Purple Baby

Purple baby 2, watercolor study

Purple baby 1, watercolor study

A pair of pears

Pear, watercolor sketch

Pear, acrylic sketch

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin, acrylic 15 x 22 cm 

What to do during a flight

Required materials:
- a thin sketchbook
- a water-brush
- a former eye-shadow palette turned into a mini-watercolor box
- an apple core.

Who raided the minibar?

Who raided the minibar?, watercolor 30 x 23 cm

Happy vases

Happy vases 1, acrylic 23 x 18 cm

Happy vases 2, acrylic 23 x 18 cm

The stress at work has been draining my energy, so I haven't painted much lately. I love these bright little vases. The frosted glass they are made of proved challenging. It wasn't easy to detect the difference in values that light and shade create. I can think of much more interesting compositions with them, so maybe I'll get back to them again later

Green apple

Yellow and Green, acrylic 23 x 18 cm (n/a)

Red and Green, acrylic 23 x 18 cm

Yellow and Green, watercolor 30 x 23 cm

Strength in numbers

Strength in numbers, acrylic on canvas panel 22 x 18 cm (n/a)

Acrylics continue to be an interesting challenge for me. It is a bit of a battle with the cheaper paints I'm using. Mostly hues instead of the true pigments, so they are more transparent that they should be. My red is "cadmium red hue" and it is a cool color, so I had to mix it with orange to make it more red. on the other hand I find that if I use more expensive materials while learning, it makes me stiff and the results are not so good.

Red apple, acrylic study on cardboard 22 x 15 cm

Pear, acrylic study on cardboard 22 x 15 cm

Together

Together, watercolor 30 x 23 cm

An apple a day

Apples and pear, watercolor 30 x 23 cm

As I am vary new to acrylics, I need to learn about some basic techniques. So, I got a couple of new books -  one is a very detailed guide in acrylics. The other, Carol Marine's "Daily Painting", an inspiring book with tons of loosely painted pictures and full of good advice. It reminded me of the 10-minute exercise, which I had tried before with watercolor. So, I quickly fixed up a light box, took a stop-watch and there you go...

Painting acrylic studies of an apple

10 minute apples, acrylic study

10 minute pears, acrylic study

Coffee time

Coffee time, watercolor 23 x 30 cm

Coffee time, acrylic on canvas board 30 x 23 cm

Still lifes

Black pepper, acrylic on canvas board  30 x 22 cm

I have been having fun, painting almost every day since Christmas. I've managed to find at least an hour daily, and this gives me so much satisfaction.
I decided to challenge myself with acrylics and quite liked the results. The opaque paints seem to make things much easier. Although I didn't do any pencil drawing, like I did for the watercolors, the objects came out pretty good. Maybe, just knowing that I can correct mistakes, gives me confidence, and there are no mistakes. Also, painting with acrylics seems much more intuitive. I can paint the objects, as they appear in space, starting from the furthest. Watercolors require a much more abstract view of the scene, in terms of areas of values and colors, instead of objects and planes.

Black pepper, watercolor 30 x 22 cm

Still life with onion, acrylic on canvas board 30 x 22 cm

Vases, watercolor 30 x 22 cm

Yellow jug, acrylic on canvas 25 x 20 cm

Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Честита Коледа!

Christmas Centrepiece, watercolor 30 x 22 cm

New year, new hope

Apples, acrylic 20 x 15 cm

Apples, watercolor 38 x 28 cm

 Happy New Year to everyone! 

Although, we know that the start of the new year is kind of arbitrary, every year we mark this date with a hope for a new beginning. I truly hope that 2016 will be much better than the past one, which I was very glad to see off.

Fruit basket

Fruit Basket, watercolor 54 x 42 cm

Have you noticed how the works of other artists make you notice things and scenes that seemed ordinary before. When I looked at this basket on my table, I thought of a painting that Judy did some time ago. Then I noticed the beautiful light and shadow patterns over the checkered tablecloth. And I couldn't resist...

First wash of the painting

I painted this opposite to  the normal watercolor technique - from light to dark. I started with the shadows and then added the light colors.

I remember how intimidated I used to be when painting on a large piece of paper. Now I like it, it makes me feel more inspired and excited.

Inferno, acrylic on canvas board, 30 x 23 cm

And this is just a playful experiment with pouring acrylics over a canvas-board. The result looks like a reflection of the atmosphere at the office in the last year :)

Clay Water Pot - PADT challenge

Old Water Pot, watercolor, 22 x 28 cm

I love ceramics. A few years ago I even did a couple of pottery classes, which unfortunately showed me that I lack the required strength in the arms and hands for decent results on the pottery wheel. But I didn't stop being fascinated by the endless variety of rounded shapes of old ceramic vessels and the lovely natural colors that traditional glazes produce.

So when I saw the picture of an interesting clay pot in this month's challenge at Paint and Draw Together I had to give it a try. My focus were the colors of the glaze, so I painted only the pot for simplicity. Although, the carved wooden fragment and the shadow patterns on the floor are a composition each in itself too.

More from the produce counter

Swiss Chard, watercolor 38 x 28 cm

When my husband saw me taking a bunch of Swiss chard at the store, he said "You are buying this to paint it, aren't you?" Yes, he guessed right. I had to complete the series of interesting edible leaves. As a bonus we did end up with a tasty soup.

Pineapple, watercolor 38 x 28 cm

And now everybody knows what's for desert tonight...

Eat your veggies

Radicchio leaf, watercolor 28 x 28 cm

Boc Choy, watercolor 28 x 28 cm

These are a couple of studies of leafy vegetables, which intrigue me with their color patterns.

And a big thank you to Rita Vaselli for giving me this blog award!

More sketching in the sun

Under the gray sky
The last day started with clouds and drizzle. I hid under a beach umbrella to paint this.

When once I shared with a friend my fear of painting outside, due to potential observers, she said "I love people watching me paint, they only say nice things." And she was right. Most passer-by-s last week would simply mind their own business. The few who stopped and looked at my activity, were very encouraging.

Here are the rest of my vacation sketches. Have a very nice week, everyone!

Flamingos, watercolor in a sketch-book

The straw umbrellas

These lanterns, situated along the path-ways in the resort
created a somewhat mystic atmosphere

Fruit and wine - a subject inside the room.
I completely failed with the bougainvillaea
flowers, but I like the bottle and am proud
with the glass, done without any masking
or white paint

Turkish lamps

Lamps, watercolor on Arches cp paper, 21 x 27 cm

Lamps2, watercolor on Langton cp paper, 23 x 26 cm

Last spring in Turkey I took tons of photographs of the lamp stores in the market. These rounded shapes of stained glass and the colorful light produced from them, seemed enchanting to me. I've been keeping several of these photos on my desk, not knowing how to approach them in painting. It was time to try.

Photo of the display at a lamp store in Turkey