The Patience of A Gnat

Apples and A Lemon, 7 1/2" x 7 1/2"; watercolor on 140 Arches

Back to the studio from the beach, I had the patience of a gnat today. Being reluctant to resume any serious work and waiting for the plumber to come fix the toilet that overflowed and destroyed the ceiling of the powder room below, while we were gone, apples and lemons was all I could muster--indeed, they were all I had in the fridge. As you can see, I didn't get lemonade with this little painting, but I did dip the brushes and investigated both opaque and translucent watercolors. Opaque suit me better than the translucent.

I also separated the photos of the paintings I did poolside from the 500 other shots I took. They didn't come out half badly.

SEE FOR YOURSELF.  (The bigger blow ups are the ones I like, the smaller ones could be stowed away in a closet for me to find in my old age). I did strengthen some of the colors, for the better I hope?

My favorite. Unfortunately, I destroyed it. Ellis didn't like it. Still a bit too humble. Still putting too much stock in my mate's opinions. I've got to get over that. I like this painting best ,because the subject is indistinct, the very reason Ellis didn't like it. I like the way the colors play. I like the brilliance. I like the freedom. Unfortunately, I realized what I liked about it too late. It only exists in  photo format now.
Silly, stupid girl.

From the Sea to my coffee table.

Bought by mistake, the first day I used opaque watercolor I wondered what was going on? Why couldn't I get a thin wash with brilliance? I flipped the top of the box closed and lo and behold there was the word opaque. I was shocked. I never knew such paint existed. If I had wanted opaque, I would have chosen to pack acrylics; I know how to handle those, I didn't have a clue how to proceed with these? My holiday was a learning experience. And after a little more intensifying yesterday on all of the sketches I made sitting poolside, I think I would pack them again--along with a set of normal, translucent set--they're perfect for a former acrylic artist and the supplies take up a minimum of space in the beach bag and in the suitcase. The only things I'd  add to my pencil case is another decent size tube of white and a select number of pastel pencils in case the highlights needed help. (I noticed highlight help is needed on the background apple in today's effort).

Over the two weeks, I did thirteen paintings all approximately 9" x 12", then cropped or not according to what materialized.  That's not bad for someone supposedly taking a beach break. Needless to say, I got very little reading done. I just couldn't bury my nose in a book when there was so much to look at and enjoy. Each  took an hour or more to do. I had to allow drying time to judge the values accurately. That's when I went down to the water's edge and hunted for sea shells while dodging waves.  The conche is sitting on my coffee table now. I want to enjoy looking at it. It's hard to believe that that just came out of the sea.

Beachwalk is my second favorite. I didn't ask Ellis what he thought--and
won't ask him ever again.

The first painting I did where I discovered I had different paints than I thought I did.

I did this view last year in pen and ink. The darks were very challenging.

For the hell of it, I thought I give these guys a shot. The guy sitting on the side of the
pool looked a lot happier than I made him. I was still struggling with getting the right
consistency and values. His face looks like he may have had Montezuma's revenge, (which is not
a problem for American's in Cancun).

This Kiosk I sort of like it reminds me of that program where
the little guy kept yelling, "The Plane, the plane."

You always had to have several bottles of water with you.  Constant questions
as we left the room each day were "Do you have the key?  The water?"

 A red flag on a deserted beach says a lot about the strong rip tide in the Mar Carib

I couldn't get the violet just right. My colors were limited. I had to make do.

We had just finished moving from one hotel to the next where I
painted this as we watched the rain on the balcony.

I do love blue umbrellas. One of the thing I kept noticing, painting after painting:
shadows are a lot darker than they read.

The underside of these umbrellas could  use some deeper shadows. It's a pleasant painting, nonetheless.