New Artworks

Fragrant Pinesap (Montropsis odorata), watercolor on vellum, 10" x 8"

 

I finally finished this piece and submitted it to ASBA's juried exhibition "Curious Allies." It's my hope that it will be selected by the jurors, but who knows? The competition is very tough. It's the first pieces I've done on this very expensive medium of botanical vellum, and it was particularly difficult because the vellum is not white, but a warm cream color. In order to bring out some highlights, I used Titanium white watercolor.

This painting is a re-statement of a watercolor I did in 2017 after visiting Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest where I encountered this very rare plant of the Monotropa family. These plants are mycotrophic, that is, they have no cholorophyll, and like fungi, they must rely on other plants to supply the nutrients they need. I've been fascinated by these botanical oddities ever since I came across some ghost pipe flowers on a Fourth of July in Maryland many years ago. I wish I could find more of these species but the majority are found only in the western part of our country.

 

Goldfinch mosaic, 8" x 8" before grouting.

Just for fun, I did another small mosaic of two goldfinches--I purchased a mosaic starter kit after I took Anne Atkin's workshop at the Red House, thinking this is a wonderful distraction from more serious art! After I finished it, I traveled to Richmond to meet with Anne so that she could teach me how to grout this mosaic and the one I'd done at the workshop, where there was no time for this last finishing step.

My two mosaics after grouting.

Grouting is a messy task and probably best done outdoors, but Anne had prepped me beautifully; I brought two drop cloths (one for the table and one for the floor) and several plastic containers for the water and grout so we could work indoors. Once we were done, we just picked up the plastic drop cloths and grout bucket and tossed it in the trash. The mosaics sure do look different once they've been grouted!

 

Blandy's Wetlands in November, watercolor, 11" x 14"

The weather was still warm in early November, and some of the Blandy Sketch Group decided to have one last plein aire session. I wasn't able to join them on the particular day, but I went by the afternoon before and painted this watercolor of the wetlands seen from the back forty. It was a bit breezier than I expected, and once the sun started going down it got chilly, but I had enough down that I could finish this one at home the next day.

First Plein Air of the Year

Asian Garden at the Museum of Shenandoah Valley, watercolor, 10"h x 14"w.

The Outdoor Painters of the Shenandoah held its first plein air outing of the season last Wednesday at the gardens of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester. The gardens were filled with seasonal blooms: flowering Cherries, Magnolias and Redbud, with hundreds of flowers such as Bluebells, Bleeding Hearts, and Daffodils below the unfurling leaves. Ten of us artists were there to make the most of the day. It was an overcast day, but as it wore on it became brighter and warmer, and by afternoon, the sun was peeking in and out of the clouds.

The Museum gardens are fairly large, and after taking them in briefly, I decided that the pond at the Asian Garden, surrounded by stonework and flowers, with a tea house beyond, would afford the best subject. Choosing where to place myself was tough--someone else was already occupying the conveniently-placed bench at one end, and I didn't want to block the path from other visitors. Eventually, I settled on a large paving stone that jutted out a bit into the pond, surrounded by low evergreens, that gave me a few square feet to work in.

Photo of the Asian Garden

The composition was challenging, and needed some editing. I chose to place the large tree by the pond at the one-third mark of my paper to sculpt the curve of the pond, and balance it with the stone path on the right. I then rearranged some of the trees and compressed the area around the tea house to fit it in. The small Kwanzan Cherry by the path was edited to just a couple of blossoming branches entering the picture diagonally. While I worked, a pair of Mallard ducks hung around the pond, an ideal setting for a nest.

It would take the entire day to finish my painting, thus it was fortunate the soft light didn't offer much in the way of changing shadows to chase. Around noon, I took a break and walked back to the picnic area to join other artists for lunch. Back at my spot in the afternoon, I decided to add one of the ducks to my painting--such a lovely spring day!