Calla Lilies in oil pastel this time

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If this image of my most-recent calla lilies painting looks familiar, it’s because I used the same reference photo as I did for the tinted charcoal calla lilies drawing over the summer (of 2022). This time I flipped the image (reversed it) so the front calla lily opens the other direction, and then I omitted the third flower in the back. I did this one in oil pastel, and I really do love working with my oil pastels, so of course it just made sense to do a calla lilies piece with them.

mockup of Calla Lilies 4 framed and hanging on a wall
mockup of this oil pastel art piece framed and on a wall

Also, I used my Arches oil paper for the first time on this piece, and love it. It is not a standard size, even in metric, but I figure Arches does that to give a bit of room to tape the paper to a board if that is how you like to work. It’s likely meant to be practice paper for oil paints.

First, a quick confession: I did this over a year ago, as you can likely tell from the date on the signature. It is now almost a year and a half later that I finally get to writing it up. Maybe I’ll do better in 2024? It could happen.

In-progress photos

Since I decided to flip the original image, I needed to do the basic drawing from scratch again – which is not a hardship for me. I did my usual 3 by 3 grid to make sure everything fits on the page as I want it to do, and then started on the background because that would still be my darkest dark on the image. First I used my darkest purple, then my darkest blue.

starting the calla lilies painting with the dark purple background
starting with a dark purple background to contrast with the white calla lilies

I seem to be missing a couple or more in-progress snapshots. I was so certain I had more, but not even Windows 10 search can find them. To summarize the missing photos, I worked on the greenery after the background, then worked on the flowers last. Then I went over everything again, to even up how thickly I put the oil pastel on – especially for the calla lilies.

Calla Lilies 4, two white calla lilies in oil pastel on blue-purple background with green leaves and stems.
Calla Lilies 4, oil pastel on oil paper, original available

Purchase the original artwork or get art prints

As of posting, the original artwork is available to purchase through Daily Paintworks, which handles the transaction through PayPal and just makes it easier on both of us. The actual size is 31.0 cm by 41.1 cm, which is approximately 12-3/16 inches by 16-3/16 inches. Not a standard size here in the US, so it will likely need a custom matting to fit a standard frame or a custom frame if you aren’t fond of using matboard. I sealed this piece with matte finish Mod Podge to prevent smearing.

For art prints, I like Pixels which is part of Fine Art America. You can order a wall print from as small as 6 x 8 inches up to as large as 43 x 60 inches. It is also available on various home decor items, stationary, and of course puzzles. If I had a cat-free zone, I would happily get puzzles of my artwork, but more on that thought later.

Apparel and accessories with this art printed on them

When it comes to artwork on apparel, my mother and sister both like Redbubble’s print shop. They have a lot of options available, and since this pastel painting is vertically aligned, it fits on most of them. When my sister said she was trying to decide which apparel product to get this image printed on, I whipped up a simple vertical video to hopefully help her choose. She ended up buying the A-line dress.

Just a cute vertical video to highlight the RedBubble apparel products I like best
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Strawberries and Bananas: finishing the watercolor still life series

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For the official final painting in my watercolor still life series I call the “going bananas” series, I decided to finally tackle some strawberries. It makes sense to my weird brain – I love that flavor combination, so why not draw and paint the two together? Famous last words, y’all ….

collage of the reference photo and my finished watercolor painting Strawberries and Bananas

Choosing a reference photo and making changes to it

Choosing the reference photo was not difficult. I saw this one with the two bananas encircling four strawberries, and loved the layout and how the light and shadows played. What I simply did not like was that background color. Setting the fruit on any red was a bad idea (to my eye) as that overwhelmed the strawberries. So I took the color out of the reference photo and began working on the sketch.

collage of the reference image in grayscale and my preliminary sketch for Strawberries and Bananas from my sketchbook
ref photo and preliminary sketch from my sketchbook for Strawberries and Bananas

As y’all can see, I do use a 3 by 3 grid to do my sketches. This keeps me from starting in the center and then going off the right edge like I used to do all the time. That was a big weakness I had from as long as I could remember. I just can’t explain why I didn’t start using a grid sooner than I did. It was probably the same reason I didn’t start using transfer paper until this past year – the mistaken belief that I shouldn’t need it if I am a “real” artist. I guess there really is something magical about turning fifty, in that I can now laugh and say I don’t care what others think.

Coloring it in (with watercolor paint)

Once I had the basic lines transferred to my paper, it was time to play with color! The two bananas were no problem, especially since this was the third day in a row for painting the yellow fruit. I just kept using the same tubes of yellow. Seriously, why change it up when I was satisfied with what has been working?

I decided I wanted the background to be purple, but first I tried a lighter and redder shade called Cobalt Violet. Even after it dried, it looked too pale and far too pink. So, back to the dioxazine purple. Again, if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.

For the strawberries, first I laid down a base layer of red. Then I went to work on all that green, trying to catch the shadows to make it look three dimensional. It was while I was working on the strawberries that my back started to really hurt. Since this was the finale of the series, and no one had dropped out of the art challenge yet, I had to get to some semblance of done. I gritted my teeth and painted on.

third painting in my watercolor still life series I call "Going bananas"
third painting of my watercolor still life series exploring the shapes and color of bananas

Links to purchase!

If you have the perfectly-sized blank spot on your wall to accommodate the 9 by 12 inch original watercolor painting, then head to my Daily PaintWorks gallery and purchase through them. Trust me, it will be easier than getting my attention when I am in the art zone. If you need a different size, you can order from as small as 6 by 8 inches up to as large as 45 by 60 inches through my Pixels shop. They also have some good swag, and I’ve heard they’ve improved their jigsaw puzzles.

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Going Bananas and Oranges: More still life in watercolor

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Second in my still life watercolor paintings series I am doing as part of a short art challenge is this unimaginatively titled work, Bananas and Oranges. As previously mentioned, the challenge was to do three new artworks in three days, all focused on the theme of banana(s). Since I had considered doing some bananas as still life subjects, I jumped on it with my watercolor paints at the ready.

collage of reference photo and my watercolor still life painting Bananas and Oranges
reference photo and watercolor painting of my still life Bananas and Oranges

Using my artistic license to make the still life more traditional

While I was able to find a reference photo to work from, I was much less impressed with the color choices the original photographer made. While I loved the dark background and shadowed surface, I detest the red bowl. It is jarring to my eye, especially next to the oranges in the bowl. So, I needed to pick a different color for that bowl. Should I make it white (very traditional) or a complementary color like purple or blue? Since I was not feeling a white bowl, I decided to make the bowl one complementary color with the background being the other.

In-progress scans

This piece didn’t flow as easily as the first one did, but after I blocked out the sketch, transferred it to watercolor paper, and got the background painted a lovely deep Prussian blue – and got scans of those two steps – I slipped into “the art zone” and didn’t stop until suddenly it was finished. I really did mean to get more scans of the stages! It’s just that once I am in the zone, I don’t think of anything else but the work in front of me.

collage of the in-progress stages of my watercolor still life painting Bananas and Oranges
the two stages of my second bananas painting: the main sketch and the background

Painting the bananas and oranges

Contrary to most watercolorists, I like to start off with the darkest shadows. I know the conventional wisdom says to work from light to dark, and I have certainly tried that the first couple years. This series of paintings, I decided to try doing it “backwards.” Long story short – I prefer it. It even helps me get my shadows deep enough. Since this was basically a repeat of the subject matter, I just used the same colors as the day before. Once again, I was pleased with the color.

food-themed still life make a wonderful accent for decorating
Bananas and Oranges still life printed on a tote bag
someday my watercolor paintings may hand in a museum like this
fruit still life watercolor painting Bananas and Oranges framed and hanging over the dining table

Links to purchase the original painting and art prints

How can you purchase this artwork? If you have the right space for the 9 by 12 inch original watercolor (on paper) painting, get that through my gallery at Daily PaintWorks. If you want larger (or even smaller) sized prints, you can order from 8 by 6 inch all the way up to 45 by 60 inches from Pixels here. For my mother and sister, who prefer to wear my art, there are several apparel options along with home accessories with this image printed on them in my RedBubble shop.

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New Floral Painting Iris in Watercolor

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I know I’ve left y’all hanging on the Going Bananas series, but this most-recent floral watercolor painting is getting so much positive feedback on the handful of social media I’ve posted it to that I just had to do this one first. Plus, it’s a white iris in full bloom – how could I not?

The inspiration behind the painting

I never thought I would say this, but the inspiration for this came from Facebook … specifically, FB asked if I wanted to reshare an image from three years ago, an (overly) detailed drawing of an iris in full bloom. Seeing that drawing again made me realize I had never done anything else with that image, and the next thing I knew I was transferring the general outline to some watercolor paper to do it in better and in color.

detailed charcoal iris drawing from 2020 and the watercolor painting I made from it in October of 2023
my iris drawing from 2020 and watercolor painting from last week, late October 2023

Before I traced over it to transfer the lines, I did do a high-quality scan of the drawing first, so if you’d like an art print of it you can get one in the size you want. I used my first tinted charcoal (sepia) for the background, though looking at it now I can see it is both too dark and too light and didn’t provide me with the contrast I hoped to achieve. That is probably why it’s called drawing practice.

Recording the painting process

Since the little Nikon digicam died at the start of another art challenge, I was left with just using the old webcam my husband bought a few years ago when 1080p was the top-of-the-line in video. I used it for most of the four pieces in that challenge (I’ll link to it once I get those written!) and I have to admit: I love having video clips of it. In fact, I love it so much I am making an effort to do it more often. I also checked out the current top-of-the-line 4K webcam. It’s on my wishlist. (Edit: I bought it. Yeah, I am really impatient with some things.)

Once I get the video footage edited, I’ll embed that here. Until then, you can see a couple of short vertical videos I’ve uploaded to YouTube here.

software-generated mockup of a larger print of my iris floral watercolor painting in white matting with a slim dark wood frame
how my Iris in Watercolor floral painting looks in white matting and a slim dark wood frame

Notes about my iris floral watercolor painting

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, this was another one of those watercolor paintings that felt as if it just flowed from my brush. I absolutely LOVE when that happens. In fact, the part that took the longest was simply getting the background dark enough to provide the right amount of contrast for the white petals. I used alternating layers of dioxazine purple and indanthrene blue, going round and round the unpainted flower until it finally looked right. Painting the iris and its stem took less than a third of the total painting time, according to the video footage.

my Iris in Watercolor painting printed on the cover of a spiral notebook from RedBubble
Iris in Watercolor printed on a spiral notebook cover from RedBubble

Links to purchase

The 9 by 12 inch original painting is still available to buy through Daily PaintWorks. This artwork scanned beautifully, so you can order an art print through Pixels in sizes as small as 8×6 inch all the way up to 45×60 inches before framing. I also uploaded it to my RedBubble shop because my mother and sister like to wear my artwork. Finally, if you want an original but need a larger size, you can always commission me to do a similar painting. (I could not paint an exact duplicate even if I tried.)

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Today is National Farmers Day: Celebrating with farm-themed art

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Apparently, October 12th is National Farmers Day, as well as still being Columbus Day. Up until this morning, I had never heard of this, but y’all can be assured it is now officially on my calendar! Ever since I was a small girl, I wanted to be a farmer. In addition to my attempts at gardening and mad tree-planting sprees, I also raise (working) dairy goats, rabbits, and chickens. What better way to celebrate my new favorite holiday than with farm-themed art?

Hayfield Art

So far, I’ve done two paintings featuring hayfields: my Sunset Over the Hayfield in oil pastel, and the watercolor sketch Make Hay While the Sun Shines. Since I live at the dead end of a dirt road in a very rural corner of a rural county, hayfields are a common sight whenever we drive anywhere. There is just something about a field full of hay bales that gives me a warm and happy feeling in the depths of my soul. Round or square, though round are definitely the locally preferred format, I love to see hay bales sitting in a sunny field.

in-progress photo of my oil pastel landscape Sunset Over the Hayfield
watercolor sketch Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Produce artwork (fruits and vegetables)

While our property came with two mature Asian pear trees, we’ve added to that list a LOT in the decade since moving in: lemons, limes, oranges, sweet kumquat, dwarf pomegranate, an olive tree, and this year added two grapefruit and two fig trees. I still want to plant a couple of Barbados cherry trees, some true date palms, Indian/silver date palms, and pindo (jelly) palm trees. My husband also started growing moringa trees from seed this summer. Even more interesting, we discovered someone at some point in time planted a pink dwarf banana tree in the back of our property – I looked it up and those are native to Asia. The wildlife got our bright pink bananas this year, but now we know it’s back there, so perhaps next year we’ll get to eat some.

All that preamble to explain why fruits and vegetables are high on my list of favorite things to draw and paint when I want to do up a traditional still life piece of art. I’ve even gone to the grocery for the sole purpose of getting picturesque produce to do a photo shoot the other year. (For the record, only half of those photos were in focus, which is why I am not a photographer.)

I intended to post all of the produce-themed still life drawings and paintings here … but that is quite a lot of artwork! Instead, I’ll direct you to the category page – click here for the fruit and veggie still life. Even if I can’t grow it this far south, I can still buy and paint it.

Livestock Artwork

This category I do more than I draw or paint. Y’all have been treated to photos and stories about my goats, but I’ve only shared one drawing of one goat so far. It’s on my list of subjects to feature more, along with the chickens and rabbits. I’ll be doing more of that over the dark season, because we browsed the selection of farm animal T-shirts on Amazon and I was NOT impressed with what is out there. The obvious solution to my creative mind is to make my own! I do have my produce-themed art on apparel over at my RedBubble shop. Stay tuned, because I’ll probably do a rabbit first.

drawing of our goat Prim in tinted charcoal
sketch in tinted charcoal of our big girl, Prim

Celebrating National Farmers Day with art

I’ll need to wrap this up, because the charcoal pencils are calling to me to get to today’s drawing session. If I had known prior to this morning, I could have had something to paint, but right now I am quite content with just posting here to the art blog for this year’s short-notice celebration.

Next year, though, I will be pulling out the stops! Happy National Farmers Day to everyone, and have an art-full day.

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