Kathy Jurek Illustration

Goldfinch

2012-02-04T17:38:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's been two months since I've posted. Been really busy with school and I will start posting some of the work I'm doing. For now, here's a cute goldfinch that I'm teaching my watercolor class.

Peppermints

2011-11-29T19:23:00.000-06:00

I painted these candies as a lesson for my watercolor class this month. If you are interested in this project, I put together a 7 page pdf booklet and you can purchase it here.

New Watercolor - finally!

2011-10-12T16:01:00.000-05:00

Here's a painting I recently finished of a white cat on a piano. I've really been wanting to explore textural effects. I've done it a bit here and there but am ready to keep moving forward with it. Right now I'm playing with textural backgrounds. I painted this cat realistically but I wanted to get some texture, value and shape in the background. I painted the background randomly with gesso to get the texture and then I just played around with the shapes and values until I got something I liked.

Download: Black Cat & Pumpkin

2011-09-08T09:22:00.001-05:00

Download: Black Cat & Pumpkin

I have decided to offer a monthly free downloadable painting or illustration. This first one is from my Month of Pumpkins Project last year.

If you would like to receive notice of new art, please join my mailing list through http://www.kathyjurek.com/ or my facebook page.

For those interested in watercolor painting, I have also started offering downloadable lessons for a small charge.

Happy painting!

Illustration Friday "Swell"

2011-08-13T20:28:00.000-05:00

How about a nice fat, feasting mosquito for Illustration Friday's topic "swell" (as long as it's not on me.) I tried to capture a feeling of the body starting to float up like a balloon and ready to pop!

Illustration Friday "Obsession"

2011-07-30T15:58:00.000-05:00

Here is my illustration for IF's theme "Obsession". I love painting kids in costumes. I don't know why besides the fact that they're so cute. Maybe it's an obsession? I love the color green. Dragons/dinosaurs can be green. Boys like those things. Voila!

To my regular readers, I'm sorry I haven't posted for 6 weeks. I didn't realize it had been so long. I've been pretty busy with lots of things and I took a vacation but I'm back and will try to get rolling again. :)

Little Hippie or Madonna Wannabe?

2011-06-11T20:23:00.000-05:00

This was just for fun today with a reference from a group at Wetcanvas.com.

Illustration Friday "Shadows"

2011-06-05T21:44:00.002-05:00

This weeks IF theme is Shadows and this is the first thing I thought of. Who doesn't enjoy a good shadow monster...especially when it scares the cat. I can so totally see my 10 yr old son doing this. :)

Illustration Friday "Asleep"

2011-05-31T19:27:00.000-05:00

OK. Illustration "Tuesday" for me this week which is earlier than I usually post and thank you in advance to anyone who stops to see this. I doodled this cat and dog a few weeks ago for another IF topic (which escapes me at the moment) and I was happy to be able to go back to it for this week's topic "Asleep".

Marouschka - a little girl watercolor portrait

2011-05-30T14:43:00.000-05:00

I joined in the Weekend Paint on Wetcanvas and couldn't resist painting little Marouschka. I haven't done a watercolor portrait for a while. I keep letting myself get distracted and also I've been trying to develop an illustration style which is like learning another language! This is my native language - straight portraiture in watercolor and it was without any commission pressure so it was a breeze to paint. Some day I hope that children's illustration will come as naturally for me.

The only part about this portrait that I do not like is that I didn't wait for my first wash on her face to dry before I jumped into the background and the purple moved in. You can't really lift it so it has a somewhat ghastly cast to it, too heavy. I really hate purple for flesh colors. If I were to try it again, I'd go for lighter and more scarlet lake in the complexion. But overall, I am happy with this.

Now, back to illustration.... :)

Illustration Friday - Safari

2011-05-19T21:39:00.000-05:00

This was so fun and I'm so late hardly anyone will see this but here's my illustration for Illustration Friday's challenge last Friday "Safari".

Illustration Friday "Beginner"

2011-05-09T20:30:00.000-05:00

So many things you can do with "beginner". The first thought that popped into my head was music lessons, this was #2 and I decided to go with it.

Someday I hope to figure how to get my thumbnail sized correctly for the IF Blog. Does anyone else have trouble with this? I've done everything I can think of, followed directions online and they still come out bigger than 15K even when they 72 dpi and 50 x 50 pixels. ?? I'm taking my question to a Photoshop expert tomorrow night but in the meantime I really wanted to post this before Thursday. :) Have a super week!

Butterfly & Lilac Watercolor

2011-05-08T20:55:00.000-05:00

Here is a painting that I also taught in my watercolor class. They wanted to try masking fluid and I introduced the concept of negative painting in the lilac. It's been a work in progress that I've fiddled with and now I'm calling it done.

Spring Blossoms

2011-05-01T21:04:00.000-05:00

I spent around 5 hours this weekend cleaning up my garden. There is still lots to do but I have to wait for the trash to be picked up because I filled all of my trash cans. It finally feels like spring here and it was perfect weather to garden about 60 degrees. Tonight, my husband asked me why I had a red line on my back above the waistband of my pants. Apparently that part of me was in the sun long enough to get burned while I was bending over my plants. LOL

We have an enormous flowering pear tree in our front yard that is gorgeous for about 2 weeks every spring. This is a close up of the blossoms that I painted on a 6 x 6 piece of Aquaboard. A fun surface to work with and it just needs to be sprayed and framed.

Illustration Friday "Journey"

2011-04-21T16:35:00.000-05:00

Last Friday's IF topic was Journey. These turn into week long projects for me and today is the deadline. This is a day in the life of my cat, Juliet. It's not a real traveling type of journey because she doesn't meander far from our yard but this is her world. She's a real character and I think I've captured her spirit and body language. That one of her lying on the patio is so typical with her long, lanky body relaxing in the sun. The life of a cat.

This second sketch was my idea for the previous week's topic "Bottled". I doodled while my husband and I drove down the Missouri Watercolor Society's Annual Show that weekend. I just had to chuckle because it looks so similar to the one that was chosen for IF's home page - I like mine better though. :) I'll paint this one up and try to get it posted in the next few days.

Watercolor painting of Lab Puppy - Mojave

2011-04-07T15:02:00.000-05:00

My husband's co-worker let me paint her beautiful labrador puppy named Mojave. Isn't that a cool name? :) I am selling prints in my Etsy store so if you love chocolate labs or you know someone who does, you can find them here .

Illustration Friday "Duet"

2011-04-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

This weekend, it felt like spring. I had 4 crocus wake up this week and my daffodils are blooming. I hope you're feeling spring in your corner of the world, too. :)

Illustration Friday - Toy

2011-03-27T19:37:00.000-05:00

I find that the pieces I have the most fun with are usually inspired by things I'm familiar with. This one is inspired by our cat, Midnight. When we adopted her, her name was Spitfire because she liked to jump on this elderly lady's beehive hairdo. She still has a hair fetish, but thankfully she's doesn't jump on heads anymore. My kids liked the oh-so-original pet name of "Midnight" so she was rechristened and calmed down quite a bit after that and she grew up and became a plump housecat. The end. :)

Illustration Friday - Cultivate

2011-03-23T21:26:00.000-05:00

Here is my illustration for Cultivate, inspired by my daughter and similar to the illustration in my sidebar. I'm kind of tickled with this character and have plans to use her in future illustrations. And I had to include our kitty, Juliet, trying to steal some affection though she is black in real life and I haven't quite figured out how to paint her as an illustration using black...yet. I'm thinking I may need to darken the values in this but here it is for now.

News Article about my illustration

2011-03-16T12:44:00.000-05:00

Tess Sykes is my new best friend! She is a local writer who I met when she did a couple of stories last year- one about a local art club that I belong to, Bellevue Artists Association and then another highlighting the watercolor class that I began teaching one year ago. She recently started a blog to review children's books and asked to interview me. I am really impressed with her writing. :) Everyone needs to know a person like Tess to cheer them on. Thank you, Tess!

http://kidsbookcritic.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/illustrated-by-kathy-jurek/

IF "Stir"

2011-03-13T16:31:00.000-05:00

Where does the time go? I haven't posted for about 3 weeks but not because I haven't been painting. I've actually attempted the last two Illustration Fridays even reworking one a couple of time but I didn't think they were very successful so fast forward and we'll try "Stir". This reminded me of my husband's hunting dog who was a German Short Haired Pointer and a superior bird dog. He was really pretty, too, and thought he was a lap dog. I wish I had more pictures of him.

Illustration Friday "Layer"

2011-02-23T16:55:00.000-06:00

I'm always late for IF. It seems to take a day or two for an idea to percolate in my head. Then sometimes it take another day or two to finish it. I really enjoyed this one. This sort of goes with the "itching for Spring" theme of my previous post. I'm sure most people are feeling this way. I understand Mother Nature is sending us more cold weather tonight though. :(

It felt like Spring today....

2011-02-16T19:07:00.000-06:00

until about 4 o'clock. Then a fog monster rolled in. Goodbye sunshine.....

Illustration Friday - Sweater

2011-02-12T11:08:00.000-06:00

The theme for Illustration Friday this week was Sweater. Lots of fun you can have with that one. I originally thought it would be fun to have a really poofy sweater with a little bit of dog showing. Maybe I'll still play with that but this is I ended up with. :)

and..........Happy Valentine's Day!

Hayley & Juliet

2011-02-06T20:13:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of my daughter and one of our cats, Juliet, who loves to be cuddled and held. I think she'd be really happy in a sling baby carrier. :)

13 x 16

Watercolor Child Portrait Finished

2011-01-18T18:03:00.000-06:00

C'est fini! And I am really proud of this one. It's called "Quilted" and I actually made the quilt wrapped around my son. I wish more of it showed because it was a cat design that caught my eye about 8 years ago. It was paper pieced and took many hours. I've only made a few quilts and this one had a gazillion pieces and tons of quilting. I will definitely try to use it in a future painting.

Each painting is a learning experience. I have learned quite a bit about working with earth colors lately. This painting was much more subdued than others that I've done. I wanted to go darker and I also stayed true to the quilt colors. Lots of raw and burnt umber mixed with ultramarine blue. Raw umber is a very handy color. I use it a lot in hair and I actually used a similar painting technique on the quilt as I do with hair. Basically you're working dry in wet and layering and building the colors up light to dark. I also did a little wet in wet but not sloppy wet so I could control it some. This way you get soft edges.

For the background I took advantage of the paint (raw umber mostly). It's a granulating pigment so you're bound to get some flecks of paint that settle. I let it react with my damp background and do what it wanted to. I also painted the sofa while the background was dark hence the crazy edges. I love it. My husband hates it. But I told him it's better to leave those things than keep going back over and making a mess. Blooms and backwashes can be beautiful things .... It's art after all.

Watercolor Portrait On My Easel

2011-01-13T14:47:00.000-06:00

This is a painting of my son. So far it's going pretty smoothly. I wanted a lose background and I think I achieved that. I think it's important to have a variety of edges both soft and hard. Even though I am using a photograph for a reference, I don't want it to look that obvious. The hard part (face) is done and now it's just figuring out how to paint the quilt he's wrapped in. Actually, that may be the hard part. I will post the finish in a few days.

Illustration Friday "Deja Vu"

2011-01-10T19:01:00.000-06:00

Illustration Monday for me! We had a snow day today so I stayed home from work and though I spent most of the day in my studio, I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, seemed to take forever getting my next painting ready to paint, but tomorrow I will be ready to get my brushes out.

My interpretation of Deja Vu.

Aquarium Collage

2011-01-05T19:21:00.000-06:00

This is a fun project I put together for a class I'm taking. It started with a paperclip. I used mostly my own collage paper made with acrylic paint on rice paper. The seaweed is some scrapbook paper I had been saving for just the right project.

This year I'm planning on focusing more on illustration and I did this project with children's illustration in the back of my mind.

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T22:01:00.000-06:00

I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Illustration Friday - Mail

2010-12-21T20:07:00.000-06:00

Santa's got mail!..........I love combining Illustration Friday themes with holidays. I guess I like more parameters when coming up with a design and holidays like Halloween and Christmas add to the fun.

A Baby Watercolor

2010-12-19T15:57:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I went see the Kent Bellows show at the Joslyn Art Museum here in Omaha. Kent died in 2005 at the age of 56, a tremendous loss to the art world. His work was extremely realistic with pencil seeming to be his preferred medium but he had works in acrylic, oil, pastel, mixed media, watercolor and it was absolutely stunning.

So inspired by his carefully rendered paintings I decided to really blend the skin out on this baby which is not my usual method. I also stuck with mostly burnt umber and permanent rose to paint the skin because I wanted a subtle almost monochromatic look. 7 x 5 inches.

Watercolor Self-Portrait

2010-11-28T19:26:00.000-06:00

I really wanted to paint today and this happened sort of spontaneously. There are several watercolor portrait artists who I greatly admire and who have and continue to influence me. One is Roberta Carter Clark. She is an amazing portrait artist who is comfortable working in just about any medium. I love her watercolors and was going to copy one she had in her book Painting Vibrant Children's Portraits. Instead I decided to just try to emulate the style which isn't far off from the way I paint but lately it seems I've gotten back to being tighter and I want to get back to being looser and letting the watercolor do it's thing. It's a test of willpower to mix up a puddle of paint, lay it down and then let it dry without going back in!

Portrait Swap

2010-11-26T14:53:00.001-06:00

I teamed up with Mark Satchwill, a watercolor portrait artist who I have known for several years through some online groups for EBSQArt's annual portrait swap. I posted his a couple of weeks ago and here is the one he painted of me. This is actually the first watercolor portrait I have of myself. Didn't he do a great job?

Blogger of the Week on EBSQArt & Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T17:16:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week I am being featured on EBSQ as their blogger of the week.
http://blog.ebsqart.com/2010/11/23/ebsq-blogger-of-the-week-kathy-jurek/#comment-5049

Self portrait

2010-11-21T14:34:00.000-06:00

I thought I was going to do a self portrait in watercolor today. I got carried away with my drawing instead. Too bad it's on tracing paper. :)

You Decide (M & M Series)

2010-11-20T17:01:00.000-06:00

I've done a series of paintings in front of M&M machines over the last several years and this is one I painted over the summer for a local show. I had it professionally scanned and found the disk on my desk this afternoon and remembered I had never posted it. So here it is! This painting is on Aquaboard and measures 18 x 24. If you are unfamiliar with Aquaboard - it is a board with a textured clay surface that will accept watercolor. It doesn't have to be framed under glass and it's a board so you don't have to mat or stretch it. You just finish it with a spray fixative and frame it.

EBSQArt Annual Portrait Swap

2010-11-15T07:04:00.001-06:00

This is my painting of Mark Satchwill for the EBSQArt.com annual portrait swap. Mark is also a watercolor portrait artist and we've been in a few online groups together. You can see his art at http://www.marksatchwill.com/.

Illustration Friday - "Afterwards"

2010-11-06T19:50:00.000-05:00

This is my illustration for Illustration Friday's theme "Afterwards". This is the sick mind of an artist although I would say this is still rated "G". This is my first finished painting since I completed my pumpkin project 5 days ago. If you missed it, I put together a slideshow to your right. I learned that it pays off to have some kind of project or firm painting schedule to keep you going. Five days without painting went by so quickly. It is so easy to get distracted with other things!

October Free Print People....

2010-11-02T20:32:00.001-05:00

For all of you following who commented on this blog during October and would like a free print of one of my pumpkin paintings, please help me out and send me your name and address. You can add your information to my mailing list on my website www.kathyjurek.com or you may send it to me directly by emailing me through my website or through this blog. I have approximately 30 people to get in touch with and this would speed things up and help me out a lot.

Please get this information to me by November 15th. Thanks a bunch!

A Month of Pumpkins Day 31 - Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T18:54:00.000-05:00

You're all out trick or treating right now but tomorrow you can remember what the neighborhood looked like. Thank you to everyone who followed my pumpkin project and left comments.

Happy Halloween!

A Month of Pumpkins Day 30

2010-10-30T21:48:00.001-05:00

I was determined to get at least one acrylic painting in this month and after two unsuccessful attempts, I got lucky today. I do prefer watercolor for the ease of mixing. I never have to worry if I run out of paint. I know exactly how to get my color again and no fussing with white paint or worrying about the paint drying out.

This still life is very similar to one I posted last week. I really like this arrangement of pumpkins and art supplies.

One more day to go. Feeling happy and sad at the same time.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 29 / Illustration Friday "Spent"

2010-10-29T19:52:00.000-05:00

For those of you who haven't been following, I've been posting a painting or illustration every day this month with some kind of pumpkin reference. I've attempted to also use pumpkins in my IF illustration. I used watercolor pencils on this illustration today so I could sit with my husband and watch TV rather than hide out in my basement studio where the light fixture bit the dust and I've been painting in the dark the last 2 days.

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 28

2010-10-28T17:07:00.000-05:00

This is the Pum-King. I've been wanting to paint him since about a week into my project. I just wasn't sure what he was going to look like. This is how he revealed himself to me today and the robins wanted to be part of the show, too. As I continue to work on my illustration, I realize it's best to go with my first instinct even if I don't know exactly where I'm going. Somehow the image works itself out once I put my pencil to paper. It's best if I don't think too hard. Also, there are lots of little things around for inspiration like the robins who were happily jumping around in the leaves the other day when I got home.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 27

2010-10-27T20:25:00.000-05:00

The countdown begins....four more after this and I want them to be really good. I'm not putting any pressure on myself, ha... I revisited my illustration from Day 7 because I was very happy with it and wanted to do something similar so here is a Pumpkin Mama and her babies. I just had to add the robin. When I came home yesterday there was a whole flock of them in my yard.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 26

2010-10-26T19:57:00.000-05:00

Today I grabbed a bunch of gourds that I bought and a handful of leaves from outside and arranged a still life on my desk. I actually made many arrangements and took a bunch of photographs but I painted this from life. I just had to add some watercolor tubes and a paintbrush. It seemed appropriate. To bid on Ebay, click here.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 25

2010-10-25T19:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday!

This is a little watercolor from a still life I set up. It is painted on Aquaboard and measures 6 x 6. I really enjoy painting on Aquaboard and since I bought a 4 pk, you'll probably be seeing another similar painting very soon. I'm at Day 25 and I can see the end of my project coming closer to the end and I admit I'm a little sad. Six more paintings/illustrations to go......

This one is listed on Ebay here if you are interested in owning it. (FYI, the bumpy look on the background is my scanner picking up the texture of the board like when I scanned the 300 lb watercolor paper. It's not so obvious in real life and it looks "normal" if there is such a thing.)

A Month of Pumpkins Day 24

2010-10-24T16:05:00.000-05:00

I decided to do something different today, something I've been wanting to do for a long time - collage. But, I've been wanting to make my own paper on something that is thin like tracing paper but sturdy enough to take paint and not buckle. I just hadn't figured out yet what would be the right surface. While I was in my favorite art supply store yesterday, I decided to check out the papers they keep in those flat files, and voila, Rice Paper seemed like a place to start.

Here are the results of my morning efforts. I tried watercolor, watercolor crayon and acrylic. Acrylic worked best. I used a hair dryer to speed things up.

Then I just needed a reference photo. I used one I took at my friend's house.

And what to put my collage on? I had a 5 x 7 piece of aquaboard and I hadn't been happy with the painting so I gessoed over it and loosely sketched my design on with watercolor crayon. Then I tore up pieces of collage paper and glued them down with PVA glue which is a ph neutral glue used for bookbinding and paper projects, something archival. I tore pieces of the rice paper and glued them down and then I went back over with paint in a few places. Tomorrow I will seal it with acrylic varnish. It was fun. I've worked on this pretty much all day though and my back aches, but I'm finished a lot earlier than yesterday so I have time to fold laundry, go grocery shopping and cook dinner. Yay!

A Month of Pumpkins Day 23

2010-10-23T22:17:00.002-05:00

This is The Pumpkin Thief and I only had to bribe my son a little bit to model.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 22 / Illustration Friday "Racing"

2010-10-22T19:48:00.001-05:00

Wow, I'm getting closer to the end of the month and I still have lots of ideas. I'm really excited about some of the illustrations floating around in my head. Today's Pumpkin painting is also inspired by Illustration Friday's theme of Racing.
The four remaining mouse racers flew over the hill desperately trying to outrun each other as they closed in on the finish in their pumpkin race cars.......

I almost forgot to mention that my blog was featured on EBSQArt.com's "Friday Five" Blog post today. I've been a member of EBSQ for about 5 years. Go check it out!

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 21

2010-10-21T17:05:00.000-05:00

Thank you to all who have posted. I know people are watching and I know it might be intimidating to post for the first time but if you met me in person, you'd realize how artsy I am meaning quiet and introverted. The comments really do encourage me so please comment. I've jumped in with my give away not knowing how many prints I will make but I will keep my promise.

This is a trading card. I used to do a lot more, and now that I've been working in larger sizes again, boy, did this feel small. I also used a piece of 300 lb. cold press watercolor paper which I actually hate. LOL. It might even be rough instead of cold or maybe it's just the brand but I really hate it. If I give it another chance, I think I"d soak it in water first. It's like painting on cardboard and the scanner picked up all the ridges in the paper. Enough ranting. I erased the ridges in Photoshop, and here it is. Hope it's not too boring. I needed to do something quick because I teach my watercolor class tonight and I've had a busy day. Guess what we're painting in my class?

A Month of Pumpkins Day 20

2010-10-20T20:28:00.001-05:00

This painting was done with Caran D'Ache Neocolor Watercolor Crayons. I bought a few about a year ago and this is the first time I've used them. Interesting. If you love watercolor but hate the lack of control, you might like these because you basically color and then blur it with your paintbrush but you don't have to use puddles of water. I did add some regular watercolor to darken my twig. Now I've to go buy some more colors. :)

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 19 - Get a FREE Print!

2010-10-19T21:25:00.002-05:00

I decided today that I want to give some pumpkin prints away. I don't know which one or if you will have a choice and it depends on how many I end up giving away but if you leave a comment on my blog from now 10/19-10/31, I will contact you and you can let me know if you'd like a free print! So tell anyone who might be interested in my pumpkin project!

I love it when artists I admire post works in progress or sketches so I can see their process so I thought I'd snap some pictures of this painting while I was working. Sometimes I forget to stop painting to take the picture but I got a pretty good progression.

This painting is 11 x 14 gessoed watercolor paper like Day 5. The colors I used: Raw sienna and Cobalt Blue for background left side and down. Green Gold for background behind marigolds.

New Gamboge, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow and Permanent Rose

Hookers Green, Scarlet Lake, Burnt Sienna, Alizarin Crimson, Winsor Blue

Foliage is different mixtures of Hookers Green, Winsor Green, Scarlet Lake and Permanent Alizarin Crimson.

The shadow is Winsor Blue with a touch of Perm. Alizarin Crimson. I deepended the shadows on the pumpkin with Burnt Sienna and Alizarin Crimson, Hookers Green.

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 18

2010-10-18T21:22:00.000-05:00

Time for a portrait, my favorite subject. This is one of the little girls who lives next door to me and loves to model. My daughter took this picture at a pumpkin patch they went to. Little did she know....

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 17

2010-10-17T18:12:00.000-05:00

You ever have one of those days when nothing comes out right? I'm struggling with an acrylic pumpkin painting and have decided that part of my problem could be my reference photo but the other part of my problem could be that I have to mix acrylics and I'm just not liking what is happening so...it must be my reference photo, right?

"Mouse Meal" is an art card that I painted in 2007.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 16

2010-10-16T21:23:00.000-05:00

Just got back from a whirlwind 11 hour round trip but I started this one the other day so I didn't have to start completely from scratch.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 15

2010-10-15T21:31:00.000-05:00

I'm halfway!!

This is exploring the theme I started yesterday when I didn't have as much time to work it out. I'm also going to post this on Watercolor Wednesdays for this week's theme "Cat Magic" so hopefully, now you understand the illustration better. The more I paint with watercolor, the braver I am getting and I dared to explore with paint on the paper not sure exactly where I was going. I don't know if you can tell the difference on the screen but I used hot press watercolor paper and every time I use it, I like it more and more especially for illustrations. It takes a lot of abuse and you can build up your color if you're timid without making as much of a mess as with cold press.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 14

2010-10-14T21:34:00.000-05:00

This is a little one. I taught my watercolor class tonight and sketched this before I left. I did something I haven't done before but I will definitely do in the future. I made little ears out of my kneaded eraser and put them on my pumpkin so I could actually figure out how it might look. I won't necessarily use kneaded erase though it was handy but I'm all for making models and maquettes in my future illustrative work.

I may also post it for Watercolor Wednesdays theme this week of "Cat Magic" or I may try something else tomorrow. Nothing like a deadline to motivate me. ;)

A Month of Pumpkins Day 13

2010-10-13T19:26:00.000-05:00

This is another reference from my friend Theresa. Thanks, Theresa!!! Her dog, Belle, is the star along with her pumpkin co-stars. I started sketching this on a 7 x 5 piece of watercolor paper but my brain couldn't draw the dog that small and once I got the dog drawn, it would only fit on a quarter sheet of watercolor paper. This is my biggest pumpkin painting so far this month though I have one waiting in the wings ready to paint. Believe it or not I haven't run out of ideas yet....

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 12

2010-10-12T20:39:00.002-05:00

I knew I was going to be busy today and even though I had a lot of other things going on, I worked on today's pumpkin painting for several hours but it's not quite finished. It ended up being 14 x 11 which is partly why I haven't finished. I'm really happy with it. It's got an illustrative feel but from a photograph my friend let me use. I'll have it tomorrow. Until then, here is a little Art Card I did from life a few years ago that I never sold, It's up on Ebay here.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 11

2010-10-11T20:48:00.000-05:00

This painting started out with my cat in front of pumpkins. I was going to leave the background white but it looked like it needed something more so I added the cornstalks. Well I wasn't sure if that was enough so I added the greenery to the foreground. Then heck, it needed a foreground and sky. This was a build as you go painting. :)

A Month of Pumpkins Day 10

2010-10-10T19:12:00.000-05:00

Did you know today is 10-10-10? :)

I'm 1/3 of the way into my project! This is Katie, my friend's dog. She was kind enough to model for me on Friday when I went to Iowa to photograph pumpkins.

This is a trading card or art card, editions and originals (ACEO) because I sell them mostly on Ebay. To bid on this card on Ebay, please click here.

Illustration Friday "Transportation" / Month of Pumpkins Day 9

2010-10-09T17:01:00.000-05:00

Here is my illustration for IF's "transportation" theme. It's also day 9 of my project to paint one pumpkin painting a day during October. Yesterday I went out to Glenwood, Iowa to visit a friend and photograph pumpkins. We encountered a few garden friends - a huge praying mantis and lots of box elder beetles amongst the marigolds and mums. I imagine later that afternoon they got together with some moths and took a ride in a pumpkin carriage pulled by a garter snake off to a Fall gathering somewhere in the Glenwood Woods.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 8

2010-10-08T22:00:00.002-05:00

Today I started working on an illustration (with a pumpkin) inspired by Illustration Friday's theme of "transportation" and also a visit I made to a friend's house in Iowa to photograph her pumpkins. It was a gorgeous day, a little too hot for October (in the 80s.) Wish I had been able to stay longer and actually paint them from life but I'll have to go back another day. I got some great photographs. We even coaxed her black lab to get in some pictures. Unfortunatley, I haven't quite finished painting my illustration so I'll just give you a teaser - it has a pumpkin and some fall flowers and a few bugs that we encountered. :)

Until tomorrow, here is a pumpkin painting that I did in 2005 before I started this blog.

A Month of Pumpkins Day 7

2010-10-07T16:28:00.000-05:00

This one is in honor of my husband because today is our 21st wedding anniversary. :)

A Month of Pumpkins Day 6 / Watercolor Wednesday

2010-10-06T20:24:00.000-05:00

I'm using one painting for two blogs today. I posted this on Watercolor Wednesdays for the "Bewitching Hour" theme, too. There are pumpkins in this one. :)

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 5

2010-10-05T20:37:00.000-05:00

My friend Theresa shared some pumpkin references with me and this painting is based on one of them. If it looks a little different from my other watercolors that's because I gessoed my watercolor paper first, not completely, I dripped some gesso on it then swirled it around with my brush, let it dry and then painted on top. It gives some really interesting texture underneath the watercolor.

To bid on Ebay, click here.

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 4 "Pumpkin Truck"

2010-10-04T20:31:00.000-05:00

I've always admired the daily painters and secretly wanted to be part of the group but always chickened out. I'm trying to take this day to day and see if I can make it through the month. So far so good. Here's my 4th painting. To bid on Ebay, click here.

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 3

2010-10-03T19:33:00.002-05:00

From a reference photo from wetcanvas.com, here is Day 3. To bid on the auction, click here.

A Month of Pumpkins - Day 2

2010-10-02T18:47:00.001-05:00

Two days down, only 29 to go. :) Here's another pumpkin painting in my month long goal to paint a pumpking painting a day. To bid on this painting on Ebay, click here.

Illustration Friday - "Beneath"

2010-10-02T13:02:00.002-05:00

Beneath...hmmmm....It's hard not to think scary and the idea just flowed into my sketchbook in about 5 minutes. I traced it, scanned it and cleaned it up a bit. I'm not really experienced in digital art. It took forever to clean up where the scanner had picked up spots I had erased. Probably would've been a lot easier to retrace it! This was really fun to though.

Every child's fear be it sofa or bed.

I decided to paint this after I posted and here's the colorized version...

Pumpkins - Welcome October!

2010-09-30T17:08:00.002-05:00

How can you NOT love pumpkins?

Sometimes you just have to go for it and see what happens. One of the wonderful things about watercolor is the beautiful textures you can make. You just have to let go. I wasn't quite sure where I was going with the background except I was going to use mostly the colors I used on the pumpkins or darker version of the colors (burnt umber vs. raw umber) and I wanted it to be dark so the pumpkins would pop out. You might know that certain watercolor pigments act differently and the same color in another brand can act differently too. So the Sap green I used in the background left some interesting patterns and I'm currently using Senelier Cobalt blue instead of Winsor & Newton which I prefer. This blue is chalkier and seems more opaque which could be a good thing depending on what you're doing. As I was painting the b/g I kept thinking about collage paper like what Eric Carle makes and uses in his books. Anyway it was fun and if you approach your painting thinking shapes and filling those shapes with color/textures, it could be a great learning experience!

To bid on this painting on Ebay, click here.

A baby and a baby fairy

2010-09-13T20:24:00.000-05:00

The reference is from the All Media Events weekend event on Wetcanvas. I felt like drawing and then I decided to use my drawing to stretch my illustration muscles and turned her into a baby fairy.

Illustration Friday - Dessert

2010-09-06T18:48:00.000-05:00

I had a couple of ideas for this topic one typical, one risque and then I settled for this cute one of my cat. She loves her treats.

Still Life with Lemons - Acrylic

2010-09-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

This is an acrylic painting I did for the All Media Events Weekend Drawing Event (WDE) on Wetcanvas and I volunteered to host this weekend so this is from my reference.

8 x 10 on canvas board. I just posted it in my Etsy shop here along with a bunch of watercolors and prints.

Missouri Watercolor Society Invitational Show

2010-09-02T16:08:00.000-05:00

I just found out that my painting Button Pusher (22 x 15) won an honorable mention at the Missouri Watercolor Society Invitational Show in Columbia, MO. It's kind of exciting!

Illustration Friday - Immovable

2010-08-28T15:46:00.000-05:00

The theme this week is Immovable. Is this familiar to anyone? Internet Addiction? (He loves this by the way. Wants a painting for his office.)

Illustration Friday - Star Gazing

2010-08-15T21:23:00.000-05:00

I must've had ESP this weekend because before I saw the topic I had been thinking about doing this image. Watercolor 7 x 11.

Sketches

2010-08-03T18:28:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to immerse myself in illustrating my third book, one my sister wrote, which is my favorite... no bias here....but in all seriousness it's pretty darn good, inspired by my two nephews who will also appear in the story. The main character is Charlie who is such a character and since he inspired the story, he gets to be the star. This afternoon I spent some time sketching Charlie.

Tomatoes and Peppers

2010-08-01T10:48:00.000-05:00

Someone left some vegetables on the table in the studio where I teach watercolor classes so after my students left I did this quick watercolor. It's very Charles Reid-ish. It's very satisfying to sometimes work quickly and get something on paper. Charles Reid promotes contour drawing which is an excellent way to improve your drawing skills. He also teaches watercolor without doing a lot of layering (which I also agree with though I do a little more layering on my paintings.) The point of that is to get the values of your paint correct the first time so you don't disturb previous layers thereby keeping your watercolor fresh. You can do this by testing your colors on a scrap and comparing them to a value scale if you need to. I dampened my tomatoes and painted the reds with fresh pigment from the tube. I only went back with a second layer to put some shadows in. Colors used: Scarlet lake, Winsor red, Alizarin Crimson, Winsor Green, New Gamboge, Burnt Umber

Portrait of Don and Jeanne

2010-07-26T14:56:00.000-05:00

I just finished this portrait of my friends. It measures 12 x 20.

White Cat

2010-07-25T17:26:00.000-05:00

This is a quickie watercolor I did to perk myself up after I got stuck on another art project this afternoon and was starting to despair. I do hate the emotional roller coaster that comes with being an artist!

4 x 4

Susan - Finished Watercolor Portrait

2010-07-11T21:11:00.001-05:00

Here is the finished watercolor of Susan, my sister. I thought I messed it up but a couple of days away from it and I realize it's not bad. And watercolor is forgiving. I think I lifted the mouth at least twice and it still looks pretty good to me.

"Susan" Watercolor Portrait Work in Progress

2010-07-06T21:30:00.001-05:00

I'm using Arches 140 lb hot press paper to take advantage of the fun and looseness it creates. It's much easier to have a loose, splashy watercolor on hot press. Every time I use it I wonder why I don't paint on it more? 10 x 8

Showdown

2010-07-05T14:57:00.001-05:00

6 x 11 in.

Using a reference from this weekend's All Media Events paint out this weekend plus a little imagination, I created this little illustration. I also opened the unused bottle of masking fluid that's been sitting on my desk for a while so I could save the lattice and go at the background with loose washes. I've always thought I wasn't very imaginative but am starting to realize it's a muscle that needs to be flexed and the more I do it the more I realize I can. My challenge to you is to not worry about creating a masterpiece the next time you start a painting but to decide to just go for it. Grab a big brush and don't be afraid to splash on the paint! No dry brushing allowed. Use lots of water - you're using water color

Blue Pansies Watercolor Demo

2010-06-28T20:17:00.001-05:00

I have really enjoyed photographing and painting my pansies this year. This painting is one of the recent projects I've been teaching in my watercolor class. It measures 7 in. x 7 in.

I painted the background by moistening where I wanted the paint and using fresh pigment on my brush. Winsor Green (Yellow) and Cadmium Yellow. Make sure your paint brush is just damp so that when you apply the paint it will diffuse softly and give you soft edges. You don't have to always rinse your brush out before dipping into green or yellow.

The flowers were painted with ultramarine blue and the grayish areas in my photo are actually new gamboge added at the end of the ultramarine wash to just neutralize the blue a bit and give a glow near the edges. Paint each flower petal separately so you have some control You've got to pull the washes quickly and use enough pigment and water. Start near the center where the color is darker blue and draw it out to a lighter value towards the edge, adding pale new gamboge. (Try not to keep going over areas and stroking your paint on like you might with oils or acrylic, this will just stir it up and make a mess.) Remember, the wash will dry a couple of shades lighter and if your puddle of color isn't juicy enough and your brush isn't full of paint before you start the wash, especially with ultramarine blue, it will start to dry and you will get a "bloom". If you do, leave it alone. It's better to make it look like you did it on purpose. You might be able to lessen it with a second wash after the first one is dry. The flower centers are cadmium yellow.

The flower pot is painted with cobalt blue and touches of new gamboge. It looks kind of gray on my monitor but it's actually a dull greenish neutral.

I finished by wetting the petals and charging in some darker blue near the flower centers then while it's still wet (or you can wait for it to dry and rewet), I used a damp rigger brush and fresh ultramarine blue to paint in the streaks in the middle as well as a few dark nooks and crannies.

Here is an unsolicited watercolor brush recommendation. I am so excited to have discovered these Robert Simmons brushes at Michaels over the weekend! They are springy, hold just as much water as my sable and keep a nice sharp point and they are under $5! I don't know what they are called but they have short white handles and black ferrules. I think they are a natural and synthetic blend. Very nice to paint with!

Snapshot - Watercolor Portrait

2010-06-20T20:53:00.001-05:00

My daughter was trying to take her own picture before going out to a party. She was all dressed up and she looked so cute. I painted this on Aqua Board which I really like. The paint doesn't absorb into it because it's not paper. It's similar to painting on gesso which I also like. This is a way to get some really interesting texture without trying and if you're a realistic painter wanting a looser look, this might work for you, but if you're a watercolor painter who has to use multiple layers of paint, then you might not like this. You can go over with new paint but you have to be really careful because your previous layer will lift if you're not careful. So on the plus side, it's really easy to fix mistakes. This surface doesn't need to be framed under glass. It only requires a spray fixative so that is a plus in that you don't have the hassle of matting. That was my unsolicited opinion!

This is 11 x 14 but was slightly cropped by my scanner.

Sidewalk Artist

2010-06-12T19:43:00.002-05:00

I painted most of this last weekend with my friends in the All Media Events forum on Wetcanvas.com but I didn't get it finished until the next painting event started so I'm just posting it here for now. It measures 8 x 10. I don't usually stretch my small paintings (meaning tape them down well with that sticky brown tape watercolorists use) but after finishing some larger paintings that I had stretched, I decided it really is worth it to be able to have a completely flat, smooth painting when you're done so I decided to stretch this small one and I'm glad I did.

An Assortment of Trading Cards

2010-06-08T16:42:00.002-05:00

Here are a few trading cards that I painted for a swap at my art club tonight.

Yellow Pansies I

2010-06-06T13:24:00.002-05:00

This spring I got an early start on my flowers and planted two pots filled with yellow and purple pansies. This is the first of several watercolor paintings featuring these lovelies. Actually, I like this one so much I'm going to enlarge it and paint it bigger. This one measures 10" x 10".

Bella Revisited - Watercolor Dog Portrait

2010-05-16T18:03:00.001-05:00

I painted Bella the first time in December 2008. This is a much larger portrait I just finished. It measures 16 x 20 in. When I work larger like this I like to stretch my watercolor paper. It really is a pleasure to paint on. I might have to quit being lazy and start stretching smaller works.

If you don't know how, here is a link to instructions on how to stretch watercolor paper. The only step I didn't do was pre-soak my paper which I don't think it necessary. (I use 140lb Arches cold press). It is well worth the few extra minutes to stretch your paper!

Watercolorist Expands into Teaching | Metro Neighborhood News | Omaha, NE

2010-05-12T20:18:00.001-05:00

Watercolorist Expands into Teaching Metro Neighborhood News Omaha, NE

Watercolor Portrait Boy with Bat

2010-05-02T20:49:00.001-05:00

This is from a reference on Wetcanvas. I spent 4-5 hours playing with this today. It was such a good photo I couldn't resist. Here's my WIP. 8 x 10

The Easter Bunny arrived a day late

2010-04-05T20:52:00.001-05:00

He doesn't look tired at all, does he? It's my fault he's late. I wasn't quite done last night and wanted to put a few finishing touches before I shared him (or her).

That lovely blue background is a mixture of cobalt blue and pthalo blue - one of my new discoveries.

From Wetcanvas' All Media Events Weekend paint

Rescue

2010-04-01T20:31:00.001-05:00

This was supposed to be for Illustration Friday last Friday and it is the eve before the next topic so I'm just putting this here. The theme was "rescue".

I really don't "hate" my day job (at least right now). Actually things have been going fairly smoothly and since I only work 4 hours a day in an office, it's tolerable, but I can't help dreaming sometimes.

Juliet

2010-03-22T19:54:00.001-05:00

My outdoor cat is having trouble acclimating to outside. She's become such a wuss. That's what I tell her anyway. She sits by the back door and if I open it she might poke her nose out but she's become wary of my foot right behind her. :) So while she was sitting there longingly the other day, I took advantage of the pose.

Watercolor Portrait Sketch

2010-03-08T20:36:00.001-06:00

This is a watercolor sketch of my friend and fellow artist, Peter Yesis. Several of us got together a few weeks ago to paint and after lunch I started this quick portrait of Peter while he was working on his painting. I only got about half way with a sketch and a wash so I snapped a picture with my camera so I could finish this at home. My photo was really blurry which is good and bad. You can't be real fussy about the details because you can't SEE them but at the same time...you know what I mean. ;) Go check out Peter's blog "Daily Painting Practice". He's a fantastic oil painter and in his blog, he chronicles all of his ups, downs and in betweens as he pursues his craft.

Watercolor Crocus

2010-03-07T18:09:00.003-06:00

This is wishful thinking...

I love painting crocuses and daffodils and I'm looking forward to my flowers blooming. I started out trying to paint this with only 3 colors - quinacridone magenta, new gamboge and cobalt blue. While they are lovely transparent colors and perfect for flowers, they just weren't dark enough for the background and a few crevices in the flower so I also used alizarin crimson, ultramarine, winsor blue, cad yellow, raw sienna and burnt sienna.
7 x 5 inches

Watercolor Portrait - John

2010-03-01T21:16:00.001-06:00

After a couple not quite successfulpaintings, I finally hit it right this weekend with this portrait of my friend John. I'm calling this "Winner" (I think he'll be finding that out here) because I took this after he won first place for one of his beautiful 3-D wood pieces at our art club's annual art show and also because I think he's pretty special and a winner in my eyes.

Illustration Friday "Adrift"

2010-02-13T19:24:00.002-06:00

This week's theme for Illustration Friday, "Adrift" and Valentine's Day packaged into one illustration. ;)

Wishing you lots of love this weekend.