When life gives you lemons, draw them, 11 x 14 inches dry pastels, graphite on paper

"When life gives you lemons, draw them." (Nikki)

"Color! What a deep and mysterious language." (Paul Gauguin)

landscapes

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Mt. Walker Rhododendrons

Friday, February 17th, 2017


 

Mt. Walker, WA Rhododendrons, 15H x 22W inches WC on 140 lb cold pressed premium

Mt. Walker, WA wild Rhododendrons, 15H x 22W inches WC on 140 lb cold pressed premium. Details:

  Mount Walker WA Rhododendrons, central left detail   Mount Walker WA Rhododendrons, central right detail

Japanese Maple

Saturday, February 11th, 2017


 

Japanese Maple, 20W x 15H inches WC on 140 lb cold pressed
Japanese Maple, 20W x 15H inches watercolors on 140 lb. cold pressed premium work in progress.

New Mexico Sunset

Saturday, February 7th, 2015


 

New Mexico Sunset, 11H x 14W inches oil pastels on paper
New Mexico Sunset, 11H x 14W inches oil pastels on paper, white mat. An extreme departure in style, but sometimes the impression of the experience calls for it.

Deciduous Forest

Friday, December 7th, 2012


 

Deciduous Forest, 12 x 16 inches watercolors on paper

Deciduous Forest – Washington State USA – 12H x 16W inches watercolors on paper, sage green mat

Thumbnails below: 1. resist medium applied, dried and first paint application 2. peeling off the dried resist after painting dark hues of sap green 3. stage 02, after peeled off resist medium, before more paint 4. an idea occurred to use the pulled off rubber pieces as 3D effects in future paintings, probably best on canvas.
A while back, I had visitors attending a show of mine peel off the rubberized medium in the same fashion, revealing the flowers on “Flowering Shavingbrush Tree”.

  Deciduous Forest?, 9 x 12 watercolors with dried resist medium - in progress   Deciduous Forest, peeling off the dried resist after dark hues of sap green   Deciduous Forest, after dark hues of sap green and peeled off resist   Idea to optionally attach peeled, rubberized pieces of resist medium as leaves

Birch Stand

Friday, November 30th, 2012


 

Birch Stand, 12H x 16W inches watercolors on 120 lb cold pressed premium paper

Work details: 1. applying resist medium 2. working with the challenge of a limited palette, watercolors were also dripped down the page. Tomball watercolor pen adds more details.

Applying resist medium Birch, details

Birch Stand, 12H x 16W inches watercolors on 120 lb cold pressed 100% cotton paper. Framed size 22H x 26W inches.

Fairy Lake Sumac

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012


 

Fairy Lake Sumac, 16 x 20 inches oil pastels on paper

Fairy Lake Sumac – Sumac bushes during Fall, Fairy Lake BC Canada, 16H x 20W inches with mat, oil pastels on 140 lb W/C paper.
This piece has a base of watercolor crayons, which I hadn’t heard of before and was excited to try. The crayon colors were weak though, and they do not paint well either, so oil pastels were layered on top with areas scratched away using fingernails and pottery tools.

Fields of Flax – Rowley, Alberta Canada

Monday, November 12th, 2012


 

Fields of Flax, Rowley, Alberta Canada - in progress, 12H x 16W inches watercolors on paper
Fields of Flax, Rowley, Alberta Canada,  12H x 16W inches watercolors on paperpreliminary study for larger acrylics painting

 

Bigleaf Maple watercolors

Sunday, November 4th, 2012


 

Big Leaf Maple 12H x 16W inches watercolors on 140 lb 100% cotton paper

 Big Leaf Maple near Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island, BC Canada, 12H x 16W inches watercolors on 140 lb 100% cotton paper. Framed size 22H x 26W inches.

Missing routine

Thursday, October 11th, 2012


 
The Campsite, watercolors, total size 24 x 30 inches professionally framed The Campsite, 24 x 30 inches watercolors on 140 lb cold pressed premium
I finally brought my watercolor paints back from my son’s place in Canada, where I left them so they wouldn’t freeze on the 5-day drive back west last November. Driving again, I’ve just returned from this year’s visit, when I gave my grandson a one-of-a-kind fabric book hand-made for his first birthday, Colors for Cameron. I plan to make him something special every year.

So, with a couple of new brushes and 12 x 16″ paper block, and now with the rainy season upon us back in Oregon, I look forward to establishing a routine of painting again. Invigorated by a summer full of gardening and flowers, the stunning scenery across America this time of year, plus reviewing archives of work I haven’t seen for ages, I’m all set to splash out some new watercolors. Our Portland house is a renovator’s dream/nightmare!, and we’re not out of the woods yet. Attempting to focus more on art than house, smaller paintings are more manageable and less of a production than my typically large canvas paintings…however, I’m curious to experiment and see how watercolors behave on primed canvas at some point!

True colors

Thursday, May 26th, 2011


 

Fern tree shadows cast across garden rocks, Chapala, Mexico

Tree fern shadows cast across garden rocks in Chapala, Mexico

“Your true colors are beautiful” – Cindy Lauper

I’ve been in Mexico for the past two weeks, so I’ll be contributing more images to the True Colors website, created in 2007 as tribute to the colorful landscapes and cultures here. Developed separately from the other chapters of nikkiartwork.com, trucolors.info is considered as one complete and independent project. I’ve posted a few more of the recent pieces in this series on nikkiphotography.com

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