Don Crow Workshop

I know, I know, it's been a while. But I'm back to my painting again and have been quite productive the past 2 weeks. I took a painting class through VCU with Don Crow and did a lot of self-exploration. One thing led to another and I got started in a new direction. I found that I was enjoying simple landscapes and was making them up rather than looking at a photo. This one was one of my favorites:

"storm's a-comin'"  11"x7" watercolor on Arches 300#  

 I incorporated the wash technique I learned from Iain Stewart in February and did a bit of wet-on-wet work using a credit card as a tool. Some of the fine details were done with a rigger brush.

The last working day of class I decided to use up some scraps of paper and made a dozen postcard-size landscapes. The sky was was done with a squirrel mop brush, applying color onto wet paper. The details were done completely with a rigger. I kept the palette in the pastel range for most of them and let the bottom color bleed into the damp sky. Nothing was planned ahead of putting color to the paper. I just let the marks and bleeds inform the picture. On some of them, I did nothing else. On others I added a bit of detail after the wash dried. I would love to hear what you think about them. They are so much fun to do and so very different from my usual illustrative, detailed style. They are all approximately 3"x5". Enjoy! (Be sure to click on them to see the image larger.)

 Landscape #1

 Landscape #2

 Landscape #3

 Landscape #4

 Landscape #5

Landscape #6

 Landscape #7

 Landscape #8

 Landscape #9

Landscape #10

 Landscape #11

Landscape #12