Category Archives: Painting

Remembering Charles Reid

I was saddened to learn of the death of artist Charles Reid, whose painting style I admire and whose teaching has been an inspiration. My sketchbooks tell the stories of his workshops I was fortunate to attend (one in 2010 … Continue reading

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Iowa Arts Festival 2019

Update:  Iowa Arts Festival has ended for 2019. Thank you to everyone who stopped by! (Original post:) Thanks to Iowa Artisans Gallery, I will be inside during this year’s Iowa Arts Festival away from the wind, so my friends will … Continue reading

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Spring graduates

In honor of my granddaughter’s graduation I painted these scenes of Iowa Avenue in Iowa City, with Maddie and her roommates in their graduation attire. I reminded the graduates that they may remain friends forever after living together for four … Continue reading

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Florida revisited

Several years ago I visited friends in Florida to soak up the atmosphere and paint three scenes of South Beach for them. I could smell the ocean, observe the people and hear a variety of languages as they passed by. … Continue reading

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Figure painting

People bring a painting alive. My classes want to put people in their landscapes, so I painted different points of view as examples. Above left, since we didn’t have a live model, as a way to teach technique I sketched … Continue reading

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Joyful flowers

For a recent family wedding the groom’s brother, an event florist, created wonderful floral arrangements for the reception tables. Afterward my grandson put some in his wagon and pedaled them out to my car to take with me. My watercolor … Continue reading

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Spring showers

Quality watercolor paper is made from cotton, and cotton shrinks. If it does that while you’re working on a painting, the paper will ripple and the paint will go into puddles and change the image. To keep that from happening, … Continue reading

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Holyroodhouse

I painted this view of the Palace of Holyroodhouse (or Holyrood Palace) in Edinburgh, Scotland, for some friends who had been there on their travels and provided me a small picture to work from. It was such a small picture … Continue reading

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A road map for painting

People bring in a photo to class of what they want to paint, and it can be scary to look at and try to figure out where to begin. Often a photo is way too busy. Select what’s important — … Continue reading

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Watercolor for all seasons

Despite the arctic weather we’ve been having, the new classes are going well because people are staying in and painting! This session I divided my courses between Watercolor Landscape, and Watercolor Portrait Painting.

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