White Pitcher Hydrangeas
“Nature gives to every time and season beauties of its own”
Welcome to my blog. I'm so excited to share with you about my art. My desire is simply to let you into the mind of a watercolor artist so that I can inspire you to enjoy the world around you in a new and perhaps unexplored way.
Each blog that I post will be featuring one of my watercolor paintings. I will share with you my thoughts and feelings and visual inspirations that went into creating each new design. Watercolor is such a fascinating medium, and I hope to immerse you into my world.
If you are interested in watercolor painting in any form, hopefully this blog will inspire you to take out your brushes and pigments and try your own hand at this mesmerizing medium.
Inspiration for painting can come anywhere. I love colors, fragrances, light dancing across surfaces, flowers. Pottery is also an unending wealth of inspiration. I've been painting now for about 20 years. Becoming an artist and exploring watercolor has opened my eyes to the nuances of beauty that constantly surround us. I hope that together I can help open your eyes to really see and explore your environment in new and exciting ways.
This painting was inspired by my love of hydrangeas and white pitchers. I had just completed some watercolor work on a wedding invitation for a friend. Her motifs had been my favorite colors, blue and white, and she was using hydrangeas in pitchers. I was also involved in the design of the floral arrangements for that wedding, which also included hydrangeas.
After the wedding was long over and things had settled down to normal, I finally had time to reflect on that visual experience. I've always loved hydrangeas and the way light drifts in through old wooden French windows. One day I just felt inspired to sit down and sketch, and gradually this design came together. I felt very free sketching out this painting. I felt like my pencil was fairly dancing across the page as I drew the leaves and stems of the flowers. It is always a joy when you feel a design come together.
I began painting this in my little corner on Boonville Road. And then it traveled with me to Fort Bragg, where I was able to finish the painting. I chose my favorite paper, which is Arches 140-pound, cold press paper. This paper is so responsive to my paintbrush, and I am always fascinated by the way simple water disperses the pigment and creates new and exciting textures across its surface. The paints I use are mainly Windsor Newton pigments, although I have begun to explore with Daniel Smith and a few other professional quality pigments as well. The colors that I used were mainly cerulean blue, cobalt blue, raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt umber and aureolin yellow.
I have been really delighted with the response this painting has evoked in people. I've been surprised at how often it is this painting that gathers the most emotional response in my collection. I'm delighted to share it here with you. I'm using it as the cornerstone of a line of cards that I hope to create soon. I've already gone through the process of scanning, designing and printing a card from this image. As soon as I have time, I'll be going through this same process with other paintings, and I'll share with you my progress along the way. If you are interested in a giclee of this painting or in cards created from it, please don't hesitate to let me know.
