Watercolors by Celia Blanco

work in progress, I have little to show for, this week. I dedicated a good amount of time to a painting that I just ended up tearing to pieces. It  feels good when you know it's not working. I get a little upset but I also move on. I began working on a sunflower painting yesterday. I have never painted one and hope the sunny colors will bring me better results! This time I've gone back to my normal cold press paper, I'm taking a break from hot press for a while. The lesson I learned this week: when trying new things, don't try too many new things at once or it will lead to frustration. When trying new paper, buy the smallest size available so you are not stuck with too much unwanted paper like I did. Better photo of last weeks painting, I took this in the morning as opposed to the afternoon. The colors are closer to the original.

"Watching the Grass Grow" watercolor on paper 25 x 18cm. It has been a beautiful day to be outdoors. Tomorrow it will probably rain, I wanted to do a plein air painting of the grass that has gotten high because of all the precipitation we are having. It is fun to watch the grass grow! Incidentally, the Daily Paintworks Challenge this week is to paint grass, so I will enter it there. Thank you for stopping by!              

Plein air sketch of kayaker Sometimes I'm not sure whether or not to show certain works on my blog. They are not intended as definte works but as studies through which I try to progress and improve. I started this blog with this purpose in mind. plein air value sketch I did two plein air studies by the river this week. The first being a value study because I wanted to try and elimanate all the colors and see if I can work on getting a nice midtone in my paintings. The second sketch, has the same vantage point, with color. I wish I hadn't included the kayaker, I need to simplify when I'm out there. I feel there are a thousand things I should include: the beautiful light, the glistening colors on the water, the dreamy foliage...it all only leads to mental overload. Something to keep in mind. Another note, I have a nice tip that was passed on from reading  Julie Ford Oliver 's blog. I have word verification in my comments installed. I know how time consumi...

Plein Air  20 x 30 cm watercolor on paper ( Cartiera Mangnani hotpress) I was able to paint plein air this weekend in the countryside by the Aniene River. The very first signs of Fall are starting to show in the landscape. The best thing is, of course, all the fresh water to paint with. Thanks for stopping by! my painting on location... lots of fresh water nearby

"Summer Morning Geraniums"  20 x 30 cm watercolor on paper ( Cartiera Mangnani hotpress) In the first months of summer, the light is very strong at dawn and into the early morning hours. It's a great time for taking reference photos because of the abstract shadow patterns that objects create. In this painting I tried to push the idea and work with the shadows being formed against the building. The brightly colored petals are being warmed by the rise of the early July sun. For lack of better ideas, the title to this watercolor is... "Summer Morning Geraniums". I started this painting as a sketch to test paper I recently purchased and in order to play with some new colors in my palette. There are many mistakes in the painting but I managed to finally achieve strong darks. Hooray!! I need to work on my leaf painting skills, they never come out looking right. Indigo blue, Winsor Green and  new Gamboge are my new colors from Winsor and Newton.  I hopefully didn...

"Citrus Garden"  watercolor on paper 38 x 28 cm. I found the inspiration for this painting in Greece, walking by an orange juice bar. Baskets, beautifully filled, a lemon tree planted in a little garden and grapes growing on a vine. It is both an invitation to stop and smell the sweetness of the citrus and walk in and quench your thirst with freshly squeezed juices. The person who thought of this was trying to attract our senses: it worked … the bar was packed with tourists. The background being rather busy, I tried to eliminate as many details as possible to highlight the baskets. I also simplified my palette in the hope of tying the painting together at the cost of digressing from the photo reference. I wish everyone a wonderful weekend, thank you for stopping by!

WIP 38 x 28cm. watercolor on paper   WIP I would like to update you on my art endeavors for this week. I am painting a still life from a photograph taken during my recent vacation to Crete. It represents an orange juice bar. I love the lemon tree, the grapevine planted behind it and the citrus leaves in the orange filled basket. It is citrus heaven! I was only able to get one shot because I needed to keep up with the group. Otherwise I would have exploited various angles and lighting situations. It is hard to conciliate keeping up with a schedule and photography. I am slowly building up the layers but don't have much to show for. I am reading an excellent book, Making Color Sing, by Jeanne Dobie . I am trying to put into practice some of the numerous suggestions in the book about mixing color and making them work well against each other. I finally ended up working from a black and white reference photo I made because I wanted to make my own color choices. I'm worried...