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Current project: Paphiopedilum orchid color sketches
Ready for its close-up: Paph. orchid hybrid and color notes for my current painting on the drawing table. Watercolor tip for botanical art: I like to do my contour drawings on good watercolor paper...
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Current Projects: Stippling the bud and stem of Paph. orchid
Notice how I stopped stippling at the border between the leaves and the stem? Adding the stippling last will give dimensionality and place the stem forward in space. Some tips for stippling with...
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Can this painting be saved?
Masque has been applied, followed by a medium dark wash. I decided to mask out the lighter spots on the orchid leaf in order to add the darker background color as one smooth wash, using the Cool Blue...
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Blue Mondays: An occasional series about one of my favorite colors
Shades of blue: all the blue watercolors currently in my paintbox. Clockwise from top: Holbein Cerulean Blue; Holbein Cobalt Blue; Holbein Compose Blue; Daniel Smith Genuine Lapis Lazuli; Windsor...
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Blue Monday: Cerulean blue
Winslow Homer, “Flower Garden and Bungalow, Bermuda.” Watercolor on paper, reproduced as art print. Source: etsy.com via Wrenaissance on Pinterest Cerulean. adj. From Latin caeruleus, dark blue. First...
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Birthday celebration: JMW Turner
Source: dailymail.co.uk via Wrenaissance on Pinterest Joseph Mallard William Turner, one of the greatest landscape artists of all time, was born on this day in 1775. Let’s celebrate his birthday with...
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Things I’d like to paint: Foggy morning in Arkansas
The pearlescent colors of sunrise through fog never show up as delicate and nuanced in a photo as they appear in real life. In fog, even trees in the near background fade into the distance. Objects...
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Wildflower Wednesday: Seven tips on wildflower identification
A good example of observing carefully: The leaves grow in opposed pairs. The flower stalk begins its blossoming from the bottom up.Beakpod milkvetch or blue locoweed in its second florescence of the...
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Portable studio tips for hiking and sketching with pastels
Spring is finally here, and that means sketching outdoors! Here are a few ideas for setting up a compact, sturdy kit for pastel sketching on your next hike. Pastel Cases Hobby Lobby has a strange...
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Groovy Links of the Month: Ideas for field sketching kits
Truly, this is all you need to enjoy sketching nature outdoors! This year, for some reason, I have felt compelled to switch up my ordinary travel sketching kit. In February, I took pastels to the Grand...
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