Tag Archives: watercolor

Skulls Are Like Chocolates

Sheracter, Watercolor Paintings, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

One day last October, I walked my regular route up and down the hills in my neighborhood enjoying the fall colors and the crisp, cool air.  Many homes were decorated for Halloween so there were lots of pumpkins on porches and cobwebs stretched across doorways.

As I passed one home, the lawn decorations caught my eye…..crawling out of the ground was this happy-go-lucky gentleman, his fingers clawing at  the grass as he laughed at me.  I smiled back and asked him to pose for a picture. I explained that I wanted to paint his portrait.  He didn’t object.  In fact, he even held his pose as I walked around him to get a good shot and even as I finally disappeared down the street and around the corner.

For some reason his happy demeanor begged for bright colors.  Once I got started, he was mesmerizing.  His bone structure, his pearly whites, that glint in his eye kept my brush moving around his head.  I thought dark hollows would be more appropriate but no…..he was on fire.

Phosphorescence 22"x30"
Phosphorescence 22″x30″

I have found that skulls are like chocolates.  I can’t paint just one. By the time, I got mid-way through Phosphorescence, I already had another drawing finished.  It’s so much fun to have a subject become so interesting that the ideas just keep coming.

It’s infectious.  One by one, these skulls have materialized.  I know their thoughts, amusements and intentions.  I’m excited about their futures.

I have one final skull in the works.  David Bowie just died in January.  I’ve enjoyed watching tributes to him by Lady Gaga, Madonna, Elton John and Jimmy Fallon.  And, so, my offering will be a paean to David Jones, Bowie and Ziggy Stardust.

Red Sprite

Beauty of Nature, Watercolor Paintings, , , , , , , , ,

Lightning is such a fascinating phenomenon.  I live on a mountainside where, as storms approach, I can watch them come across the valley to the west bringing their towering clouds and lightning with them.  The bolts are often bright, jagged and searing…..very dramatic as they light up the clouds above them and attack the ground below.

At the same time that we are able to see lighting below clouds during a storm,  there are sometimes massive, but weak, luminous flashes above the clouds.  They are described as large scale electrical discharges high above cumulonimbus, normally reddish-orange or greenish-blue with hanging tendrils below and arching branches above.

The first photos of sprites were obtained by accident in 1989. Since then, thousands of photos have been taken from the space shuttle and aircraft.   Early research referred to them as “upward lightning” or “cloud-to-ionosphere discharges”.  Now because of their whimsical, fleeting nature, they are simply called sprites.  I think it’s so much fun that “scientists” would give what sounds so serious, a Transient Luminous Event or TLE, a wonderful, full of personality and life name.  I imagine them dancing around above storms sometimes singly and sometimes in groups like nymphs in the moonlight.

There are some subjects and ideas that just grab a hold of me and I want to know as much about them as I can.  I love living in the day of the computer.  So much is being discovered and shared…..it’s so exciting!  I kept thinking about these red sprites and decided to bring them to life with my paint and brush first with small studies and then a large painting.

When I imagine our world, our universe, I imagine life…..life from the smallest particle to the largest expanse…..life that composes the air we breathe, life that forms our sun and stars and the life responsible for and embodied in the red sprites that dance above our storms.

Dec 7=15 035

Cropped photo of Red Sprite 34″x51″.

In Progress

Beauty of Nature, Deep Thoughts and Musings, Watercolor Paintings, , , , ,

I am plugging along on a painting and pleased with its progress.  It’s pleased with its progress.  I know this because it all but said “ta-dah” as I stood back a ways and checked it out.  I get to a certain point and get anxious to be “done” and start something new.  But, one thing is for certain:  a painting is not done until says it is.

I’ve realized through the years though that once a painting is finished, I lose interest in it.  My enjoyment comes in the doing, in the painting, in the mystery of not knowing what it will end up being.  In this case, there is no question it will be a pink rose.  But there is the potential of it being much more.  It could evoke an emotion or a feeling or a memory of a feeling.  It could draw you in closer only to divert your attention to something lurking in the background.  There’s really no way to know until it’s through with you.

pink rose 001

It’s occurred to me that everything is in “progress”.  Everything in life is always unfolding and expanding. And, it is in the becoming that we find the fun…..the joy.  It’s our job as the creator of our life to lighten up, relax and listen and enjoy the progress.

Ruby Red Rose

Watercolor Paintings, , , , ,

I’m constantly amazed at the places, people or objects that catch my eye and beg for their image to be captured in paint.  I can look at sunset after sunset and marvel at its’ beauty but seldom feel it’s speaking to me.  Others, can’t get to their brushes fast enough.  I admire mountains in the distance with their snow capped peaks but have little desire to paint them.  Maybe it’s just because I’m near sighted.

This rose looked back at me when I looked at it.  It gave off an inviting vibe.  It said:  Come on, get involved.  You’ll get lost in my curves, hills and valleys.  It felt juicy…..a lot like a tomato.  The rose scent was warm and full and I couldn’t resist painting her.

final ruby red 001 Here she is.  February 8, 2015.  She’s pretty proud of herself.  I am too.  The Ruby Red Rose  22″x30″

My painting Process

Watercolor Paintings,

I had a bunch of yellow roses and a soft green spider chrysanthemum left over from Thanksgiving that kept calling my name.  I finally sat down,  sketched them and began painting.

sherrie's flowers 251

I seem to go through the same phases every time I sketch and then every time I start a painting.  First, there is the early on excitement phase.  Every line, every stroke is anxious to get going…..mostly from loving the subject, feeling inspired.  Soon, I feel tired…..um, not really, maybe more I don’t know what I want to do next.  I get a drink, step back, “was that what I wanted?”  Then it hits me,  “yep, this is where I want to go” and I dive right back in.

sherrie's flowers 262

Little by little, a shape here, then one there and I’m on my way.  At a certain point  the painting  takes on a life of its own.  It  calls out…..”over here”…..”notice this”.  We draw or paint along together for some time, sometimes days,  in a more sustained excitement phase.  I don’t know why;  but,  next a funny thing happens with every painting I’ve ever done.

sherrie's flowers 266

It’s not encouraging me on any more.  I’ts actually pointing out:  “this line is too hard”,  “that shape is too heavy”,  “oops, that’s awkward”.  I get  discouraged and take a break.  Sometimes the break isn’t just a few minutes, or hours, sometimes it’s days.  Eventually,  I see what I think is a solution and start puttering around.  One thing leads to another and I’m in a rhythm again and loving life!

the thinker and yellow roses 012