Saturday 21 September 2013

Woodpecker bird painting

Usually we see these birds grabbing a tree trunk and we definitely hear them as they are drumming and hammering to find insects inside the tree trunks. This one was wandering on the ground, looking for food between the dead autumn leaves and fallen branches. I liked very much the greenish-yellow feathers when I saw the beautiful photo shared by Robert, our host for the September 20 WDE on WetCanvas. It is a 7x10 inch watercolor painting, done mainly with Daniel Smith and W&N paints on Arches 140 lb HP paper.

Friday 20 September 2013

Strelitzia reginae - Bird of paradise

I have always been intrigued by the strange color combination, of blue and orange petals, and the shape of the Bird of Paradise flowers. Long time now I wanted to paint one, and the opportunity came with a beautiful photo shared with us, for the September 13 WDE, by our host Grace (aka OrzieRTgal). My main concern was to achieve the vivid orange color variations of the petals.
I was also playing around with the watercolor dry on dry brush strokes, which made some people think this is a colored pencils painting. But it is 100% watercolor (Sennelier and Daniel Smith) on Waterford 140 lb CP paper.

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Contrasts: the young boy and the old olive trees

We spent our summer vacation in my husband birth-home, in a small mountain village called Kampi (Zakynthos Island, Greece), where we are actually spending at least 3 weeks every summer during the last 10 years now. We also go there very often all year long, and we spend Christmas and Easter holidays there, in a family and Greek traditional atmosphere. The major occupation of the people living permanently in the village is agriculture, with olive trees culture and olive oil production playing the most important role in their everyday life. They also make wine, and some of them are beekeepers (my husband is among them, although it is more for hobby), and grow up goats and sheep to make the wonderful feta cheese. Anyway, during the vacation, we spent many hours taking long walks outdoors, me taking pictures and my little son enjoying the freedom to run on the country roads without being disturbed by cars or any vehicles. The contrasting image, of my little son walking between the hundreds of years old olive trees, attracted me very much, and I wanted to have a memory of it.
Although summer is almost gone here, this Summer Memory will bring sunshine to all the autumn and winter days to come. I hope you enjoy it. The painting has a size of approximately 10x7 inch and it is done on Arches 140 lb HP paper, with Sennelier and Daniel Smith watercolors.

Friday 13 September 2013

Three Tulips

Flowers always attracted me, and I love to paint them! While I wanted to test a bit more the behavior of the Arches 140 lb HP paper, which has a very smooth surface and behaves completely different to water and paint, I came across with this beautiful tulips and immediately start to paint it. The Three Tulips painting is 7x10 inch.

When I finished this one, I recalled another Tulip Trio painting that I did when I started painting, back in 2002. It was one of the very few paintings that I considered as "good enough" at that time, and I was proud of it back then and I still like it, although now I can detect some mistakes, and I would have done a few things differently. I would like to share that one with you too, so here is the "beginner" Tulip Trio:
Thank you for looking!


Thursday 12 September 2013

TwitterArtExhibit - Thursday, March 20, 2014 | 6-9PM, CityArts Factory, Magic Gallery | Orlando, Florida, USA

New social media are now part of our everyday life, and the word "community" has a completely different meaning. It is not anymore about the next door people. Being active in the today community goes across geographical borders and I would like to share this initiative, which I really like and I invite everyone to participate:

#TwitterArtExhibit utilizes social media and public engagement to generate income for charities and nonprofit organizations. In the past, #TwitterArtExhibit has generated funds for a library suffering from deep funding cuts to purchase much-needed children’s books, for an abused women’s shelter seeking to improve the lives of the families they serve, and for an arts organization mentoring underprivileged young adults in preparation for careers in the visual arts.
Have a nice day, and consider helping others do so too!!!

Thursday 5 September 2013

Swans - Sennelier triad again

Another painting done with the test set from Sennelier, this time with a photo from Susan (surob), for the August 30 WDE (Weekend Drawing Event from WetCanvas). A small correction for the previous post - the Fuchsia flower was from the August 23 WDE and not from August 30 as initially mentioned.
Painting size is approximately 10x7 inch (app. 26x17cm), and it is done on Arches 140 CP paper.

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Sennelier test triad - Yellow Light, Opera Rose and Cinereous Blue

Some time ago I got this test set from Sennelier, and didn't manage to check out its potential. The previous days I give it a try, with a beautiful photo from the August 23 WDE (Weekend Drawing Event from WetCanvas). Thank you Connie for the beautiful fuchsia flower photo - I decided to go with a crop of it, and focus on the bud this time. I might revisit it some time and go for the flowers. The paper is Waterford 140 CP.
So, the Sennelier triad was tested alone, as I didn't wanted to mix it with paints from other manufacturer. The colors are beautiful alone, and they also make some beautiful mixes. Here is the Fuchsia flower painting:

Online Gallery, Etsy Shop and Fine Art America Prints

A few months are gone since the first post, and although I didn't manage to post, I managed to do a few other things:
  • My online Gallery, with many of the most recent paintings. It has an online shopping chart, with the option to pay through PayPal. Except of the original paintings, through my online Gallery I also sell Limited Edition Prints for some of my paintings.
  • My little Etsy Shop - to have a larger visibility, as Etsy is dedicated to art and crafts sales. From time to time I have SALE offers there, mostly for prints.
  • I have also created a Fine Art America profile, for the Open Edition Prints and the option to directly get them framed, but this still needs some more work.
In the mean while I did a few more paintings - some of them already shown in my online Gallery or in my Etsy Shop - and some to be uploaded the following days. All C&C on my online Gallery are more than welcome!