Ompa Rainbow (watercolor 14 x 19) Reserved

I’ve recently begun painting on clayboard.  I love it.  But, may of the juried competitions I’d like to enter require that watercolors be on paper.  In response I’ve been repainting some clayboard paintings on paper.  “Ompa Rainbow”  is a paper repaint of  “Big Boy.”

Big Boy (watercolor on cradled claybord 11 x 14) $300

The results of all this repainting  have been what I think are often better paintings, though not better  in every way.   Practice makes perfect is of course part of this equation.  But beyond that, looking at the finished work allows me to make serious design choices.

In “Big Boy” the idea was to make the tuba very large by looking up into a sky dominated by tuba.   In “Ompa Rainbow” I wanted to make the colors pop. I slid the tuba to the left to give it some space around the bell, but the big change is in the background.  “Big Boy” is set against  a blue background, resulting in a very cool painting, all blues, greens and yellows.  To make those cool colors really pop, I gave “Ompa Rainbow” a very warm background.  I also paid attention to color theory.  At the top, where the tuba gets blue the background is blue’s compliment, orange.  At the base, amidst all that glorious plumbing, the background becomes purple the compliment of the predominating yellow.   It’s a very warm red leaning purple though because red sets off green which is  the other color sharing dominance in the lower half of the tuba.

Brass Winds and Shadow (11 x 14 watercolor on clayboard) $250

The Color of Music (16 x 20 watercolor on paper) reserved

I made several deliberate changes when I repainted “Brass Wind and Shadows” as “The Color of Music”.  First, I backed up on the subject a little and allowed all the trombone bell to show.  The colors are deliberately brighter.  I lightened up the shadows.   In retrospect I like the lighter brighter colored version better but I think the tighter crop of the first painting works better.

Bouquet of Reeds (11 x 14 watercolor on Aquabord) $300

New Orleans Reeds, (12 x 15 watercolor on paper) reserved

I did very little to the composition when I repainted “Bouquet of  Reeds” as “New Orleans Reeds,”  but I did deliberately change the mood by intensifying the colors.  I also reversed the basic value plan of the painting by making the background light rather than dark.  I’m not sure I like either painting better.  It’s the mood, not the quality that changed.

Jazz Buddies (watercolor on Aquabord) $300

Taking a Shine to Each Other (13 x 19 watercolor on paper) reserved

With “Jazz Buddies” and “Taking a Shine to Each Other” the later is to my mind a much better painting. With “Jazz Buddies” I intended to really show off the way the bright sun washed away the sax. I think I accomplished that.   With “Taking a Shine to Each Other” I went for drama and I got it by really darkening up the instruments and complicating the dark colors.

“Ompa Tuba” is currently reserved, but prints of “Ompa Tuba” and the other paintings shown in this entry, are available through my print-on-demand shop.

Jazz Buddies (watercolor on Aquabord) $300

My instrument show, “The Sound of Paint” opened Today at Art in the Valley, and continues through the end of November.  Reception Thursday, November 3rd at 5:00 pm.

I hung the paintings Sunday and I’m very pleased with the way they look.  In addition to the instrument paintings,  there will be a selection of matted original watercolors and a selection of my animal sculpture.

"Three Horns" (watercolor on canvas 16 x 16 inches) $400

Grandpas Toy (14 x 18 watercolor) $375

When I’m showing paintings at the fair, I’m usually locked in my booth. I’m supposed to be demonstrating and I can’t leave the booth empty for more than a few minutes. So when friends and family visit, I take a few minutes to tour the fair. I always manage to see the fine art show, the quilts, the midway, and antique autoland. I also visit some one or two day events. The Classic Car Show took place on the last weekend of the fair. It’s a fun little event. There are cars from the 60s to the 20s and bands playing oldies.

This little red car caught my eye, especially the grill and the head lights. Have you noticed I like shiny things?

Painted on clayboard this painting my be matted and glazed or framed without glass like an oil on board.

This painting is available through Art in the Valley, Corvallis Oregon. Or purchase a print from my shop at Fine Art America.

Silvery Night Music (11 x 14 watercolor on aquabord) $250

I began this painting at the Silverton Art Festival and finished it up at the Oregon State Fair.  My photo reference is from the same group of photos I took for Silver and Glass make music.  But I wanted this painting to be more dramatic, so I darkened the background to make the light more obviously artificial  indirect lighting.

Painting outside in the heat on aquabord was an challenging experience. Most of the time I was painting the temperature was over 90 degrees and it was very dry. The challenge was to keep the board wet enough to work with. I brought in a spray mister the second day which helped considerably. I used cardboard pieces as a shield to keep from misting the parts I didn’t want wet.

Painted on clayboard and finished with a clear acrylic matte varnish and mounted on a black cradle frame, this painting is ready to hang. Alternatively, it can be framed like an acrylic or oil painting.

Prints are available through Fine Art America.com.

Duet for a Pear (watercolor on clay board 8 x 10) $100.00

The is another painting from my photo session at Weathers Music, but I painted it on the patio of a beach house just outside Sarasota on the Gulf of Mexico.  Painting under an umbrella with the ocean just yards away–what could be finer?  We spent the last week there getting our fill of salt and sun.  After the long wet cold spring here in Oregon the sun sure felt fine.  But my is it hot and humid there.  I spent the afternoons painting in the cool.  I have five new paintings to post over the next few days.

This is the first one I did.  I really like the greeny black of the clarinet and piccolo in contrast to the greeny yellow of the pear.  The pear and clarinet bell shapes echo each other nicely too.

Another painting on clay board, the painting is finished with a clear coat of acrylic and mounted on a black wooden cradle.  Original available  through  Art in the Valley, Corvallis Oregon. Or purchase a print through my Shop at Fine Art America.

"Three Horns" (watercolor on canvas 16 x 16 inches) $400

I painted  this one specially for Salem Art Association’s Salon: Art2 exhibit. All of the artwork in the exhibit must be 16 x 16 inches inclusive of frame.  I had to think carefully how to meet the size requirement.  I didn’t want to fit a watercolor on paper into a 16 x 16 inch frame since the artwork would end up being 12 x 12 at most. I didn’t have any 16 x 16 inch aquabord either.  So I stretched watercolor canvas over a 16 x 16 inch frame and gallery wrapped the edges.

It has been quite some time since I tried painting on watercolor canvas.  Paint lifts from watercolor canvas even more easily than it does from clayboard.  The surface feels like a cross between clayboard an yupo (a plastic paper) to work on except that the unlike board or paper the canvas gives a little to the brush.  I like the canvas’ linen texture, but I’m not sure I like the painting experience as much as the board, though that may be just a matter of getting use to the new surface.

Prints are available through my gallery at Fine Art America.

Quilted Brass (watercolor on clayboard 11 x 14) $350

If you have been watching this blog of late, you know I have become fascinated with painting bright shiny band instruments.  I had been renting loaner instruments one or two at a time from a shop in Corvallis.  But renting instruments, especially expensive instruments for just a month at a time, makes instruments shops who rent to sell nervous.  So I was afraid I had come to the end of my supply of instruments to paint. But a couple weeks ago I got a brainwave.  Weathers Music, here in Salem,  has a recital room that sits empty most days.  So I thought maybe I could talk them into letting me rent the instruments and the room at once.  That way the expensive instruments need never leave the shop.

I gathered up two of my recent instrument paintings and went to ask. I had dressed nicely and rehearsed a little speech about how I would use the instruments for art, and how careful I would be with them.  I never got more than three sentences into my little sales pitch.  Keith Weathers simply said, “yes.”  And the very next Friday I had the use of the Bach Room, from ten to five and an almost unlimited supply of instruments to photograph.

I brought quilts, fabric, crystal, flowers, and fruit.  I also brought my studio lights. By eleven o’clock I had everything I’d brought in and Keith had gathered me a whole little band to play with.  I had three saxophones, a clarinet, a piccolo, a brass trumpet, a silver trumpet, a violin, a french horn, a trombone, and a tuba.

I spent a magic afternoon setting up and photographing one still life after another.  I spread cloth, arranged flowers, climbed on chairs, moved lighting, and toted instruments back and forth.  At the end of the day I was exhausted but happy.  I also had over five hundred photos on my camera chip.

Since then I’ve been too busy painting to post blogs, a sorry state of affairs for which I apologize.  So here is the first of many more instrument paintings.

Mounted on a black wooden cradle.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.

Dances With Pears (11 x 14 watercolor on clayboard) $200

No, it isn’t more instruments, but I’ll get back to those shortly. I painted this one at the gallery just after finishing “Jazz Buddies.” I love painting all the keys fittings on the sax, but it tiring work and I was no fit state to start another complex instrument painting full of reflections and reflections of reflections. So I painted nice simple fruit instead.

I took the reference photo while I had the mirror out for instrument photos. The pears and daisies were intended to be co-stars (and they probably will be in later paintings) but the looked so nice and fresh that I took a few photos of them by themselves too. I’m glad I did.

Painted on claybord and mounted on a black wooden cradle.  Ready to hang.

Available through my Esty shop or purchase a print through Fine Art America.com.

Musical Reflections (11 x 14 watercolor on clay board) $300

This is the first in what I hope will be a series.  It all began a couple weekends ago when I was taking pictures in Corvallis.  The instruments in the window of Gracewind Music caught my eye and I snapped a few pictures inside.  All of that shiny brass made me want to paint.  After wondering around admiring a little, it occurred to me that the bread and butter of many music stores is student rentals and that I might not have to buy the instruments to paint them.

After some negotiation I left the shop with three instruments of dubious music merit, a trombone, a flute and a trumpet which had been marked “for display only.”   None of the instruments is is great condition, but they are all pretty and shiny.  And a month’s rental of all three cost me less than what a single month’s rental of just one playable instrument might come to.

I have since borrowed a clarinet and a bells from a friend’s daughter.

Last week I took a whole series of photos of the instruments on a 42 x 64 inch mirror we had down for a remodeling project.  Spread out across the floor it added an intriguing double take on the instruments. I got out some of my blown glassware, a couple of silver vases, some fabric from my quilting collection, and mat boards for background a and began shooting.  The guys doing the remodeling must have thought I was losing my mind, but I had fun.

I painted this first one looking down at the  instruments from above.  However, the white ceiling reflected in the mirror did not provide the best background, so I painted in a dark reddish brown to set off the lighter instrument.

Mounted on a black wooden cradle and ready to hang.

Prints available through Fine Art America.com. See more clarinet artwork here: clarinet art

Spinning Tales (13 x 19 watercolor) SOLD

My eldest daughter learned to spin last year and the Oregon State Fair.  She came home with a drop-spindle and proceeded to spin several pounds of wool within the week.  The obsession continued and all she wanted for Christmas was a spinning wheel.   We obliged.  Since then, she spins whenever she sits down to talk or watch TV.    It’s a good thing the wheel is beautiful, because it’s become part of our living and family rooms.

Naturally, as I think both the wheel and the girl are lovely, I had to paint them together.  As she also writes I thought a background of our family room books was appropriate.

The painting turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated.  I began with the pouring method,  a process much like batik involving multiple masks and literally pouring cups of paint over the paper.  After a day of pouring, I got out the brushes and promptly ruined the painting by making it too dark.  So I began again, spending another day pouring paint.  I began work with the brushes at the gallery and was very pleased with everything except her face which I though was good, but could be better.  So improved it until is was merely okay.  And then I improved it some more until it was bad and my paper was damaged beyond repair. But I loved the rest of the painting so much that I began a third time, first pouring and then painting.

This time I am happy, and while there are a couple details I might like to alter just a hair, I won’t improve it anymore.