From the sketchbook

A few sketches from Bulgaria.

Tsarevets is a fortified hill where the medieval capital of Bulgaria was located. Not much is left from the buildings and fortifications, but the sight is picturesque nevertheless.

The other two sketches I did very quickly trying to capture a beautiful mountain view, before the rain clouds had gathered.

Tsarevets 1

Tsarevets 2

Iundola

Belmeken

From the garden

Yellow daffodils, watercolor, 30 x 22 cm

Purple iris, watercolor sketch

Primulas, watercolor, 30 x 22 cm

More poppies

Poppies 3, watercolor, 22 x 43 cm

Poppies 4, watercolor, 12 x 43 cm

A couple of more attempts, but instead of the transparent colors from the previous post, I used cadmium red and yellow here. I like the spontanaety of the previous two much better

Poppies in the wind

Poppies in the wind 1, watercolor, 28 x 33

Poppies in the wind 2, watercolor, 28 x 33

I have been quite busy lately, and after a break it is sometimes hard to get back to painting. I decided to try to do poppies with the simplest possible brushstrokes. I like the result. Maybe I'll explore this some more...

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.

Daffodils

Daffodils, watercolor 28 x 38 cm

There was a pot of small daffodils on my table, waiting to be painted. I've always found it hard to paint yellow flowers. I had to exaggerate the orange of the little "trumpets" to give the flowers some dimension. I cannot wait for all the spring bulbs to start blooming in the yard...

Spring is here!

Robin, watrecolor sketch

I saw a couple of robins today! Here, robins are the sign of spring.

And talking about birds, recently I saw in National Geographic the most beautiful watercolors of birds. They were by an artist named Karl Martens. I looked him up and found that he paints exclusively birds. You can see some of his paintings here.

Jamon Iberico

Cutting ham, watercolor 28 x 38 cm

One of my pleasures in Spain was tasting freshly sliced ham.
The challenge here was to simplify a very busy scene with many colors, objects and light sources. The obvious way to go was to use just a few colors. In this case:  ultramarine blue, yellow ocher, quinacridone red and burned sienna. I ignored the actual background and also tried to use only four or five values. A preliminary charcoal sketch helped me figure these out. I like the contrasts that this produced.

Memories from Madrid

Plaza Mayor, watercolor 38 x 28 cm

Boulevard in Madrid, watercolor 28 x 38 cm

Puerta del Sol, watercolor 56 x 38 cm

Back to my dreams

Sea and sand, watercolor on Arches CP 140 lb, 38 x 28 cm

You must have guessed by my subject that it is snowing again... Everyone is tired of complaining about the weather and now it is a subject of constant jokes. "Marry Christmas!" has replaced "Good Morning!". We haven't seen the ground for four months now. I know that under the snow cover, there are snowdrops. Maybe we'll see them in April. In the mean time, this sunny painting is going on my wall.

Sea sunset, watercolor on Arches CP 140 lb, 38 x 28 cm