Watercolors by Celia Blanco

WIP 38 x 28cm. watercolor on paper   WIP I would like to update you on my art endeavors for this week. I am painting a still life from a photograph taken during my recent vacation to Crete. It represents an orange juice bar. I love the lemon tree, the grapevine planted behind it and the citrus leaves in the orange filled basket. It is citrus heaven! I was only able to get one shot because I needed to keep up with the group. Otherwise I would have exploited various angles and lighting situations. It is hard to conciliate keeping up with a schedule and photography. I am slowly building up the layers but don't have much to show for. I am reading an excellent book, Making Color Sing, by Jeanne Dobie . I am trying to put into practice some of the numerous suggestions in the book about mixing color and making them work well against each other. I finally ended up working from a black and white reference photo I made because I wanted to make my own color choices. I'm worried

"Red Water" watercolor on  paper  27 x 18 cm. We are having hot weather, 100 degrees in the shade! It's normal for August in Rome but not ideal for painting watercolors. I drew two big compositions last week. I will show you once I have something more concrete evolving. For now I am afraid to start on something complex and not have it work out, I feel as I have forgotten things along the way. I will contrast this feeling by just throwing some paint on a piece of paper, play around and know I will rip up the end product. I did that, in  the sweltering heat of my balcony. The water evaporates almost immediately. I gave it another go with a painting of a plastic bottle that I saved. It's of the French water Badoit. Good water and cool bottle! I think red for a water bottle is unusual. Clear, green or blue bottles are more common. This time I'm a little happier, although I was hoping for better results. I wasn't able to get all the nuances the way I was ho

photos from my trip to Crete Hi everyone! I feel energized, I am looking forward to painting again. We visited beautiful Crete on vacation. I took many photos, there is inspiration lurking in every corner! I did a lot of snorkeling, swimming and soaking up the sun. I ate a lot of yogurt and feta cheese (gained some weight ... oh, well) ! We visited the Palace of Minos at Knossos. We had a wonderful guide (the lady holding the yellow umbrella in my collage) who gave us a fascinating tour of the site. We also visited Chryssi Island on the Libyan Sea, a protected uninhabited island.I have never seen such incredible blues and turquoise. I thought it funny that amidst all of this ancient rich history there is even a Starbucks! My husband and I have been doing some maintenance work around the house this past week. We repainted the kitchen and some of the living room. With weather in the 100's we feel slow. I am hopeful to at least have prepared some paper and bought extra gator b

"Chorus Line Girl" graphite on paper 17" x 24" I am going on vacation and will not be posting for the rest of the month. I wish everyone a happy summer and thank you for the undeserved encouragement and support you give to my artistic endeavors!

"Just Peachy" watercolor on paper 9".5 x 9".5 inches / 24 x 24cm. I find the DPW painting challenge a good place to turn to when you feel you are lacking a direction in what to paint. This week, the focus is on composition. There are a lot of excellent points on things to keep in mind which I tried to incorporate. You can check that out by clicking here . It's a delicious time of year as fas as fruit is concerned. I'm always attracted by the colors of fruit and it is difficult to try and present it in a unique way. I worked larger than life in order to play with the washes more. And the best part is eating my still life once it is all over! I've included the full size images of the paintings from Master artists from last weeks hand "quiz". Have a great weekend! I "The Creation of Adam" Michelangelo

Hand Sketches-watercolor on paper 41 x 31 cm I have been unable to post in a while. My kids are on summer break and there is a lot of activity in my house. Finding the time to paint in the summer is always close to impossible. My posts will be sporadic until September.  I recently bought some paper from a local art store that only carried Cartiera Magnani paper. It is made in Florence and it is called "Portofino Acquerello ". They have been making paper since 1404! The odd thing is, on the internet you can't find much information about this paper and the little I found were bad reviews. I thought the  DPW Painting challenge   would be a good way to try it out and see how it handles. I have never worked with hot press before so this is also new to me. This paper soaks up the pigment immediately no chance for any mistakes! A nice thing is I can achieve very dark darks which I have had a hard time with other papers, I always thought it was the paint. You can't rub

"Flying Colors" 28.5 x 20cm / 11" x  8"in.  I love the color of this blue jay's feathers and its stance, so graceful ... the various blues were hard to imitate. I am working on leaving more white areas in my painting and loosening up a bit. Thank you to Mim White for allowing me to use her photo! When I saw her photograph, I immediately imagined it as a watercolor painting.