Mini Watercolor on Canvas - Beach Chairs

Watercolor on canvas is really fun. I did this little piece recently from a photo I took while at the beach last year.

Yes, this piece is layered (poured). I treat the canvas with Golden's White Absorbent Ground, several thin coats. Then I treat it just like I would any watercolor paper. The nice thing is that I can mask and dribble paint, and I can also easily lift! This little painting is now on my etsy shop.

Enjoy!

Straw Hat in Watercolor

This is another "poured" piece that I recently completed. I'm still experimenting with this technique and finding that certain subjects lend themselves better than others.

I liked the solitary feeling of this woman on the beach with the group of other people in the distance. The colors are happy except for the blues around the lonely woman. Her hat, and perhaps her thoughts are the only cheerful, sunny items around her. Perhaps she went to the beach for some solitude.

Inspiring Scenery

Just another inspiring scene from Melbourne, Florida! This is another painting from my miniature series. Since we go to the beach a lot, I have decided to study the motion of the water. I am trying to capture it in small sketches. As the waves bump into the shore you can usually see right through them!

The skies here in Florida are always beautiful, too. I love how the clouds seem to hang onto the horizon line!

This little piece fit into a 4 by 6 inch frame! What fun.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

My Latest Beach Painting

I usually paint at the street fairs I attend. We were at a show this past weekend in Vero Beach, Florida, and I worked on two pieces. I completed this one last night here at home and I wanted to share it.

I call it Day Break. The photos were taken at sunrise on the beach at Indiatlantic, a small town about seven miles from us. I started the piece with my Friday morning Level Two watercolor class. We worked on it for three Fridays, and then decided to complete it at home. I put in about three hours or more after the last class. We'll start a new project this Friday.

This was a fairly organic piece, meaning we just started laying in washes without doing much drawing ahead of time. Our reference photo was pretty dark, and it didn't have the drama in the sky that we ended up with in the painting. Because it was not very restricted by the reference photo, each student's piece was very different.

Here are three of my students with their work. Buffy, Irene and Mike - each piece was really lovely. They all had slightly different compositions, and used their brushwork and colors to fit their own personal styles. They really did a beautiful job!