Watercolor Award!

My husband is a watercolorist, and his painting Lady on the Lake took second place at the Carolina Classics State Fair. (Yes, that's me in the kayak.)

 

Painting Vacation

On vacation, my husband and I painted--our staircase, our bedroom, and our living room. Then, he began painting "for real."

 

He's a gifted watercolorist. (I love being his model.) Recently, he finished the watercolor below. My only regret is I don't have a better camera on my phone--the photo falls far short of the original.

A New Watercolor

If you're a reader of my blog, you know my husband Calvin is an artist. Here is his latest work.

Here is the painting in process. He paints from photographs. This photo was taken by our soon-to-be daughter-in-law Lydia in the Great Smokey Mountains.

Here are Calvin's palettes. He prefers to use fine china because the water blends better and clings to the china finish.

Here is the final painting. (Sorry, I don't have the best camera.) But it gives you a sense of his work. Click on the photo if you want to see it enlarged.

If you'd like to see a few of his other paintings, click here, here, here, and here.

A New Painting

I haven't been doing much blogging lately--or much of anything else. I had surgery. Yes, two cardiothoracic surgeries in the family weren't enough (see here and here), so I had major surgery too.

My husband Calvin took a week off from work to take care of me--my doctor's directions for home care were "stay in bed." That meant running the house was up to Calvin because our sons are in the middle of finals and their contributions to housework were putting their midnight snack dishes in the kitchen and throwing dirty clothes in the laundry room.

In the midst of playing nurse and maid (Calvin didn't need to cook much because our church brought us meals--thank you, Sally, Rachael, Laura, Karen, and Mom), Cal finished painting a watercolor. The photo isn't great quality, but you can see it on the left.

The painting almost makes my down time seem worthwhile. Almost, not quite.

For those that like to see what the painting looks like as Calvin works on it. Here are some "in-progress" photos.

This is early in the painting. 

Nearing the end.

N.B. The painting is from a photo I took on our Smoky Mountain vacation--the one where we saw a bear up close and personal--click here.

And if you'd like to see more of Calvin's watercolors, here are links to a few of the paintings I've shared on my blog: here, here, here.

New Painting

Once or twice a year (depending on how long/busy our vacations are), my husband does a watercolor. This year he took two weeks off to relax and spend time with the kids and me. And paint a watercolor. And just for the record, artists are every bit as obsessed and grumpy about their work as writers are. (It's definitely different being on the other side. Now I'm the one rolling my eyes when I hear, "It's horrible. I wish I could start over." Etc.)

Here are some photos. Be warned the quality of my camera is very bad. The painting itself has much deeper colors and the images are much sharper. But here's Calvin's latest painting. It's from our trip to France and it's me visiting the Queen's Hamlet at Versailles.

  

Here is the sketch before the painting begins.

  

Half painted. The color in this photo is more accurate to the painting.

     

Completed. But awaiting a frame.

Paris Watercolor

When people visit our home for the first time, they often see all the watercolor paintings on the wall and they say to me, "Your paintings are so beautiful." And then, I have to say, "I didn't paint them." They blink and say, "Oh." Then I smile and say, "My husband Calvin painted them." The usual response at that point is a frown of disbelief until they squint and read Calvin's signature on the bottom.

I guess Cal doesn't quite seem the artist type. He's tall, broad and has a strong personality. He doesn't seem the type to hunch over a watercolor block with a tiny brush in his hand. But he is.

This December, we had a stay-cation and Cal painted me a watercolor of our trip to Paris. (I always hesitate to post photos of his watercolors because I have a cheap camera and richness of the colors and the details of painting don't come through. But I can't resist.)

So here is Rue Galande, Paris.

This is very near the apartment where we stayed
in the Latin Quarter.

 Here's a link to another of Calvin's watercolors.

Watercolor Promise

When we moved here 2 1/2 years ago, Calvin promised me a watercolor for the space above our mantelpiece. Of course, he's been swamped ever since. But, over his vacation he got out his brushes, paints, and paper. Now, I have a beautiful watercolor above my fireplace.

I don't know if you've ever watched a watercolorist paint. It's almost too stressful for me. There is no margin for error. If you're an oil or acrylic painter and you make a mistake, you can always scrape it off and do it again. If you paint with watercolors and something goes wrong, you're stuck. It takes superb planning, boldness, and a willingness to improvise. (Clearly, I'll never be a watercolorist.)

To watch a real painter is an amazing experience. They take a blank piece of paper or canvas and draw on it. And that's interesting, but it doesn't really look like a drawing. Calvin says they're more like "guidelines," markers for the painter. Then, the artist applies the medium. Slowly, but surely, the paper comes alive--instead of adding something to the paper, it's like the paper is being removed and something living is revealed underneath.

I'm sorry to say that these posted pictures do not do the painting justice. The color is skewed, and all sense of vitality is gone. Partly is the fault of indoor lighting and not having the latest digital technology, and partly is the difficulty of reproducing art. I remember studying paintings in college and then seeing them in the gallery--it was like seeing two different things. But I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.