Asian Peonies

"Asian Peonies" are so titled because the design being off-centered suggests an Asian look.  The peonies again came from my garden and the round vase is from an arrangement of flowers that my daughter sent to me on Mother's Day.  This is another in the series that begins with a totally wet paper with color dropped in and left to dry. After it dried, I studied it for quite a while to determine the placement of the vases as there was only one vase in the original arrangement.  I used lots of water and strong color contrast to make a splash with this painting.  Watercolor is so much fun to use if I let it be.  The fluid blending of color is what makes it incredibly soft and beautiful.

Magnolias

These magnolias are growing in my back yard garden.  Although they are actually white, I preferred to generate contrasting colors on a blue/purple background.  Again I wet the paper and dropped in color.  After it dried I studied it at length before deciding to pursue the magnolia sketch design.  Lots of water with mingling shades of pink, magenta and yellow created the flowers with chrome green and indigo dropped in the carve out the shapes of the petals.  Although not totally realistic, this is a vibrant painting that gave me a great deal of satisfaction to paint.

Petunia Basket

"Petunia Basket" captures the vibrancy of flowers that I have hanging on a fence next to my patio.  It started as brushes of color on a totally wet piece of paper.  Then, with both positive and negative painting, the shapes emerged.  I plan to frame and hang this painting on my front porch.

I had such fun carving shapes out of random patches of color that I have caught the fever to do even more.