“Amish Schoolhouse” is the very first watercolor we completed in the Two Red Chairs Gallery Wednesday night class. (I worked on another one in an adult class previous to that, but I haven’t gotten back to it yet. I’ll post it in a bit, unfinished though it is.)

so…Amish school started as a plethora of loose colors splashed about. On this splattery “canvas” of splotches, we built the structure of the window and Steve took us through all the layers and details. I wasn’t real happy with some my distracting flops of paint so I’m putting up a crop (detail) along with the “big picture”.

On February 14th I posted an image called “Spring Morning”, that was a quick exercise to create a given atmosphere. While Spring Morning came out nicely (I thought), this “Early November Snow” was a little more of a challenge for me. But Tony (our oldest son) says your blog is for the struggles as well as the good stuff, so…

After painting the Neutral Wheel, I thought I’d try the “double circle technique” in the pure colors. This one is a little tilted, with red at 1:00, blue at 5:00, and yellow at 9:00. That “pure” red was a little “off-kilter”, too, but here it is anyway.

An interesting thing about Browns: I found this in a watercolor book called “Light Up Your Watercolors”. The idea was to mix alternative versions (in this case dulled versions) of red, yellow and blue, and finish out the color wheel. The band around each color is it’s complement. Painting the band is a way to make the center color appear more intense. I enjoyed painting this off-beat wheel and unearthing a rich cache of browns!

This painting had to be finished in 15 minutes. Steve gave us a sketch to use (on which to build the colors), and we chose a piece of scrap paper from a box with an “atmospheric description” written on it. This one said “Early Morning, April”. I love the color harmony and the loose application. It’s a challenge for me to paint this way (loose). A very good exercise. I need to do more of these at home to keep that spontaneous feel.

This was one of the first scenes that we did in class. It was pretty tricky, especially the chair. But I love the clouds and pines, and I thought the jar of flowers turned out pretty well.

This is one of my favorite practices from watercolor class at Two Red Chairs Gallery. I call it “Farm Drive”. I cannot take credit for these compositions, I am just learning how to manipulate the paints and brushes now. I like how crisp it is, though. Click on it to get a larger view.

While Mary is getting some more watercolor images ready, I’ll put up a few of our birdhouses for your perusal. These are some of my first woodworking efforts and more important some of Mary’s painting on the birdhouses. My first ones are made of white cedar. These birdhouses will last a very long time.

Am taking a deep breath and putting a few of my first watercolors online today. This puppy portrait was my first attempt at painting a watercolor “to order” from a photograph. Son, Tony and his sweet wife Sara requested this about two years ago, and now that I am retired, (no more excuses), I found the time, (and courage) to begin it.
I am placing this on the blog with gratitude for the encouragement from my kids, and that sweet supportive woodworker-artist whom I married and with whom I share this blog, and thanks as well to the folks at Two Red Chairs Gallery in Wonona Lake, IN, particularly expert watercolorist and extremely capable teacher, Steve Johnson.

This past week we came up with a cool idea for a cutting board, a new twist on the striped (Walnut, Cherry & Oak) cutting board inspired by the wavy-shaped Tuscan one we shared Dec. 28th, but with a home-grown appeal. You may guess that we hail from the great state of Indiana. The tilted image on the right gives you an idea of the thickness. The overall size of this one is 7 1/4″ x 11″, the main body of the “state” is 6 5/16″ across. Tony is completing another “Indiana” one today that will be larger (aproximately 9 1/2″ x 14 1/2″).