Watercolor
I started watercolors in the Fall of 2021 at the University of Wyoming. This is a medium that follows in line with the oil and acrylic painting I have done in the past. There are some practice 4x6 pieces that I explored bleeds, saturation, landscapes, Plein Air, reflection, and objects with shadow. These were quick half-hour to hour paintings that allowed me to get the feeling of the medium. I enjoy the free-flowing and transportability of watercolors.
4x6
Studies of bleeds and lifting with clouds.
4x6 and 5x7
Landscapes Plein Air practice.
4x6 and 5x7
Experimenting with reflection, objects with shadows, and still life.
SHOEBOX STILL LIFE
11”X15” Cold Press paper
This still life uses objects that are memories of my life or kept in a box. The photo is of my daughter when she was in gymnastics. The cloth is materials I used for my children's training pants. The reflective and transparent objects are from my kitchen. The one is a lid from my kettle and the other one is a small jar I use for mixing seasonings. The bowl my children used for cereal and the markers were for their coloring books.
I assemble a collage of elements on a 22"x15" scrap sheet of paper, the same size as your watercolor paper. These elements came from magazines, personal photographs, scraps of color. The white hummingbird is assembled using an image of a whale's tale, and the DragonFly Lilies are from my flower garden. I used contrasting colors of red and green with a complementary color of blue. This collage is based off of threes in the color theory, the hummingbirds, flowers, shapes, and forms. It was then transferred onto watercolor paper and created.
COLLAGE
Hot Press 22”X15”.
HORRIBLE BEAUTY
Hot Press 15”x22”
I created an image from a photograph I took of my son's fish tank and the algae build-up. I consider algae to be gross, ugly, toxic, and horrible. I wanted to elevate it to something visually engaging and striking. The perspective of looking up at the surface of the water, the vibrant colors, and the plastic jellyfish covered in a textured substance makes this an intriguing painting and visually interesting.
SELF-PORTRAIT
Hot Press 15"X22"
I say this is a self-portrait but it is actually a photo taken back in the 1800s of my great-grandma. Everyone in my family has compared me to her throughout my life and says that I have the same face and body build she had. In fact, my grandma has my black and white senior picture lent up against this same photo in her house. In this vintage painting, I wanted to connect the past with the present and honor my great-grandma. The colors were picked to relate to the pearl necklace that was always matched to her dresses. The black and white photo has a blue shirt in to complement the vibrant fuchsia flowers surrounding her. I employed a full range of techniques such as bleeds and lifts, and skills in planning composition to keep my lights, and push darks to make this final watercolor.
