Painting Roses and Class this Saturday

Wachapreague Roses, 8x10, framed  $99. 

Hi Everyone,  this Saturday  I am teaching at Norfolk Botanical Garden,  Peonies  and Iris, call Meredith at 1 757 441 5830 ext 338 to register.

Here are some photos of my new painting of Roses. My great Aunt Pat gave them to me from her little  shop in Wachapreague, Va. Seaside Antiques and Art.  First I drew them on my arches 140lb. Cold press, then I painted them varying the peach, pink ,yellow mix  ooo loving the peach colors  this year.  My shadows were not strong enough so I went back in and glazed the darker peaches in. I used thina roone violet, permanent rose,opera rose, cad yellow light and cad yellow medium,cad red medium...just for the roses. Background  (continuing my darkness)  I used viridian green, sepia, burnt umber, ultramarine blue  and cad yellow  light.

But this weekend  we will paint peonies  and iris. I choose  what is on their blooming chart, but as in nature it doesn't  always  work out that that is Blooming,  I hope So! I would rather paint from life.

I have planted  4 packs of sunflowers seed. So far they are 1 in. High. I love Sunflowers don't  you. I hope you had a nice happy mothers day.  I did our son came home with his girlfriend,  our daughter  called looking forward to seeing her soon. Love to each of you,  Diana  below are 2 photos of Norfolk Academy Art Show,  I sold one of my paintings,  Here are Bobbie, Beth, Danny and me. It was a fun time!

Orchid Class , They did brillantly!!!!!

Thirteen Wonderful students at Norfolk Botanical Garden. We painted orchids. Not all pictured.

One of my pour demonstrations for background with their orchids if they wished.

One of the gorgeous orchids.. all were Moth Orchids.

HI Everyone, Yesterday was my class at NBG, Norfolk Botanical Gardens/ The Tropical House has a lovely display of orchids this time of year so I chose orchids to paint this time ... We had a full room of 13 students, all did well!!! I am so proud of their work. Some so delicate and precise, others bolder and they captured them. We did a fun 15 minute painting of the orchids as part of our warm up and gorgeous... well you can tell.. I'm so pleased with their work.  Next class there is Feb. 6th on Camillias and Sea Shells. We will do a still life. ESO class is coming next week... 5 --2 hour classes here in Belle Haven, Va. just 3 miles from my home.

Sadie, my labrador retriever assistant, is going to have to have surgery. Dr. Bailey said the Crucial Ligament is totally torn and he thinks the meniscus as well. So that will be this Thursday, I'm shaking my head as I type... but it is what needs to be done.

The washing machine broke and I broke my eye glasses in class on Saturday. SO that is 3 right no more!!! Wishing you each a happy week and please think of us on Thursday. Love to each of you thanks so much! Diana

Saturday at Norfolk Botanical Garden

Renee and Raina with their dear pet portraits.. 2 other students not pictured.

Norfolk Botanical Garden, my ability to catch a photo with a tree or post in the center is RIGHT ON! ha ha

almost on the ES from Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Gorgeous drive!

Sadie as a pup demo. beginnings

HI Everyone, Here are some photos from Saturday. I taught a class over at NBG, Puppy Painting. Here are Renee and Raina with their dear pets, Clementine is the orange kitty and forgive me Raina, I can't remember your dog's name.. I know she has another dog and 4 kitties too... and we had 2 more students. One of the blessings of teaching is making dear friends!! It was a fun Halloween for me. They all did a great job painting and drawing.

I've got to get a photo of the new kitten... but haven't done that yet. She is a purrer and I think it's a she. Name suggestions are Needed!!! Bible Study tonight. I've done my homework.  Happy Monday!! love to you,Diana

Beautiful students and beautiful flowers!

Raina with her completed watercolor. She did Great!!

Yesterday at Norfolk Botanical Garden, I had 11 ladies in my class.We studied hummingbirds and peonies. Gorgeous peonies. The azaleas were blooming, what a wonderful day. Everyone did a great job painting and we had a fun time together. Thank you all so much!

I've been painting on a watercolor of peonies today that I started yesterday. Just made some coffee, another beautiful spring day!! Happy Sunday.

 love to each of you,Diana

 ps. Sadie,my lab,has been by my side, our kitty, Cupcake has been delighted to find a few windows open so she could get closer to the hummingbirds!!

NBG Class and Northeaster on Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

My Watercolor Workshop at Norfolk Botanical Garden.

Northeaster on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

 

HI, I'm home safe and sound. I had a class in Norfolk yesterday. We painted leaves and chickadees and cardinals. I brought Brusho . I just got it this week. Wonderful stuff. They had a ball with it and got great results. You sprinkle it on clear water and it bursts into little sprays of color. Class was wonderful!

There was a Northeaster coming!! Which is hard gusts of wind and rain for hours, this was coming early afternoon. Amy and Renee both offered me to stay with them if I couldn't cross the bridge. They were so very kind to do that and I talked to both when I got home. The CBBT closes for safety of course with high winds. It was still open but I had a grip on that steering wheel.. Gusts of wind and waves with white caps almost touching the bottom of the buildings at the tunnels. I was so very thankful to get on the Eastern Shore. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is 17 miles long with 2 tunnels and is a gorgeous place when the weather is nice.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend and staying warm and dry. Love to you,Diana

Tree Frog, Luna Moth, Gorgeous!

Here is a  Luna Moth from my backyard. Isn't it gorgeous. It was huge. I'm going to paint it from this photo sometime.  Tomorrow I have my class at Norfolk Botanical Garden.  Tree Frogs and Pickerel will be the subject. I know it will be fun.

Here is my new Tomatoes and  Tree Frog watercolor. I did glaze the frog with iridescent watercolor medium after he dried so now he glistens.  These are tomatoes from Mama's garden. I had one for lunch with an avocado and red onion.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Love,Diana

Here's one of Sadie's Baby Puppy photos!

Sunset Class at NBG was Saturday.

NBG January Sunset Watercolor Class Taught by Diana

HI, Yesterday's class was nice. I had 8 students and we studied painting sunsets in watercolor. We did basic washes first, then did a small sunset painting to warm up and try and last a larger sunset. They did a beautiful job as you can see from the photo and some were first time watercolor painters!!

 My dear friend, John Shire, let us use his photos of sunsets. His photography is gorgeous and the photos were taken in his backyard , which is 3 miles from my home.You can find his work at John Shire Photography.

The day of class was grey but warm and on the way home we had some heavy rain and wind storms. I really enjoyed being with everyone. A lovely day. 

 Hope you are having a great weekend. Love to you,Diana

Class photos and Demo of Heron

Bette, Elizabeth,Veronica and Marion at NBG Class yesterday!

Watercolor in Progress. This is the Demo I started yesterday.

HI!! Elizabeth sent me the photo above. Thank you!! Here is my class from yesterday, Bette, Elizabeth,Veronica and Marion.I enjoyed it so much. They did great!! Here's the demonstration I started and I've worked on it some this afternoon too. I've still got more to do.. There is a flower in the corner too. I'll see I may just opt for grasses.  I finally got the camera going.. It needed batteries..  The weather here is gorgeous. I wish you could see the Hickory in our front yard. The leaves on it are Cad Yellow Light and Cad Yellow Dark. The sun is shining thru them with the burnt sienna pine needles and the purplish sky it's gorgeous. Talk to you tomorrow. love,Diana

NBG Class was today

HI, I had class today and it went well. But my camera wouldn't work so I didn't get a photo however, Elizabeth and Veronica are sending me one. So that is great. We studied Great Blue Herons with Marsh Rose Mallow. Everyone did a wonderful job!! I enjoyed it so much and I think they did too.Talk to you Tomorrow. love,Diana

Hummingbird Watercolor Class and Straightening Up

 Hi, How was your weekend? It was busy for me. I had my class on Hummingbirds and Rhododendrums at NBG. Here are some of my students. Our classroom was just outside the hummingbird garden. All of the vines and nearby plants and trees were planted just to entice the hummingbirds to stop by. We poured,did wash exercises as warm up and learned to draw our hummingbirds and flowers and then paint them with additions of iridescent paint and iridescent powder. It was a nice day. I'm blessed all my students are so nice.

 Here is a foxglove that was on the path to the door.. :)  It was so gorgeous. I love them. Hope to paint it sometime!!!

 Homecoming! Sadie and John waiting for me! It's always nice to be home.

 Sadie taking a snooze on the trunk in the den--this is where Rudy ,our 19 year old cat likes to sleep so Sadie decided to try it out.

 I just ordered some frames,can't believe it's Monday again. I need/want to straighten my art table out. I've just cleaned out my art bag. Sadie just got her first bath so she's wiped out. It almost wiped me out. Ha ha..  Hope you have a great week, love to you,Diana

Puppy news.. Kendra has new Chocolate Labrador puppies just 4 days old and new Brittany Spaniel puppies 2 weeks old!! I'll bet they are adorable!! Shore Fine Labs.

Norfolk Botanical Garden Poinsettia Watercolor Class!

Poinsettia Watercolor Class at Norfolk Botanical Garden

I'm home. Here is my beautiful students today for my poinsettia watercolor class at Norfolk Botanical Garden. They did these paintings as well as so much more. Their sketches were good and they handled the watercolor very well, and I 'm so proud of the beautiful jobs they did. We went over a lot of information. Here's a photo of the sky on the way home. True, I was driving when I took the photo.. but it's gorgeous.. next class there will be on Sunsets! Have a restful weekend, love,Diana

Class in the Morning.

HI, Well, I'm almost packed up for class tomorrow. We're painting Poinsettias. I found these two and they're gorgeous. I  have 7  students in the class so that's good. .The pink poinsettia will be perfect for demonstrating  how to wet the petal and place the color near the edge for it to bleed into the petal,and I'm gathering my palette knives for some knives technique. I only have 3 so we'll have to share and take some table knives as well. That will be fun.It's an hour and a half drive but the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel  is always so pretty and the sun should be coming up then.   I worked on the house drawing briefly today too... It's still not ready for the paint yet but I've got time. Looking forward to tomorrow. Have a great weekend,Diana

Sugar Cookies and Copper Art

www.coppercreations.biz

This is a work of copper art. It's a bird feeder made by Copper Creations in Melfa,Va..(their website is in the left hand corner.) I have 3 of them. I bought one, Mama bought one for me(not knowing I had bought one) and Daddy bought another one for me. No he didn't know either.  :) I love them and I"m sure you know what is in them.. Burnt sugar cookies! I made a double batch and 2 trays came out perfectly and one burnt on the bottom. So the birds get the burnt ones I haven't eaten and the good ones I'll take to class on Saturday. They are delightful.

 I have a recipe for Egg Yolk Paint for your sugar cookies. Take an egg and separate the white from the yolk. Put the yolk in 2 bowls and add a drop or two of food coloring. Use a children's old brush and paint polka dots, names, scarfs for the snowmen cookies with your yolk paint. It is so fun, especially if you have a child to help.You must put the Paint on before you bake them! Then Bake and eat and enjoy! I just wanted to clarify that! Thanks!

Talk to you soon. There might be another top of cookie waiting for me :), Love,Diana

Daylily Watercolor on Masa Paper

Hi, Class was lovely on Saturday. I got over early. It takes me about an hour and a half to get to Norfolk Botanical Gardens. I have to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel which is 17 miles of bridge and 2 tunnels.. It's beautiful especially Fisherman's Island which is located in the middle of the bridge. I had 10 students, and Dave brought us a beautiful bucket of daylilies from the gardens..all colors and shapes.. gorgeous.I had prepared some masa so each student had one piece all ready to go. We did an exercise on different washes in watercolor, learned how to apply the masa to the watercolor paper,did an exercise in contour drawing of the lilies, then drew and painted our lilies. I asked each student to chose one lily to paint, so everyone had a different painting. It was fun. I reviewed some composition...

 after class I came on home and found Shields Stretch flooded,well it was half way up my tire.. as you can see in the photo. I got thru and Belle Haven had the most beautiful rainbow. I had to take a photo.. They had 2 tornados on the shore and 5-10inches of rain. We did need it. I finished my day lily watercolor this morning. See the effect of the masa.. It looks almost like batik.

Have a nice Monday. I'm going to paint another on the masa..

talk to you soon,Diana..
I called someone else about puppies.. One day I'll actually find one!

Day Lily Watercolor Class this Sat.

Hi! I've just sent off my email for my class at Norfolk Botanical Garden this Saturday. The information is on the right side of the blog. This painting,Day Lily, doesn't have the masa paper on it-- but I'll be preparing a sheet for each student to have when they walk in as well as teach them how to apply the paper in class. It takes awhile to dry as you know if you've used it. It's so very beautiful. It will be a fun class. The gardens supply us with flowers picked that morning and they are gorgeous!! And the classroom overlooks the hummingbird garden,so you know I'm in heaven!

This lily is from Sterrett's Gardens a small garden a few miles from us. I love to go look at their gardens but end up ooohing and aaahing so very much! :)

One class I had with Masa Paper,I taught them how to prepare the paper and told them to put it outside to dry in the sun. One lady came to class the next time and said she put her paper on the front steps and it blew away.. She never found it! HA HA..

Hope you are having a great weekend.. talk to you soon,Diana
I've posted on craig's list for a puppy.

Sunflower Demo..

HI! Class on Saturday was fun. We painted sunflowers just cut from the beautiful garden. I never knew there were deep dark brown sunflowers. We did gesture drawings,pouring,and so much more. This is from one of the demonstrations I began..there. I painted a little on the sunflower today. I enjoyed meeting and seeing again Dory, Karen,Mary,Nancy,Sandra,Elizabeth and Peter.

 The next class will be on the masa technique and day lilies on Aug 25th.

 I planned to walk to the sunflower maze but I was tired and J. and I only got to the bridge. So we turned around and headed home,the last photo is from the view on the bridge(Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel).so beautiful isn't it!

 Tomorrow morning at the early,early hour of 8, the painters are coming to begin painting.. first is this room so I hope I'll be able to get to the computer but I may not, but I'll be talking to you soon..and I hope to hear from the puppy tomorrow. will let you know! Take care,Diana

Butterfly House at NBG ,Class,Family

HI, Well I'm ready to put my feet up and rest! Ha ha.. Yesterday was my class over to Norfolk Botanical Gardens. It was so much fun. I had 3 students, Deb,Carol, and Dory and we studied waterbirds.I did a demonstration of drawing and painting a heron on a pour. It was a full day of painting and fun.

 After class I walked over to the butterfly house, it was awesome. So many butterflies and  the chrysalis(some actually looked like jade with gold markings) were gorgeous. The flowers were so amazing, too, in there, as well as walking back to the car.The photos above I took inside the Butterfly House!

 My son and his girlfriend came for the weekend. We ate out last night, thank goodness, I was so tired.  Classes and shows always take a lot of energy for me. I enjoy them and have a great time -- but when I'm finished it's rest up time! :)  The kids have just gone back. I miss them already!

 I did sketch a bee balm from my flowers this am.  I may paint some bee balm, love all the hot pink petals. Talk to you soon, enjoy the rest of your weekend, and stay as cool as you can. It's steamy here! Diana

I love to hear from you, thank you for your comments!