Lighting Effects

Lighting Effects

A few mornings ago I witnessed the purple Cascade Mountains back-lit by the rising sun, while in the foreground, the city lights of Bothell shone brightly against the near-black foothills. Lake Washington waters reflected color from both natural and artificial lights....
Painting an Icon

Painting an Icon

Mt. Rainier dominates the view from the shores of Lake Washington and begs to be painted. But how to handle an icon such this? To start, I snapped a photo, printed it out, hauled out my projector, and traced the shape onto watercolor paper.  I started at the top by...
Painting with Children

Painting with Children

Lately I’ve painted with my grandchildren via Facetime, and it has been a learning experience for both them and me. What I have learned so far:   #1 find something they want to paint, and #2 keep the composition simple. One of our more successful watercolors was...
Start Simple

Start Simple

Yesterday morning brilliant orange light peaked around the clouds with a background sky of pure lavender. Sometime I will try to find out why the colors are so different every day, but for now, I am inspired to begin painting again. I brushed in ultramarine blue,...
Needle and Thread

Needle and Thread

Temporarily putting aside my paper and paints, I moved to new media:  an old t-shirt and elastic hair bands. Using a pattern down-loaded from the internet, I cut up the fabric, dusted off my sewing machine, and after several tries (I was too impatient to watch the...