Always a good day that begins with a little watercolor.
Day lilies from my garden have been my inspiration. Enjoy!
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Tag Archives: day lily
Day Lily Saturated-Wet Watercolor Demo
Here’s a watercolor demo of a painting so new,
it’s not even dry yet….Enjoy!
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Increase Your Odds Of Painting Every Day
Which Motivates You More?
This?
Or This?
Around 5pm today I pushed myself. I had left at 6:15 am, had been gone all day and had not had a chance to paint. When I got home at 4 pm it was easy enough to pick a day lily from my yard, put it in a vase, pull out a fresh sheet of watercolor paper (already pre-cut to 10×14). I was going to stop there….but instead, I pushed myself because I knew, waking up tomorrow morning to a sketched-in-next-painting would be much more motivating than waking up to a blank painting surface.
How about you? What do you do to increase your odds of painting,
maybe not every day…but any day?
If It Doesn’t Look Right…
It Probably, Isn’t.
Last week when I posted the daylily, I’ve since titled, Carpe Diem, I thought it was near completion. I was actually feeling pretty good about it.
Good enough to post it.
But when I looked at it the next day, something didn’t look right.
What was it?
Were the values off?
On Monday, I made some adjustments. Better, but not enough.
How about the color temperature?
On Wednesday, I introduced ultramarine blue into the complimentary red and green color scheme adding some cool undertones. Better…
But, it still didn’t look right 
This morning, I saw it. The half-circle shape needed to be altered. Much better. But still…it didn’t look right.
I had already suspected it, but had been in denial. A part of the painting I really liked in the upper left quadrant had to go. I rationalized. Couldn’t it be an effective counterpoint? Good try. In truth, the light-valued, hard-edge on the upper left petal, as glorious as it was, was fighting the focal area.
"Rise And Shine," 12x16, oil on canvas
There, I think that’s it. I may feel differently tomorrow.
But at least I felt good enough to sign it today 
People look at their paintings
and don’t know what’s wrong.
And I say, “look at your edges.”
–Liz Kenyon
Enjoy the Journey!
June
You Gotta Start Somewhere
This week I’ve been reading oil painting instruction books, watching oil painting DVDs while walking on the treadmill and giving it my best shot.
Here is the set-up for an oil painting I’ve been working on. I took the reference photo of one of our daylilies last summer.
Free-hand sketching with a brush was fun. Not being committed to the shape and being able to adjust and refine as I went along was relaxing.
Here’s how she looked five minutes ago. Waiting for the oils to dry between layers offers much time for deliberation
We will not know,
Unless we begin…
–Howard Zinn
“Critique Exchange” Response
One of my subscribers took me up on the “Critique Exchange” offered in the last post and gave me permission to post her painting and the critique.
I hope this provides encouragement and hope to hear from other subscribers who are eligible (as outlined in last week’s post) by Dec. 15th.
White Lily, 24×36, Acrylic, by Carol Evans
White Lily immediately grabs my attention with its luminous strength, power and drama. The artist shows a deep passion for and knowledge of the subject. There is a skillful and confident handling of the medium with bold composition, strong color and value choices.
What I especially love:
- The combination of pure orange-red against white with neutralized greens.
- The flower reads white, but is anything but. Excellent shading.
- The wide value range. Love those background darks.
- Skillful shading creates depth in subject and background. Interesting shapes.
- The close-up, slightly off-centered composition with cropped petals anchors subject.
Area to question:
Could anything be done to make the viewer’s eye linger a little longer in the painting?
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Carol, who is a young 71, has worked in watercolor and egg tempera for thirty years and has only been working in acrylics for the past two years. She welcomes your comments.
