What?!! Not accepted!

I guess it is not so easy to get your art into the fair. Neither of my paintings was accepted by the jury judge, some Joan Moment who is a professor at Sac State. I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised as there were over a thousand entries and only about a dozen watercolors could be accepted. But I'm not used to rejection when it comes to my art. I keep imagining this judge looking at my technique with disdain. Or maybe thinking my subject matter is so old-fashioned.

So I signed up for a watercolor class at SCC for the summer. Unfortunately, I am 5th on the waiting list, so I may be disappointed. But I'll be there with my fingers crossed on July 7th.

Also, dear readers (if there are any of you out there), that rose painting turned out rather well in the end, so I am going to post it. I like the fuzziness of the lower petals quite well.

Stand Back and Watch the Paint Move

Okay, I decided to force myself to work wet-on-wet. I'm painting an open rose, so after soaking and mounting my paper, I waited about ten minutes and then did the background. At first the edges of the lower rose petals were pleasingly fuzzy, and the "blooms" I created with water splatters were spectacular. But then the fuzzy edges grew and grew, consuming the outer petals entirely, and the blooms metamorphasized into giant amoebas. Suddenly it occurred to me that I needed a hairdryer in hand to stop the paint from moving once it reached a certain point. This is called trial-and-error. I suppose I should take a watercolor class so that I don't waste a lot of expensive Arches paper learning new techniques on my own. Don't wait to see the rose painting posted on this site!

My Fair Entries Completed

Well, here are my two paintings that hopefully will be displayed at the California State Fair. I was pleased with the first until I painted the second, which I think was much more successful. Still, neither has that fresh watercolor character that I so admire. I might as well be working in oils with my reluctance to let the colors work their magic wet-on-wet!

The Frustrations of Watercolor Painting

It's spring break. The deadline for entering art in the California State Fair is April 23, so I've been painting. I spent three days working on a watercolor from a photo I took at Table Mountain, and today I was nearly finished. But the wash I'd done for the sky was nearly colorless, so I decided to redo it. Bad idea! First the trees I'd already finished began bleeding into the sky. I decided to leave a bank of clouds behind the scene to avoid this problem. Then the wash I was doing for the sky had a white blemish, probably from my fingerprints from handling the block. I tried to patch the white blemish unsuccessfully. Then I tried to do a wash on the clouds to add some shadows, but they came out too heavy, so I attempted to scrub and blot them. That didn't work well, so I used a little sandpaper, which left an unsightly texture on the cloud. Next I tried to erase over the sanded area, and a whole chunk of paper came off. I don't think the painting is salvageable anymore. I certainly don't want people at the fair thinking, "This artist doesn't even know how to do a wash!"

Aaah, the frustrations of working in watercolor! I think I have no choice but to start over. Baaaah!

Art Hiatus

The school year has begun and my paint supplies gather dust in a cupboard. I really should continue doing watercolors throughout the year, especially since I am only teaching two hours in the morning right now, but I keep filling up my free time with other endeavors such as swimming laps and singing in Women's Ensemble. Maybe I am only a hobbyist and not an artist after all. Or maybe when the cold weather sets in, I will get out my paintbrushes again.

Pardon the Dust

Still working on the gallery. Don't worry, it will be up soon. Please check back again.

Learning acrylics

I'm currently working on an ocean scene using acrylics. This is probably a good medium for me to experiment with because it forces me to work fast. I hate to waste paint, and it dries so fast, even with gloss medium! Normally it takes me many hours to finish a painting, but I am nearly done after two sittings because of the paint drying issue. It should be posted soon.