Romantic Roses in oil and watercolor

My blog

2009-04-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hi to all my Subscribers, Followers and other Readers,
I have decided to go on with only one blog. It is not possible to be really up to date with my work and blogging when writing on more than one blog.
Of course I still will paint my Roses, because this is one of my greatest passion but I also want to focus also more on figurative paintings and I also understand that it is often time consuming for a reader to switch between two different blogs and often they forget to check my other work.
So I will close this blog and I invite you all to come over to my regular blog/website at
http://www.dorisjoa.com/blog and to subscribe there.
I also will share tips and I also will do Demos there as I have done here.

Tomorrow I hope to show a new step of my current Rose painting there.
And today you will see a work in progress of a small portrait of a beautiful young lady.

I hope to see you at my blog: http://www.dorisjoa.com/blog

Magnolia instead of a Rose

2009-04-22T04:42:00.001-07:00

Size is 8"x8", watercolor on 140 Lb coldpressed paper.
Magnolia, $80 plus $10.50 for shipping (insurance and airmail)

My Rose painting is going very slow and since our Magnolia tree was full in bloom this year I thought I would do a small Magnolia, before I go back to the Roses.

A lot of people made photos of our Magnolia tree (maybe this were also flower artists ? :).

Roses WIP

2009-04-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

This is the third time that I am starting with this painting.
The first was started on hotpressed paper and also the Roses were painted beautifully I didn't like the leaves. They were not that what I was looking for.
Maybe this is also an excuse because I wanted to start it over and then doing it on watercolor canvas. Since I learnt this stretching technique from Joyce Faulknor I really love to paint in this way and to be able to offer my paintings without the need of a frame or the need of glass, when it will be framed. I never have a problem with starting over a painting, when something isn't so as I want to have it I simply start over.
So my second try was then on the stretched canvas and then I did a big mistake in my background. The Roses were beautiful and also I liked my leaves work but then it looked so busy and I started with a dark background. And I immediately started too dark. I then was not able to create more depth behind and between the leaves and it was not looking like that what I had in my mind for this painting.
So I started again. That is what you see now. I will work at first a bit more on the Roses and then I think I will start with the first leaves, but this time I will be more carefully and I will think better before I put the brush on my paper. I have something in mind with my background. I want to have the Rose at a sunny day with a lot of leaves creating depth, but also the sunshine glittering in the background. It will be interesting and I love this project.

The Colours on this Rose are so far:
- Indian Yellow
- Aureolin Yellow
The shadows are created with a mix of Phthalo Blue and Permanent Rose and here and there I added Alizarin Crimson to this mix.
The different yellows were used as a light underwash on this shadows but not on all petals.

When you are here maybe you want to visit my other blog. I painted another Hydrangea, a pink peony and some pansies which I am showing there.

See you soon!

Sangerhauser Jubiläumsrose

2009-04-05T15:57:00.001-07:00

SOLD

This Rose is named "Sangerhauser Jubiläumsrose" and I really love her colours. This Rose is not really yellow or pink, the colours are so beautifully mixed and I am sure I will do another painting.
Size is 6"x6", painted on watercolor canvas.

White Roses

2009-03-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

Weiße Weihnacht IV, 6"x6" on 340 Lb coldpressed paper
$60 plus $10.50 for shipping (airmail and insurance)

Weiße Weihnacht III, 6"x6" on 340 Lb coldpressed paper
$60 plus $10.50 for shipping (airmail and insurance)

White Rose IV, 6"x6", stretched watercolor canvas
(ready to hang!)
$60 plus $10.50 for shipping (airmail and insurance)

Yellow Rose - David Austins Rose Golden Celebration

2009-03-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

Not for Sale

Here is another small Rose painting, which I started some time ago and finally finished it today.
It is again on stretched watercolor canvas and size is 6"x6".
The Rose is one of David Austins Roses: Rose Golden Celebration.

The yellows were created with Indian Yellow for the warm areas and Aureolin for the cool areas.
For the very warm areas inside the Rose I did a mix of Indian Yellow, Translucent Orange and Scarlet Lake.
Some of the shadows were created with a touch of green, blue and red.

Maybe you want to visit my other blog here, I have posted another woman study.

Roses - a bit different

2009-03-01T04:24:00.001-08:00

NO title yet - watercolor, size 16"x16
copyright: Doris Joa

I thought I would do a Rose painting a bit different than usual and I liked working on this piece very much. I once again tried the stretched watercolor paper (canvas).
In the background I had to put a lot of water for my layers. And then the paper buckled on some places. When all is dry of course than it is flat again.
It seems that working with a lot of water and washes the paper doesn't stay flat.

But on the other side this painting looks fantastic in a frame. I already have a wonderful gold frame (which is especially for stretcher bars paintings) and it looks fantastic in it.

It is fantastic to be able to hang a painting immediately with or without frame.
I will continue to work on all surfaces which I can get. If this is only on paper or paper stretched on stretcher bars or Aquaboard or other Boards. I like to have the opportunity to try new things out.

Some other news:
I have sent one of my Rose paintings to the Society of Botanical Artists in UK. And I am happy that it was selected for the Society of Botanical Artists Exhibition. This prestigious exhibition takes place at Westminster Central Hall, London from April 24th to May 3rd. I was not sure if this Rose painting would make it in, because it is no really botanical work. But I am happy that it is IN. Here is the painting:

Rose Ghislaine de Féligonde - watercolor, size 12"x16
copyright: Doris Joa

By the way: This painting is one of the full Step-by-Step-Demonstrations in my E-book.

White Rose - 6x6 inch watercolor painting

2009-02-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

In one of my previous posts (click here) I told you about stretching watercolor paper over stretcher bars. I have done another painting like this.
I also have done some photos of the stretched painting, so you are getting a good suggestion how this all looks. I varnished the complete painting (also the sides and back).
It looks really beautiful to have a watercolor hanging in this way.
I love the fact that I can work in different ways with my watercolors. I am very curious and love to try out new things, but this doesn't mean that I will not continue to work on paper.

Blog awards and Pink Rose

2009-02-19T03:52:00.000-08:00

Rose Open Arms, watercolor on 140 Lb coldpressed paper,
size: 6"x6"

This is another small Rose painting on 140 Lb coldpressed paper. The pinks were created with Permanent Rose and Alizarin Crimson. Under the Permanent Rose I did at first an underwash of Indian Yellow to give this colour a very warm effect. I love the result. In the background I used a lot of Indian Yellow to give a very warm feeling to the painting.

Click here for purchase information

I can't believe it. I got three Blog awards and was also tagged. Let me begin here:

1. Thank you to Tracy Hall and April Jarocka for their Passion for Painting Award.
Tracy Hall does wonderful watercolors and has become an expert in doing Miniatures. And I mean really tiny Miniatures with so high detail, it is amazing how she does this.
April Jarocka does wonderful paintings in oil and acrylics and I love a lot her beach and stone paintings. Absolutely beautiful!

2. Thank you to Zelma Cinnamon for her award. Zelma does wonderful drawings and flowers in watercolor. Her work is very beautiful, you will love it, too!

For these awards I must list seven things I love:
1. My family (of course)
2. Jogging (Running, I am not sure how you english people say it)
3. Chocolate
4. Romantic Music
5. A cup of hot tea beside me when I paint
6. Black Tom cats
7. reading

And this are things which I love to do/to have each day.

3. And I was tagged by Fabio Cembranelli. Thank you Fabio.
Fabio is a wonderful watercolor artist and I am amazed with his use of this medium. I really admire how he works, because I can't do it this way and this let me enjoy his art so very much.

And here I must list seven unusual things about me:
1. Beside my realism work I love fantasy art.
2. I have a license for driving motorcycles. I owned a Yamaha SR 500, but this is long time ago!
3. I never had interest in art until I was 38!
4. I never liked swimming, but now with my kids I love to go so often as it is possible.
5. I love the music from Queen, and especially Freddy Mercury. What a voice!
6. I always wanted to have my hair like Farrah Fawcett from "Charlie's Angels", but I have so many curls, it never was possible.
7. I always wanted to learn piano as a kid, but my family never could afford it. And now I don't have the time, because painting is the BIG passion!

Please visit all the artists blog with clicking on their name. You will enjoy their work the same as I am doing this.

Now I have to nominate some other artists.

A Passion for Painting award goes to:

Catherine DE RYCK
Mary Jansen
Vernita Bridges Hoyt
Jane Freeman
Lynette
Christiane Fortin
Kelly Singleton

I need to let them know this. I hope you will visit all the other artist's sites. I am sure you will enjoy their art very much.

See you soon!

Rose Gloria Dei - Original watercolor stretched on stretcher bars

2009-02-15T10:39:00.001-08:00

Rose Gloria Dei, size: 8"x8", stretched 140 Lb watercolor paper

Hi, this is really something new. At first the painting is new :) but also that it is painted on stretched watercolor paper which were stretched over stretcher bars like a stretched canvas for oils or acrylics.

Fellow artist Joyce Faulknor did a demo on her blog about Paper Preparations for Varnishing Watercolor Paintings. I really had to try this out.
This means my watercolor painting looks now like a stretched canvas and after it was painted I varnished it. This means too that it doesn't need to be framed, because the edges are painted. Of course a beautiful frame looks always great, but you don't need to frame it behind glass. You can handle this watercolor painting like an oil painting. The edges are not stapled, this happened all on the backside.

This is a wonderful idea and I plan to do more of them. I just needed to order some more stretcher bars. I am very thankful that Joyce Faulknor was so generous to share this technique.

I also was having a lot of problems with stretching my watercolor paper on a board, it always buckled and the tape was not working correct. I have tried so many things. When doing a lot of washes you really need to have a flat surface to get the result for what you are looking for.
Now with stretching the paper over stretcher bars another pluspoint is that your painting is flat and it is tight as a drum. You should try it - I am sure you will love it!

Rose Ghislaine de Féligonde - New oil Painting

2009-02-12T00:22:00.000-08:00

Rose Ghislaine de Féligonde
oil on stretched canvas, size: 16"x20"

I have finally worked with my oil paints again. This Rose is one of my favorites and with looking through my Roses gallery you will see that I painted this Rose several times. Since this Rose changes her look so often during it time of growth it is simple joy to watch her.

For those who enjoy my Roses I have created a video about them. Hope you enjoy it. It is also displayed on the right sidebar.

Some other news:
1. My e-book is also available on CD now. Since some people did worried about the large download of 13 MB, the CD will be helpful. On the CD is also the supporting material, like the large Ref.pics and Drawings, so you don't need to be online to view them.
2. Some of my work was published in the Porch Magazine. The editors thought that my work would have the romantic feel for which they were looking for their Valentine's Issue.
I already have one copy of this Issue and I am very pleased with the quality of this Magazine and I am very thrilled that they are showing 6 of my paintings.

And now I am doing a watercolor painting of a Rose. The watercolor paper is stretched over stretcher bars like a stretched canvas for oils. This means that I will also varnish it and then it doesn't need to be framed behind glass. It can hang without frame or with frame without glass. I am just curious how it will look once it is varnished. But more on it soon.

Rose Ingrid Bergman - New watercolor painting

2009-02-08T14:49:00.001-08:00

Rose Ingrid Bergman, watercolor,
size: 6"x6"

Click here for purchase Information

Ah, finally a red Rose. I do not paint a lot of red Roses, although I love the colour Red and also I love red Roses. I only have one red Rose in my garden and this is of the Rose 'Ingrid Bergman'.
And this is a painting of her. The reds are created with Scarlet Lake and Alizarin Crimson, for the darker colours I added some Sap Green and/or Phthalo Blue.
Painted on 340 Lb coldpressed paper.

E-book finally finished

2009-02-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

My E-book "How to paint realistic flowers in watercolor?" is finally finished.
For more informations please click on the book: The book will be translated in German and available for the german artists in a few days.

Mein E-book "Wie male ich realistische Blumen in Aquarell?" ist endlich fertig.
Für mehr Informationen clicken Sie bitte auf das Buch.
Das Buch wird zur Zeit ins Deutsche übersetzt und in wenigen Tagen auch für die deutschen Künstler erhältlich sein.

Price: $24

Rose Ghislaine de Féligonde

2009-01-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

Rose Ghislaine de Féligonde
watercolor, 6x9 inch

Click here for purchase information

This Watercolor painting is of the Rose Ghislaine de Féligonde. A wonderful Rose. I got this Rosebush some years ago from my kids to Mother's Day and I so much love this Rose. It is amazing how the colours change, I can't get enough.
This small watercolor is painted on Reeves Watercolor board. And I can tell you that in my E-book will be a wonderful Rosestudy of this Rose. I am working on the final things in this E-book and hope to release it in some days.

I am also going to post a new figurative study on my other blog, maybe you want to have a look here ?

Heritage: David Austins Rose in watercolor and more Roses

2009-01-18T03:34:00.001-08:00

Heritage, Original watercolor painting
size: 6x6 inch
SOLD

You will find this item in my Etsy-shop in the left sidebar. Click on the name romanticroses

This is again one of David Austin's Roses: Heritage. This Rose is so beautiful with the delicate pink going into white.
Again I have painted only with transparent watercolor as I usually do.
For the warm pinks I used a touch of Alizarin Crimson and added also some Indian Yellow.
The shadows were painted with a mix of Phthalo Blue and Alizarin Crminson and for the cooler pinks I added some Permanent Rose. I used Crescent Watercolor board.

I already painted this Rose on coldpressed paper in size 5x7 inch some time ago. Here is a photo.

Heritage Rose, Original watercolor painting,
size: 5x7 inch

SOLD

Beside that I was busy with a commission. A Lady who bought my 6x6 painting of the Rose Golden Celebration wanted to have a trio, which included also a pink and a red Rose.
Here is the result. All paintings are done on 340 Lb coldpressed watercolor paper. Since the first painting was done on this paper, I decided to go for all paintings with the same paper, so that the look is the same.

Pink, Yellow and Red Rose, Original watercolor paintings
SOLD

And this Rose is Rose New Dawn, painted on Crescent Watercolor Board, size is 6x6.
I used the same colours as in the Heritage Rose, but added more of the Permanent Rose colour there.

Rose New Dawn, Original watercolor painting,
size: 6x6 inch
SOLD

Rose Queen Mother

2009-01-08T13:30:00.001-08:00

Rose Queen Mother
watercolor, 9"x6"
SOLD

This lovely pink Rose is named: Rose Queen Mother.
This Watercolor Painting was done on Reevers Watecolor board, size is 9"x6".

The Pinks are created with Permanent Rose mixed with Alizarin Crimson for the warm areas and Permanent Rose mixed with Phthalo Blue for the cool areas, favoring sometimes the Pink and sometimes the blue.
I also added here and there some of the Sap Green to the Rose, which I also used on the leaves.

The leaves were painted with Indian Yellow, Sap Green and Helio Turquoise and mixes of them.
Of course I also added some of the Rose colour.
For the darks in the background I did a mix of Sap Green, Helio Turquoise and Alizarin Crimson. This gives a very strong dark, especially with the Helio Turquoise in it.
Where the light circles are I did at first a light underwash of Aureolin and on other places some of Helio Turquoise. Then I painted with the background colour (on the top with some Sap green) over them and then washed the circles out. On other areas I painted around the circles. I then softened all the edges with a chisel brush, so that the background looks very soft.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T16:13:00.001-08:00

I want to wish you all a wonderful, healthy and Happy New Year 2009.
Also it is time to say Thank you. It is wonderful to know that you enjoy my art.

In this post I have no new painting to show. I just posted a Dancing Rhodie on my regular blog, so the next Rose must wait a bit.
As you can see I am working on the design of my blog here and it really makes fun. I added a new background at the sides. The background design was created from two of my paintings.
I am also happy to tell you that the Major Rose study for my E-book is finished. This also means that the book will be soon available, but there is still some work to do on it. Only a bit of patience is needed.

I hope you all have had a great start in the New Year.

~~ See you soon.

David Austin’s Rose Golden Celebration in watercolor

2008-12-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

SOLD

This is a small version of the beautiful yellow David Austin Rose “Golden Celebration”. I have painted it in watercolor on 600 g (340 Lb) coldpressed Arches paper.

My Colours for the Rose were: Indian Yellow, Aureolin (for the cooler and lighter areas), Translucent Orange, Scarlet Red, Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Blue.
On the leaves I used Sap Green, Indian Yellow, Helio Turquoise, Alizarin Crimson.
In the background I did at first washes of Indian Yellow, Alizarin Crimson and Sap Green and Helio Turquoise. I placed them side by side and let them flow. I then added a mix of Alizarin Crimson, Sap Green and Helio Turquoise, which gives you a really dark colour.

Merry Christmas with Eden Rose

2008-12-24T16:09:00.001-08:00

I am wishing you all MERRY CHRISTMAS.

I hope you are all having a peaceful and happy time within your family.

This Eden Rose (Pierre de Ronsard) is another watercolor painting.

Size is 12,8″x17,6″, painted on coldpressed Arches watercolor paper.

Rose Amelita Renaissance

2008-12-21T16:24:00.000-08:00

Rose Amelita Renaissance, 6"x6"

watercolor

SOLD

This is the Rose Amelita Renaissance. It is really a lovely rose with a beautiful colour. Not really pink, not really orange and not really red.
For the colours on this Rose I used translucent Orange, Permanent Rose, Alizarin Crimson and Phthalo Blue. I also added some of Sap Green at the base of the Rose.
The painting is done on 600 g (300 Lb) coldpressed Arches watercolor paper, unstretched.
While painting the Rose I tried to let the colours flow on the Rose instead of mixing them before on my palette.

Another white Rose ...

2008-12-17T14:17:00.000-08:00

This is No.2 of the White Christmas Rose.
It is painted again on 600 g (300 Lb) coldpressed Arches Watercolor paper and size is 6"x6" inch.

SOLD

White Rose and E-book about watercolor

2008-12-14T14:40:00.000-08:00

SOLD

This white Rose is named "Weiße Weihnacht", translated : "White Christmas".
I thought this would fit perfect in the season and I had fun to paint it.
It is a small one, 6x6 inch (15x15 cm) and painted on 600 g (140 Lb) unstretched coldpressed watercolor paper.

I will not speak too much about this painting for now, because I am working on an E-book about watercolor painting. I have already done 2 full Step-by-Step-Demonstrations. One is about a Golden Magnolia and the other one is a fantastic wonderful Rose. And there is also a white-on-white Lesson (see Rose above) and I am sure there is much to see in this E-book.
I have done many many photos of so many steps while painting and try to explain all that what and why I am doing this and that.
I am not sure if this E-book will be finished still in December or maybe in January, because I want to make sure that it will be a really fantastic book with a lot of infos.
So if you have still any questions about watercolor painting please address them to me and I will see if I can add them with the answers of course into this book.

And I have done more greeting cards of my Roses. I am having now a complete set of 8 different Roses cards and I am having really fun creating them.

Click here for purchase information about the Cards

Greeting Cards available

2008-11-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

I have been working hard on some new projects in the past weeks, which includes more Roses, but for the moment I will not talk more about it, because my subscribers on my newsletter will be the first who will get the news. I hope to send the newsletter in the first week of December.

If you want to get my newsletter, please sign up here. Thank you.

But for today I am pleased to show you some of my brandnew greeting cards, which are created of some of my roses.

The cards measure 4″x6″ and are folded at the side. The inside is blank white and white envelopes are included.

The printed image has fantastic colours. I really love them.

The cards are available through my Etsy shop.

Heidi Klum Rose - finished

2008-10-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

Heidi Klum Rose, watercolor,
10"x16,5", copyright: Doris Joa
SOLD

Hurrah! The painting of the Heidi Klum Rose is finished.
I really did hurry this afternoon, because I still wanted to do a photo, before it was getting too dark outside. I did soften so many edges, but I still need again a closer look to see if I have maybe forgotten one or two.

The greys in the background at the top are a mix of sap green with winsor violet.
When you compare this photo to the photo in the post before you will notice that I have painted over some leaves, which were too white, it didn't work and my eyes were still wandering there, especially to the leaves on the right side at the bottom.
When I was finished with the painting I did at first a photo and looked to it at the monitor. This helped me to see how distracting the hard edges were. So I used a flat brush and softened them.
Here is a photo of this brush, this works really perfect.

In the next photo I just would like to show how the painting looks before with some hard edges and how it looks after softening them. This may help for the beginners to get a good suggestion.

You see in the left photo how distracting these edges are, here is a close up of the part which shows it much better. I think I should have done the photo then, before I softened the other edges and did think of showing this when the most were already softened. But I think you will get a good suggestion of what I mean.

The next Rose is already planned and I hope to start this maybe tomorrow, but for now I will go back to my figurative work, this WIP you can see on my regular blog here.

See you soon!

And the next one ...

2008-10-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

I have worked more on this Heidi Klum Rose Painting.
You see I have done a lot of progress and I really love how the painting develops. I only hope that I will also be pleased when it is finished. :)
I have start to add darks to the background. Within all the leaves (there are really many leaves) I think this works the best. The darks have I created with Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Green, Sap Green, Helio Turquoise, Winsor Violet, Ivory Black (but only mixed together with other colours) and here and there some Indian Yellow.

To integrate the leaves into the background I have at first wet the area, where I wanted to paint the darks around the leave and then I simply moistened my brush with clear water and did wet the edges of the leaves. The result is that the still wet paint of the background runs over the leaves. This avoided hard edges at first and brings the leaves in the background that they are part of it.

I really love the painting - the feeling of a hot summer day. I have only worked with transparent watercolors and have not used any masking fluid. I have painted around the whites.
But I also have to add when you loose some highlights it is always possible to add then maybe a hint of white gouache to save your painting.

See you soon!