This is my second batik piece from that fabric class I’m currently taking. The first was all layered, but this one I outlined some areas in white first. The orange and lighter blue are an outcome of that first layer, and then I did three layers of green.

Here is the process.

Pencil Drawing

Wax Outline, Fill In Orange and Blue Areas

After Green Dye Bath, Paint Seaweed and Blobs

Fill In Whole Background, Blue Dye Bath

Just Before Ironing

After Ironing the Wax Out

This is one of the first pleinair paintings I’ve ever done. I think it’s the second actually. I did this shortly after returning from a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. I spent some time being very inspired by Monet and I think it influenced this piece. It’s not very nice technically, but I love how the colors turned out.

Watercolor, Charcoal, Colored Pencil, on Paper | 10″ x 8″

I don’t have a title for this. It’s an experiment with charcoal, watercolor, and colored pencil. I had intended to paint something a few days ago, but instead was just noodling around with some colors and wanted to experiment on something a bit larger.

I very rarely start anything without a reference. Sometimes I sketch things out of my head before I paint, but then at least the sketch is the reference. The end result might not look anything like my reference, but I still look at some things before I start. My dad bought a new orchid the other day. So I took some photos. This is actually my reference.

But, I heavily edited it to get some color ideas.

Then I started with a quick charcoal sketch.

But I didn’t take any more photos of my progress because I didn’t think I would end up posting this. Most of the time I was working on it I didn’t like it. But, once I was done, it seemed decent enough for a blog post.

After this experiment, I’m tempted to try some landscapes with a similar method. But, as usual, there is more I want to do that hours in the day. We’ll see.

close ups