What do you get when you mix Janet's violet rose with Andrew's turquoise?

I was lucky enough to find a copy of the latest issue of The Art of Watercolour magazine on ebay - oh my, I so love this magazine! I have discovered so many incredible international watercolorists through the issues of this magazine, and this issue is no exception: I am so overwhelmed by the beauty and magic of the paintings by Yuko Nagayama, considered to be the premier watercolorist in Japan today. This little piece above is my humble effort at paying homage to her poetic and ethereal style. I was also playing with mixing paints and came up with this wonderful lavender by mixing American Journey Janet's violet rose with Andrew's turquoise.

Just another page from my sketchbook - playing around.

Hope you are having some fun and staying cool this summer. Thanks for stopping by,
Chris

Just another day in the studio

Just stopping by to say hi and let you know that things are happening in my studio!  Last week I was lucky enough to get two new sketchbooks - one gorgeous one with handmade paper and another one hardbound with drawing weight paper (just $1 at a thrift store!!!!) I am playing with some new ideas and trying out some new things (for me) - as you can see from the second photo, Hana is not the least interested in what I am doing - she is a true Floridian - she hates the heat and at this time of years, likes to sit on a windowsill in an air conditioned room watching the world go by - I can totally understand!

What are you creating today?
Chris

July sketchbook challenge

The July sketchbook challenge is CIRCLES. I was playing with paint and trying to capture the color of these beautiful flowers - I quickly sketched my little porcelain palette, added the photo, and then used every color on the palette to make the background.

Still playing a bit with color - don't you just love red peppers - well actually, I haven't met a pepper that I didn't like!  These two pages were done in my small sketchbook with handmade paper. The next one was done in a Bienfang "Take Me Along" Sketchbook - the paper is lightweight and doesn't take paint very well (I found it last fall at the Used Book Depot also marked a dollar).  I carry this sketchbook everywhere and use it for sketching, list making, journaling, and just everything. I used watercolor pencil here but it looks very faded out due to the light weight of the paper.

Again I was playing with circles and I quickly sketched some little items that were sitting on my desk, leftover from last week's scrapping.

Hope you have a wonderful July 4th!  We are going to a baseball game!

Chris