Art in Vermont

Yesterday I mentioned how easily my sister-in-law and brother painted.  What I did not mention is the uniqueness of their gifts.  Esther has a loose style and a flair for using bright colors while my brother paints very deliberately with considerable control.  Hers is an emotional style and his is intellectual. but both of them produce lovely paintings.

 

I haven't developed much of style yet with this medium because I haven't used it enough to even become accustomed to it.  For that reason, I spent part of my "art time" reading a book on watercolor painting written by an artist whose work I admire.  After reading, I decided to try some of the techniques she uses.  Between the book and my brother I learned quite a bit, but one of the techniques requires multiple layers of paint each one applied after an earlier one has dried.  Therefor, I didn't complete those yet.

Here is a quick and small piece that I did for my grandson:

 

It is painted on a blank postcard (made for watercolor) that is intended to be sent through the mail.  However, D liked it so much that he wants me to frame it and then give it to our grandson.  Sweet of him, but it really isn't worth that, but I will do is as it will please him and our young turtle enthusiast.

 

After seeing some of Est's work, I decided to try using both permanent ink and watercolors.  I had taken my favorite sketch book with me, and I used her technique on the Vermont barn I may use for a painting some day. Here's the ink part:

 

And here it is with the added paints.  It isn't finished yet - the front of the barn has to be darker a its on the shady side of the building, but I'm pleased with it so far.