Working my Way Around the Color Wheel

I am using my color wheel to pick my colors to go on my new palette.  I went from my yellows to oranges, reds, purples, blues and now finally greens.  I weeded out lots of colors that are too similar or that don't interest me by using my little color swatches that I painted (see previous posts).  It is time to start laying out the tubes of paint in the order that matches the colors on the color wheel.

Capturing the Colors of Greece

Red Roofed Church, Ano Syros, Greece

Part of the joy of painting on location on the island of Syros, Greece is to recreate the reflecting colors of the cobalt blue sky, turquoise ocean and the warmth of the sunshine on the white buildings.  Our watercolor journaling class will learn how to paint colorful whites using the local colors.

An easy way to paint a beautiful white is called Wet into Wet painting.  Wet the area you want to appear white with clear water.  Add enough water for the paper to be wet and shiny but not enough to make a puddle.  Then drop in little amounts of paint and let the water carry the paint around.  In this painting I picked the blue of the sky, the reds from the church roof and a little yellow to create the feeling of the warm sun shining on the white walls of the town.
If you are interested in signing up for this Watercolor Journaling in Greece Class, please visit the American College of Healthcare Science.

Lots to learn about Color!

Ingrid making a beautiful color study

Kim showing her book with her painted cover

Comparing books

More color studies

It has been a couple busy weeks teaching classes and trying to keep up on the holiday hoopla around the house.  Needless to say, my house doesn't look at all xmas-y yet as my priorities are always with my classes.  Friday I finished teaching The Good, the Bad and the Beauty of Color Class and everyone left with a beautiful spiral bound book full of color studies.

"Colorful Whites", a Peek inside my Watercolor Journal

Here are some pages from my current Watercolor Journal.  I am playing around with creating colorful whites by adding local color(color from the surrounding areas) in the shadows.

Blue Vase with Polka Dots

A birthday present arrives - wrapped with this sweet red polka dot ribbon. I could not throw it out because it was so cute, so I wrapped it around my favorite blue vase. The tulips are begging to be painted and it all came together in this bright and cheerful painting, Blue Vase with Polka Dots!

The Art Box Group

THE ART BOX GROUP, FIRST MEETING
My curiosity was piqued after receiving an email invitation to join an Art Box Group last September from someone I had met in an art class. All we were told was to show up at the first meeting with a box. I brought a wooden cigar box. Our coordinator, Candace, explained that we would be meeting once a month and we would rotate boxes at each meeting so that everyone would get a chance to work on everyone else's box. The only box we would not work on would be our own. Candace was well organized and had a spreadsheet prepared with the box rotations. There were seven women involved in this adventure. Some of us were known artists and art teachers in Bend, Oregon and some were lovers of paint, glue and scissors and the mixed media world. Others did not feel very artistic. One lady owned a beauty salon and her form of art was what she practiced everyday. We all felt challenged! I knew 4 of the women in the Art Box Group. But we soon got to know each other better because we started telling about our lives and favorite things giving clues to how to proceed to decorate, change and embellish the boxes. That night we left with the instructions from our fearless leader, Candace, that we were entering the construction phase of the Art Box Adventure. We were to open up, change and morph the box into a new design and meet back in a month to rotate boxes. The box I took home was your standard got-something-from-UPS box, not too big, cardboard-ugly and a little dented. I am including a photo of what I did to this box. I will be posting more photos and stories about the how the Art Boxes evolved on this blog shortly.