Turquoisebrush

 I work at the best place! I can hand my paintings in a room for all to see here at work.  In return starting this summer I will teach a painting class.  I am very excited for the opportunity, a little nervous but mostly excited!  I have an amazing co-worker/best friend that I also share the wall with and will be teaching painting classes as well.  I will keep you all in the loop of when the classes start and if you are local and would like to join that would be awesome! My Bio Staff Artists of CCC

When I started to paint I went straight to the acrylics, because I knew they didn't stink! Basically I knew nothing about painting or paints but I did know that oils have a strong smell and that they took longer to dry.  Acrylic paint is non-toxic, water-soluble, permanent and very versatile medium.  It's easier to control the consistency and texture.  I love how easy it is to paint over an area that you want to make different.  I think the paint layers really well and blends nicely.  You can also add different additives to make the paint run thin and smooth, or dry slower and even to be able to sculpt with it.  Again its so versatile that it is fun to play with and see what can be created. I have started to play around with watercolor.  I've noticed its a little harder to control and that you work from light to dark instead of dark to light with acrylics  I am enjoying learning more about watercolor and have discovered that I like to do flowers and seem quite good at doing

  I am having a ton a of fun learning how to paint different flowers using watercolor!  I can't wait to find some extra time soon to play and learn more!

  Sometimes  when a painting starts out it might be one idea and then as the artist paints it becomes another idea. That is what happened with this one that I worked on over the weekend.  It started out just a sky scape of a sunset.  I loved the colors of the sky but it needed to be more than just a beautiful sky.   I walked away from it for a bit and then when I returned I began to look real close and the longer I looked the more I could see shapes.  The shapes began to take on a picture of mountains in my mind.  I could see each set of them in the colors that I had just painted as a sky of a sunset. As I formed the mountains using the same paint colors I started with I also saw water and then I put in some water.  I realized this isn't your normal type of beach scene as I added the rocks on the shore lines.  I like it just as is without adding anything else.  It seems to create a mood, but I'm not sure what to call this one. I feel a sense of wonder and calm when I look into

 I have always enjoyed being around water.  As a kid we would spend a few weeks in the summer at Lake Meade.  Years ago on a family trip to Colorado we stayed at a beautiful cabin and it was along a river.  I loved watching the water flow down over the rocks and the sound it makes as it rushing on down.  When I was 35 years I finally experienced the ocean in Malibu, I loved the sound of the waves. Water is so soothing and relaxing, its so calming.

 Loose watercolor is when you don't paint exactly what you see and intentionally leave out details.  Loose painting is also known as painterly.  It is a style that is more expressive and about feeling than detail.  I've started to play around with this style and I think I really like it.  Watercolor is hard to control and loose watercolor is out of control sort of, I can wrap my head around it little bit easier than to try to be so controlled and precise with watercolor. I'm loving how easy and pretty these flower came out!   I learned three different type of roses to do.  I like the 1st one and 2nd one the best. I blurred the background and then added the tree.  I like the background, I still need to work on the tree some but I think the idea is cool! watercolor and gouache

This past weekend I enjoyed playing more with watercolors.  There is so much more to using watercolor than you really think.  I watched a view videos' and then tried to do what I learned after watching them. I'm not sure I like this one or that I'm finished with it but it's not bad, almost on the side of abstract. I love my fat little birdies!  These guys were fun to do.  This was a wet on wet technique.  I really like how it came out and it was fun the more the paint did its own thing as it spread throughout the water. Now these flowers were super easy and fun to do, again using the wet on wet technique but this time only placing the water in certain spots so that the flowers would be created with the water.

  Watercolors are very low-maintenance. First, start with a palette of watercolors. Next, use a small spray bottle, a blunt syringe, or a spoon to hydrate the colors you wish to use. Then, dip your brush in water to moisten it, dab the brush onto a pigment, and put the pigment-rich brush on paper. That’s it! So you can see how easy it is to take with you just about anywhere to do.   I can't help but think about how much fun I had as a kid playing with watercolors and the books that had the color on them and then all  you needed was a cup of water and a brush.  You'd brush over the spot and then like magic the color would appear. You can control the shade of any pigment by adjusting the amount of water on your brush. If you want a very light shade, saturate your brush in water and barely touch the brush’s tip to the pigment.  I'm still practicing this to get the results that I'd like to have. Watercolor is a wonderful, versatile medium — but it doesn't seem as easy i

  The woman in the picture has become a very good friend to me.  She and I work together, we share an office together too.  We've laughed and sung at the top of lungs to 80s songs. We've enjoyed a painting afternoon at her house.  We painted, ate pizza and watched an odd weird movie in the background!  We have even cried together and then we were right back to laughing and talking about what painting or project we are working on at home. At times we have so much in common and then the next moment we are the opposite of each other. Usually she is cold all day in our office and I'm hot wishing I had a fan on my desk.  I will come in full of energy in the morning talking up a storm and she will sit there nodding and letting me talk.  By the afternoon I'm quite and have less energy but by the afternoon she is full of energy and going nonstop. She will tell you that I inspired her to get back into painting again after 20 years and 5 children later.  I just wanted to see her

 Only using black and white to paint with is so much fun!  You can get so many different tones of black and then the lights and darks that develop in the painting as you paint is such an awesome effect This one I sold back in November and its home is Texas with an old friend from high school.

 Lately I've been trying to learn how to draw and paint hummingbirds.  I have Spring on my mind.  I'm so ready for Spring, but all this snow on ground that surrounds me needs to melt and go away.   This hummingbird I drew with some help of a tutorial.  For this little painting I used mixed mediums.  I used watercolor, pastels and acrylic paint.   I traced this humming bird from a metal cutout that I had bought at a little craft vendor in Pinetop AZ. I love the brightness of this one with the sunflower in the background.  This was also a mix of several mediums. This little birdie was traced from a template that I had printed and I used carbon paper to trace it onto the water color paper.  This one is all watercolor. When I think of Spring I think of all the flowers that bloom, and the birds that come to visit my bird feeder that hangs in the tree out back.  What do you think of when you are ready for Spring?

 I'm from El Paso Tx, growing up I played outside with my brother on hot summer days.  Living in the desert is dry and hot. I have many fond memories living in El Paso TX.  I love the pine trees that surround me but there are times I miss the scenic views of the desert that I grew up with. I love Ocotillos.  This plant really makes me think of home. Here is a watercolor on paper of Transmountain.  This mountain and star is in El Paso Tx, my home town.