Watercolor Onions

Onions

approx. 3 1/2" x 5" watercolor on paper

Another painting for my KMBW series. This time I painted onions.

I went grocery shopping today and had to buy a white onion for one of our meals. When I was putting it away I realized I had three different kinds of onions in the house. While this may not seem like a momentous occasion, I can assure you it rarely happens here. My mom used to by onions by the bag and potatoes five pounds at a shot. How in the world did she use them all before they went bad?

Anyway, I decided to take advantage of this unusual situation and used the onions for a still life set up. Luckily I didn't need that onion for tonight's meal!

My intention for this painting was to paint quick and loose with a lot of wet-in-wet. Um...yeah...as you can can see, I lost that intention somewhere along the line. And to be honest, I wasn't even that far along when I forgot about it.

I know so many artist who paint wonderful loose, washy watercolors, but man, that's just not me. People say I will loosen up at some point. I can't imagine it. And honestly I like my style. But I also like challenging myself so I keep learning.

Tonight I might have missed out on that challenge, but I was having too much fun to care.

I'm still thinking up a name for this one. I considered "Tearful Menagerie", but I think they look more cheerful than tearful. I'm taking suggestions if you have any.

Background Material

With my new KMBW series of simple still lifes, I've found myself thinking that I want to have options beyond a white background. So I decided to take a field trip to the fabric store.

Let me start by saying that I do not sew and never have. So this was pretty much virgin territory for me. Have you been to a fabric store lately? I was amazed!! So many different fabrics! Shiny ones and soft ones and fuzzy ones. Prints and solids. And the colors - holy cow! They even had the cotton fabrics arranged by color so as I walked down the aisle I saw reds then oranges then yellows... Loved that!

These are the fabrics I purchased. The red one I have in mind for a specific project outside of the KMBW series. The solids satisfied my need for simple colored backgrounds for the series. The blue-ish, purple one with the vines I thought would be fun to paint draped and folded. And the dark purple one...ah, well, I just couldn't pass it up. It was shiny and pretty and called out to me. Can you say impulse buy?

One great thing about the cotton fabrics is that there was a whole array of 18 inch by 24 inch precut squares for a reasonable price. It was so nice to pick up little squares instead of lugging big bolts of fabric around the store. And I think they are the perfect size for my still life set ups.

So if you paint still lifes and haven't been to a fabric store recently, I highly recommend the trip. I can't wait to create set-ups using my new fabrics. And since I've told myself I can't go back until I use most of what I just bought, I had better get busy painting!

Painting Jelly

Homemade Jelly

3" x 5" watercolor on paper

Stacy L. Rowan

Here is the second painting in my new KMBW series. This time I chose to paint a jar of homemade jelly. And before anyone asks - no, I didn't make it. It was actually a gift from one of my mother-in-law's friends. Can I tell you how much I love people who share their homemade jelly? It really is a completely different product than what you buy in the store.

As soon as I brought the jelly home, I took it right upstairs to my art table. I knew how it would glow from the late afternoon sun that comes in the windows next to my table. I couldn't wait to paint that glow. And I'm happy to say that I made it to the end of the painting without my family finding that jar and taking it for their breakfast toast!

One thing I've already learned from this new series is that I have to be careful that "quick and loose" doesn't become sloppy. I want to be quick and loose in a controlled manner, which seems contradictory even to me. Like most other things, I assume that balance will come with practice. I'll let you know.

On a different note...the October Virtual Sketch Date reference is being posted tomorrow over on the Virtual Sketch Date blog. If you want to participate, please read the guidelines first. There has been a small change in how the sketch date is being handled.

Simple Still Life

Little Jack

5" x 3" watercolor on paper

Stacy L. Rowan

This little pumpkin was an exercise in "keeping my brushes wet" (kmbw). Using Rose's Daily Inks as inspiration, I decided to choose a simple still life subject and paint it quickly working from a loose contour drawing. I set a target time of 15 minutes for the whole process. Although truthfully, I didn't set a timer or anything so I might have gone over by a few. I do know that I painted quicker than normal and that was my intention.

I really enjoyed the exercise and plan to repeat it - with new subjects of course - several times a week if possible. My goal is to paint more regularly and to focus on capturing the essence of the subject with few details.

As you've probably noticed, I typically paint in a controlled, detailed style. I enjoy painting this way, but also want to be confident painting over a broader range of the loose-controlled spectrum. Skill and confidence with a loose, quick style would be excellent for creating plein aire sketches. Sketches that could be used at a later date to develop studio paintings.

As for the goal of painting more regularly...well, of course I would love to paint every day because I love painting. But life often gets in the way, and I can go several days or more without painting at all. Setting a 15 minute limit makes the goal of painting more regularly seem manageable. And painting small, finished works in that time will allow me to update this blog more frequently. Plus I have something else in the works that will benefit from the output of these exercises. I'm still working out the details, but promise to share more later in the month.