The azaleas at Callaway Garden’s Azalea Bowl will soon be in full bloom again. I did this painting outdoors, on two consecutive days, several years ago. The weather was great and the visitors were friendly.

Azalea Bowl

Watercolor Crash Course! on Saturday, March 14, 12:30-4:30, at Columbus State. Reservations: 706-507-8070. http://www.columbusstate.edu/ce

This is the watercolor painting I donated to Time for Art, an annual event sponsored by the Young Professionals to raise volunteer hours for local agencies. Participants bid hours instead of dollars in a silent art auction. Some of the agencies are Girls Inc., Columbus Hospice, Ronald McDonald House, Open Door and Habitat for Humanity. My painting, Cat Brier, Hadden Woods, “sold” for 100 volunteer hours. Whoever made that bid has a year to work it off, at the agency of their choosing, and then can collect their art. This is an amazingly simple, yet brilliant idea. 

Redbud

“Redbud” is a recent painting, inspired by the heart shaped leaves of the Redbud tree in my yard. I’ve been painting leaves every fall for the last twelve years. I’ve spent years experimenting with color and technique and more complex arrangements, but I started this journey by painting one, isolated leaf on a white background. Now, I enjoy the challenge of painting branches of leaves and more three dimensional compositions.                                                     I will give a class November 22, 10:00am – 3:30pm, at Sunnyside Community Club in Harris County. You will find details on the “Schedule” page.

Last year I painted two commissioned house portraits for the same client. Photographs of each painting can be seen in my earlier posts: November 24 and December 10, 2013; “Old Homeplace in Hawkinsville” and “Hawkinsville Summer Home”. The colors for both paintings were made from the same limited palette of carefully chosen primaries. This insured they would compliment each other if displayed side by side. I also chose a color scheme that would compliment the client’s home decor and would be appropriate for the subject matter. I must also give some thought to the painting’s mood. Will it be edgy or serene? After those decisions were made I had to decide which primaries I wanted to use. I always use a limited palette of primary colors. All of the colors in these paintings were mixed from reds, blues and yellows. I chose two reds; Permanent Rose and Scarlet Lake, two blues; Cerulean Blue and Prussian Blue, and two yellows; Winsor Yellow and New Gamboge. Six tubes of paint. By selecting a limited palette of primary colors, my mixes harmonize without much effort. Using a limited palette of primary colors sounds simple, but involves careful selection.The challenge is how to distill my many experimental mixes down to six tubes of paint and meet all the criteria I need for a particular painting. Pigments have characteristics particular to each one. For example, I must decide if I should use an opaque or transparent yellow, a granulating or smooth blue, a staining color or one that is easily lifted. I chose Cerulean Blue because it is blue, of course, but it also has a strong granular quality and I wanted that quality in my mixed colors for grass, trees, and the house shadows. I chose Prussian Blue for the sky because is has a smooth quality. These particular blues, when mixed with Scarlet Lake and New Gamboge, produced some wonderful grays and dark colors. Various combinations of these colors also produced pleasant and varied greens and browns. I start my selection process with a goal in mind and then I just have fun experimenting with color.

For example, Cerulean Blue is a granulating color while Prussian Blue is not.

“Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” Twyla Tharp, American dancer (1941-  )