Torch Lilies

Submitted this acrylic painting today to the WVA upcoming show "Turn Up the Heat" at Inspiration Studios. The opening reception will be on Friday, July 8, 2022 from 5 to 8 pm.  It's going to be a wonderful show, so I hope all of you art lovers out there will come out and see it!
 

A few of my recent little watercolors.  These are small, 5x7 on 140 lb watercolor paper. They are given a thin coat of  Dorland's Wax medium to seal them, and then buffed to a light satin finish. I usually paint some of these when I travel to visit friends.  These 2 in particular, I painted at my friend Joanna's house in March, while visiting her to keep her company after her husband passed unexpectedly.  

I have other watercolors like these at the Boerner Botanical Gardens Gift Shop.  They are usually mounted on reclaimed cedar boards, which are sealed, and wired for hanging.  

Celtic Sunset Mixed Media

This painting was kind of an experiment.  I had been reading the book How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill, and I liked the Introduction so much, that I printed it out in script on the computer to use as a crumpled paper background on this pastel.  The words are barely visible in the painting, but the texture adds quite a bit of drama.  Pastels were applied over the paper after it dried, and then I sealed the painting with final fixative.  After that was dry, I applied spray shallac to the whole thing to really seal in the pastel.  I was awarded an honorable mention for it in the Wisconsin Pastel Artists "Summer Wrap Up-Fall Ahead" exhibition.

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