Carol Sue Witt

  Hydrangeas are amazing, fresh or dried, in an arrangement or as the subject of a painting. They are not easy to recreate so it's a bit of a challenge. Using many reference photos, I made my way through a month long journey this summer to attempt this. The end result is satisfying and incorprates some of my best efforts. Here are a few of my steps starting with these huge, healthy blooms from my daughter Leslie's yard. They inspired ,"Entwined" this summer.                      I usually finish a painting more quickly than most painters, but not this time. I reimagined the background many times and can now see the value of that time. It was well spent! Reference photo: early Summer in Pacific Grove, CA. Steps: I wanted a design that filled the page and also used my favorite palette of colors...Hansa Yellow, Green Gold, Opera Pink and Prussian Blue, All are transparent and play nicely together.  I admit the leaves captured...

 A little sparkle and shine can be a great addition to the normally dry and flat finished look of your watercolors. There are several techniques that create or at least imitate a shine. From varnished and waxed topcoats to tricking the eye to actually using watercolors that have a glitter effect, these all can showcase a wet surface or a shine on bird feathers or damp foliage ...the possibilities are endless. And here are a few: Water surface: using the movement of water by value change can give an appearance of shine and highlight. Reflection on metal  ...and Glass All of these "tricks" work but actually adding an inheritantly shiny item to your image steals the show. What  we are going to focus on in this blog is using sheets of gold foil glued into your watercolor in a purposeful way. Much in the style of illuminated manuscripts from centuries ago, we will try to enhance with gold foil.I am following this YouTube artist , Theodora Gould , who shares her techniques a...

  Starting in January with a visit to The Oklahoma City Cowboy Museum, I’ve been trying to add visits to see other artist’s work. Just this past week we stopped by Inspiration Gallery and other galleries in Fredericksburg, Texas. Both had no watercolors on display. I should say all 3 of these carried bronze and clay statues and 99% oils, all Western themed as well. I did chat with the knowledgeable staff and they assured me that watercolor is well liked….but doesn’t sell. They brought up the difficulty with glass covering the artwork which is actually no longer an issue. We now use acrylic or plastic glazing almost exclusively or protect our images with wax or a fixative. It is a dilemma for watercolorists despite some fabulous artwork coming from amazing artists even in my home state of Texas. Let’s talk this out and see if we can uncover some of this negativity. Size limitation: Large pieces are in demand Watercolor "paper" (actually cotton fiber) has been made for hundreds...

"I'm Dreaming..."is my choice for 2024 My inspiration was seeing some of our old family ornaments on my daughter's tree.  I hope this makes you smile!That is my message. Enjoy the happiest of Holidays!! PS  In case you run out of time, I merchandised this image on notecards, ornaments,  tote bags and pillows ...all are available on Fine Art America: carolsue-witt.pixels.com

 An outside covered entry with a stucco surface is a perfect spot to create a unique statement…and here is mine. Wall murals were a popular decorating statement in the 90's...dining rooms, entryways and especially children's rooms were personalized into magical places using trick of the eye artwork. I was fortunate to be the right age and stage in my life to climb on ladders and fearlessly paint on people's walls. My confidence came from having the wall paint nearby for mistakes and having excellent partners in this endeavor both in St Louis, Missouri and then in McKinney, Texas. I felt like a surrogate accomplishing what someone envisioned. at first our clients were people we knew or word of mouth but eventually we were hired by an interior decorator ( thank you, Kim). She had high end clients and entered our completed rooms in contests in magazines like "Window and Wall Ideas" ....and we won! I have the magazines to verify this. What a thrill.           ...

 I think so!  It certainly has been a wonderful addition to my processes and how I now begin almost every painting.  This is an example.  My painting titled "Snip, Snip" ( completed in 2022)was painted to honor my Mother and her sisters who were amazing seamstresses. Those Italian girls were all taught to sew at a professional level and made careers with this ability. Although I tried, I am a poor substitute to their expertise. But....I did inherit a love of art, color and a lot of scissors! Let me explain how I created this painting.   1. First I arranged scissors in a complicated overlapping pattern. I photographed the color and the B/W versions as a guide.  The B/W then became my value study which showed me a minimum of 5 values I wanted in my painting. From the lightest to the darkest, I established a mid tone and one value inbetween. 2. Sketching this on watercolor paper did not require more than a ruler. I did enlarge the shapes from the 8.5" x 1...