New Painting in Cellophane Series

Yesterday I finished a small watercolor in my Cellophane Series which consists of depictions of candy wrappers. "Candy Wrappers" is 10"x14" and painted on Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. cold press paper.

"Candy Wrappers", watercolor         Kathleen Ballard

My Floral Paintings video

florals

My Water Paintings video

water

Recent Artist Documentaries

I love documentaries, especially about art and artists. Recently I've seen two that are interesting.

"Cutie and the Boxer" is the story about New York artists Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. This 2013 documentary shows their relationship in their 40 year marriage as Husband and Wife and Artists. Ushio is famous for being a "Boxing" painter and Noriko for her "Cutie" illustrations. To view the trailer, click here.

"Cutie and the Boxer" 2013 documentary

"Ai Weiwei, Never Sorry", the 2012 film about China's most famous international artist and dissident, Ai Weiwei. To view the trailer, click here.

"Ai Weiwei, Never Sorry", 2012 documentary

These two documentary "portraits" are interesting and worth seeing.

"The Crowned Santos" 1 and 2

Two Christmases ago, a close friend of ours gave us a Santos*. She stands about 32" tall, is carved out of wood and has metal wings. She was bald so I had wrapped a sting of silver metal stars around her head. A few months ago I picked up a lovely crown at a wonderful Pasadena shop, "The Gold Bug" for her so now she indeed looks like a royal angel!

I decided I would do a portrait of her. As you probably know, I am not a portrait or figure painter but wanted to give it a try anyway. The first one, "Crowned Santos" wasn't too successful so I gave it another effort as "Crowned Santos 2". Either painting isn't one of my favorites but I'm happy to have given it a try anyway . . . twice!

*I Googled "Santos Angels" and found this link. This photo on the site is the exact angel that we have!

  

Left, "Crowned Santos", right, "Crowned Santos 2", 13"x13" each, watercolor,

(click on image to enlarge)

Editing

I love to take photos on my early morning walks of the sky, roses or whatever image catches my eye with my iPhone. Other people's roses. I only have two rose bushes in our yard and they seem to be hanging on for dear life! My dream is to plant a rose garden of my own.

My watercolors of roses therefore develop from photos I take from my walks in the neighborhood or from one of the gardens I visit (with my digital SLR camera) in our area. There is the Los Angeles County Arboretum, Descanso Gardens, The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens and Arlington Gardens close by. I feel so lucky to have these wonderful gardens to enjoy and visit them often!

Since I paint from my photographs, the first step (after shooting the photos and choosing the ones that inspire me) is to edit them to make a, what I hope to be, an interesting and beautiful painting.

Here is an example of one of the ways I edit my photos to use as a reference for a watercolor:

I "steal" roses from this photograph

and "add" them to this photograph

This is the "final" compilation

I wanted lots of roses to be in this composition and love the way the light colored ones move through the picture. I also like the little piece of sky in the background and the light hitting the distant trees. More color adjustments will be made in the painting process. This will be a full sheet watercolor.

A New Painting: "White Roses"

I am happy to share my latest watercolor painting, "White Roses"! It was just finished yesterday, is 22 1/2"x30" and painted on Arches 300 lb. Cold Press Paper. I love roses but white roses are my favorite to paint!

"White Roses", 22 1/2"x30"                               Kathleen Ballard