#55 "Stack o' Tape", watercolor, 15" x 20"

A few weeks ago a woman contacted me who had seen my work a couple of years ago and felt I might be able to help her further her painting goals. Yesterday we met to paint together, and I was gratified to realize how much I have learned and discovered during my 9 years doing watercolor painting. It was fun to pass it on. We talked about composition and how to use a view finder and a camera as tools for composing a painting. I also showed her how to use a grid to assist with drawing and composition. We painted wet on wet and talked about using warms and cools, varieties of brush strokes and other methods to enliven a painting. As I think of it now, we covered quite a bit in our 4 hours together. She had particularly liked a small painting I did of a pile of rolls of tape, so we decided to stack up some tape for a still life for our paintings. The Ray for the Day is "Stack o' Tape".

#54 "Wagon Tale", mixed media, 20" x 15"

For the past couple of weeks I have been spending my time cleaning my studio, preparing my work, cleaning the yard, in preparation for the annual Artist Studio Tour. The last few days have been for recovery. No time for painting. The tour was a good success, many people turned out, lots of compliments on my work, and good enough sales (considering the state of the economy).  Last night I went to the Wednesday Night Watercolor Group and, once again, used the Mike Svob method of laying in the darks with acrylic, throwing in the middle values and then re-finding the lights using thick white paint. I don't know how long I will use this method. for now it is a fun new way to approach a painting. The Ray for Today is "Wagon Tale".