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Working on several color studies for larger cityscape paintings, this is a study of a simple street scene in downtown Louisville. Easily identifiable are the twin Waterfront Plaza Office Towers in the upper background. Located on Main Street and situated between the Galt House and KFC YUM Center, their red roofs are a beacon for navigating the downtown waterfront area. However, for this painting, they serve as merely accents. The “story” is the light on the street and buildings created by darker shadows. Even the closer buildings on Market St. are rendered in a loose fashion creating a background for the calligraphic marks of the poles, wires, specks of color and shadows. Value and color studies are important to creating art, especially when working in watercolor where correcting can be a challenge. It is a chance to evaluate, discover possibilities and make adjustments prior to starting a larger painting. As far as this study goes, if I decide to turn this into larger painting, I feel I would like to increase the light on the closer buildings by keeping them slightly lighter from the outset and then building up color. I may change the street view slightly, especially since I'll have more space with a larger painting. I would show a little more of the street in the background, adding a vehicle or two and smaller figures. I also would like to make more of the sky area. It is a large space and should be a little more interesting. What I would hope to keep from this study is the overall feeling in the painting and general color scheme. I like the pop of darks and the figure coming into the painting from the shadow. How about you? Do you make value sketches or color studies prior to a painting? Do you have any suggestions or comments for this color study? I welcome your thoughts as always! [...]

Finished this color study today. It is of the mill inside the living museum of El Rancho de las Golondrinas in New Mexico. I wanted to emphasize the use of complementary colors, orange and blue, plus smaller amounts of yellow and purple. Correct values and connecting shapes are always important to nail in a painting. Without the darks on the side of the mill and the connecting darks, this would not begin to work as a painting. Thinking about working this up into a larger format. [...]

"Teacup and Roses" is the subject of my upcoming Saturday watercolor workshop at Preston Arts Center, May 12th, 12:30-4:30p.  I thought it would be a good subject to work on with closeup flowers and the glaze of chinaware.  Also, the colorful shadow plays such an important part in this painting, it is one of the first areas to be painted, a bit different from typical ways of painting in watercolor.  The teacup is one of my mother's set that she purchased as a young woman, probably in the late 1940s, certainly not an expensive piece but, for me, priceless.  Not sure [...]