prints now available throught etsy.com

Oriental Poppy, original watercolour, 20 x 29"

Even though this painting is still at the framer's, you can now buy prints, which are now available on etsy.com and soon at Bluefin Fine Handicrafts and Gifts in Digby NS Canada.

Click here to view 5x7 inch print on etsy.com.

More print sizes to follow shortly.

Watercolour painting now on ebay

Winter Woods, 5 x 7", watercolour, January 2010

SOLD on ebay.ca

and

See here to read the original post for this painting.

Sunrise in Cuba

Cuban Sunrise I, 7 x 10", watercolour

Cuban Sunrise II, watercolour, 7 x 10 inches

It took me a number of tries to get a satisfactory painting of this view. The first morning that I painted it was beautiful lighting but I went too light with the sand and the trees. So I went back the next morning and tried again with the result being the two paintings above.

It is feeling rather surreal to look at these paintings now, remembering how warm the water and the air was, even in the early morning. Then I look out the window at the snow that is falling here now! It was a real treat to go somewhere so warm. I am glad to have these paintings as a momento, so I can bask in the remembered heat on chilly days like today.

Evening in Cuba

Evening in Cuba I, 7 x 10", watercolour

Evening in Cuba, II, 10 x 14", watercolour

One of the things with painting out of doors is that things do not stand still. People, waves, clouds, the sun (and thus shadows); everything is always moving. But on this evening I noticed something really neat. There was this dark dramatic band of clouds overhead which made me want to start painting right away, before it disappeared. I liked the way that the line of the cloud mirrored that of the coast, and I knew that I had only moments to catch it before it passed over the sun and blocked the light. I did the best that I could to get it right and then it had moved. But it passed over quickly and when I looked to the east I saw that there was another band of clouds coming in much the same manner. In total at least 3 or 4 of these lines of clouds passed overhead, making great skies for painting. This is another scene that I cannot wait to paint again soon.

Stay tuned...

More Cuban Beach Paintings

Cloudy Cuban Morning II, 5 x 7 inches, watercolour

This is basically the same scene as the first one that I did. I repeated it to try to better capture that band of wet sand that happens where the waves wash up and then recede. This one still did not quite get the effect I wanted, so I tried again:

Cloudy Cuban Morning III, watercolour, 5 x 7"

(I am so original with my titles, eh?)

This time, I left out the wet sand to focus on some of the figures on the beach. It was a lovely beach for walking on and I could have done a lot more figure work. It is hard to paint a moving target... One of my goals for the coming year is to improve my plein air figures.

Cloudy Cuban Morning IV, 7 x 10", watercolour

I think that I had intended to add figures to this, but in the end decided that I was pleased with it as it was. I really like the lines of the beach in this one. The background trees developed as one of those happy accidents that one gets in watercolour painting. This is when something does not go at all as I had intended, but the end result is better than what I had been aiming for.

Back from Cuba

Cloudy Cuban Morning I, 5 x 7", watercolour, March 16, 2010

I am just back from a week spent in Guardalavaca, Cuba. I painted or sketched every day while I was there, which was a real treat. I even did two little paintings on a catamaran; painting on a boat, instead of painting of a boat, hee hee! ( I did some paintings of catamarans, too, though)

The painting above was done the one cloudy morning. After several days of heat and brilliant sunshine, it was a pleasure to sit out and not feel like I was a biscuit baking in the oven! I did several little sketches of the beach, this was the first one (above) and I am most pleased with it. I especially like how I managed to paint the trees in the background with just one brushstroke! (though I did go back into it in a couple of places before it dried to darken a couple of areas for depth). I think that this one is a step forward in my goal to be less fussy.

I shall be posting more Cuba paintings over the next week or so. If you want a sneak peak at them sign up for my newsletter by going to www.poppybalser.com as I shall be sending out the best of them in my next newsletter, due out as soon as I can manage.

White Iris Pair, a Completed Painting

Working right along... here is a close-up view of the center of the lower blossom. I did the large shadowed area in one go, again allowing the colours to mix on the paper. I was really pleased with how it turned out.

White Iris Pair, 20 x 29", watercolour, March 2010

And here is the finished painting. Let me know what you think.