Kate's Updates: New painting!

"Majestic", watercolor on paper, 15 x 22

Another "Tree" painting, this time of a burned pine I saw in Yosemite last summer. Even with its branches bare and bark curled off revealing a charred "skin", I thought the tree beautiful.
The palette is obviously very limited, but I didn't want to interfere with the tree's starkness against the blue.

Kate's Updates! New Painting!

Half Dome, Late Afternoon, 15 x 17 3/4, watercolor on paper

This painting was "commissioned" by the Marin Poetry Center for their forthcoming poetry anthology. The theme for the anthology is "mountains" ....and being in a Yosemite frame of mind, I chose this famous icon to paint.

I was very nervous about painting this: What is my approach? Will the drama of the branches be too much or not enough? Would I get too fussy with the details? Will the color palette be too boring?

I actually prayed to God for help! I needed Divine intervention. I started the painting one afternoon and finished it a day later. (Good music in the background helped and yes, I believe God did take a hand in this)!

I also tried a technique I've never done before--using a razor blade! To add sparkle to some of the pine needles and the water darkening the face of Half Dome, I scraped a razor point very quickly across the dried paint. I have to thank the master, Zoltan Szabo for that advice.

Kate's Updates! New Painting!

Dogwood Blossoms, Yosemite, 19 x 15, watercolor on paper

I can't get enough of Yosemite...this painting was inspired by a particular Pacific Dogwood we saw while waiting in traffic (!) in the Park. I got out of my car and photographed these blossoms. I loved the irregularities and imperfections of the petals and yet how stunning they were against the deep purple of the woods.

Kate's Updates!: Yosemite Renaissance XXVI

"Yosemite Moss", watercolor on paper, 15 x 22

So exciting! I came home from a dog walk today and found a letter from Yosemite Renaissance telling me my painting, Yosemite Moss was an award winner ! This was one of those things I forgot about as the show went up in February and is now on a traveling exhibition around the South Peninsula. I never even knew I "was a winner" until today. Love when life throws a little bone to you like that.

Kate's Updates! New Painting!

 

 

"Branch Patterns II", watercolor, 15 x 22

"Branch Patterns II" is the latest installment in my tree series. I am definitely obsessed! This painting, however, is a bit unsettling to me as I'm not sure if it's done or, did I do too much? It was done very quickly (as you can probably tell), which is the approach I'm most aiming for, but I'm just not sure if this is the last I'll see of it in this state. Regardless, I'm  moving on for now. There are so many more trees to paint!

Kate's Updates! New Painting!

Yosemite Spring,  15 x 22, watercolor

Just finished another "tree painting". This time, a cedar with dogwood blossoms, right outside Yosemite Park. My husband and I were actually waiting for a logging train ride to start and I spotted this handsome tree in the sun, made more beautiful with the pristine dogwood petals against the bark.

Kate's Updates!: Yosemite Renaissance XXVI

Yosemite Moss, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22

Lately, I've been spiritually compelled to paint trees, specifically the cedars, sequoias and pines I saw in Yosemite. "Yosemite Moss", a painting I posted on my blog earlier, is the first of what will be many paintings celebrating these "ecstatic beings" (as I like to think of them). And this painting was just chosen by the judges of the Yosemite Renaissance XXVI competition to be in the annual exhibition! Thirty-nine artists were selected out of 210 contestants, so needless to say, I feel pretty lucky.
Next step is to get it framed with Plexiglass for shipment by early February. On February 25, the doors open at the Yosemite Museum Gallery for this year's show. Awards will be announced at the opening reception, 5:30-7:30PM and come May, the exhibit will travel! I don't know where, but I love the thought of all this Yosemite beauty as a movable feast for the eyes.

Lower Yosemite Falls!

My husband and I finally made it to Yosemite this past month,
and I was not disappointed. We got drenched here and at Bridal Veil Falls. Everything was lush and the sun was warm. We made it to Glacier Pt., the Mariposa Grove, the Wawonna Hotel, and even an outing on a steam-train just outside the Park. It's a do-again trip if ever there was one!  I suspect I will be painting many cedars and Ponderosa pines in the near future (so look for those paintings here...!)