Red Pears

Red Pears

watercolor

6 x 6 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

Warm reds, cool reds, almost orange to almost violet, so many reds in just these two pears made this still life a lot of fun to paint. The grocery's produce section is always such a visual feast of color and form. And cooked up with a sweet syrup these pears were a tasty treat too.

Mountain Dreams

Mountain Dreams

watercolor

11 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I began this painting with thoughts of the undulating movement of our mountain landscape. I then allowed that basic idea to direct my painting choices of color, value, line, and shape. Some wonderful things can happen when you allow watercolor to be watercolor and let the painting tell you what it wants to be.

Hunter's Moon

Hunter's Moon

watercolor

8 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I awoke early one morning to see the full Hunter's moon peeking through the trees just as it was setting before dawn. That magical sight inspired this painting, with the last of the autumn leaves and the birds gathering for the start of the day all against the backdrop of a pale sky. That moment before sunrise seemed an expansive one, as the color of the landscape begins to deepen while the sky grows lighter. It was this expansion of the start of day that I wanted to express with this painting.

Another Autumn Morning

Another Autumn Morning

watercolor

8 x 12 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

This painting is inspired by a scene very close to my home, on one of those glorious fall mornings when the low sunlight makes the autumn colors glow. Now that we are well into November the color has faded here and the mountains begin to take on a more subtle kind of beauty. But I do love those vibrant colors of autumn.

Gourd Trio

Gourd Trio

watercolor

6 x 6 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

There are so many fun things to paint in autumn. This trio of gourds made a lively still life of color, shape, and texture. I also liked this arrangement for the spinning movement that it suggests - turning, like the seasons.

Bird in Hand

Bird in Hand

watercolor

8 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

My journey into abstraction continues with my theme of birds, flight, and wild foliage. This piece began by drawing with masking fluid with only an idea of shape and movement. Then I applied wet into wet washes of color. After that it was a matter of layering stenciled shapes and lines drawn with watercolor pencils. Thin glazes of color provided further definition to give a sense of space and unity. I enjoy the spontaneity of working this way, without a clear plan for the result, just to see where the painting will take me. And it provides me with a nice balance to my more realistic paintings that I also enjoy.

Garlic

Garlic

watercolor

6 x 6 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I rarely cook a meal that doesn't include garlic. And I cook a lot so we go through quite a bit of garlic at our house. Very humble in appearance yet so full of healthy goodness. The challenge with this was how to paint a white,or nearly white object and still have the contrast and color that I love. I began by painting around the garlic, to determine where the darkest shadows would be and define those papery edges. After that, it was easier to find the values that I saw within the garlic itself.  It's a bit of a departure for me in terms of color, which also made this a fun subject for me to paint.

Autumn Spirit

Last week while I was working on a couple of autumn themed paintings I had the idea that I wanted to do something in a more abstracted way. Something that captured the spirit of autumn. Inspired by the colors of autumn I began with only that idea, and the thought that I wanted to capture the brilliant blue sky using my flying bird shaped stencil.  As well as the pattern of crimson leaves, gold and russet grasses, the crunch underfoot and the birds gathering in flocks overhead. 

My color inspiration resulted from the glorious week of fall color we experienced here in our mountains, and this photo of a neighborhood road only hints at how rich the colors were everywhere.

I made this painting on a 12 x 16 inch 300 lb block of Kilimanjaro cold pressed paper. With no real plan except that I allowed for the possibility of cropping the final painting, perhaps into two or more smaller compositions. Here is how it might appear as two 8 x 12 inch paintings.

And here it is cropped to fit into an 11 x 14 inch mat. As I look at these possibilities I can't decide which I most prefer. I almost like the top image best, which shows the full 12 x 16 inch painting, raw edges and all. So as I mull that over a while I have more ideas brewing for continuing to work in this somewhat abstracted way, if for no other reason that I am curious where it will take me.  

Gourd

Gourd

watercolor

6 x 6 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I just love autumn's seasonal decorations. This little gourd has a wonderful variety of color that already appears painted, which made it a fun challenge to capture in watercolor. But it was really because of that long twisty stem that I selected this one, which gives it such a jaunty attitude.

Mini Pumpkin

Mini Pumpkin

watercolor

6 x 6 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

This series of small paintings is becoming rather addictive as I keep finding more objects that are fun to paint. The mini pumpkins displayed at the grocery were too cute to resist, I had to bring one home to paint. I liked its happy orange color that is so perfect for the season.