Watercolors by Celia Blanco

Sunflower watercolor on paper 8.5" x 11.5"/21.5 x 29 cm. I couldn't resist buying this sunflower from the market the other day. It usually dies before I manage to finish painting it from life. It almost felt like it waited for me to finish: it started drooping only once I was done.  my work in progress

Daydreaming Summer watercolor on paper 8.5" x 11.5"/21.5 x 29 cm. It has become rather cold and dreary. I thought this would cheer me up, hopefully it will you as well! Happy New Year!   

 Preserving It Fresh watercolor on Arches paper 17 cm x 17 cm NFS   I started this still life painting from freshly bought flowers I purchased during the summer. Even if I had to put the painting aside for a while, I was finally able to finish it last week from some photos I had taken. It is one of four paintings I am working on for a series which I will be presenting as a gift. The painting went through a series of scrubbing off and paint reapplying. I normally don't prefer to use masking fluid but found it necessary to preserve the various areas of color and build up the hues. I was always worried I would end up tearing the paper when rubbing but it handles it well ...I sweated bullets, as can be imagined, in the process. (below, various stages of my work in progress)

Poppies watercolor on Fabriano Artistico paper   7"x 5" inches available  I created this painting from a sketch I did earlier in July.  I sketched on site and painted at home. It worked out well because the reference photos were not very helpful, without the sketch I would have  had to abandon the project.    my plein air sketch 

White Hibiscus  Blooms watercolor on paper 30.5 X 23 cm. available I love the delicate contrast between the pink and white of this hibiscus. As an added bonus a little bee flew into my frame right when I snapped the photo. I did a preliminary sketch. White flowers are tricky in watercolors...I feel like I say it about every flower. It really helped me to get out my ideas about the colors in a rough sketch first. I added many layers of color in the background before working on the flower itself.  Thank you for stopping by!

Colorful Callas for Mom watercolor on paper NFS I was asked by VIDA to design a scarf with my mother in mind. I prepared a design to be printed on a square silk scarf. My mother loves balance and colors. She is also aware of color undertones which bring out the undertones in one’s skin, as when picking out a lipstick or blush (I highly recommend going with her when you need one!).  She is particularly fond of a shade of greenish teal, I wished to include it in my design. She has even introduced it in her interior design, walls, chairs, etc . Callas are her favorite (you might recall I painted callas for her here ). I purchased a plant to have inspiration but mostly painted from impressions, keeping my mother in mind. This is the result, a scarf is already making its way to my mother's home. my work in progress I used a lot of  Ultramarine Turquoise, Green Gold, and Opera Pink from the Daniel Smith line. I added colors from my usual  palette t...

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!

 African violets sketchbook page I painted this sketch slowly, over a few day's time.  I use my sketchbook to experiment towards improving my skills although I seem to always find myself in a hurry to finish the sketches. It took my African Violets over two years to bloom, I felt compelled to capture this achievement! The flu is making the rounds around my household once more, I hope everyone else is well!

 watercolor sketch 24 x 26 cm.  Inspiration for this painting came from a picture of a garden vase with a rosemary bush in front. Not much preliminary drawing … this made the bush in front rather difficult for me to paint .  I finally used my new watercolor easel. I wanted to get a feel of working with an easel instead of a table. At first I felt it was out of control, water flowing down, colors bleeding into one another. I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I think I am going to enjoy experimenting with this new approach. I am happy this is finally the last day of February! It has been a tough month to get through in spite of its shortness. Does anyone else agree?

DAY TEN   MELLOW YELLOW watercolor on FABRIANO Artistico paper 12,5 x 18cm/ 5" x 7"   Yellow is the theme I have chosen for day ten. This is a photo I took at a beautiful garden in France one summer while on vacation there. Yellows are a challenge to paint with watercolor especially when building contrast and depth. The fun part of the challenge is that I feel encouraged to try new things.  DAY EIGHT AND NINE Days eight and nine was also the same, trying something new. I had a feeling it wasn't going to go well but I gave it a shot anyhow. I have an impossible time painting on hot press paper. It just soaks the pigment and the colors bleed into one another in an odd way. I also added the challenge of working on two paintings at once. I thought I could do it, I had something in mind but it just did not work. It's good to try in order to understand your limits. My days' eight and nine efforts are ripped up and have become part of my scrap...

Sunflowers watercolor on cold pressed Daler Rowney paper 10" x 10" / 25 x 25 cm.   I always wanted to paint sunflowers, it's funny how we put certain things off... Well, these sunflowers were growing as high as a house, screaming to be noticed. I wish everyone a great weekend, thank you for stopping by!

  A Room with a View watercolor on p aper (Daler Rowney cold pressed) 18 x 13 cm/ 5 x7 in.  “One doesn't come to Italy for niceness," was the retort; "one comes for life. Buon giorno! Buon giorno!” ― E.M. Forster , A Room with a View   Sunday morning a fishing competition forced my husband and I up river to kayak. There was no place for me to sit nearby so I ventured into the town of Subiaco to plein air paint. I have always wanted to paint a portion of this house which I have been infatuated with for years. I was also very attracted to the old style street lamp and the flowers blooming on the sill. This home looks over the Aniene River and has a beautiful mountain view. The owner of the house is very kind and came out to see what I was doing as did many of the friendly folk walking by. Being accustomed to the colder ways of the big city, I appreciate smaller towns where people take the time to  greet each other, even strangers. "Buo...

"Princess Dandelion" watercolor on paper 10".5 x 14".5 in./ 27 x 36 cm. The Dandelion Vase © Jennifer L. Holte This vase may be quite tiny, but its importance is monumental and grand! For the love that went into each picked 'flower,' was carefully chosen by your child's small hand. How important these pesky 'flowers' become' and how great they will make your day, when your child comes running across your lawn' 'I picked these just for you,' they'll say! No other flower can show your child's love, than that of the dandelion in bloom! For sometimes in the thicket of weeds, God's love is revealed to you! So each time you use this vase, remember how great the reason! For nothing can compare to the love of a child, when the dandelions are in season! Source: The Dandelion Vase, Children Poem http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-dandelion-vase#ixzz2St...

"Purple Tulips" 10".5 x 14"/ 27 x 36 cm I began this painting back in March and was hoping to have it finished by Easter ... well I'm a little late. I worked on it and in trying to imitate the purples in the photo it was just coming out terrible! I am even too embarassed to show you what level of horrible I achieved. I didn't want to give up so I wiped it out and started over. I'm happy with it enough now, I've discovered how difficult it is to work with the color purple. There's a lesson in every painting! Gratitude goes to Deb Brookshier Photography for allowing me to use her image: fresh tulips would have never lasted this long. Have a great weekend everyone and thank you for visiting my blog!

"Lily" watercolor on paper 10" x 7"/ 25 x 18cm.     SOLD   Imagine the delight to discover this flower growing in your garden. I painted this from a reference photo, once again inspiration was provided by the Wet Canvas image library. I am trying to work on loosening up my edges more, but it's not as simple as I would hope it to be.  Spring is here, spring is not here - the weather doesn't make up its mind and I have a terrible cold to boot!  I wish everyone a happy Monday!

"Poppies alla Jan Kunz" watercolor on paper 11.5 x 8 inches / 29 x 20 cm.    work in progress, developing the flower shapes and adding detail my wash drying  I  recently acquired a copy of  Jan Kunz's   watercolor art book "Painting Watercolor Florals that Glow" . I've been pouring over the abundant, valuable information she offers: she is an excellent teacher. I have followed up with an attempt at one of her demonstration paintings which can be found at the end of the book. This excercise contemplates "discovering shapes within the composition." It means trying to pull out shapes in a background, in this case leaves and stems within a charged wash in the watercolor. She provides step by step instructions on how she approached this particular task. It was a huge challenge to attempt to emulate her work - mainly because I wished my painting to look somewhat like hers, I felt discouraged when it did not. At her suggestion, my palette was...

"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

"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