Day 19 - Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days

Queen of the Covey

Mixed Media

10" X 14"

SOLD

The timing of the 30 in 30 Challenge, might not have been optimal and it took me a few weeks to realize that. Although I really enjoyed painting the 4" X 6" watercolors, I am giving up my spot at a community printmaking studio at the end of the month and need to finish several mixed media prints before my access to the press disappears. I spent two days last week in the printmaking studio working on several new pieces, one of which, "Wild Marsh," will be an exhibit next month at Glen Echo Park. The other main objective was to finish a series of California quail mixed media pieces that I started last fall. "Queen of the Covey" is the first of three prints featuring this intriguing bird. All three include watercolored etchings and collage on a monotype print. It was really rewarding today to see the first of these works completed. I really wanted them to turn out well, so I've been dragging my feet for fear of messing them up. I was so excited about the monotypes on Friday that I was inspired to get them done. Hopefully, the other two will be finished in the days to come, but I do have to do a bunch of framing for the Collective Ink Printmakers exhibit.

Days 14 and 15 - Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days

Border Riot

4" X 6"

$40

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So...tonight I am attempting to place catch up on the artwork front. While my teen daughter was in a voice lesson, I sketched the image above of zinnias from Photostream on my iPhone. Thank goodness for technology. It isn't my best work ever, but I got a new book on painting flowers in watercolor last weekend, so I wanted to do another flower painting. I didn't really follow any of what the book recommended except it talked about petals reflecting the sky, so I did add a little blue to some of the petals, which I really like. I was also a little more aware of the fact that flowers are three dimensional. I got a little bit bored with it at the end and started abstracting the background shapes, which I also like.

Yellow Belly

4" X 6"

$40

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After I finished my flowers, I decided to finish one of my etched pieces. You would have to look REALLY closely at the turtle, but the line drawing he consists of is an etching on a piece of rice paper. I then gesso the back of the paper and watercolor the front. From there, I did things slightly differently than my normal mixed media process. I knew I wanted to include the turtle in some collage, but I feared that the watercolor would run when I applied matte medium, so for the first time, I sprayed the front of the turtle with varnish and let it dry before proceeding. I also applied him to a 300# scrap of watercolor paper instead of the printmaking paper that I normally use. (It was really wonderful to avoid the warping of paper!) I think he turned out well; I love lime green and bright blue together.