Tuscan Suns

So I thought that while I'm just hanging around waiting for the eye of an historic hurriacane to pass over my house I would squeeze some last minutes of what power we have left to share.

"Tuscan Suns", Watercolor, 12" x 18"

©Carmella Tuliszewski

"Tuscan Suns" will be the last of my flower feast series.  With this piece I am finally getting to my references from our Italy trip.  While having a walk around the little town of Lucca we came upon a large flower mart in the center of town.  These daisy like flowers, among many others, were carpeting the ground everywhere.  The view I had of shooting straight down exploded into a beautiful array of circular goodness.  After I post this I'll keep working it until the much expected lose of power event befalls us.  I will, hopfully, be back soon with a completed painting.

Good luck east coasters.  We are in for a bumpy ride!

Torches

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I think I've had a breaktrough with this one. 

Watercolor was a medium I never really was interested in other tham to fill in my pen and ink drawings.  Until four years ago.  As a Pa certified art teacher I needed to fullfill a certain number of continuing ed credits.  Well my deadline was fast approaching for that year so I enrolled in a quick watercolor class at our local community college.

And just fell in love.  Once I realized the extent of the detail the medium allowed I couldn't get enough.

After the class ended I found myself sitting for hours in the book store absorbing artists books on watercolor.  I played with glazes and values, subscribed to watercolor magazines and practice, practice, practice!  I retaught myself color theories and applications and I just started painting, thrilled with the amount of detail and realism I was able to pull off.  Color, glazes, washes, values- I got it and loved it.  But I never really got what watercolor is really about- the light- until now.

"Torches"

Watercolor, 12" x 18"

©Carmella Tuliszewski

The light.  The white of the paper shining through.  Sometimes it's about what you don't lay down on the paper.  I feel like I just can't get to all the paintings I want to do fast eough.  One more Flower Feast piece to go.

A Special Day

I will finish this painting today.  I wanted to share how it's going.  I love the light in this one and I hope I can keep it through to completion.  I think this is a good addition to my Flower Feast Series.

I always start with a very detailed drawing.  I am a detail person and although I love to do the wet on wet technique for parts of my paintings, I mostly work wet on dry by glazing color.
The latter technique gives me the more control on the finer areas.  

Happy with the conposition here.  The strong diagonal is always an eye catcher.

The background light in here is what attracted me to this research.  Speaking of the wet on wet techniques, here it comprises the entire background.  It's flowing quality is what makes the tight rendering of the subject pop out.  More work to do and I hope to be back tomorrow with the finish.

On a personal note, today is my 30 wedding anniversary!  Larry and I met in a disco in 1979.

So funny to think of that now- he in his polyester suit and me in my shinny dance dress.

The luckiest night of my life.  He's been a fun, loving and supportive companion all these years and I hope many more.  He's not an artist, actually a business guy, and doesn't really understand how I do what I do.  But, bless his heart, he's been a constant supporter.

Happy Anniversary Lar!

Still here!

I have been working quietly here in my little studio drawing.  After finishing my last painting I felt the need to regroup.  I did like how it turned out but I deceided it didn't quite fit into the series I have in mind.  It is a nice decorative piece but lacked the strong light source the others have.

So I spent some time just going through my research and sitting with all my watercolor resources such as magazines and visiting shows and galleries.  No one is an island and sometimes you just need to take stock of your work and remember where you are headed.

This will be a new addition to my flower feast series.  These lillies are from my summer garden and the late day light shinning on and thru them has given me just the inspiration I needed.  I will start painting them today.  The size is 12" x 18"

So while i was at it, I brought out some propts into the afternoon sunlight and harvested some of the last blooms from my summer garden.  Wait until you see the color on this one!  Also has the sun drenched light souce I love.  Size 18" x 24"

I know this is difficult to see.  With this I am finally getting to all the beautiful research I gather in Italy.

We stayed in the Chianti region of Tuscany and these hanging bottles were outside a cafe where we had lunch one day.  Beautiful coloring and rather large for me, 24" x 36", and will be acrylic on canvas.

So there you have it.  I have been busy and look forward to the next steps!

Also, on a sad note, at least from my perspective.  I heard on the news that Hallmark has finally felt the down turn the whole greeting card industry has experienced since the age of e-communication.

They are closing one of their Kansas plants and laying off many workers, some of which will be artists.  Hallmark is still a giant in the business and I was lucky enough to be a part of it as a young illustrator in the late 70's.  It was really a very busy time for greeting cards.  I always had my assingment bin filled every day with projects.  And for a long time after I left Hallmark I was very busy freelanceing in the industry.  Most of that is lost now and it's a shame.

This was my first card for Hallmark.  I look at it now and see so many corrections I would make but the younger me worked tirelessly on this.  It also became their best seller for the year.  It was an innovative design at the time.  It folded in so that the left was the front and opened up to the boquet.  I was very proud of this.

Another from that first year and another best seller.  

As a 22 year old just out of college, Hallmark gave me a place to actually paint in full color at a time when many newly minted artists were doing black and white drawings or worse- paste ups all day.

As I sat writing thank you notes this morning for anniversary presents my husband I recently recieved, I realized that it's been a really long time since I actully wrote a note and mailed it to someone.  And that I rarely get anything in the mail that isn't a bill or advertizement.  E-mail, evites, texting and so on are good things, I know, but there is still something about sitting and handwriting a note to someone who remebered your birthday or took the time to pick out an anniversary gift for you.

Seeing Red

This fifth painting in my "Flower Feast" series is the most involved composition and the brightest color scheme.  The purple background was a daring choice and I may go back in and tone it down a little but overall I am attracted to the colors here.  Sometimes placing a piece up on the screen enables you to see it more clearly then when it's right in front of you.  Looking at it right now as I type, I can see spots that need more of an accent while other spots need to sit back a little.

"Island Fancies"

Watercolor, 12" x 18"

© Carmella Tuliszewski

One of the things that holds this together are those little light green leaves.  Having just the slightest touch of a red outline unifies the overall composition.  The reds are all over the color spectrum from hot pinks to slightly subdued oranges.  Very fun to work with especially when combined with red's complement, green.

Well one more to go in this series.  Then what?  More on that later.

Now that I have a nice little bank of paintings, it's time to look beyond each individual piece and toward how they fit together to truly be called a series.  

Prepping a Picture

I am now back to my research from this year's Philadelphia Flower Show.  The theme was Hawaii which gave me the opportunity to photograph florals not easily found around here.  This will also become part of my Flower Feast Series I.  

Here's my next painting, composed, drawn and ready to go.  As you can see I use a few reference points.  My ipad for streaming to the large computer screen, great for true color and zooming in for details.  Also notice the black and white copies.  As I mentioned in the last post, a picture often is more about the values than the color.  However, it can be difficult to determine correct values when the color is so absorbing.  As an artist it is my job to separate these two elements of art and then put them seamlessly (I hope) back together.  So I keep black and white scans next to the painting as I work.

You will recognize the Bird of Paradise flowers and the others are Hawiian Ginger plants.

Beautiful complementary colors of reds and greens on this one that I am very excited to start painting.

Well, I'm off for my second cup of coffee and back to a fun day of painting and music.  

My new favorite is the Disney station on Pandora Radio.  Yes, Disney, Little Mermaid and Belle just make my day! 

Sparkling Petunias

I found the research for these petunias in, of all places, Atlantic City.  While shopping with my daugther at all their great outlet sotres, I noticed many beautiful pots along the street just packed with flowers.  I snapped away ( I always have my camera) and this painting is from a composit drawing.

"Sparkle"

from "The Flower Feast" series

Watercolor,  12" x 18"

© Carmella Tuliszewski

I'm always attracted to subjects that glisten in the sun.  But that's because I love to paint the shadows.

These shadows are filled with Thalo Purple, Vermilion hue and Permanent Rose with a splash here and there of Hookers Green because complements make the best shadows.  Since greens are not staining colors they are easily picked up and thats how I add the veins.  Run a thin brush with a little water  along the line you wish and a quick pick up with a tissue does the trick.  

But this, as with most of my paintings,  is more about value than color.  I always keep a black and white copy with me while I paint.  It makes it easier to see the darks and lights.

It's great to get back to work after a very busy end of summer.