Blog
1/28/2019 8:31:49 PM
Starting with wet-on-wet, then progressing into proper botanical illustration detail, then, back to wet-on-wet, bringing in the detail to create a more "professional" look with the wet-on-wet is what I'm after these days...what a mouthful! Below I post 3 paintings as an example for anyone interested in watercolours. It's a complicated medium to play with, I love allowing the water to spread onto the paper with dark drops of paint in it and let it settle for intriguing petals, backgrounds & shading but then having the center of the flowers and some of the leaves etc be more "upfront & detailed"...ahh, the artist brain is firing in me!!! Right! I'm off, to find some delicious paper!
PS wet-on-wet is when you draw your image with pencil, then dab and brush the paint around a bit allowing the paint to spread & dry, as in the 1st pic. So, my NOW process is going from non-controlling to VERY controlling as in the 2nd pic., to finding the perfect balance...just like in life!
BALEARIC LEMONS; IBIZA, SPAIN
OBAKE ANTHURIUM; THE AUDE REGION, FRANCE
AQUA AGAVE SUMMER HEAT; TEXAS, USA
1/20/2019 2:25:15 AM
I was walking to yoga this morning and saw someone doing a flower arrangement of tropical flowers and I was thinking how I wish I had a beehive ginger to take home and do some pics of for prep work for a furture painting when after yoga I was gifted one of these laying on the ground free awaiting me to come and pick it up and "oh" and "ahh"...and so I did...and here it is!
I've been in love with the Beehive Ginger plant since my Scotland days, yes, that's right...Scotland! The RBGE (Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh) specializes in the Zingiber genus and this one is called Zingiber spectabile. The cone-like bracts are not flowers, the flowers protrude from the bracts, similar to Heliconia and Birds of Paradise. I have a feeling I will be doing a proper botanical illustration of this plant while here as a break from the usual wet-on-wet washy works. The center of the flower when looked at straight-on is like a mandala!
1/13/2019 6:04:58 AM
More of this coming on soon, very anxious to get started, must wait for begin of Feb. trip to Singapore to buy good paper but then I'm back Feb. 6th with place, paint/paper/brushes and loads of inspiration all around me; HIGH VIBE community, flowers, fruits, scents of incense and breezy rice terraces drenched in morning dew and evening mists...and time, spaced out in between seconds, minutes, hours...TIME. I've actually worked very hard to get here. Sure it's been a fun and trying journey, traveling for 1 yr 8 months in and out all over S.E. Asia, Nepal and India, then going home to the states for 6 months to arrange my life so I can settle back in Ubud for a span of time to truly dedicate myself to seeing where I am with my expression now. Will be a revelation, I am sure, to see what happens within this place of space and time...how special, and how, yes, I do deserve this. Honor is a word that keeps coming up for me these days...I'm going to honor myself now in this 50th year of my birth to allow movement through expression on paper through paint/water and writing. I'll be dancing along the way and munching on some raw cacao chocolate spiked with cayenne! HOT HOT HOT!!!
1/2/2019 7:01:26 AM
Back in Spring 2015 I began my art website and painting of medicinal plants as a specialty "niche" within the watercolour art world of botanical illustration. I was renting a place on Phuket in Thailand for 3 months and produced 7 paintings and was also going to Bangkok a lot during another 3 months in conjunction with Chiang Mai & Pai on various art tours and meeting lots of expats. I ended up connecting with a lady that was involved with Expat Life Thailand Magazine and she thought it would be a wonderful idea for me to start submitting my writing to the editor to see if he would be able to use any of my material. Over the years I have been contributing to this wonderful mat finish extremely professional magazine and have included articles on medicinal plants I've encountered along the way, enlightening ideas of travel and adventure and sometimes gone back to some of my older paintings and created articles around them. I have also been able to produce some wonderful info on Thai medicinal plants and sent in photos of my own. From Thailand to Laos, Malaysia, Bali, Nepal, India, Texas and Hawaii I have been able to find some interesting things to share that are off the beaten track. At this time I am beginning a new adventure of going to live in Bali so I will be discovering even more...I just finished a month in Cambodia and have shared some elephant experiences and zircon mining information for the inquisitive reader coming out in February 2019. Sure, I've gotten a few paid articles as shoot-off's from these first beginnings, but the sheer joy of seeing my painting and writing in a professional magazine that is distributed all over S.E. Asia is thrilling and I enjoy all the educational opportunities also! Not only that, this activity connects me to expats all over S.E. Asia that also contribute to this magazine. Meeting the editor today and some of his sweet staff here in Bangkok was really special!
