Mud Sale 4 1/2" x 6 1/2"
A quick pen sketch and then add watercolor. Of course it wouldn't be half as interesting without the dog because he is the center of interest.

begonias  6 "x 10 3/4"

I worked on the leaves and different shades of color in the begonias. I need to put it aside and look at it later to see if I need to add or subtract anything.

photo from York Art Assoc. watercolor class

Sm practice sketch 

Lauren (my daughter) and I are taking watercolor classes together at the York Art Association this fall. Our first class was last week. I was bored with my photos, so I chose this one from the teacher's pile.  I like the blues and oranges (opposites). I wanted to do a small color sketch to practice with the color choices.  This is the first layer of paint which I need to add detail to.

IN PROGRESS (begonias)

I tried these begonias on gessoed paper and the reds bled all over the greens and blues. I washed it all off and then tried the same painting on regular watercolor paper (Arches 140 ld) I put chinese white on the lightest areas and soaked the paper for 3 minutes. After it lost it's shininess, I could paint without the colors bleeding too much. I lifted out the light areas after it was mostly dry. I haven't done the background yet.

sunflowers in watering can  6" x 9"

I put gesso on a bad painting, let it dry, then painted these sunflowers on the gesso. I like the texture of the paint on gessoed paper. Gesso keeps the paint from soaking in, so it lays on top and can  easily be lifted off the paper to show the white again.  (I lifted off some of the yellow on the flower petals.) There is also a certain glow to certain colors on gesso. I think the yellows have a glow that wouldn't have happened on regular paper.

adirondack chairs

orange day lilies

lilies

I'm posting these three paintings to show that I do not paint a sellable image every time I put paint on paper. I consistently tell myself that there is a lot to learn from failures. (Mostly how NOT to do something) I will press on and try, try again.
The colors in the chair painting are like mush.
I couldn't decide which background color for the day lilies, and the other lilies have fun colors but the composition isn't good. These are all small 5 x 7s which helps in encouraging risk taking. I can cover these with white gesso and do another painting on top.