Sold and on the Way to Georgia!

"Long Winter Shadows" has been purchased and is en route to its new home in Georgia. 😁

Progress on new watercolor

I have made some progress on my newest watercolor.  I still don't have a title ...  maybe "Big Fan of Rust" or "Wall Hangers" I have about 10 hours into this painting, so far, and I am about half finished.

Study for Dark Water Reflection

I have been getting ready for my next series of watercolor classes.  This is a study for the Autumn Reflections lesson. Here's how I did this.

I began by painting a variegated wash over the top half of the paper in soft pastel blues, reds and yellows. After drying, I masked the birches, a few leaves and the larger branches with masking fluid, and used a clear gel pen to preserve the white of the tiny branches.  I painted the colorful foliage with bright colors, beginning wet-in-wet and then using a sponge after drying. I made sure to keep the top edges of the bushes soft, and pulled some of the color up into the background, since I knew my dark background color would end up defining the tops of the foliage clumps. To finish the top of the painting, I painted the background with a strong wash of neutral tint, dried the painting, removed the mask and added some detail to the birches.

I wet the bottom of the painting and brushed in some gum arabic to keep the paper wet longer. Then I dropped in yellows, reds, oranges for the foliage reflection, then quickly brushed in neutral tint from the bottom up, and used a fan brush to gently blur the reflection.  Finally, while the paper was still damp, I painted the reflection of the birches with Titanium white. Because I didn't get the timing quite right, I used a few pastel pencils to better define the reflections.

When I do this again, I will be sure to get the birch reflections in more quickly.  Or, maybe I will try drying the painting before I paint the reflections, then rewet the entire water area and paint in the birch reflections.  I will have to experiment.  I also need to push some of the birches backward by glazing them with blue.

2017 Fall Class Schedule is Ready

New Painting: "Hand-Forged"

"Hand-Forged is finally finished.  I found this section of old hand-wrought iron fencing last summer at an antique shop in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire. As always, I was drawn to the crusty, rusty textures and the colors of the patina. The painting is 15" x 11"

2017 Fall Class Series starts September 25

I am nearly done with the schedule for my 2017 Fall Watercolor Class Series and will post it as soon as it is ready.

Some of the class subjects: Autumn Reflections, Colorful Hens & Chicks (the plants, not the poultry), Mt. Desert Island, Pouring Color,  and Autumn Colors using Brusho.

Classes begin on Monday Sept. 25 and Thursday Sept. 28.

Prints of my paintings are now available!

Nearly 100 of  of my watercolor paintings are now available as high quality, fine-art prints at Fine Art America. There are lots of reasonably priced print choices: framed, unframed, printed on metal, acrylic, watercolor paper, canvas, etc.  Many other products are also available, such as greeting cards, mugs, shirts, yoga mats, towels ... even shower curtains!

Check them out at
https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/17-cheryl-johnson.html or click the FAA logo in the sidebar at the right side of the screen.

Next I will be adding photographs of my favorite macro subjects: snowflakes, frozen bubbles and droplets.

Fall Vermont Watercolor Society show in Claremont, NH

Happy Day! Winter Wood and Vintage Ride were both accepted into the 2017 Fall Exhibition of the Vermont Watercolor Society which takes opens in October at the Old Opera House in Claremont, NH

Another new work in progress.

I haven't had a lot of time to work on this one, because it harvest time.  I have lots of veggies to can, freeze, and dehydrate, but I really hope to be done with all that soon so I can finish this one.  It's a full sheet painting and there is tons of detail, so I know it will take quite a few hours.  You can see by the reference photo that there is a long way to go.  No title yet.

New work in progress.

I have been working on this one for a while and hope to finish it next week.  I need to darken all the values and finish texturing the peeling paint.  I don't have a title for it yet.

Hello again!

I haven't posted in a long, long time, but it's time to get back into the habit.  To get things rolling again, here are some simple demos from recent classes.

               This one was from a class on painting clouds using Titanium white watercolor

This one was from a class on painting the summer woods, with emphasis on tree trunks and bark.

This painting was also from the Summer Woods class, but it took on a life of its own and turned into autumn. :)