Watercolors printed on mugs?

I have been using my Canon Pro9000 Mark II series printer to print archival pigment prints on Strathmore 90lb watercolor paper note cards for a while now.  Last past year I donated sets of flower, trout patterns and salmon fly cards to Trout Unlimited, library and other local groups for their fund raisers.

This year I decided to try something different.  I downloaded a template for a wrap around mug and painted four watercolors; Brown trout, Rainbow trout, Brook trout and Cutthroat trout.

I tried to create images that looked active.  The scanned 300 dpi images were uploaded to a commercial web site to be printed on mugs mugs.

I loved the way the mugs turned out, the colors closely match the original watercolors and the fish look great wrapped around a mug.

The mugs will be donated to local Trout Unlimited chapters for their fund raising events.

Grania Uaile, the Pirate Queen

One of my Irish paintings was accepted in the OCAF 2015 Small Works exhibit.  Because the painting was so small I mounted it floating above a black back background in a deep square black frame.  This was the first time I had done a float frame and was very happy with the results.  The other painting that was accepted was the Sunflower and bee, which I framed the regular way.

The painting featured Grace, a half Old Irish goat kid that was staying at the Essence of Mulrany (pre-cropped painting at right).  Old Irish goats were once numerous in Ireland and now are endangered due to cross breeding and habitat loss.  The herd in Mulrany is one of the best remaining groups in Ireland and Grace was a delightful ambassador.

I named the painting "Grace the Pirate Queen" after Grace O'Malley (Grania Uaile) a local celebrity.  Grace lived in the 16th century, and like her father, was a notorious pirate.  She was known as the Pirate Queen.  During her rein she built, captured and maintained several small tower castles around the area.  We visited Rockfleet castle (Carrigahowleythat ) on the shore, about three miles west of Newport.  We also saw Kildavnet castle on Achill Island, near the passage between Clew and Blacksod Bays.

Achill Island, Ireland

Achill Island, Co Mayo is the largest island off the coast of Ireland.  We followed the Atlantic Drive from Mulranny.  This coastal highway hugged the edge of a land filled with breath taking views of a brilliant blue ocean crashing on the rocky beaches beneath the grass covered cliffs.  We stopped several times enjoy and photograph the views.  We marveled over the sure footed sheep grazing along the steep grassy slopes, at the very edge of the cliffs.

We returned to sea level to cross the bridge at Achill Sound.  We continued following the Atlantic Drive around along Achill Sound to Kildavnet church and graveyard.  The 87% of the island is covered in peat.  Which explains the lack of trees in most of these photos.  The peat bogs support a unique flora of grass, heathers, sphagnum moss, rushes and sedges.  It also provides a habitat for insectivorous sundews (Drosera rotundifolia), butterworts (Pinguicula vulgrais) and bladderworts (Utricularia spp.).

 

Then on to Keem Bay.  Keem Bay is a horseshoe shaped bay sheltered between the cliffs of Benmore and Croaghaun mountains. To day it is home to numerous birds and tourists.  In the 1940's it was the site of a large Basking Shark fishery.  The sharks were tangled in nets hung from the cliffs as they swam through the bay feeding on plankton.  The fisheries flourished until the 1970s when the populations of basking sharks dwindled due to over fishing.

We stopped at the deserted village of Slievemore on the southern coast.  The remains of almost 80 unmortared stone cottages sit on the slope of Slievemore mountain.  Sheep wander between the rock walls that run down toward the ocean.  I did a quick plein air sketch of the lower mountain side while the rest of the group wandered among the abandoned village.