Watercolors by Celia Blanco

Vine Ripe  watercolor on Fabriano Artistico paper 9" x 12"/ 23 x 30,5 cm   available This is an older painting I reworked. I felt I could have pushed it more, I feel better about the result now. Thank you for stopping by!

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 

Vine Ripe  watercolor on Fabriano Artistico paper 9" x 12"/ 23 x 30,5 cm These tomatoes are from my father-in-law’s garden. We had an unusually cold summer which killed many of the plants but the few that survived are now giving him a nice crop. I am always happy to be a recipient of a basket of his fruits, assorted herbs are also welcome, if present. Who doesn't appreciate the “just picked from the vine” flavor?  Naturally I love to capture all that goodness on paper, I cannot resist the juicy red colors. While on the subject of JUICY colors...my blogging friend, Laura Leeder , was one of my choices for last week's "blog hop around the world". I hope you take the time to pay her a visit and see her elegant still-life’s and florals. One look at her incredible ability with color and you will understand why I am such a big fan of her work! I hope you are all well and thank you for the visit!

"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...

"Sprinkling Love" watercolor on paper 10.5" x 12" / 26 x 31 cm. "Sprinkling Love" is a painting I hope will be able to extend its message beyond Valentine's Day. Barely a week has passed, just like Christmas, the message is always valid, we should keep that loving spirit going all year! Even a week belated, I wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s day full of sprinkling love and with the hope that I'm not turning intolerably sweet myself!

"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.

"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...

"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!:)