Watercolors by Celia Blanco

"A Cool Pear" watercolor on paper 6 x 4.5 in./ 15 x 11 cm. A pair of pears painted with two different color palettes. At night, using only a limited cool palette consisting of: lemon yellow, alizarin crimson, cyan blue, pthalo green, coeruleum blue and vandyke brown. My daytime pears instead I used only a warm palette consisting of: cadmium yellow, cadmium red, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, permanent green and yellow ochre. I worked the colors using mostly wet into wet technique. It is very difficult for me to limit myself to only six colors. I have a "the more the merrier" approach to color and hope this excercise will, at least, teach me to be more selective and to think more about color properties. Day 28 and 29 can be checked off! "A Warm Pear" watercolor on paper 6 x 4.5 in./ 15 x 11 cm.

"Can It" watercolor on paper 5.5x 7.5 in. / 13.5 x 18.5 cm.    I was drawn by Carrie Waller's beautiful paintings of glass and especially her Ball Mason paintings to attempt to mimic her work. I am in awe of the beautiful darks she achieves in her paintings and the strong contrast with light in her compositions. It's a great practice to try and learn from artist we admire. I also am a huge fan of Ball Mason jars, I take great care of mine and have had them for years.

"Rainy Day Primrose" 6 x 8 in./ 15 x 20cm. watercolor on paper It's a rainy Monday and I thought that painting some flowers might cheer me up. I tried a looser approach with a bigger brush ( size 20 ). This is day 26, only four paintings left. See the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's painting challenge by clicking here

"Citrus"  15 x 6 in./ 38 x15 cm. watercolor on paper I changed paper size in order to accentuate the composition for this still life. I have much citrus fruit around, it abounds this time of year. My mother-in-law gave me many freshly picked lemons from her neighbor's tree, which I plan to paint in the near future. This is day 25, I really plan to take a little break when this challenge is over.

"Fancy Whiskey" 6x7.5/15x18cm Nothing like having a glass of whiskey in a fancy glass. This was a wedding gift and something that gets used seldom. With all its cuts and reflections, this would have been easier to do from a photograph and I can see why watercolorists prefer that. Our eye reacts to color so much more in reality than in a picture, it's good to have a balance between the two. This is day 24 of 30, see the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's painting challenge by clicking  here.

"Brushes" 11.5 x 4 in./ 29 x 10 cm. watercolor on paper I am enjoying painting daily but find it difficult to keep up with the snappy titles. I usually give it a lot of thought but can't think of anything else except "brushes". It's also difficult to paint a painting in natural light with a quickly setting sun. At one point I was in the dark but couldn't turn on the light so as not to change the shadows too much. Maybe I should rename this painting " Twilight Brushes"?  A little more expressive. I never managed to catch up with the challenge, this is day 23 and I'm still a day behind. I will do 30 paintings nonetheless but I don't think I will manage to do them in the time allocated. Have a great weekend, everyone!

"Feelin' Blue" 6 x 7 in/ 15 x18 cm. watercolor on paper I'm feelin' blue, blue, blue...this is day 22! See the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's painting challenge by clicking here

"Different but the Same" watercolor on paper 7 x 6 in./ 18 x 15 cm. These two pieces of fruit are different but the same, pretty obvious. What I also mean is I tried to work the two fruits at the same time, not just individually. I was thinking back to my art school days and remembering a lesson about not just focusing on one piece of the painting at a time but to work on it as a whole. As I used one color on one piece of fruit, I would also work on the other, trying to unify the painting.  So nine more to go...

"Blue Watering Can"  8x6in./20x15cm watercolor on paper This watering can is a favorite item of mine. I painted it already last spring (shown below, have I improved since then? ) and was happy to do a solo portrait this time. I seem to always get behind on the weekend.  I should be on day 21 today and this is yesterday's work finished only today. I feel a little slow but decided to take my time nonetheless, enjoying the process. This is my twentieth painting, painted from life for the 30 paintings in 30 days Leslie Saeta challenge. "Watering Can" 8x11 watercolor, painted last April 2012

"Little Carnations"10x15cm/ 4x6in. watercolor on paper   My last piece of postcard paper,finally! I'm happy because I normally don't like to work small. This is my last study of these little carnations. This is day 19 of the 30 day challenge.

watercolor on paper 8x11in./ 20x28cm. I wanted to try something out of my comfort zone and decided to approach this watercolor in a new way. I began painting with a large brush(#20) on a larger piece of paper than I've been using( the postcard size). No prelimanary drawing, just painting. This is number 18 out of 30 in the challenge.

"Little Carnations"  9.5x6.5in./17x24cm I'm just going to keep it short. I decided to work differently and experiment with my artist pen and watercolors. Hope you have a nice weekend! See the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's painting challenge by clicking here

"Bromeliad" 10x15cm/ 4x6in. watercolor on paper I love Bromeliad plants because of their easy care and tropical feel, they make me think of Hawaii- a place on my bucket list (I would love to be there today!).  I am presently focusing on various greens and trying to create contrasts in the shadows. I have commited myself to painting a painting a day for the month of January, this is day sixteen. See the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's painting challenge by clicking here work in progress

"Secret" 10x15cm/ 4x6in. watercolor on paper Ssshhh, I've got a secret. I've been in my daughter's room, looking at her nail polish collection. Please don't tell. I've fallen in love with the multitude of glittery colors, it is hard to pick just three to paint. I am aware that it is a girl thing. It makes me think of the "Pretty Little Liars" books/show she loves. I find it relevant that certain seemingly meaningless objects are so important to us and reveal much about us. My daughter is more than just a nail polish collection, of course, but it's seeing it there on her desk with a certain light, etc. that it's like listening to her whisper to me. I hope it makes sense to someone... Well, this is my day 15 out of 30 paintings.

"Bonne Maman" 10x15cm/ 4x6in. watercolor on paper Gingham style or french style. I love the red and white gingham lid of the "Bonne Maman" jams. They have such a homey feel and the labels seem like they were written by hand (even if they are mass produced). I didn't know this, Bonne Maman is the largest exporter of jam in the world. This is my day fourteen of the 30 paintings in 30 days (See the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's painting challenge by clicking here).

"Moka Pot" 10x15cm watercolor on paper I am a tea drinker but a moka pot is a necessary item if you live in Italy and are married to an Italian. This one has seen quite a bit of use, I've been thinking about replacing it but it's still there because of its sentimental value. I painted this last night and was trying to get all the shadows and reflections on the pot. I'm happier with my darks and feel like I'm getting a better hold on the paint. Watercolor takes a while to dry so I've been using a hairdryer to generously speed up the process. See the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge by clicking here

DAY11-sketch of a jade plant "Golden Delicious"watercolor on paper 10x15cm I couldn't find any time on Saturday to paint. Sunday I drew a sketch of one of my many jade plants to make up for it and I painted an apple later in the evening. What I'm appreciating about this challenge is the sense of guilt that inevitably arises if you miss a day. I also find that because we only have so much time to do the project, we don't fuss over it and overwork it like we might when working on longer projects. Well, I won't bore you anymore. I got past my second weekend and I'm almost halfway through this challenge .   See the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge by clicking here

"Cyclamen" watercolor on paper 10,5 x14,8cm cyclamen pot on my terrace I'm finally all caught up and on day ten! Have a great weekend!:)

"CHARTREUSE" watercolor on paper 10,5 x14,8cm work in progress  This is my day nine painting. A bottle of Chartreuse Liqueur. I want to paint this before it disappears, I love the greenish color and want to capture it before the contents are drunk. It is a very strong liqueur to drink but great when you have a soar throat!   See the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge by clicking here

"Fusilli" 7x10cm watercolor on paper  I am over the threshold of the first week and find the challenge demanding. I'm trying to keep the paintings simple. I am impressed by what the other artist are producing on a daily basis (see for yourselves by clicking here ). I was off track for a couple days and am now trying to catch up. This is a personal challenge, no one is checking on me but I want to see if I can devote myself to painting on a more regular basis, hopefully this will be something I can carry forward once it is over (but not on the weekends!). Day eight I painted fusilli pasta. I might continue with this, I think it is fun. A solitary object on a page represents a challenge because the the focus is on the single item, nothing detracts from it. I like the bit of striped cloth as a backdrop because it echoes the swirls of the pasta. Well, I still need to catch up with day nine, whew!"             ...

"Farfalla"10.5x7.5 watercolor on paper  I'm behind on my project. I have been very busy these last couple of days and have not been able to find time to paint. Oh, well! I worked on a very small painting last night, butterfly shaped pasta, hoping that smaller will lead me to catching up faster. I'm happy with the result and plan to do another one tomorrow. I love food and I think it's important to paint what you love! See the other artists who are participating in Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge by clicking here

"Time for Tea" 10,5 x14,8cm , watercolor and colored pencil on paper Today we return to our normal schedule. Everyone is back to work or school after the Christmas break and the house feels sadly still. I'm happy to have this challenge to prevent the winter doldrums. The delicate white of the porcelain teapot was fun to paint this morning, although I was hoping to achieve less harsh shadows.Watercolor has a life of its own sometimes, at least I feel like it does! You can see my work in progress in the picture below. The light rolled in pretty quickly and I wanted to finish before the conditions changed too much. I'm happy with the color combinations of contrasting blue and yellow and am working on keeping my palette to a minimum of colors. I love colors and have a tendency to add too many. Trying to finish a work a day is helping me realize I need to stick to the basics and essentials of painting.  This is day six out of thirty!  WIP See the other artis...

Portrait sketch-Day 4 I'm on day five of the thirty paintings in thirty days challenge and am proud to have made it through my first weekend! Today is even a public holiday in Italy. I am commiting myself to painting watercolors from life, not from photographs, for a whole month. My day four painting was a sketch of my husband while watching TV. It was difficult because he first kept moving and finally fell asleep all together. I worked quickly but the result became muddy nonetheless. I'm still showing it even if  I'm not happy with it because I think part of the challenge is not so much the final product but the process required to get there. In this perspective, it's never a waste of time and effort when a painting doesn't come out as wished. "Banana's" Day 5 Day five painting is a simple bunch up of bananas on a surface. I've also uploaded a better picture of yesterday's painting closer to the colors of the original. The sun bleache...

"Mayan Chime" watercolor on paper 10,5 x14,8cm     I apoligize for the bad picture quality. My house gets the afternoon sun and gives the colors a warm hue. See what the other 250 artists who are  participating in daily painting challenge by clicking here!

10.5 X 14.8 watercolor I take my decorations down after the Epiphany so I wanted to paint a Christmas ornament before I put it all away on Monday. I'm trying to keep my compositions simple in order to finish one painting a day. This is the second, twenty-eight to go! See what the other 250 artists who are  participating in daily painting challenge by clicking here!

I have commited myself to a 30 day painting challenge hosted by Leslie Saeta. It begins today and I plan on painting small works from life in watercolor. I have decided to join the challenge in order to push myself to paint on a daily basis and to improve through painting from life. Happy New Year to everyone!