Watercolors by Celia Blanco

Pears In a Bowl watercolor on Hot Press paper 22cm x14cm / 8"5' x 5"5'  I painted this still-life set up from life. I was attracted by the shapes, it is always great to paint such bright yellow colors.   I am working on not covering all of the paper with watercolor, hopefully allowing certain areas to breathe. It is always a challenge to put the brush down. I wish everyone a wonderful week, I hope all of you are enjoying the end of Summer!

Left side of my painted with the old paint/ Right side painted with fresh professional grade watercolors This week I have been doing a little housekeeping. I replaced the paints in my Winsor & Newton Cotman Sketchers' Box which I use for my sketchbook with fresh replacements. I was feeling frustrated by the colors in my sketches, I couldn't achieve the brightness and values I wanted. I finally decided to clean the palette and start over with a clean slate. The sketch on the left was painted with the old palette, the one on the right with the new. I feel like it gained some luster. Fresh clean colors Presently I need to get back to painting. I have a few projects in development which I hope to share soon! Thanks for the visit!

Red Roses, Pink Roses Too 29,5cm x 21cm/ 11".5' x 8" watercolor on paper AVAILABLE   I was given some lovely roses from a friends' garden some time back. I set out to paint it from life, started a few washes. The flowers quickly wilted, I was forced to set the project aside momentarily. I fortunately had taken some reference photos which came to the rescue: obviously I know myself well.   sketch of a rose A few weeks ago I enjoyed a visit to one of my relatives' beautiful garden. I sat under a plum tree, made many new ant friends and sketched this amazing rose. It sparked my desire to finally finish my painting. I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!  Thanks for the visit!

  The Room  watercolor in my sketchbook The sketch above is of our hotel room in Amsterdam, this past week we took a family vacation there. Our favorite place is The Van Gogh Museum.   A strong recommendation to anyone who visits is to purchase advance e-tickets. They allow you to skip the very long line. The museum has three floors. It is the largest existing collection of his paintings and drawings and includes many  letters written to his brother Theo. It is an incredible insight and understanding into the artist's life. I've never quite experienced a museum like this. To see his paintings up close is amazing. No book will ever get close to reproducing what he has achieved on canvas. No photography is allowed in the museum, I've added this video to hopefully give an idea of the place. I really like how they have made it so interactive to the point that little kids run around interested: it is not your usual boring museum visit. Vincent would be surely...