Raindrops on Roses

Fresh off the easel. Latest watercolor, Raindrops on Roses, 22" x 27" on Arches 300# cold press.

Wiegardt Workshop Day Two

Another great day of learning from the "Master of Loose" (my terminology) Eric Wiegardt.

You can see his website here Top left is my photo reference. Top right, the value study. Today's challenge was to paint beyond the boundary of the objects in the reference photo creating new shapes, and to use fresh color. Normally, I do a very detailed drawing which takes hours and spend over 20 hours on a half-sheet sized painting. In Eric's workshop after a morning demo by him, we do a value study which takes about 20 minutes, and then spend two hours on a full-sheet sized painting which is approx 21" x 30." No time for too much detail. Really forces you to concentrate on the important shapes and colors. Plus it's fun! Eric is a great teacher. Has great advice and good individual instruction for each workshop participant. I recommend him highly.

Watercolor Workshop with Eric Wiegardt

I'm taking a wonderful 4-day workshop with Eric Wiegardt, AWS NWS, author of "Watercolor Free and Easy." Today was day one. We brought our own photos of boat scenes to paint from. Eric stresses that values are more important than the color in a successful painting, so we all did value sketches before beginning. Also, today's challenge was to be more free when mixing colors....to merge colors on the palette and on the paper, rather than creating a finished color to put directly on the paper. Top left is the reference photo. Top right is the value study. We all did very loose, wet-in-wet paintings on full-sheet, 21" x 31" 140# rough watercolor paper. Eric's style is loose, yet skillfully controlled. We tried to emulate. He instructed to find the pattern first of light and midtones. Think about the design of the painting. Refer often to the value study over the photo. You can't think about design when your mind is on the photo. My work today resulted in a 2-hour, approximately 70% complete painting. Most of the values and shapes are in. Some detail in the figures and shadow strengthening are yet to be finished. All-in-all a fun and informative day. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Monument Moon

This is the latest challenge from Karin Jurick's Different Strokes from Different Folks blog. The photo of the Jefferson Memorial was provided by Karin. I added the moon. Her challenges get me to paint something totally different from my normal subject matter. New challenges are stimulating and good for the brain. This 7" x 10" watercolor on 300# Arches watercolor paper is available matted and ready for framing for $475 on my website http://www.dianemorganpaints.com/

Two Awards in Palm Springs Art Show

"Heaven is a '57" won Second in Show at the 2009 City of Palm Springs 11th Annual Art Show. "Moooonlight" won 3rd place in Watercolor. Purchase information for both pieces is available on my website http://dianemorganpaints.com/

Blood Rose

This painting was for a monthly challenge posed by my friends and co-artists at ArtColony international artists group. This month’s challenge required using one tube of paint only. More difficult than it might sound.
I called this Blood Rose because it felt like I was painting with blood, and it also seemed like drawing blood to do it. This was hard! I guess because we're used to black and white or sepia photos, those colors fill in our imaginations more easily. Red is a toughy. My favorite color has always been Alizarin Crimson. Maybe I'll have to rethink that. This is 6" x 8" on 300# Arches cold press.

To Catch a Thief

IncredibleArtist.com, my gallery in Palm Springs has many of my paintings, along with other artists from the gallery, on display at the Hyatt Hotel on Palm Canyon in Palm Springs. It has transformed the previously bare lobby into a real art showplace. While I was away, a thief, accompanied by his girlfriend, took a large giclee of this "California Commute" off the wall and casually strolled out of the hotel onto the street. Luckily, the security guard who was patrolling the second story overlooking the lobby saw him as he walked out of the building. He was quite a distance from him but ran down the stairs and managed to catch him on the street and grabbed the painting shouting, "What do you think you're doing?" The thief and his girlfriend took off running and the guard was unable to catch them. Thank goodness he saved the art.

Traveling to Montevideo Uruguay

Just spent 3 days in Montevideo. Lots to see and enjoy. The beaches on the Rio de la Plata, the River Plate. Looks like an ocean, but is a salt water river which connects with the Atlantic Ocean in Punte del Este, Uruguay. Recycling is done with horses and carts. Beautiful architecture. Wonderful food. Tomorrow off to Punte del Este. More later. And of course, paintings to follow.

Walking on Air

This week's Karin Jurick challenge was to paint upside down, using the reference photo in the upside down position. This was to make you paint using shapes rather than the actual images. I must admit it actually made me a little dizzy. The brain kept wanting to turn the image right side up. Well, since the lady was suspended I figured she must have been walking on air, and gravity would be having its way with her. That made me think of the most famous uplifted skirt. This 11" x 10" watercolor on 300# Arches is available for $275 on my website http://www.dianemorganpaints.com/

American Art Collector Ad and New Online Magazine

Our "Artists-Collective" group of artists has placed a new ad in the November 2008 American Art Collector magazine on newsstands now. See our ad on page 246. Look for our next new ad coming soon in the December issue. We have also started our own on-line magazine this past month thanks to our creator and editor, Andy Mathis. You can see examples of each artist's work with a short bio. Future issues will be expanded with art-related articles and work from more artists in the group. When viewing the new online issue please do not click on the individual pages. It will drive you crazy. Your mouse will move the pages all over the place and make it impossible to see. Go up to the top left and click on "view fullscreen" Then you can click on the arrows on the side of each page to turn the page. Hit escape to exit. You can see our new "ezine" by clicking here.

Moooonlight

This was another weekly "different strokes" painting challenge posed by Karin Jurick. I have to thank her for helping me break out of my normal routine. My usual "modus operandi" is to replicate a still life set-up or photograph I have taken. Since I knew that 70 or 80 people would be posting similar renditions of her cow, I wanted to try to do something different from Karin's photograph. I knew I wanted to move the horizon to accentuate the cow’s face, and I wanted to alter the composition a bit and change the time of day. The challenge got me thinking about creating a story rather than just painting what I saw. That’s what being an artist is supposed to be all about. Thanks to a workshop I took with Elin Pendleton I knew what colors to use to change the time of day. This was so much fun. I feel I’ve created a “work of art” rather than just reproducing a photograph. I’ve done hundreds of paintings over the past 30 years. I think this may be one of my favorites. This is an 8" x 10" watercolor on Arches 300# cold press paper. Available unframed for $475 on my website http://www.dianemorganpaints.com/

Desert Trumpets

This was another choice I had for the "orange botanical challenge" The "Orange Peppers" was the first painting. I decided to do another. This 10" x 12" unframed watercolor on paper is available for $325 on my website http://www.dianemorganpaints.com/

Donut 4acure

This is a little different than my usual watercolors or oils. Just a fun quick sketch. All summer the artists of IncredibleArtist.com gallery have been exhibiting at the Premier Oncology Center in Santa Monica, CA to raise money for cancer research. Each of us was asked to do a quick little drawing that would be auctioned off for charity. The first rendering I did, I later found out I had done on the wrong paper so set it aside. One of the other artists, a young photographer who is a Marine stationed in Iraq, asked if he could have it. I said, "Of course!" This young photographer's photos of what life is really like at war have been very popular at the gallery. Rosie O'Donnell found out about him and has taken him under her wing. She even bought him a camera. You can see his photos on her website http://www.rosie.com/

Just go up to her "links" and scroll down to the pic of the soldier with his palm held out showing a peace sign drawn in ink. His work is on display in the Palm Springs gallery now with artist's receptions on Thurs, Fri and Sat evenings October 23rd, 24th and 25th. For more info go to http://www.incredibleartist.com/harshdesert.htm. You can help make a donation to Art4acure by going to http://www.art4acure.com/ and click on Auction.....then .... take me to the auction......to purchase one of my mini oils of which the gallery contributes 25% of the sale to the Premier Oncology cancer research fund.

California Commute

This is a 16" x 20" watercolor on Arches cold press. I did a 6" x 8" version of this last year for a small image show. It sold right away and the reproductions have been selling. I decided to do a full-size version for several upcoming landscape competitions....and, so that there would be better detail for future reproductions. It was a fun piece to paint.

Coffee Bean Custard

This 6" x 8" oil on gallery-wrap canvas is available for $150 on my website www.DianeMorganPaints.com

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere

This 8"x 5-3/4" oil on gallery-wrap canvas is available for $150 on my website www.DianeMorganPaints.com

Psychedelic Egg

This 5-3/4" x 8" oil on gallery-wrap canvas is available for $150 on my website www.DianeMorganPaints.com

Hummingbird Wizard

A friend of mine is often visited by his dear, departed mother in the form of a hummingbird. Another friend, Robert Joseph Ahola wrote"The Return of the Hummingbird Wizard" a novel which tells of a recently diagnosed cancer patient's encounters with a hummingbird who teaches him the meaning of life. I think hummingbirds are a special breed. Now, I have one to visit with me everyday. SOLD

Three Peppers

This 5-3/4" x 8" oil on gallery-wrap canvas is available for $150 on my website www.DianeMorganPaints.com

Two Potato, Three

The 8" x 5-3/4" oil on gallery-wrap canvas is available for $150 on my website www.DianeMorganPaints.com