Watercolor: Clementines for us, Darling?

a view from up above, looking down on a white bowl with two clementines with their stems and leaves intertwined

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Watercolor Still Life Painting

This watercolor was done for a show a few years ago.  I’ve been meaning to set up a similar arrangement with a brightly patterned cloth under the bowl, large scale. Do you think it’s a good idea?

In the original set up, the hand-thrown bowl was an engagement gift from a dear friend of ours. Under the clementines, there’s a whorled, red heart glazed into the ceramic, and the leaves of the clementines hint at a yin-yang balance. I think I should paint something similar, but bigger. What say you?

a watercolor in the early stages showing the outline of a bowl and the beginnings of two clementines in it
The very beginnings of this watercolor, being glazed in over a light pencil sketch.
Coming along in watery layers, one on top of the other, like sheets of colored cellophane. Do you use watercolor glazing in your paintings too?
an art studio table with a computer monitor, a camera on a tripod and a sleeping cat
The clutter that is my studio desk.

Art Links for You

  • If you plan to start an email list of friends, family and fellow artists and art-lovers, the good folks at mailchimp have a very simple (and free) mail list option called TinyLetter. It’s a personal newsletter service without the business features associated with more complex, paid-for email management programs. You simply write and send.
  • Speaking of newsletters, Sarah Benning is an embroidery artist I follow, and she just posted a fresh newsletter with upcoming embroidery workshops. If you like stitching, grab a friend or two, and attend one of her embroidery workshops.
  • Over on my Instagram account, I had a great comment volley with another artist about being a noticer; are we noticers because we became artists, or are artists born as natural noticers? The next day, I got the wonderful Gretchen Rubin‘s blog post in my inbox about noticers! (Have you taken her Four Tendencies Quiz? Which are you?) Gretchen interviewed Rob Walker about his new book The Art of Noticing. Read the interview here.
  • Alexis Franklin is a 23 year old artist who makes beguiling digital portraits using photoshop and a tablet, and she shares the recording of her brush strokes from start to finish. Here is an example from her YouTube Channel titled Youth. Watch it full screen so you can see her brush strokes clearly. Even though it’s a digital painting, the construction of the figure, the adjustments throughout the process, and the transformation from broad strokes of sketchy color to a fully realized portrait are mesmerizing .
a small watercolor sketch in process on a kitchn counter next to a cup of coffee
More watercolor in process on the kitchen counter. No place is safe from art clutter in an artist’s house, right?

What Are You Painting?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you’re busily painting and drawing towards your next series of art projects. There’s nothing as satisfying as planning and then creating some new art. Gather some like minded friends, pull out the art supplies, and host an art night. It’ll get the juices flowing for everyone who participates.

Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in the next post!

Belinda

make art more often

Art Quote

You don’t need more time….
You just need to decide.
~Seth Godin

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4 thoughts on “Watercolor: Clementines for us, Darling?”

  1. This one has a wonderful glow from the fruit, and a bigger version would be a lot of marvelous color to hang on a wall.

    (And hello from a fellow enthusiast for Speedball tools and block-prints)

    Sarah

  2. Wow I love this. I think I do need more time. I hadn’t even seen your blog and I’d been listening to Seth Godin videos while I paint. We have to meet! Love the painting, it reminds me of Florence, Italy, the first place I saw Clementines with their leaves. Gorgeous.

    xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo Barbara

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