Kristin #53, Sunny Snow

Painting snow is one of those things I always wish I was better at, so I decided to practice a bit, since I've got plenty to work with here in Alaska. I did this one from a photo I took on a walk where the sun was shining through the snow on the branches.

8.5 x 10" watercolor and colored pencil

(c) klink, 2011

Kelly - Painting 98 & 99

Friday Matty and I headed out to the woods to enjoy autumn's last hurrah! The temps were in the sixties, and we knew it wasn't going to last. We were lucky to see a small flock of Bonaparte's Gulls fishing in the lake...

(watercolor field sketch)

(watercolor field sketch)

Lorrie #61 - Japanese White Eye (birds)

Japanese White Eye (birds), watercolor 6 x 9 inches

This was a plein aire painting of two birds that were flitting about a nearby tree... can you find them?

Kristin #52, morels

A little different for me as I don't usually work in black and white; I am working on a series for a friend's restaurant website. The images are supposed to be simple so they can work as a background or a sort of logo. Any feedback is greatly welcome!

6 x 6" ink on scratchboard

(c) 2011 klink

Kelly - Painting 97

...a Tufted Titmouse sitting outside my kitchen window.

(watercolor)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lorrie #60 - Home in Hana, east Maui

Hana Home on Maui, watercolor 6 x 9 inches

This simple little home was so lovely set among the lush vegetation of eastern Maui (Hawaii). The painting was done plein aire while sitting across the street on a hotel patio and sipping coffee in the lovely morning. (Thanks for that, Dad!)

Kelly - Paintings 95 & 96

Our Dark-eyed Juncos are back!

(watercolor)

(watercolor)

Watercolor Still Life #40 Dora Sislian Themelis

Kelly - Paintings 87 - 94

...getting close to finishing up this year's challenge! I had fun with this batch, working quickly and playing with lots of styles. These are all paintings of Cedar Waxwings. I saw them at a local park a few weeks ago. Their sweet calls filled the woods as they passed through looking for berries...

Red and black Conte crayon painted over with a waterbrush

Red and black Conte crayon painted over with a water brush

Oil pastel

Watercolor heightened with charcoal and a few scrapes of a red Conte crayon

watercolor

watercolor

(This painting is how I usually see them in the summer...eating berries from the mulberry trees as I look on below.)

watercolor heightened with colored pencil

(...from a winter memory when I found a small flock eating bittersweet berries at a local park)

watercolor

Lorrie #58 Cat Yin Yang, and #59 Mountain Top Chalet

Cat Yin Yang, watercolor 8 x 10 inches

These two kittens were sleeping intertwined like this ... they looked almost like a single cat!

Mountain Top Chalet, watercolor 6 x 8 inches

And for something completely different... just having fun with mountain drama and garden fantasies.

Kristin #51, 20 minutes looking outside

Here is a 20 minute challenge since that is all the time I had yesterday. It's just a little impression half from truth and half truth looking out the window at the icicles and the snow on the trees. 

watercolor and pen, 8 x 5"

(c) 2011, klink

# 81 Ebony pencil on paper 9x12

My sweet Brindle was such a good model. I began a drawing class with Phil Frey and was inspired to try my dog. This was one of those times that the act of drawing was truly meditative.

Usually I can't wait to sketch as little as possible to get to the painting.

No 10, 11, 12 and 13 Figures and faces!

I have been doing bits and pieces of work but have been travelling a lot so haven't had time to post any of them. In keeping with my challenge, I am using different mediums with the final aim of painting figures and faces in water colour so am posting my learning process!

Kristin #50, Christmas Cactus

I though it would be fun to sketch this bright pink specimen in contrast to the white snow outside. I was trying to practice getting the vibrancy and also the depth of the flowers, and struggling a bit (the bright pink especially is always a challenge for me).

5x7" watercolor and pen

(c) 2011, klink

Still Life Watercolor #39 Dora Sislian Themelis

#39 Four Sunflowers 14x20 Watercolor on Lanaquarelle paper
©2011 Dora Sislian Themelis

Another watercolor painting of the sunflowers from my photographs makes this work #39. Done in twenty minute sessions over a few days and it seems that process has been leading to finished work. Now if only I could move it along a little quicker, maybe I'd make the 100 paintings in time. At this rate I am not so sure.

#49 Kristin, Watching Grosbeaks

I was watching these birds at a neighbors feeder this morning, took some photos, and then came back and worked from those. Fun to do some gesture sketches from stills, but birds are still hard to draw. 

8 x 10" pen and colored pencil

(c) 2011, klink

#48 Kristin, Ptarmigan wing

A little sketch of the underside of a ptarmigan wing. I didn't want to spend forever on it, so I glossed over some of the details.

mixed media on colored paper, 8.5 x 9"

(c) 2011, klink

#80 Tidal inlet at Ogunquit ME. 6x6

An oil wash on a foggy evening in Ogunquit on a salmon tinted panel. The challenge was to let some of the background show through, to be more aware of putting paint on but not covering all the surface .

Kelly - Paintings 80 - 86

Sanderlings are one of my favorite shore birds. I decided to do series of practice paintings from a drawing I made at the beach back in March of this year. I concentrated on the two poses I had captured in the drawing...with lots of variations!

Dora Sislian Themelis - #38 Watercolor Landscape

#38 Cooper's Farm  14x20 Watercolor ©2011 Dora Sislian Themelis

A couple of summers ago we vacationed on the North Fork of Long Island, NY near Greenport. It's a lovely area with wineries, farm stands and actual farms, fishing villages, and beautiful views of the Long Island Sound.  I took some photos at Cooper's Farm in Mattituck and decided to paint this adorable, blue tractor in the U-pick fields. Using twenty minute segments of time helped me push through and finish this. Next!

#47 Kristin, Nikolai Ridge

I did this painting a while ago, but am just getting to posting it now. It was a pretty complicated landscape and I feel pretty good about it, but it I wish it had a little more light in it and I never quite figured out the sky. Anyway it was a challenge worth repeating.

11 x 17", acrylic

(c) klink, 2011

Please Welcome....

....our latest challenger, Kate MacDonald! Kate has already begun the challenge as she is quite anxious to get started.

Some of her goals including, improving her composition skills, creating a body of work for a workshop in May 2012, and to begin to build the habit of production by creating for the challenge.

Kate's background includes landscape and garden design as well as some phtoography. She'll begin with a small format and then increase the size of her work over the course of the challenge.

You can visit Kate at her work website, Rebel Without A Vase.

Welcome, Kate!

Kate's Sketch # 3 - Laura at Roslyn, Scotland

I ordered some new synthetic sable brushes between sketch # 2 and # 3. Love them.

Kate's Sketch # 2 - 3 Hostas

One challenge for me here, was remembering that my focus is composition, not detail.

Kate's Sketch #1 - The Tree Garden

Hello to all 100 Challengers!

My goal with this start is to improve my compositions, using oils on 4 x 5 inch watercolour paper until I get back into it.

new blogger as well