all that comes along to humble our flesh, so the beauty of who He is comes through. He uses all of creation, the lights and the darks, the supporting people and the odds and ends of life to give us an unique look, which we call Jesus. His Spirit in us gives us Life.

Maybe we could say, it is the yellow under painting which comes through this dark flesh of ours. Just a few thoughts as to how He has orchestraed my life with all the odds and ends.

Apples in Gold

Apples in Gold

Fall is in the air and the apples are on the trees. So I picked these apples for you and put them in a gold bowl. I think fall is my most favorite time. The colors are so vibrant,  the green has turned gold, red and orange.

After a season of planting, watering and tending the garden, the results start to show up. Fruit and vegtables  appear and it is a sign that we have been disciplined in what we know is necessary. In James it says that the farmer waits patiently for the fruit. This is the way of an artist as well. We wait to become good at what we do.

Many years of tending to the things that inspired the soul, honing our talent, learning and practicing, one day, results in our garden of colors begint to appear. The results come easier than when we were trying new things. It is a satisfying place when we start to see the end of what we have been striving for.

Petal Tips! This is an interesting painting, probably more in the texture and technique. It looks like an oil on canvas, but it isn't. I  began with a 300# watercolor paper, sized it with strokes of gesso, so that I could have an underneath affect of design and direction. Then I painted it with watercolor, just to get the image in. From there, I went into oils. I wanted the texture of oils, so I applied the red and colors on the apples with a dry palette knife. It has a scraping effect, but it looks like an oil.

It was one of my favorites and I didn't want to sell the original so I had some Giglees made. I actually had the prints done on a deep 3 inch canvas. The original is a watercolor with marks of oil, but the prints look like original oil paintings.

Meanderings~~~~ I've been away from my garden for a couple of weeks. It is always good for me to step outside of my everyday realm, just to breathe in different air and see different things. I usually always come home with new ideas to paint. I didn't this time. All the ideas are in front of me as I look outside of my studio window and see this beautiful time of fall in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. 

"Jack" Rabbit (Oil on 300# paper)

Every garden attracts hungry little creatures. This painting was fun to do. I was in the mood to paint hummingbirds and furry creatures. It was just one of those notions at the time. I loved to paint  it because it was fun with its multi-colors.

"Jack" Rabbit

 Petal Tips: Again, this painting was on old 300# watercolor paper. Like I've said before, I use the best paper. It is heavy and if a watercolor doesn't work, I use it for other medias. As long as you have your values right, you can use any color you want.  That was one of the hardest lessons for me. To translate colors into values. What do I mean by that?

Values range from one to ten.  One being white and ten being black. A soft pink might be on the scale of two. That color can show anywhere you want a highlight. In the shadow, you can use any color as long as the value is dark.

For you who play the piano and read music, yellow ochre is the middle C of paint. Anything lighter than yellow ochre is considered on the light side, anything darker is considered on the dark side.

Once I understood that rule, indulging in all colors of paint didn't scare me. I'll paint faces in multi-colors and they work because I understand the rule.

Meanderings~~~~~ I have always been hungry to learn.  I have eaten of many gardens, taking what I could get. Then I made it my own. I too have been prolific. Just like the jack rabbit. I think it was my hunger to learn that has created in me so many styles and interest in painting everything.

I don't think of having a style any more and I might be criticized by that.  Once I tried to figure out what my style was, now I just paint. There is a certain feeling in my work that says it is mine. I think the freedom comes when we forget whose garden we are eating from and we just consume our talent. I switch so much from oils to watercolors to acrylics and they all work so differently with whatever I paint. 

Oh to be free like the rabbit.  

Chili Peppers (WC 3/4 sheet)

It is harvest time for red and green chili peppers. The longer they stay on the vine, the hotter they get.  I took a picture of a scene of chilis in a fruit market.  The newspaper was laid out for a table covering and all different kinds of chilies were put out to sell. 

This painting was a very loose rendering.  I think I worked more on the design than on the actual painting..  The columns of the newspaper were running up and down and the boxes were stacked diagonal. The focal point is right in the middle where the white newspaper hits up against the box of red chilies.

Everything is a picture.  Sometimes it is the lines and some times the colors, but this time it was the different chilies.

Petal Tips: The ink on the  newspaper was written in squiggly lines in black paint, I dropped water onto the black and let it run.  I didn't want the black to be so definite, but just be there indicating a newspaper. 
I muted out the back peppers so they would recede. The main chilies are in the middle and I made them more defined.

Meanderings~~~~~. Some Chilies are hot and some are mild. It's according to every one's taste. Isn't that the way people are.  Some have fiery personalities, they consume and leave ashes as they leave the room.  Some people are mild as oatmeal, and overlooked and forgotten. These are the ones who usually have some substances and stick-to-your-bones kind of nourishment.

The quiet ones are usually misjudged as if they don't care. Artist's want and need strokes and excitement over their work. The hot personality will usually give you that feeling and bite but will leave quickly. 
So we gravitate to the fiery ones. We shouldn't be deceived, the friends that have been constant to me over the years, usually have been the quiet ones, who have come along side and supported me and didn't need to be out there in front waving a red flag. They weren't as needed as the fiery ones.

Thistles among the flowers (WC 1/2 sheet)

I noticed the thistles and I thought, every garden has weeds. It is a given, It is what we contend with. Either they grow in our hearts or around us. It is a part of this fallen creation.

Thistles among the flowers

The purple thistles in the foreground are called "devil weeds". They are beautiful with their purple heads, but they are ruthless. Plant one and you have thousands. 

Petal Tips!  This watercolor was done in a couple of hours.  I look at it now and I think, I should go back into that foreground and enhance the purple thistles.  It would make it much more dramatic. And I will. I learn as much as from what is wrong as what is right. I painted everything around the white flowers, knowing I was saving the white for the subject.  The subject was just there when eveything else was painted. 

The white flowers was just a spot of yellow with a half-moon stroke of burnt sienna to tuck the middle of the flower down into the petals. A stroke of watery gray-blue gave it shadows and they were painted.

Meanderings~~~~~ As I say, I can learn as much as from what is wrong as what is right.  The Lord has exposed my heart to me and I have seen the thistles growing. Some from the past and some from the current.  Some times they are beautiful purple blooms but, let them grow and they will take over.  The same is when we have a bitter heart, unforgiveness or coveteousness.  You name it, anything the devil plants, it will destroy you.  It will choke out the beauty of the true flower which you are. 

For the painting sake, the thistles need to be stronger in the foreground, for the heart's sake, they just need to be pulled out.

Season of Harvest (Veg. WC 16X20)

This time of the year we receive the bounty of harvest. Fall brings summer's fruition. That's the way we grow.  The season we are in, brings the next stage of our lives. We need to walk through each season, just as a garden needs not only the beauty of flowers but the sustenance of vegetables and fruit.

Season of Harvest

Petal Tips! This watercolor went together with such ease.  I love Charles Reid's loose,  counting-each-stroke technique, which  keeps the painting clean and the colors pure.  In order to do this, I loaded the brush full of red and painted the tomatoes, leaving a white space for highlight.

The cauliflower was done with dirty diluted watercolor from the palette.  It takes a lot of water.  Again the egg plant took one or two strokes. I liked the design, It's almost an upside V.  I made vertical strokes coming down in the background, and then I made horizontal strokes in the foreground, laying down the table top.

Meanderings~~~~ A student, Jean Shad,  brought in some vegetables for one of the art classes.  I just had to paint it with her. Other people's ideas feed into us, and hopefully what we are thinking and feeling will enhance how they are looking at life.  I probably would not have thought of vegetables.  But I am so glad that the student had the thought of bringing them.

Walking on Sunflowers (Acrylic)

The Sunflower! That's a fun flower to paint. I've planted hundreds of them. There ae so many varieties. Big black centers, small green, and brown, pointed tips, ragged squared off tips, flat rounded tips, but they are all sunflowers. I have also painted them in array of different mediums, from heavy textured oils, soft washy watercolors and flat hard edged acrylic. All of that and they still remain sunflowers.

Walking on Sunflowers (36X36 Floor Art Acrylic)

When we built a new road on our property, the first thing that came up in the newly turned dirt were sunflowers. They stood large in a golden yellow line as if they were guarding our driveway, always with their heads pointed to the sun..

Petal Tips:
This painting was done on a large loose square canvas which I  painted as floor art. This painting was painted in acrylic and hemmed. This is not usually my style. I do not paint with hard edges, but it was another experiment.  

I sized the canvas with gesso, laid the canvas flat on the table, drew my image on, then painted with acrylics. I painted dark blue behind the orange flower, and also kept the yellow tips light, all  to make the center the focal point. I didn't do anything but paint. This painting is more for the idea that art doesn't have to hang on the wall, it can be floor art too. 

I turned the edges and ironed them down, then glued them so that I had a nice flat hem. I've used the same idea and turned these loose canvases into table runners, place mats, and images under glass. 

This big bold images is definitely a stopper. People will stop and look before they walk on it. 

Meanderings~~~~~ Sunflowers grow wild, they pop up where no one has planted them. How does the seeds of sunflowers find their way into loose soil? The mystery of God's grace. I have found so  much beauty in places I had nothing to do with  and yet the Spirit wooes me to turn and look. How can we not be overwhelmed at God's goodness and beauty. Just in a simple sunflower, we see beauty.


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Bursting Forth (Roses 11X14 WC)

Bursting Forth (Roses 11X14 Watercolor)

I woke up this morning anxiously wanting to get to my garden, just to see what has grown overnight. This little rose painting caught my eye. I love this little watercolor. It was one of those paintings that just happened. I could almost count the strokes. 

Petal Tips! This painting was done wet on wet. That,  meaning I laid clean water down over the paper, I dropped a little yellow in the left upper corner, made some swirls in red paint, leaving the middle one ,white. I added green and blue letting the water fuse the leaf colors together, and while it was wet I threw in some salt.

This whole process was done in wet. While it was drying, I added more strokes in green, added a stronger swirl in red and called it finished.

The salt crystallized and because it was wet at the time, the salt moved the water out as if the flowers were bursting forth. The whole work on this painting was done by the paper, water and paint.  I just gave it a swirl or two.

Meanderings~~~~ This is the way of life.  Sometimes we struggle and struggle in doing something. It never seems to fit. Those times are teaching times and the outcome never seems to be that satisfying but the lessons we learned, are priceless.

Then there are those times we just start something, like this rose painting and it just goes together. I could have never done this rose painting in the confidence that I put it on paper without all those years of struggle. Life is the same way. We need those teaching moments in order to perform magic.

White Petals (Mixed Med 11X15)

I am picking this floral for you today, just so you can see another technique. I am hoping you are learning that art can be anything and any way you want to go, it is an expression o f beauty, and will come in different forms and different mediums. According to your mood and choices.

White Petals (Mixed Med 11X15)

I save my old watercolor paper for these kinds of mix mediums. Old, in the sense, they start out as a watercolor, and with possibly too much labor, too much dark, too, too, too. Anything can take a watercolor over the edge. I use 300# paper, it's heavy like a board.  I never feel intimidated in using expensive paper because I know if I cross over the line, I can always add another medium. I would rather work freely than cautious. I've painted enough to know when to stop, but there is that moment when you love a certain color more than anything and you can't stop yourself. Then you look back, and scream, "Oh No. I should have stopped."

Petal Tips! Again this is an impressionist rendering. It is considered a mixed medium. This has almost a scraping effect, like I used sandpaper instead of a hard white bristle brush. I applied the white acrylic to the tips of the flower, one tip at a time.  I pulled it down to the center. I added color at the center of the floral and then pulled it up to meet the tip. Each one was done the same way. I added polymar medium for a frosting-like consistency. The petals were random. I wanted the feeling of the flower spreading loosely.  One flower with green around it would have killed the flow. Extra petals could belong to this one or to another one beneath it.  So did I have any flower in mind? No. I was going with the shapes that were already there and followed through.

Meanderings~~~~~  Some of us have re-invented ourselves many times, each time pulling from what we were born with, what has been given to us and the detours we have taken. Those times when we loved something more than good sense and we couldn't stop ourselves.  We are more beautiful than when we started. We actually are becoming what God has intended us to be.  

If you look at the weathered skin, the lines in our faces, and the sagging bodies, you would say, "No! That's not true." But if you could see the  heart, you would know what I was talking about. Life has scratched away at some of us until the rough sandpaper has smoothed us out.  Those places in our personalities that were jaded and rough are now smooth. The bitterness has turned sweet. We have been redeemed from ourselves. Praise God.

Little is much (Mixed Med - Lily 6" X 8")

Good Morning

I woke up excited as to which flower I would pick for you today. I am staying with the impressionism. I love the colors  and the movement.This is another small painting 6" X 8", but it carries bigness. Some of the classic pictures we have grown accustomed to, such as Van Gogh's or Rembrandt, carry strength and power, and we are shocked they are so small.

Little is Much (Mixed Med - Lily  6" X 8")

They loom so big in our minds and I have assumed they must be big.Isn't that the way of true worshippers of God. Once you get to know them, you are surprised their lives are so simple;  they are so big in the spiritual world before God, but usually their lives are hidden away, without any fanfare. They must stay small in the eyes of the world in order that they can stay pure before God.

Petal Tips! This lily goes outside the borders. I believe when you do this, the subject becomes big even on a small piece of paper. This was also a from a used piece of 300# paper cut up into small pieces. I saw partially an image of an open flower, then I began to carve out petals.

On the value side it is a one to nine. It is dark in the left bottom corner showing a shadow and the middle of the flower is highlighted with white acrylic. This gives it the three dimension. Also, when I add white acrylic, it becomes too chalky, so after it dries I put a magenta or Alizarian Crimson diluted watercolor wash over it. This cuts some of the white.

When I teach, I emphasise always, "save the whites", and span the value as dark as you can go. What I mean by this, think of the darkest dark as ten and the lightest light as one. Usually when a student brings me something they have done, many times it is flat and they do not know how to make it pop. Most often it is because they stay in the middle of values. They will paint it all between four and six.

Meanderings~~~~Once in life I wanted it all and I thought if I worked hard enough I could have it all. Today, I only want ALL that the Lord wants me to have. What a difference in my life.  Once I was straining my tether, running through life grabbing and getting everything I could get. I missed life in the process and it brought heartache to my family.

Now my life is so satisfying and fulfilled but I keep it very simple. I want time to worship, paint and write and enjoy my family. It means cutting out time spent running to town, and spinning my wheels. 

So this flower, is big with very little around it, just enough to support its existence. 

Impression of beauty (Mixed Med - Impressionist)

I picked you a flower today from my garden of impressionism. Impressionism does not look at form but liquid, not structure but feeling.

Years ago I had a friend who had a dark brown birthmark on the whole side of her face. Maxine was witty, clever, fun and she was a wonderful friend. I introduced Maxine to another friend. This friend said, "I was appalled, you should have told me about the birthmark, I couldn't help but stare. I made a fool of myself. You should have told me."

I just remembered my reaction, "I forgot she had it."

Impression of beauty 4"X5"

I think this is the way of impressionist art, we are not looking at the form, but the feeling. That feeling of beauty of how it affects us.   

This little painting carries so much feeling. I don't know if it is the movement or the color, but I love it.

Petal Tips! This started out as an old watercolor on 300# paper, I cut the paper up into small shapes. I looked at the original painting and looked for something I could build on. I saved the rose on the right side and took white acrylic and started making curved lines up the side.  I needed to do something that would pull the flower into the painting, so I made strokes as big as the flowers, It works. The flower actually leans into the curved lines and fills the space.

I needed to bring in some dark just to keep it from looking flat. The dark in the left hand corner adds another dimension, like there is a background behind it.

Meanderings~~~~What can we learn from this painting? It started out on a used piece of paper, but there was an impression of a flower that remained. It was off-centered, small and of little consequences. But anything in the Master Artist's  hands can flourish. The Master knows exactly how to build the painting around the lone flower.  He knows how to draw it back into society, (the other things around it). Nothing is lost in the Master's hands and nothing is lost in our hands if we have the mind of Christ. We can find beauty in ashes. .  

Simple Things Speak Loudly

Which flower should I pick today? They are all so beautiful.  Isn't that the way it is? We look at our children and see how different they are but each one has a fragrence about them, a simple beauty, an uniqueness, and we want to pick them all.



SimpleThings Speak Loudly (WC)

 So I am going to pick this simply boutique and put them in this funky picture.

Petal Tips! This is a pure watercolor, nothing added, not even pencil marks. I saved the whites where I knew I would be putting the pitcher and white flowers. I just let the water, paint and paper do the work. The looseness makes it a true watercolor.

The white flowers were made by the color around them. They just happened as I added color for the other flowers and green foalige.

I put clean water on the pot after the background dried, then I dropped in shadows and colors to reflect the things around them. The charm with this, is not the perfection but the washy look of a watercolor.

Meanderings~~~~ Why are we so uptight with life? This painting just proves that letting life go and walking in the liquid flow of the Spirit, we will have unexpectant surprises. The thing I am learning these days, is that to be flexible to God's call, we must forget form and become liquid.

I understand we need a certain amount of form to bring order, there is a balance. God Bless You