Watercolors by Celia Blanco

  Down the Road 7".5 x 11"/ 18.5 x 28cm. watercolor on paper I painted two separate plein air paintings over the last two weekends. The first was a sketch of a country road. As I was sitting nearby, an old Fiat 500 came out of nowhere and drove into my painting view. I always have my camera at an arm's reach, I managed to get a couple shots of the car driving into the distance. I love the retro feel of the image. I used my plein air sketch as a color guide, combined it with my photo reference and took various things from both. plein air sketch 5"x 7" watercolor on paper   I wanted to keep the energy I feel I have in my sketch by working in one sitting, mostly wet into wet. I have been looking at Joseph Zbukvic's work lately and loved what he says "painting precise locations is irrelevant; simply keep the character." plein air sketch 5" x 7" watercolor on paper My second plein air sketch was painted a

 10 MINUTE WATERCOLOR SKETCHES I followed the 10 minute painting exercise from the weekly Daily Paintworks Challenge . The challenge is to set a timer for 10 minutes, paint and then stop. I feel like I did improve after the fourth sketch. It especially helped in judging the water ratio, as my first sketch is very washed out compared to my last. 

  Autumn Still life watercolor painted on Strathmore paper 11" X 15"/ 27.9 X 38.1cm. Now that we put our clocks back an hour I am more in autumn mode. That means shorter days, but there is something cozy about fall as well. I welcome slowing down a bit after the busy days of  summer.  I bought the squash and pumpkin for Halloween decor. I love to bake and will use the pulp for pies and other baked goods typical of this period.  This pumpkin is a different variety than the one's we use in the U.S. for Halloween. They sell them by the slice or whole at the market and it has a delicious flavor for anyone who enjoys eating pumpkin.  I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and find fruits and vegetables are always providing me with inspiration. Not only do I take many reference photos at my local market, I like the "kitchen counter feel" to things I bring home. I set up this composition on my kitchen counter with the hope of transforming it into a paintin