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