A Small Detour!

As you know, last weekend I took a hiking trip in the Smokies and photographed several wildflowers. And, I just had to try my hand at painting at least one of them. I'll get back to my acrylic painting that we have been working on for several weeks soon. Sometimes, one must take a detour along the way.....such as this. I usually have more than one painting in progress at the same time. The photo above is the flower I have chosen to paint. The photo of my painting is shown below.

I used watercolors for this painting and a small watercolor journal of 140 lb paper (5 x 7). Instead of my usual tube watercolor paints, I used a pan set of Windsor & Newton.

I lightly sketched my flowers first and then washed in my background. The background was painted by dropping in shades of green, Brunt Umber, and some of the lavender/blue shade I used in my flowers. I wanted a very blurred background so that my flowers would stand out.

After the background dried, I painted my flowers by wetting the petal and dropping in the color at the bottom of the petal and allowing the water to pull the paint up to the top. At the top of the petal, I dropped in a little lemon yellow. It takes a little time, but each petal has to be painted individually to keep the flower from looking like a large "blob"!

I painted the stems last using Sap Green and Raw Umber and dropped in Crimson at the top of the stem where it attaches to the flower.

Any details on the petals were added after the painting was dry.

Look in parks and in your yard for wildflowers...and try your hand at painting what you find - even weeds are fun to paint!

Happy Painting!

Karen

Well, sometimes...........

OK - where is my usual watercolor painting blog? Well, sometimes one needs to look for inspiration!


This is a perfect time of the year for wildflowers. Since my husband and I like to hike, we decided to hike of one the trails in the Smokies known for its wide variety of wildflowers in the spring. So, we took a day hike in the Greenbrier district of the Great Smoky Mountains. Of course, I took my camera so that I could bring back some ideas for future paintings.



Today's blog is going to be a little different than my usual blog. I decided to share some of my ideas for future paintings with you and give you a little info about hiking in the Greenbrier district



The out and back Porters Creek Trail is an 4 mile round trip which can be reached from a 6 mile drive (most of which is on a gravel road) from US 321 outside of Gatlinburg. The road and the trail runs along the Little Pigeon River.



We found several varieties of wildflowers blooming with beautiful display of Lady Slippers. Scattered throughout this blog are a few of the photos from yesterday's hike. These may give you an idea for a future painting.



Now.......next week.....I'll try again to work on my painting!



Happy Painting!

Karen

Painting Brick Tiles!

The photo above illustrates the sponged application of the paint to antique the brick tiles.

To paint the brick tiles, I prepared a mix of white and yellow ochre paint in various shades to place randomly on the bricks. The masking applied between the brick tiles with keep the mortar lines clean.

Using a sea sponge, I applied the paint using light and heavy pressure to vary the design of the paint. Any paint that may get on the flowers will be covered later when the flowers are painted. So, it is not necessary to work too hard to "stay within the lines."

Allow this paint to dry and then remove the tape. See the photo below as an example of how the brick tiles will look once the artist tape has been removed.

The masking "saved" the mortar between the bricks. Bricks in the real world are never that even. So next week, we will be adding some character to the bricks and making the mortar lines a little uneven in places.

Happy Painting!
Karen