I have several styles depending on the media and mood.  I can be extremely realistic when painting my houses and other architecture, less realistic when painting pet portraits, but when I do my watercolor flowers, my painting tends to be very loose and flowing. I painted the hydrangeas on a beautiful summer day and the hydrangea bushes were in full bloom. It was the first summer they had bloomed and they were several different colors depending on what part of the yard they were in. I picked a huge bunch and put them loosely on the table and brought my watercolors out on the patio, wet down my paper and just started to put colors down. I think this is one of my favorite paintings as the colors always bring back the memories of that summer and all the flowers blooming.

I took my watercolor image, photographed it and played with the colors and shadows for several months during that winter, bringing back those warm summer days and the painting is a 30 x 40 canvas painting that came out even more beautiful than the original watercolor.

In the next few blogs I will be following the progress of some of my present projects. One will not only be a change for me, but a new direction. I have a request for a painting of a favorite wine painting from a friend. And the second painting is a portrait collage of friends and their new grandbabies. I am really excited in my new direction and to be painting a portrait of a family. I have always enjoyed doing portraits and my favorite is my granddaughter when she was younger. Safe journeys, I’ll see you next week.