Watercolor Landscapes

 

 

 

 

Pictures in Bottom Section -
Bottom Left: Mount Baldy, Garner State Park, Rio Frio, Texas
Upper Middle: Bold Sky
Bottom Right: Dynamic Sky, Good Rocks
Just experimenting with various techniques we are learning in Kathy Summer's watercolor class...skies/clouds are fun to do and we have had some really great ones in Texas lately.

Botanical Illustration in Pencil & Watercolor

I took a botanical illustration class from Austin artist Marjorie Moore at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center today.  We used H and B graphite pencils in different hardnesses and experimented with laying down harder lead to be a base for the softer leads. After drawing from live specimens, we added in color with waxy colored pencils and watercolor pencils. It was a good day and Marjorie has a wonderful collection of botanical illustration books that she shared with us-some very old, gave a short history on botanical illustration and a good bibliography handout for future research. It really helped our observation skills to develop by observing these small botanical specimens and noticing very small differences as we attempted to render them realistically.

2013 Pearls of Youth Art Show in Elgin, Texas

 

This Saturday and Sunday, May 18th and 19th, 2013 is the first annual Pearls of Youth Art Show in downtown Elgin featuring art of local youth ages K - High School. Come to downtown Elgin and check it out. Join us for the reception Sunday afternoon - prizes for each age group will be awarded and two $1000 scholarships for 2 Elgin High School seniors who will continue to pursue the arts after graduation. 
The show has been organized and sponsored by the Elgin Arts Association.

Watercolor in progress

 

Here is a watercolor landscape in progress...in Kathy Summer's watercolor class, we are working on painting dynamic skies. I am really pleased with this sky...I like the back-lighting behind the clouds. I am painting on Arches 140# paper. The sky was painted very wet and I used tissue to take some paint back off. I will put another wash or two of purple over the distant mountains, work on the trees on  the split of land to the left and work in another split of land on the right with a rocky low shoreline. Then after all that, I will consider what else needs to be done to the water.

New Sculpture in Progress by Carol Smith

 

Here is artist Carol Smith's latest sculpture of Martin Luther. Take a look at a previous post on Dec 1, 2012 to see Carol's cast bronze completed sculpture of John Calvin which was her very first sculpture. Carol will start work on Luther's clothing and robes and hair around the back of the hat next. Really a good likeness  (Carol is using a drawing done by Luther's friend as a reference for her sculpture) and the finished sculpture should look as great as Calvin does!

Lady Bird Wildflower Center Watercolor Class with artist Sue Kemp

 

I attended the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center "Go Native U" workshop that UT Informal Classes offered today. Taught by Austin artist and Waterloo Watercolor Group member Sue Kemp. Sue had her wonderful painting of bluebonnets selected several years ago as the logo for that year for the Wildflower Center - it is hanging in the gift shop at the Wildflower Center on the wall behind the counter. 
Here are my three paintings of the wildflowers Indian blanket, white poppy, and our state flower, the Texas bluebonnet. Sue is a great teacher, helped us achieve very subtle and realistic effects to capture wildflowers.
The Wildflower Center is magnificent right now - go down soon before it gets too hot and check it out. They have new walking trails there too.