Hi Everyone.

I hope these photos will inspire.No rules, except to have fun. Any form of artwork using a brush is welcome -- watercolour, gouache, acrylics, tempura, oils, etc. If you use a medium other than watercolor, please mention it when you post your image. Beginners feel free to join in and ask for help if you need it. If you'd like to host the next challenge for June/July, please PM me so we can set it up.

Happy coloring! Marisa

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Lotus - Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Miami, FL

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Field of wild flowers near Mont Blanc, France

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Ivy at the Gold Coast Rail Road, Miami, FL

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Raincoat Dog in Czech Republic

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Bryce Canyon at Sunrise

I thought I should give the leaves a try..Is it ok to post? I am not sure
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VERY nice Kay, what an eyecatcher..

GREAT work, Kay!

thank you very much guys..

Your drawing is beautiful Kay ...you have done a great job on the woodgrain something I know is hard to do .

mmglitz...I think the challenge was posted a bit early .. your day is sunday not fri just something you may want to keep in mind as the other host is still running her challenge .

That's really good Kay. The colours look great

Kay,
This is beautiful. You have really captured the subject and your use of color is great. Looks like you have conquered yet another medium.
Keep up the good work
Trish

This is fantastic! Looks like you've got the hang of watercolouring without too much trouble! I'm gonna be asking you questions now!

Me Too.... Can I borrow your colors ?

many thanks guys, I am getting the hang of plants and what not a little bit, its skies and landscapes, that dang curling drives me crazy..I will try a few of those when i get the boards. thanks for the encouragement guys.

Really great Kay! What brand of watercolour did you settle on?? Really like your woodgrain and the depth of colour in the red leaves

thank you sue, I have purchased those hydrus, I like em, but some of the colors are not quite right, such as paynes gray -way too blue, and a couple of others are a little strange too, but you just have to take note of it when using them and adjust accordingly..

Beuatiful work, kay! makes me happy to look at it!

Great work Kay. I also saw this picture an thought to give it a try with my limited materials, but after I saw what you made I am afraid I will not even come close to that.

Kay, the leaves on your ivy are so vibrant! Stunning work.

Everyone, please remember this isn't a competition.
Have FUN with these photos. Create something special from your point of view.

It could be focusing on just one segment of a photo.
Or maybe you want to reverse the colors or do a complete 180.
You could morph and combine with images of your own.
Be a Chagall, Monet, or a Mondrian.
Please don't be intimidated!
Jump on in, the water (color)'s fine.

oh no..Please post cees. that is merely beginners luck many thanks to you guys for the Kudos..it made my day

Thanks Kay for the encouragement. Your painting was the best I could imagine. I will do my best, especially for you. I might be able to produce something worth viewing before mid june. So far it was only for the waste basket.

I looked them up Kay, and they look like my acrylic inks but in watercolour! Unfortunately I can't get them in Australia - but I will watch your painting with interest. You couldn't really take them plein air though could you - very fiddly I'd imagine.

I'd love to see everyone's work...........even though I haven't started any yet ......but I will soon........

Checking in from Wien, Austria. Isn't the internet great!

I would not suggest these for plein air Sue, not at all..

I come back to admire this everyday since the May 16. I do not remember how many times!
I have done very few WC. I think I should learn and practice more and more. Who knows ?

thank you An..that is very nice and encouraging.

I have given the lotus a go this morning..I should have been more careful on the center, but lesson learned
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Kay, It's a good attempt. Maybe try again allowing for more darks on the bottom of the flower? Thanks for tackling this image. I know the dark background is tough for watercolor.

I've run out of watercolour paper - here's a lazy sketch, so to say, on ordinary paper.

Sveta17,
Lazy sketch? Yet you manage to convey depth and color and the "feel of the landscape", so beautifully done! I can't imagine what careful sketches would look like?

*g*
regards,
Trish

woooow...that is just spectacular..you are amazing that is beautiful

I wish my lazy sketchs would look like that.. really nice

Thank you all, dear friends!

Tried the buttercup field. Had to take that cross plank away and put in a point of focus by way of the roof.

Steve,
Gosh you give me something to emulate. Maybe in a few decades I can produce lovely watercolor paintings like yours. Really nice work, seriously, have you been painting long? How long did it take to complete this picture? Please share what you used for materials.
Thanks for sharing with us Steve,
Best wishes,
Trish

that is just lovely steve..I wish I could just kick off my shoes and run thru your lovely field of buttercups

That's lovely! Give us lessons on WC! The next time you "try" a work, could you please take photos of your WIP and show us !

This was very simple. I drew in the fence and the roof. I then spotted over the whole field with masking fluid. This took about twenty minutes. When that was dry (I left it overnight) I washed in the sky with french ultramarine blue. Then I added some light red to the blue and washed in the distant treeline. When that was dry, I used a mix of sap green and yellow in various strengths and washed over the whole field, with just a touch of yellow ochre here and there. When that was dry, I rubbed off the masking fluid to reveal the white paper, I then used cadmium yellow to dot in the white spaces for the buttercups. You can see that there is lots of white paper left, so this adds to the brightness. I wish I had painted the green grass slightly darker to show up the yellow more, but it's too late now. The fence was painted in last. I made it much darker to add some contrast to the whole.
Thank you for your lovely replies!

Trish.

I started painting in the early 90s. Then stopped about 95 - 96. Not sure why? Time, or the lack thereof maybe! I only started again just before Christmas. Although I have been meaning to for ages! Found Drawspace in August 2007! As you can see from the info below my avatar. Tried a few of the lessons and found them to be very interesting! but again, never could find the time to just sit and draw/paint! I think you need inspiration. That's when I decided to look at the forum. My music making had tailed off so I needed something to occupy my mind. I loath myself if I just sit and watch TV. So I barged into this forum. And I am very happy I did so. It's a wonderful place full of good and interesting, not to forget talented people.




Works like this are produced very quickly! I arrived home from work at 4:30, Started on this about 5:00, whilest waiting for the various washes to dry, I was preparing the evening meal for the family, I took the phoyo and posted this at 5:33. So you can see that it doesn't take very long to do at all! Barely enough time to find the camera. In my gallery, there is a wip of the Greek Boat. You might find that useful? I have found my video camera. When I get my computer sorted out, I'll try to get something on video.

Watercolours need to be free and quick in there execution to look fresh! Too much fiddling about often destroys a good work. I am far too fiddly with most of my works. I believe that Kay is getting the hang of this medium. Her painting of the leaves on the tree trunk was one of the best paintings I've seen in a long time; and deserves much credit! The vibrancy and beautiful colours were, in short, stunning!

I think I should try waterpaint one day... I dont know why I never try something new from time to time. I usually just use my coloured pencils but for the countries trade I decided to do them in pencils and for the next one i'm doing it in crayola crayons because that's how I used to colour when I was a kid lol

Funny dog.

aww it's so cute I like it

Thank you

Not funny at all, very sweet. Nicely done!

Thank you so much for the lovely replies. The boat WIP was very interesting. We learned a lot from that. I've done some WC, then abandoned for pastel. I'll return to it now. I need time to practice. Time is always a pb. Thank you again, Steve.

thank you so much steve for such a very nice words..It makes me want to go fetch it out from under my bed and hang it up,
but alas the fiddling you are so correct, i fiddle and **** around and try to do this and that ( I am learning when i can and cannot correct or add) and have wrecked a good many trys that started out quite nicely but ended up being muddy or messy or even both..
I should love to have the freedom of Sveta, The use of color, the freeness of her hand..it is wonderful to see her work, the doggy sveta by the way is most charming.
An I should love to see you dig yours back out and start playing again

interesting, i didnt swear or anything

This is charming Sveta!

Wow, Very beautiful Steve. Nice change for perspective.

Sveta, you use such a lovely warm palette of colors!

We are coming to the end of this challenge so I'll do a repost of our submissions. Very lovely folks!
I think summer has hit us and we are all off doing other things so maybe we'll continue this thread later this year.
Take care everyone!

Kay's inspiring watercolor of the ivy.

Kay's nice lotus

Sveta's Impressionalistic Canyon

Steve's lovely field of flowers

Sveta's Waterproof Dog