The pond animals are done.

POND ANIMALS

I am waiting for approval from the customer on the series of pond animals partially painted on the mat:




LARGE PIECE ON CANVAS

The large piece 36x24 inch on canvas. I am still working on finalizing the composition. My customer has requested something with a tranquil mood, for a husband who loves fishing. I am thinking water, river or ocean? With a fisherman on the beach or in a boat?

I am hoping to use glazing techniques. I have never used this technique on canvas before, so I have run some tests. This is a sample of glazing on watercolor paper:



This is a sample of glazing on canvas:



The canvas sample has more texture, less transparency and deeper, stronger values. I will try to use this technique. Next, settle on color scheme.


BEACH SCENE WITH CHILD AND DOG

I have come up with the basic composition for the beach scene. I am working from a photograph (left). I will move the child so there is a sliver of space between it an the dog. This will improve the balance of the composition. Also, the edges must fade and be uneven. I still need to fade out some of the greenery, it is too compact. I need a more interesting sky.





SACHI THE CAT

My first attempt did not come out good at all. Start over from scratch! I need to run some more tests to check how the gold/peach tones mix. Looks like mud now.


FOUR XRAY FISH

The four little Xray fish are almost done. I need to get a good photograph of them in day light and get the customer's approval.


PLANNED PAINTINGS

I bought the real gold fish! I need it for reference photos for a piece I am planning to submit to a juried show (- if it comes out that good). All I need now is lots of light. Where is the sunlight when you need it? There is only snow here in New England.

Progress on Commissions

I have been working hard on the 5 commissions:

FOUR POND ANIMALS

The series of animals, partially painted on the mat are well under way.





LARGE PIECE ON CANVAS

For the large piece 36x24 inches on canvas, I have now decided upon mood and motif. I will stretch the watercolor canvas next and finalize the composition.


BEACH SCENE WITH CHILD AND DOG

No time to work on the beach scene yet.


SACHI THE CAT

I did a prelim. wet-upon-wet watercolor. I will not know until it has complete dried if is any good. Looks like it may have too much paint, to few spots of paperwhite. Not good!


FOUR XRAY FISH

I will paint the 4 little fish the coming week.



Still ideas for juried shows but no time persue them.

I am done revamping my website. I have long struggled with how to separate out artwork for sale and artwork already sold that I still want to display. I think this solution is reasonably elegant. I have also changed my links to image links.

www.annikasart.com

I have 5 commissions to complete.

1. The first, a series of pond animals, partially painted on the mats in the same style I do my frogs in. I have made good progress with this one. It will be completed end of January.
2. The second will be a very large piece. I still don't know the motif but I think I have nailed down the style and colors. Next step is to stretch the canvas 36x24 inches.
3. The third is a sweet beach scene with a small child and a dog. A proud grandma will be surprised with this watercolor on her birthday later this spring.
4. The fourth is a picture of Sachi, a cat with personality. I will do her in lovely amber shades, very loose wet-upon-wet.
5. Finally, I just agreed to do 4 little Xray fish for a customer who already owns one of my Xray fish originals, bought back in 2005. These fish really do best in a group, so I am delighted to add some friends to that one lonesome guy.

I have ideas to persue for juried shows later this spring. I need to buy a gold fish and take reference photos.

New Logo

I have spent a good part of this weekend (with dismal rain) rebuilding my website and designing a new logo.