Egyptian sunsets

Sun raises over Luxor

The other bank at sunset

Sunset on the Nile

I love painting sunsets, as they involve mostly wet-in-wet. This should help me get back on track with painting, after exhausting few weeks at work...

Camels

It is cold outside. We had the first snowfall already. But my mind is at warm places...

Berber woman grinding flour

A Berber woman making flour
Arches  30 x 40 cm (n/a)

This is based on photo that I took a couple of years ago in the small village of Matmata in Tunisia. While this particular village has become quite popular and a sort of ethnographic show for tourists, the rest of the population in the area still has a very traditional way of life for real. Their houses are a kind of troglodyte dwellings with artificially made cave-like rooms dug around the perimeter of a large pit in the ground. Some part of Star Wars was shot in these dwellings.
I was surprised how much fun it was to paint the draped fabric of the clothing. Watercolor is perfect for that.

A practical task...

December is approaching and soon we'll be sending Christmas cards. This time I decided to make my own cards, which proved quite a job. I'm almost done now, so should have time for less repetitive painting soon...

Learning from Cembranelli

I remember one blogger saying that painting roses is addictive. True! A few days ago I decided to try Fabio Cembranelli's way of painting roses. I cut a discarded painting into four pieces and started my tests on the backs. Then I cut another piece of paper. Then continued on a block. It was hard to stop.
What did I learn? That it is not as simple as Fabio's videos make it seem. I wanted to figure out how he manages to lift color, leaving practically white paper, and giving the flowers this cotton candy soft look. This proved quite difficult. The paint must be exactly the right consistency and wetness, the brush must be absolutely clean and you have to stop yourself from repeating the stroke before cleaning the brush. Yes, masters make the hardest things look easy!
There is also another reason for all these roses. Today is the one year anniversary of my blog. So I devote the roses to all of you, my visitors and blogging friends. Thank you, for your support, encouragement and advices! I feel that I have made much progress over the past year, and a good deal of my motivation comes from you. Thank you!!!

End of the flower season

Arches, 38 x 28 cm

These were the last roses from my yard still spared from the frost, so I seized the chance to paint them from live. This week a few relatives and friends had birthdays. I didn't have the chance to congratulate them, so let this bouquet be for them. Happy birthday!

Честит Рожден Ден!

 

Chrysanthemums

I cut these flowers from the garden, while still just buds, in order to save them from the morning frost. Now they are happily blooming in a vase.

I thought that the second one turned into a big mess, but hubby liked it, so I decided to post it regardless.

Autumn walks

The red tree (Arches 28 x 19 cm)

Autumn walk (Arches 28 x 19 cm)

The sunny meadow (Arches 28 x 19 cm)

These three small landscapes are based on photos from a walk in the near by conservation area a couple of weeks ago.

And two days later...

I wanted to paint but had no idea what. The autumn leaves from two days ago were still spread on the desk, but they had dried and curled up...

Maple leaves

Watercolor on Arches 28/38 cm

Yes, real colorful autumn leaves, which make you smile, not the Toronto hockey team with the same name, which can only make you cry...
The prime of the fall colors has passed and many trees have dropped their foliage. Yet, there are still some really beautiful individual trees. Some have all colors, smoothly transitioning, from bright red at the tips of the branches, through yellow and orange, to all green on the bottom branches. I gathered a large bunch of leaves during yesterday's walk, spread them on the desk and started painting. I did get into some serious fiddling, but at a second look today, decided that it's not too bad. So, here's my posting, as Canadian as it can get...

The pile of leaves on my desk