iris

                         10x14

Another iris, many blooming in the yard right now.

Dried up tulips and amaryllis.

travel palette

                             11x15

Made a little chart of the colors in my plein air palette. Had the paints out so I painted an iris from my yard and a couple of persimmon, which are so pretty, and delicious.

When i filled the palette i made a map of the colors but i can't find it now. Some colors i can ID, others i can't--like the 2nd from the left in the top row: is that quinicridone gold? Doesnt seem bright or transparent enough? So many yellows!

Going to eliminate some redundancies.

And finished my sparrow.

diversion or groundwork?

Lately I've been playing around in my sketchbook-- low effort, less time- and mind-consuming?--rather than making "paintings."

Idk: maybe it's all in preparation ...

Started two bird paintings this a.m. after a little sketchbooking.

My favorite: a sparrow.

And some gulls. This one is a good lesson in why you should never walk away from a wet watercolor.

beach scene

                             10x14

Painted along with a Paul George video on YouTube.

morning painting

                           10x14

Now that it's getting warmer, and I'm getting up earlier, I'm going to try to spend 30+ minutes painting every morning.

This morning I painted along with a session of Birgit O'Connor's plein air class.

She used Winsor blue red shade for the sky and water. I think the one I have is blue shade, but I rarely, if ever, use it ... I always thought it was too intense. But I kinda like it!

And below: yesterday's mess. My first attempt, top, with the reflection of the far shore scraped out--the paper was to wet when I started adding foliage, and it was a swampy mess.

And the start of a second attempt. Letting it dry!

I'm never happy with my foliage shapes! Wish I could figure it out.

Painted this along with a Paul George video on YouTube