A Happy Place - painting the foreground - commissioned oil painting demonstration

"A Happy Place" continues with painting the foreground. Now that the sky and far distant background of the painting are done, it's time to get some colors close up. Since this part is "closest" to the viewer, the colors will be warmer and brighter than the background colors. 

I start by painting the grassy areas, leaving large areas white for where I'll paint flowers.

A Happy Place - commissioned oil painting

Back in November, I received a request for a very special oil painting. Very special.

Normally, paintings don't take me all that long to do. I can usually finish a custom painting in a few weeks. But this one had me thinking a lot. And when the request came in, it was crazy, busy holiday rush time. Since the client did not need it done for Christmas, I let it percolate for a while in the back of my mind until I could give it my full attention.

The reason this painting had me thinking so much was the subject: two boys, brothers who are no longer trailing their sparks of light upon this earth - one who was aged 7, the other who would have been 11 had he lived.

The request was to paint them running hand-in-hand in a colorful, happy, wonderful place, with mountains and water and animals and birds and a rainbow...and the pets that their family had loved.

A lot to think about.

So I thought. Then I did a preliminary drawing of the boys and the pets to get a starting point, and transferred the drawing to canvas.

Hawaii Tropical Sunset Watercolor demonstration

Hawaii has been on my mind recently. Most likely because it is gray and drab here when the sun is not out to brighten up the leafless landscape. Even on clear days, the sun is a lazy thing, not bothering to get up until 7AM and going to bed early at 4:30 PM.

And no snow! Snow makes winter beautiful in the North.  But we have only been graced with it once this fall.  It wreaked havoc that time because it was too early. The oak trees had not lost their leaves and the heavy snow weighed the branches down so much they broke, falling in a haphazard fashion all over the power lines.  We were without power for 10 days. Kind of nice, actually, to live in a more rustic kind of way. But it's nicer to have it back.

So Hawaii has been in my thoughts. And how lucky that a web surfing lover of sunsets and soft sea colors found my site and wanted a beautiful Hawaii sunset painting for herself. "It doesn't even have to be a seascape," she explained. "I just love the colors in your Sunset Beach paintings. And the big bright sun."

Ahh... music to an artist's ears. I can paint whatever I want so long as there is a big bright sun and beautiful colors. 

My Open Studio 2011

The past two days were a fabulous weekend. I had invited an exclusive group of my local collectors to an Open Studio event and many came. We had a great time and they all went home with new pieces of art under their arms!

Here are some pics of my set up before the crowds arrived:

There are small paintings on the table and my larger framed paintings on the display racks. Those racks are used for outdoor shows as well, but when not used at a show, they stay up in my studio - that's how I store the framed paintings. I like it much better than keeping them stashed away somewhere in a dark closet - they need room to breathe! And that way I don't forget what I have.

One of the first to show up for the Open Studio was Susan, a good friend and collector of many years. She brought her friend Christine and Christine was instantly attracted to this painting of Newport, Rhode Island...

So she took it home. She and her husband spent their honeymoon in Newport - perfect! I did not have it labeled Newport, but somehow she knew where it was.

When Norb and Julie stopped by, they fell in love with this oil painting.  They were floating on air as they brought it out to the car.

This painting did not sell online even though it was featured in my newsletters and on my website. I think that's because it's a local scene and only local people can relate.

Sometimes a painting has to wait for the right people to find it. But when they do, it's just the best thing!

This is another local scene. I don't know how people do it, but even when I do not list where the painting was done, they can tell. At least my local people do.

When Paula caught sight of this one, she asked me if it was Hall's Pond. Indeed it was. How did she know? I have no idea, but she connected to it immediately and now Ice Fishing also has a brand new home - at Paula's!

These cute little juncos went home with one of my painting students.


Oh, I almost forgot to mention: It was not just an Open Studio, it was an EVENT! Meaning, there was more fun to be had than just looking at artwork, although that's fun enough in itself.

Prizes! Everyone who came got to pick a piece of folded paper. Then they could read what they had won. Some won a wrapped present from THE BASKET:

Others won 10% off their purchase. There was a prize for a 5x7 pet portrait in there somewhere, but no one ever picked it. Perhaps next year. We enjoyed hot mulled cider and apple spice cake, pumpkin bread, cranberry bread and big purple grapes.  At least those of us who were not watching our calories. I can't show a picture because I forgot and now it's all gone...

More and more paintings went home with happy collectors.
Lilacs...

And koi fish... 

And a mushroom...

And an oak tree with an owl in the branches. Although that one has to be framed, so it did not go to its new home quite yet.

And lots and lots and LOTS of boxed note card sets. Did I say lots?

 And matted prints...

And more prints and more paintings. I've lost track.

Everyone wanted to meet Ferdinand and Nina!

The best part was seeing friendly smiling faces coming in the door, some of whom I have not seen in a year or two...or three. Taking time to chat and catch up. I wish my online collectors could have been there. Open Studios are fun!

Hummingbird and Hibiscus Blossoms - an almost custom painting

OK, so why is this an ALMOST custom painting? The subject is one that a customer ordered at a specific size. No problem, she wanted an 11 x 14 inch painting of a ruby-throated hummingbird visiting some hibiscus flowers. I am happy with how it turned out. So what happened?

The problem started when we lost power here about 12 days ago due to a freak snowstorm in late October. Snowstorms don't normally cause long power outages in New England, but this one was heavy and deep and most of the oak trees had not yet lost their leaves. So the trees broke from the weight of the snow on their leaves. Those big old oaks fell helter skelter all over the power lines all over the state. A huge mess. We were without power for 10 days.

During this time, I worked on some custom paintings and this was one of them. With no way to access my emails for a while, I did not get the message that the painting was 14 inches tall by 11 inches wide. So I painted it 11 inches tall by 14 inches wide. Won't work.

At any rate, I'm now re-doing the painting again at the correct orientation, but meanwhile, here are some pics of my efforts on this one:

I only took 2 pictures while working on it. This first one shows the pencil drawing. I did not work out the composition on a separate paper for this but just drew right on the watercolor paper.

I felt very confident of what I wanted to do so there was not the problem of erasures messing up the paper surface.

You can click the images to see them larger.

I wet the background and washed in some pale colors. What is interesting is the speckled aspect of the background. Could it be because I'd soaked the paper in water from our brook (since well water was scarce during the outage)?  At any rate, I like the effect!

Next, I started on the hibiscus flowers. I love painting white flowers - there are so many colors that can be used in the shadows. If you look closely, you'll see blues, reds, yellows, violets, turquoise.

The deep magenta centers of these flowers really make them pop! Last I painted the leaves and the hummingbird.

Update: the painting is now sold! Please contact me if you'd like a print or custom painting done.

Chrysanthemums, Pumpkins and Birds - Watercolor Painting Demonstration

Pumpkins, Birds and Mums
Recently, my watercolor students have been painting Autumn scenes. This means pumpkins and chrysanthemums are included.

They particularly wanted to know how to paint mums which can seem difficult at first because they are a mound of color broken up into individual flowers. You may be wondering the same thing.

So, let's take a look at how I painted the mums in this scene.

Dahlias, Red, Yellow and White Flower Watercolor Painting

Every couple of weeks, three students arrive at my studio for painting lessons. They are great fun to have here and sometimes they come bearing gifts, like vegetables and fruit from their gardens.
One of them has gorgeous flower gardens. The last time they came for class, she trotted up to my door with a beautiful bouquet of red and yellow Dahlia flowers with a white one hiding in the bunch.

I could not wait to paint them, they were so beautiful!

But my students were more interested in painting pumpkins than Dahlia flowers which they thought were a bit complicated, so as soon as they left, I got out an 8x10 sheet of watercolor paper, set the vase of flowers next to my easel and got to work.

So involved was I with painting, that I only stopped once to take a picture of my progress:

After some contemplation,  I decided to leave the background white.  I think it just looks right, what do you think?

The original watercolor of Dahlias is for sale in my Etsy shop, JanetZeh.Etsy.com. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a lovely day!


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