Sunset Completed

We are fortunate to have a beach house at the Jersey Shore.

It sits facing west out over the wetlands and the sunsets are

a spectacular sight to enjoy from our porch on a warm summer evening.

(Sounds amazing right about now, but I digress)

Early one morning last month I set this still up to resemble all those summer sunsets.

Then I sat and, with camera in hand, waited for the sun to come up. 

I was rewarded with the magical long, saturated shadows only a 

winter morning can make happen.

"Sunset", Watercolor, 20" x 20"

We are really in the depths of winter now.

So I think its time for some flowers next.

Thanks for taking a look!

Glass Process

I know how daunting painting colored glass can be.

You must take into account reflections, refractions, color, value and texture all in a small space.

I just started painting glass a couple of years ago and after much trial and error I managed to self teach my own process for this complicated subject.

I pushed through because I love it so much.

There are as many ways to do this as there are artists at work and glass to study.

Here is just one method that works for me.

Begin with a simple contour drawing.

Within each bottle more contour drawings to map out

significant value changes.

Use liquid mask to cover white highlughts and the lightest value.

I use W&N Colourless Art Masking Fluid.

Glaze in your medium and dark values.

You are looking for the appearance of transparency here so vary the colors you choose.

Here I am using M. Graham Watercolors in 

Perm alizarin crimson, Naphthol red and Scarlet Pyrrol 

while picking up some yellow or purple to vary the lights and darks.

Remove the mask.

Ugh! It's always a bit of a shock to see all that white after 

laying in all those beautiful colors.

Now is where the real challenge begins.

Glaze in lightest, brightest color and begin the process of glazing in more color,

picking up hightlights and glazing again as you move through the piece.

This is not finished yet but at this point I stop and move onto the next one.

Once the whole painting is filled in I spend another day carefully

looking for tweeks usually by picking up color here and laying in there.

This is a large piece with lots of bottles.

I should finish it this week.

And its all worth it in the end.

The process is the thing for me and I'm always sorry to see it end.

I find my vintage bottles in my favorite thrift store and antique shops.

And when they are not sitting for a painting they are sitting pretty in my windows.

I'll be back soon with the reveal of the finished painting.