The Primaries: Oregon Grape

The Primaries: Oregon Grape

Pigments Used For those of you who are interested, the pigments I used were primary colors as well. I added a few dabs of other pigments here and there but the basics were my brightest yellows for the blossoms, Hansa Yellow Medium, Winsor Yellow, Winsor Lemon with Gamboge for the shadows. The leaves were Hansa […]

A Wild Rose, Rosa nutkana

A Wild Rose, Rosa nutkana

Something catches your eye and you just have to take your chances with it…that’s how it was on a bleak winter day when I was walking across a field of dried grasses. The dense cloud cover made everything look even greyer than it would have otherwise appeared. But I noticed something glowing red in the […]

Big Leaf Maple Returns

Big Leaf Maple Returns

Some of you may remember this Acer macrophyllum leaf I started…gulp…well over a year ago! I put the painting away to work on some other projects, and the dried leaf has been patiently waiting all this time, hanging from a ‘third hand’ device on my table!  Luckily a gentle blow every now and again has […]

Early and Stream Violets

Early and Stream Violets

You might say that a trail of ants led me to these Pacific Northwest native violets and butterfly. Last year I painted the native, Wild Ginger featuring some ants crawling on its roots, which seemed appropriate since Wild Ginger is propagated by ants. I wanted to not only describe the wild ginger’s ‘personality’, or form […]

Simple Steps to Developing a Palette

Simple Steps to Developing a Palette

In my last post, Simple Steps to Choosing a Palette, I talked about a method I use to determine the pigments for my paintings. In this post, I’ll give you an example of how I go about finding the right mix to match the mid-tone of the leaf color using the primary colors in the […]