"La Tortue" watercolor demo for class and April challenge

This is my demo from Thursday's class. "La Torture" watercolor 10" x 14. " I hadn't planned it, but it also works for the April water challenge by a great group of artists at www.artcolony.blogspot.com  The scene is from a fishing village in Punte del Este, Uruguay.  La Tortue is French for turtle, though my students were certain it meant torture.  As we know...water is not easy to paint.  I've added a Sunday class to the schedule, and there is still space for tomorrow's class if y'all can hop on over. April's schedule can be seen at http://dianemorganpaints.com/collections/43797

Just sold through DailyPainters gallery

Just sold to a new collector in Asheville, North Carolina through DailyPainters online gallery http://www.dailypainters.com/artists/artist_gallery/2361/Diane-Morgan  This was not my usual style.  It was very fast and loose. Painted wet-in-wet.

Fast vs Slow.....Loose vs Detailed.

Update.....I've removed the birds. I like it much better. Sometimes you take a risk and it's spectacular. Sometimes it doesn't work out. I could never have removed the birds if I hadn't used 300# paper. The Paynes Grey that I used on them was very staining. I really had to scrub. It would have put a hole in #140 paper.


The top watercolor "Waiting for Breakfast" 21" x 18" is the class demo I started several months ago and finally finished this week. It took about 25 hours to paint. I added the gulls as an afterthought and wish I had left them off. I liked it better without them. I already removed about 4 birds and may just wash off the whole ocean and redo it. The second scene is from the same docks in Punte del Este, Uruguay. It is a full sheet 22"x 30" on Arches 300# cold press worked wet in wet that with drawing and painting took a total of two hours. I show the reference photo on the right to give you an idea of the scene I was trying to capture. So, which is better? Which is worth more? The one that took more time or the quick, loose painting? I don't think the amount of time spent has anything to do with how much a painting is worth. Personally, I like the loose one better. I think it's fresher, and certainly was more fun to paint. It's so difficult for me to loosen up, but it's so much fun.

WIP "Waiting for Breakfast" class demo

I had 14 students in my class yesterday. We had fun pulling all the many color variations out of the fish and sea lion. Some painted just the fisherman. Others did the whole scene. I flipped the image from the original photo then turned the man so he wasn't facing out of the painting. I didn't get very far on mine as I spent a lot of time walking around viewing the students' work. I'll probably add a bunch of seagulls before I'm finished. Really having fun with this one. The photo was taken in Punte del Este, Uruguay.

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.