tulips again

Spring's Promise

watercolor

8 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

Pink tulips in a vase beside a sunny window seem to beckon spring. I was inspired to paint this set up again, although from a little different view point, because of the intrigue of the nearly abstracted pattern created by the leaves. And, of course, the glow of those pink blossoms in the sunlight was too much to resist.

some wait a while

One Fine Day

watercolor

10 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Most days I spend some time painting. Many paintings I post here but there are some that wait in a holding pattern while I mull them over. This is one of those paintings that has been waiting.

Here is where my paintings go to wait. When I feel a painting may be completed, or I just need to stop and do something else, I hang it on this little clothes line in my studio space. There I can contemplate whether I want to call it finished and what, if any, steps to take with it next. They may be posted, saved for a gallery, or put on a shelf where the next step after that is usually into the bin. It's all a part of the process.

 I was happy with the sky in this painting and that I was able to control the values 

to create a sense of distance.

I also liked the softening effect achieved with the splatters. 

And I was happy that I decided, after it had waited a while, 

to add just a few touches of opaque white. 

This is one I am hanging onto, but it was time to take it off the clothes line to make room for new works. Now if I only had more space in my cabinet, where finished works wait until they find a new home.

Blue Rhythm

Blue Rhythm

watercolor

11 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

There is nothing as peaceful as the beach on a sunny day, watching the rhythm of the waves washing ashore. The patterns of the surf are mesmerizing to me, something I can never quite get enough of. It is different from moment to moment, yet constant in its repetition.

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.

~ Isak Dinesen ~

sketchbook :: time for spring

A new season, a new sketchbook for me. And all of the best plans just waiting to happen. This is an 8 x 8 hand.book watercolor journal. I began my usual way with a calendar on the first page, and my travel watercolor palette on the next. The sketch above was done with watercolor only of daffodils from my yard. They are in one of those old glass milk bottles, the kind we used to get in school with the waxed cardboard cap, if you are old enough to remember that. From the scan you can see the previous page shows through where I painted the colors in my palette.

The only adjustment I have made from my previous travel palette is to remove sap green and put cerulean blue back instead. I know. Sap green. One of my long standing "go-to" colors in my watercolor palette. However, lately I find that I am using mixes for greens rather than relying on green pigments.

Just to prove to myself that I would be happier with an additional blue (cerulean) and that I wouldn't even miss sap green, I played around with mixing various greens. Although the scan is a poor representation of  the actual colors, there in the center, a mix of phthalo turquoise and gamboge results if a beautiful sap green that has more depth than sap green straight from the tube. I am keeping phthalo green (blue shade). It is a color that I find much too intense to use on its own, but it results in beautiful mixes such as grays when mixed with alizarin or burnt sienna and rich greens when mixed with various yellows. It is good to change things occasionally. Even small changes can create new and interesting challenges.

Familiarity enables us to tame, control, and ultimately forget the mystery.

~John O'Donohue~

Anam Cara

Happiness Blooms

Happiness Blooms

watercolor

8 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I was going to do another tulip painting, but my daffodils are blooming. Perfect timing for the Equinox, as I love seeing all their sunny blossoms outside my window. 

And I always enjoy having a few as cut flowers, a simple arrangement on my table, 

welcoming spring at last. 

Of course snow is in the forecast for our weekend. 

Daffodils in snow happens nearly every spring around here.

Tulip Song

Tulip Song

watercolor

8 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

Just a few weeks ago these tulips sat boldly beside my sunny window announcing the coming of spring, despite the cold temperatures we were still experiencing. I love tulips with their strong assurance that spring will indeed arrive.  I made a few sketches and snapped several reference photos as the blooms were opening. While painting this composition I couldn't help thinking that the blossoms looked as if they were raising their heads in song.

sketchbook :: Bass Lake

We took advantage of last week's warm, spring-like weather with a quick outing to Bass Lake in nearby Blowing Rock.

I made two very fast sketches in watercolor only. The late afternoon light was fading fast and the air quickly became cool.

These were both done in a Stillman & Birn Beta, 7 x 10 inch sketchbook. I am nearing the end of this book. It has been mostly filled with notes and compositional scribbles for planning paintings. I will be happy to move on to a new sketchbook, one where I actually do more sketching!

Day Dawns

Day Dawns

watercolor

8 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I can't stay away from painting the ocean for very long. There is something about the rhythm of the surf and the waves washing the shore that I never tire of expressing with paint. And a morning walk on the beach, just as the sun is coming up, has to be my favorite way to welcome a new day. When I long to be there but can't, I visit through my painting.

Only that day dawns to which we are awake. 

There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.  

~Henry David Thoreau~

from Botany Bay

Landscape Study X

watercolor

6 x 6 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

One of my very favorite places is Botany Bay, on Edisto Island, SC. As a wildlife preserve there are stunning views at every turn. This paiting is inspired by one of the tidal creeks through the marshes.