"Volunteers!" a summer surprise in my garden

                             "Volunteers"

 Imagine the hottest June on record and you might be in Austin, Texas. It easily reached 100 degrees well before summer arrived. And our normally wet May, was not at all wet.  Keeping our plants alive in this dry heat is a daily task. Imagine my surprise when a large front pot in full sun sprouted sturdy portulaca. aka purslane. These little darlings love the heat! And I love them...this is a perky and colorful, fun plant!

So, it was only natural that these blossoms and buds inspired a watercolor just in time for a demo I was doing for the CenterArt Club in Round Rock on June 15th. Many thanks to Cecelia Lankes for inviting me and to Darrell Hutchinson for promoting and introducing me. What a great group! This group meets at the Allen R. Baca Center, an enviable facility for residents in that area ages 50 and above. I stopped by the Downtowner Gallery to see their latest artwork while there. Make a point to stop by this well done art space in downtown Round Rock. Way to go Round Rock!!

I decided to paint this as a round image because the shape mimics the roundness of the leaves and blooms. I painted half of it beforehand and demonstrated, separately, the background, leaves and blooms. in the small time period.  Here is a little of that process:

First, my reference photos:

Always start with a color and B/W copy of my reference photo. The B/W is an easy value study which I emphasize as an important tool. At a minimum, you should strive for 5 values from lights to your darks in every painting. It gives. it depth, 3 dimensionality and interest for the viewer.

Have a view of these nearby to use as you paint ...

This was my half done painting prior to the demonstration. I painted on the other half while there with the aid of an overhead camera for attendees.  I used transparent watercolors such as Prussian Blue and Opera Pink for the wet on wet application of the background. The leaves are also done wet on wet with Hansa Yellow and Prussian Blue, leaving some of the white of the paper. Each petal was done separately either Hansa Yellow or a combination of Hansa with Opera Pink for my orange blooms. Mask was used on the petals for tiny water droplets.

I completed the painting later but sent it out to these painters. The center background needed to be a little different so I added Cobalt Turquoise, an opaque watercolor, as the last glaze in that area.

And, guess what, I decided to order a few tiles with this bright image on them...these are available at The Art Escape ot the Shops at the Oasis in Austin.

Thank you to the Center Art Club for having me. I knew a few of these artists ( Leslie, Cecelia, Janet and more)  and for my friends who showed up to support me, Becky and Dan. It was such a welcoming group!