Additional 2025 watercolors from workshops

Here are a few other watercolors from workshops with Leigh Ellis.  In each workshop we worked from photos.  I did not take the photos, and the paintings are not replicas of the reference photos.  

Snow!

We worked on a winter scene of a forest with a stream in the snow.

• First a light sketch of the stream and surrounding trees.
• Then a splattering of masking for snow
• Add light wash for the sky and background trees
• Paint the dark foreground trees and their shadows on the snow banks
• Darkening the background trees and add shadows to the snow banks
• Painting the reflecting light on the stream and the shadows of the banks
• Darkening edges of the banks, rocks and trees         
• Create additional depth with shadows and highlights
• After the painting is completely dry, remove the masking 

        

Birds in winter and summer

Because we are so familiar with birds, getting many details correct is important:

• Size and shape of the head, body, tail and wings.
• Color of key characteristics that identify the species.
• Realistic body positioning when perching or flying.
• Correct habitat can also be important.

Birds are very round, and the illusion of roundness on a flat piece of paper is created by creating shadows and highlights.

The colors in the shadows can be cool or warm

• Cool colored shadows (bue-purple) indicate a winter day
• Warm colored shadows (brown-purle) indicate a warm summer day

2025 watercolor workshops with Leigh Ellis

I have taken several watercolor workshops with Leigh Ellis through the years.  I love her paintings.  They glow with light and energy.  So when I heard she had weekly small group workshops I quickly signed up.

The first workshop we worked on painting light.  We did two still paintings one of white flowers and the other of a hay field in the sun.    

The flowers were white on a dark background.  To retain the white of the flowers we masked them, then painted the background.

  

Once the background was dry, the masking was removed and we painted the branches as flower shadows.

The Hay field was painted in several steps.  First the barn and highlights of sun were masked.  Then a double wash of blue sky and yellow field were layed down on the paper.  Then the tree line at the fare end of the field and the grasses along the front are painted in.  

Below, you can see the painting with masking (pale blue on the barn and hay bales), the washes of blue sky and yellow field, pale green trees in the background and grasses in the foreground.

I did some color testing to determine how I would handle the barn and trees.  

I used quinacridone gold orange and rose; along with mixed greens from cobalt and phalo blue.  

I find testing the color combinations and mixes before adding them to the painting is an important step.  

                                    Below is the finished painting

Travel paintings of Scotland 2024

 We had a great wildlife tour with St. Hilda Sea Adventures.  We spent 10 days on the Speideren, a 75 ft Norwegian Rescue boat in the Outer Hebrides.  We stopped at 12 different Islands during the trip seeing beautiful scenery and wildlife. 

We boarded the ship in Oban, then traveled through Loch Melfort to our first stop Rum to walk at the Nature Reserve, then on to Canna where we anchored off shore.  Next stop was the Outer Hebrides.  We hiked to a remote beaches of Vatersay, stopped at the harbor of Castlebay on the Isle of Barra, then Lochboisdale on South Uist and Lochmaddy on North Uist where we hiked out to Loch nam Maddaah to see a Camara Obscura and had a day tour out to the small Island of Berneray.  Next we sailed to the Shiant Isles, three rocky  islands in the Northern Minch, that are nesting grounds for thousands marine birds (puffins, guillemots, razorbills, shags and great skuas).  Then we were off to East Tarbert on Isle of Harris and a stop at the local distillery.  On our way back we stopped at the Isle of Sky to hike up to Loch Coruisk, and Isle Eigg for a walk, and Lochdon on the Isle of Mull to tour Duart Castle.

We stayed a few extra days to tour the Isles of Mull and Iona.

We were very busy so I only had time to make quick sketches and take reference photos.  I finished the watercolors after we returned home. 

Oban harbor at night

Kinloch Castle on Rum in process

Vatersay bay, Outer Hebrides in process

Tropical watercolor journal entries

I had the opportunity to spend some time on a boat sailing around the British Virgin Islands.  It is a beautiful place, filled with brightly colored towns, white sand beaches, wonderful people, and tropical sunrises and sunsets.  I made a few watercolor sketches of places we visited.

Anegada beach

The Baths        

Trellis bay        

Online wattercolor class

I hadn’t done much painting this year, since all the art classes had been canceled due to the pandemic.  No trips to John C. Campbell Folk School or weekend workshops at Spruill, or classes at OCAF or Lyndon House.   I really needed the push to paint that a class provides.  We meet once a week for four weeks online, and uploaded our finished work to a shared space were we could comment and discuss the paintings.  

The class focus was on using water to controlling how the paint moves on the paper.  We practiced adding very wet paint to dry and wet paper.  Adding dry paint to wet paper.  Using a dry brush to remove water and paint from the paper.

Then we painted a landscape from a photo.  I roughly sketched in the buildings and edges of the field.  I wet the sky and painted a morning sky with red and yellow.  I painted in the field where the light was reflecting off the wet grass.  I painted the buildings where the rising sun was casting long shadows.

I painted the dark tree line and used a dry brush to pick up pigment from the tree tops.  

I painted the grasses in the foreground, leaving  some areas white for the flowers.  Finally, I added more shadows.

Next we painted a white dogwood flower.  The only thing defining the white flower are the shadows.  They are soft, but need to be dark enough to give the petals shape.  

For the center we practiced negative painting.  Painting the dark spaces between the yellow pistils.  

Finally we used dark paint for the background letting the colors mix.  The darker the background the more the flower shows up.  Too dark or the wrong mix of colors creates a muddy background.

For the third painting we painted a humming bird.    These birds have distinctive color patterns and shape.  The position of the head, placement of the bill and eye all need to be correct.

The tips of the wings are indistinct and a trail follows the wings to suggest movement. The pose of the bird suggests reaching up, so I added an orange trumpet vine flower.

The background was painted wet on wet, allowing the colors to mix.  The darker shades around the flower and bird help define their shapes.

For my final painting I selected a photo of a pink azalea.  I used one red and one blue pigment for the flower.  

The lighter pink shades are made by mixing more water with the red paint.  

The shadows are made by mixing blue into the red paint. 

The background was painted wet on wet and has indistinct green leaves and additional pinkish flowers.  

Sketching in Maine

In the Spring we made plans for a fishing trip to Montana.  We would be staying in a National Forest Service cabin in the back woods near a favorite creek.  Then the fires came.  We watched the fire and weather reports as the wildfires drew nearer and nearer to the area we were planning to stay.  People were evacuated and roads were closing as the wild fires raged.  Fire fighters were fighting fires all throughout the west.  Smoke from the fires we effecting the air quality throughout the west.  We would not be going to Montana.

Instead we went to Maine.  We stayed at a lovely cottage on Little Deer Isl.  We could see the water from the cottage, and ate several dinners on the porch watching fiery sunsets.

Sunrises and sunsets like these call out to be painted.  Capturing the constantly changing colors and deep shadows before they vanish is a challenge.  Luckily I was given several opportunities to try.

Maine's rocky coast is filled with bays, inlets and small islands.  It was a perfect place to spend time exploring and hunting for lighthouses.  We visited Stonington on nearby Deer Island several times, enjoying local good seafood.  We also took a cruise from Stonington out to the Isle au Haut to see the unique Robinson Point Light house.  We spent a day at Acadia National Park; hiking Cadillac mountain, driving along the park loop road and eating seafood in Bar Harbor.  We traveled along the coast north to West Quoddy Head Lighthouse.  This is the easternmost point of land in the continental United States, and around the equinoxes it is the first place sunlight touches.

I have many photos from this trip that someday will be used as references for paintings.  I did finish three watercolor sketches while we were in Maine.  Besides the sunset above, I sketched some garden flowers and a also a beach scene.

At the edge of the forest

For my final painting I used a photo I had previously taken of a small rock building at JCCFS.  I love the multicolored rocks in the building and the contrast of the shadowed deep woods and open area around the building.  Part of the class discussion, was about narrative.  How do we convey a story through our paintings.  This painting tells a story of living on the edge; between the beauty and unknown of the deep green forest and the structured world humans construct.

To create the deep green shadowed forest. I masked the trees on the forest edge.  I used a small masking fluid container that had a thin tube applicator, which I thought would make it easier to apply.  But it wasn't as easy as I expected.  The tree trunks were large and I needed to use a masking brush to cover them effectively.  The branches were smaller, but where the branches and trunks met I had problems controlling the fluid, causing blobs.  This was the first time I had used this type of masking application.  In retrospect I should have done some testing and had a well thought out plan for my application.

After the masking was completely dry, I wet the paper and used saturated pigments to create the vibrant dark green depths and light in the forest.  While the paper was still wet I used the side of a credit card to scratch in branches.  Scratching the wet paper let the pigments penetrate and create dark lines.  This worked very well, but next time I will try to vary the size of the scratches to imitate the change in branch size more accurately.

I carefully removed any excess paint from the masked areas.  This is an important step to keep unwanted pigment from accidentally getting on other parts of the painting.  I proceeded to paint the light green lawn and rock house in the foreground.  I enjoyed painting the multicolored rocks and distressed wood of the shed.

Now It was now time to remove the masking fluid and paint the trees.  Once the trees were painted I added in darker shadows on the lawn and rock house.  The final addition was the red bird house at the upper left.  The addition of that bird house changes the feel of the painting.

Bone yard

For the second painting I used a photo recently taken on the north end beach of Bulls Island NC as my reference.  Barrier Islands like this one are constantly changing.  The currents and waves push and pull the sand on the beaches, constantly reshaping them.  Northern ends of the barrier island on the Atlantic coast looses sand, while their southern end gains sand.  On Bull Island the erosion of the send on the north end in the past few years has been extreme.  Old forests of oak, pine and palms have been left stranded on the beach where they die.  In this boneyard the bleached and worn skeletons cast eerie silhouettes against the sky and water.  A beautiful but sad reminder of the how fragile life is.

I made a small sketch to work out my color pallet and to practice the wet washes for the sky and sand; and dry brush techniques for the waves and tree textures.  This also gave me a chance to work out which branches were in front and which were behind.  Helping to define the depth of the painting.

The larger painting uses the same colors, but I darkened the sky and water, lightened the tree's shadow and added added more brown to the tree.  These changes shift the viewers focus to the tree skeleton.

Virgin Island colors

There is nothing like the tropics for intense colors; Bright turquoise seas and vibrant green coasts; Brilliantly colored flowers and birds.  The natural tropical colors effect everything and everyone.  Houses are painted turquoise, pink, red and bright green.  People wear bright floral shirts and dresses.

I took my smallest travel kit with me on my recent sailing trip in the Virgin Islands.  It includes a Van Gogh water color pocket box and a small Mole skin watercolor notebook.  The kit's palette includes cold and warm blues, reds and yellows; along with yellow ochre and burnt sienna.  These are usually perfect for everything I paint, but in the tropics I wished I had also taken some other colors like, Quinacridone gold and Opera pink.

Below is a sketch I did from the balcony of our hotel in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas USVI while waiting for breakfast.  The blue sky mirrored the blue of the bay.  Green palms, banana and mango trees reached up through gaps between buildings.  The rising sun reflected off the red roofs throughout the town.  Mixing Permanent Yellow and Madder Lake Deep provided the various shades of yellow, orange and red I was seeing.

For the rest of the trip we stayed aboard our sailboat, traveling from one island to another.  We did spend three days at Cane Garden Bay, Tortola BVI.  While there I was able to do another sketch from the boat.  The turquoise of the water was done by layering Cerulean blue on top of Azo yellow.

OCAF Small Works exhibit prep

I've been busy painting a few small watercolors to enter in the OCAF Small Works exhibit.  All entires have to be less then 14" in all directions.  For an 8" x 10" matted painting I mark out a 5" x 6" space on watercolor paper.  This gives me a little extra edge space on the finished painting.  I create several small paintings, then choose two or three to enter.  This year I am submitting two landscapes, and a nature painting for consideration.

The Weidemeyer's Admiral Butterfly Limenitis weidemeyerii, was painted from a photograph I took at Grand Teton National Park, while on a Naturalist led Butterfly walk at the top of Signal Mountain.  The summit provides panoramic views of the Teton Range, Jackson Hole valley and Jackson Lake.  During our walk we saw several butterflies, but none as spectacular as this western species.  This family of butterflies first pair of legs are so small they resemble little brushes, which gives them their common name 'brushfooted'.  Other members of the family Nyphalidae include: the Monarch, Red Admiral, Blue Morpho and Painted Lady.

The first landscape features the amazing Firehole Spring, one of the most colorful pools along Firehole Lake Drive, Yellowstone National Park.  The spring bubbles and steams but is not a geyser.  The clear turquoise blue water is the hottest part of the spring, so hot that even thermophiles can not live in there.  They prefer the run offs where the water is cooler. Yellow or green mats of thermophiles are found closer to the springs in higher temperatures (up to 167º F).  Lower temperature areas have mats of orange, rust and brown.  In addition to temperature, springs and geysers can be acidic, neutral, or alkaline.  The Ph also determines what bacteria can live there.  One part of the painting that is not very visible at this small size are the white siliceous collars where the water touched the nearby standing dead Lodgepole pines.

After the storm, the second landscape, is of a Yellowstone geyser field lit by sun rays bursting through holes in the clouds as the storm is slowly breaking up.  The steam of the geysers are in sharp relief, between the shadowed trees in the foreground and the dark green distant hills.

Fish live in beautiful places 2

I don't carry a watercolor kit on me when fly fishing, but I do have one in the truck.  Often it is a hike from the truck to the stream, but sometimes you can park very close to the stream.  I took advantage of fishing close to where the Truck was parked to painted the below view of a beautiful small headwater stream of the Davidson river, NC.

It was done in my Moleskin water color notebook using my Van Gogh  Watercolor Pocket Box.  The various shades of green were made using a pallet of: Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Deep, Cerulean Blue, Permanent Red, Madder Lake Deep, Permanent Yellow and Azo Yellow Medium.

Grand Teton's majestic mountains

While touring Grand Teton National Park we had several days when the smoke from burning wildfires obscured the mountains.  Normally you can see the mountains from many miles away, but due to the fires the mountain tops faded into the pale blur gray sky.  Wildfires are common in the dry summers, and the Park Service and local Fire Departments spend a considerable amount of time monitoring and fighting fires.  Each fire that is tracked is named.  One of the fires that contributed to the smoke we encountered was the large Berry Fire.

On one of the clearer days, I went back to an overlook I had previously visited to sketch the mountain view across Jenny Lake.  Thousands of years ago glaciers moved through Cascade Canyon, pushing rocky debris ahead of their progress.  Later, when the glaciers retreated, they left behind a mass of rocky debris which formed a terminal moraine creating Jenny Lake.

I had a lovely time sitting in a shady spot while sketching and talking to several people who were also enjoying the spectacular view.

Vast open spaces in a small sketch book

I was recently out west, where Idaho - Wyoming - Montana meet.  This area has vast open plains, tall craggy mountains, brilliant blue skies and many beautiful rivers.  I spent most of my time fly fishing in Yellowstone National Park, but also was able to tour some of the attractions at Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons National Park.

Below is a sketch I did of the distant hills, after spending the day fly fishing the Gallatin River, Yellowstone NP.  Like many rivers, this one begins in the mountains and is formed by rain, snow melt that flows into small creeks.  We were fishing in the valley where the now wider river begins to meander.  The banks of this swift flowing rocky river are lined with dense willows.  I was told that moose like to bed down among the willows, but happily we didn't run into any while we were fishing.  The coolness of the water was a refreshing complement to the sunny warm day.

Croagh Patrick, Ireland

On a clear day, from the upstairs window at the Essence of Mulrany, I could see the distant mountains and the closer lofty peak of Croagh Patrick across Clew Bay.  Croagh Patrick has an undulating flat-topped base with a towering cone shaped peak.  The view presented to us was ever changing.  Clouds fled across the sky, circling around Croagh Patrick's peak, sometimes obscuring part or all of it from view.  At times the clouds completely blanketed the far side of the bay eliminating any view of the peak.


I took advantage of clear quiet mornings to paint the ever changing panoramic dance of clouds and shadows moving across the water and land.  I did a few smaller sketches and one large painting of the bay and distant mountain.  For big paintings I usually use Winsor & Newton tube paints, but I wasn't sure I could take them on the plane.  So I decided to make a second watercolor travel kit containing half pans of the same Winsor & Newton paints I use in my studio.  I found a Cotman Water Color Compact Set that holds 14 half pans on sale at the local art shop.  I replaced the student grade half pans with professional grade half pans based on the pigments I use the most.

Different views

My husband gave me a wonderful gift for Christmas, a ballon ride!  We finally were able to go on our ride this past April.  You can read more about the adventure on my husband's blog.  Spring is a wonderful time for a balloon flight.  The cold of winter was gone, the forest trees are freshly green, and the farm lands are being planted.

Before the flight I thought I would be taking photos of the country side, and I did take some, but what captured my interest was the shadow our balloon cast over the land we were flying over.  Over the fields the shadow was a distinct balloon shape.  But tendrils of the shadow crept across the trees like tangled and distorted black fingers, creating an ever changing shape.

 I decided to paint the image of the ballon's shadow over a field and bordering tree line.  It was early morning, the sun lit the full length of the trees, casting long dark shadows.  I used a preliminary sketch (at left) to helped me select the yellow and blue pigments for the color palette.  I tested washes and brush techniques.  In the photo the colors of the fields and trees can be seen through the balloon's shadow.  In the sketch I tried adding some of the balloon's colors to the shadow.

For the full size painting I used a Cobalt Blue wash for the sky, an Ochre Yellow wash for the field on the right, and a mixture of Ochre Yellow and Cobalt Blue for the field on the left.  Once the washes had dried I painted the background trees and foreground bushes wet on wet, letting the colors mix.  I added shadows to the distant trees and definition to the pine tree the balloon's shadow fell on.  The ballon's shadow was painted  darkest where it covered the tree line, and lighter over the fields so the yellow and green of the show through.  I alternated between washes and using a fan brush to add additional green and yellows to the fields to add texture and depth to the painting.

Getting ready for the exhibit

I needed to decide which three of the eight 5" x 7" paintings to enter in the exhibit.  To help me determine what the finished paintings would look like I first needed to mat them.

I didn't want the amount of mat to overwhelm these small paintings, so I used 1.5" wide mats.   I spent some time testing different colored mats with the paintings.  The often repeated recommendation is to use neutral off white colors.  I found different colors worked with different paintings.  Some looked best with tan or pale shades of green, others looked best with darker blues and greens.  When the right mat was used the the painting seemed to jump to life.   I tried single mats and double mats, and found that I consistently preferred double mats.  

Matted and sitting side by side it was easy to pick out 4, but eliminating one more from the group was a lot harder.  I ended up with two landscapes and one floral.  Now I needed to work on the framing.

I wanted the frames to complement the painting and fit their style.   After looking at a lot of frames I selected simple dark wood frames for the landscapes and gold frames with a bit of a decoration for the florals.   Now all the pieces needed to be put together.

The glass was cleaned and dried.  The paintings were attached to the back of the mats using two pieces of acid free water soluble gummed tape along the top of the paper.  The matted paintings were placed on top of the glass.  Acid free tissue paper barrier was placed between the paintings and the backing board.  The whole stack was secured in the frame.  A brown paper dust cover was added to the back of the wood frame.  The final step was to add eye hooks and attach twisted wire to them to hang the paintings.

Then off to deliver the paintings I went.  None of them were chosen for the exhibit, but these were the first watercolors I had framed so it was a good learning experience for me.