Pink Orchids Watercolor and Ink Painting Demo

These orchids are amazing. They bloomed for four months (well, I suppose orchids do that), but once the blossoms faded and wilted off, another set of blooms appeared.

I had been wanting to paint them for a while. When one of my students shared a technique she'd learned at a recent workshop, I decided to try it with the orchids. Which is a good idea since the students want me to demo that technique at the next class.

So, here we go! Read more to see this watercolor and ink technique (it's quite fun) and how the orchid painting came out.

Purple Clematis Flowers Original Watercolor Floral Painting

So excited today to see the buds forming on my clematis vine!

This particular clematis, a pale purple variety, has not been easy to grow. The vine is delicate and has taken a long time to establish.

But each year, there are more flowers to show for my patience. And they are so pretty when in bloom!

Last summer when it was in full bloom, I found the composition of leaves, vines and flowers compelling. I went inside to grab paints, brushes and paper and came back out to paint a vignette:

Cottage by the Sea and Flower Garden Custom Watercolor Painting Demonstration

It's Valentine's Day! And SO cold here in New England - minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill. A good day to stay indoors and snuggle with your sweetheart (or a blanket and a good book). It's also a fine day to remember blooming flowers and tropical climes.

So here is a custom watercolor of a very lovely tropical-looking place. The client wanted two of her photos combined to show the scene. She named the painting "Taronga" which is an Aboriginal word meaning 'beautiful view'. I didn't ask, but perhaps the scene is in southern Australia or Tasmania.

One of her photos shows a flower-covered arbor. Through the arbor are steps leading up to a yellow house with a green door.

The other photo shows the arbor's gates closed so you can't see the house, but you can see a view of the ocean.  She wants both a view of the house through the arbor and the ocean in the painting.  To combine them, all I have to do is open the gate!

To see how I do that, read on.

Purple Echinacea Cone Flowers Watercolor Painting Demonstration on 11x14 Yupo Paper

How many times I have looked at the swirls of color mixed in my watercolor palette and sighed, "I wish I could paint on my palette!"

Unlike paper, the palette's ceramic surface does not absorb paint, so the colors run freely and remain brilliant.

Well! No more wishing. I finally tried Yupo...

Yupo is an ultra smooth synthetic paper that does not absorb paint or water. It is environmentally friendly and acid-free (important). The colors flow together in unexpectedly beautiful ways and remain brilliant, like painting on my palette (also important). I'm hooked.

Cone Flowers Watercolor Vignette Painting

As summer blooms, I've been painting quick vignettes of the flowers in my garden on smooth watercolor paper starting with a series of hydrangea paintings.
Now the cone flowers (purple echinacea), are blooming beautifully with fritillary butterflies flitting all about them. How can I resist?

So on an exquisitely gorgeous day, I take time off from working on an oil portrait and bring my watercolors outdoors. There I do a study (or what turns out to be a study which is what happens when a watercolor goes wrong!). Later I re-do the painting in the studio. The final version is what I'll show you. Read along to see how it turns out.

Daffodils Watercolor Painting Narcissus Spring Flowers

There is still plenty of snow outside my studio window (and it's still cold), but I can imagine the daffodils and crocus pushing their little green tips upward as soon as there is a thaw. Can't wait!

So I decided to paint some narcissus flowers using for reference a small painting I'd done a few years ago from among the daffodils in my garden. To see how I paint this, keep on reading. (Or to skip to the final version click here: Narcissus Watercolor Painting.)

Bird of Paradise Botanical Painting Strelitzia Reginae

This painting of Bird of Paradise is a commission for clients who live in Thailand. I wish I could grow this plant in my garden, but unfortunately, it's much too cold where I live.

The flowers bear a resemblance to tropical birds with their beak-like bracts from which bright orange sepals and blue petals emerge. They are pollinated by birds, especially sunbirds (which are similar to hummingbirds). The leaves look like banana leaves.

All in all, they are a very interesting and brightly pretty flower!
To see how I paint a detailed illustration of Strelitzia reginae (the botanical name), read on. Or skip to the finished painting.

Hydrangea Botanical Watercolor Painting

My  'Annabelle' hydrangeas, a dwarf type of "Hills of Snow", bloomed beautifully this summer (as they always do). But I didn't have a chance to paint them until there was only one single bloom left that was still white. They turn green after a while, once they are spent.

So all were green but one when I finally had the chance to do a painting. I decided to do a botanical, which means lots of detail, but I'm SO happy with how it turned out! (you can click the image to see it larger).

'Hydrangea aborescens' watercolor painting

Here's how I paint this beautiful bloom:

Hibiscus White Rose of Sharon Flowers Watercolor Painting

Just finished another rush order and feeling the need to relax! My Rose of Sharon shrub is blooming like crazy out front - that's a photo of some of the flowers to the left. I couldn't resist doing a small painting of them just for fun.

So I got out a 5x7 inch piece of watercolor paper and started splashing paint around. You can see the splashing and the final results below:

Eastern Phoebe and Purple Clematis Flowers Watercolor

'Phoebe & Clematis'  7x5 inch watercolor

Eastern Phoebes are delightful birds! This little bird has been around my studio all summer. We noticed her nest on the downspout right under the roof overhang -  a favorite place for Phoebe nests.

Every morning, she or her mate starts at the crack of dawn with their 'Fee-bree' call. And then it continues all day sometimes.

Yellow and White Irises Watercolor Painting

There are only two types of bearded iris that bloom in my garden - purple and yellow with white. I rescued the rhizomes a couple of years ago from where they were growing in a spot that had become shady over the years. Iris don't like shade and they had stopped blooming long ago.

Now they are in full sun and I'm pleasantly surprised that despite previous years of neglect, they bloom beautifully!

The 6x4 inch purple iris painting I recently did needed a companion piece, so yellow are next...

Purple Iris Watercolor Painting

"Purple Iris"7x5 inch watercolor

Decided to take a small break, since I'm all caught up on custom artwork, and just paint something beautiful for the delight of it!

Wedding Flowers - A Custom Painting in Oil Part 2

Now that the background and foreground for this oil painting is finished, it's time to paint wedding flowers!  
click here for Wedding Flowers Oil Painting Part 1

Cut flowers need a vase or a pot so I'll paint it before the flowers that go into it. See below for how this painting is finished:

Wedding Flowers - A Custom Oil Painting Part 1

An oil painting of the beautiful flowers at a woman's wedding is a wonderful idea for an anniversary gift - especially if the flowers are the bride's favorites! They will remind her of her happy day for many years to come.

Such a request came in recently. The flowers and outdoor setting in the photo the client sent were so beautiful that I looked forward to painting them. I'll show you how I go about it below.

Pee Gee Hydrangeas Floral Oil Painting

What will this be?

That's the question I asked on my Facebook page. People took their guesses:

• autumn foliage?
• flowers?
• hydrangeas?
• cotton candy?

It turns out that some of them were right and of course you already know what it will be because you've seen the post title and picture. This is the beginning of an oil painting of PeeGee hydrangea blossoms (though it does look like cotton candy).

If you'd like to see how the rest of the painting turns out, read on:

Red Bird in a Summer Garden Oil Painting

The inspiration for this scene comes from a beautiful estate in upstate New York where my son worked as a gardener for a few summers. He took many photos and this is one scene that I particularly like. I decided to try it in oils adding a bird at the bird bath and making some changes to the composition.

So I got out a 5x7 Ampersand panel and my oil paints. I'll show you how I painted it below. The finished painting is available for sale in my Original Art shop: Red Bird in a Summer Garden oil painting

Garden Gate with Stargazer Lilies Flower Oil Painting

"Garden Gate"
As the name suggests, this oil painting has a gate as its focus. Come on into my studio and I'll show you how I painted it...

 First I draw a rough sketch of the scene on the panel. There are mountains in the distance, so I paint those in first after brushing in a summer sky with a few puffy clouds.

The mountains are far away, so I use blue to paint them. Distant things appear more blue due to atmospheric effects:

Cosmos Flowers by the Sea - a Video Watercolor Demonstration

I love the sea. I love flowers. I love painting with watercolors. So what could be better than a commission to do a large watercolor painting of flowers by the sea?

In the quaint town of Ogunquit Maine, there is a walkway called the Marginal Way along which you can stroll and view the Atlantic ocean surging in to crash upon the rocks. I've done many paintings of the surf along the Marginal Way. In this painting, the sea takes a back seat and a garden full of pink cosmos flowers with little blue butterflies flitting among them is the center of interest. Sit back and listen to Kendra Springer's lovely music as I paint these pretty flowers by the sea.

Pink Peony Oil Painting on Panel

Peonies are a most beautiful flower, don't you think? They are gone from my garden now, so I painted one of them to save its memory. I'll show you how I did this painting below, but first, look what showed up in my yard the other day:

White Hydrangea Blossoms in Oil and a Butterfly Surprise!

What are your favorite July flowers? Hydrangeas are one of my favorites and I enjoy painting them.

Since they are blooming in my garden now, I got out my oils and a 5x7 acid-free panel to do a small painting focusing on one of the blossoms.

When I went outside to get a close-up view of the flowers, I noticed a black butterfly hanging upside down from the stucco siding of the house. I was hoping it was not caught in a spider web, but upon closer inspection,  I saw this: