Ready for framing

Now the painting has dried completely and is off the board, sealed and ready for framing.

The Daphne Odora is in bloom now:

It was very quiet yesterday at the Gallery, and so I had time to do some small sumi studies. This is just mounted onto a piece of masa backing paper - it will lighten up as it dries out.

A work in progress

This little painting might develop into a mixed media collage. The basket needs more work. I will keep it around and look at it until an answer comes to mind ~ it has lost the freshness and spontaneous simplicity of a sumi painting, and so it will evolve into something else...

sumi pear study on double shuan rice paper

From dragon flies to.....

Dragonfly Sky

Another small sumi painting, (non-traditional), for the upcoming show in April ~ down at the Pike Place Market, (The Art Stall Gallery). Those on the mailing list will get an announcement in March. The red does not photograph right, it is not as dark as this shows here, but still a sunset color.

Here is the radish painting mounted. If you look closely you can see the air bubble underneath the backing paper. The bubble will be gone when the painting is totally dry. The pigments bled a little bit into the rice paper, but that will fade when it has dried. The process of mounting take lots of practice and this is one of the reasons that watercolor is easier than sumi painting. A lot can go wrong in the mounting procedure.

Keep on keepin' on....

Today's effort: more red and green - this painting is not yet mounted, and so you will notice that the paper is buckled. It will flatten out once it is mounted and matted.

Winter sunset

This is a subject I have painted in the past and will attempt again. Usually I put evergreen trees into the paintings, changing the trees in this view to balance the composition. The paintings are not nearly as dramatic as the real thing, that would look trite, as it happens.

Painting by painting

This is one for the Gallery browser-rack, and so it will be only matted and not framed. Slowly the show is coming together. This primrose sumi painting is typical of my older style which never really goes away. I love red and green together, radishes, flowers, whatever...