Flowers of Hawaii

It's so rainy today, I think I'll skip the plein aire painting and look over some other projects I have.
Plumerias are always a favorite. Try painting them on the plant, alone, up close. I like this close up. I've also been thinking about Christmas cards and maybe will try poinsettias. I think I need more practice first though- trying to use negative painting more effectively

sunflowers

combine a background wash with a sketch, then out line the leaves and petals to pop the space. I added more grey to the background but think I liked the green I had there before better.

a bit more

here it is again - who knows when it will be finished

Senator Fongs Gardens in Kaneohe

Today's plein air group met at Senator Fong's Gardens in Kaneohe. The doorway leads to an open pavillion with picnic tables and it leads to the gardens out back.
Here are some photos- what I'm painting, how it looked after 2 hours of painting on site, and how it looks after more work at home. Not sure if it's done yet - think I'll put more black in the windows.

Do overs

After last night's class on negative painting, I realized I can go back to old works and still make changes. So I went back to my old ti leaf painting - so dark and ugly and washed away lots of the dark colors, added a new wash to the sky and did some negative painting in the bottom. If I keep on scrubbing, this paper is going to crumble away some day. Great practice though.

Lessons help

Beginners classes are great for learing some techniques. The top 3 are lessons from a class- learning underpainting, negative painting, graded washes. The botton two try to put some of those things to work in plein aire painting. I started in June and these paintings were done in August.

Colors appear

HI,
I just decided one day I'd like to paint- never mind that I don't draw or paint, but what better place to start than at the very beginning. What a Journey- so far I tried just painting- anyway, with anything on hand. Joining in with a group showed me how great the work could really look , so I started painting outdoors, going to beginners classes, reading online- anything to do with watercolors. This will be my journal to see how much I progress in my newfound "talent".
Looking ahead-