October Feature - Epaulette

October's Featured painting!

Epaulette, 6x6" Oil on canvas,

©2012, Helen Read

ready to frame

SOLD

Where I live, here in the midwest, this is a very common sight!  Red winged blackbirds seem quite drawn to the bull rushes and cat tails, always it seems at water's edge.
This eye catching  painting can be hanging on your wall within just a few days.   It will only be featured at this price for the month of October, then if it hasn't sold, it will revert to its usual price. Act quickly before its gone! 

1 subject, 2 mediums to express it!

Once again, I'm showing a couple older works from a year ago. These show the different outcomes of working with the very same reference photo, a photo I took at Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, CA and working with 2 different mediums.  The outcome is recognizable as the same thing, but the overall feeling is entirely different! 

The Edge of Shadow, 9x12" colored pencil on black paper

©2011 Helen Read 

 

Green Agave, 6x6" Watercolor and Acrylic on clayboard
© Helen Read
SOLD
 

 

Last year at this time

Blossom,  8x8" colored pencil on clayboard

(Clayboard is masonite with a very smooth kaolin clay finish on which to work)

© Helen Read

 

Looking back a year to see what was happening in my studio is always an interesting exercise. 

One of my works was experimenting with clayboard and how it accepted colored pencil, graphite, or paint.  Here I have used prismacolor pencils and gotten a very nice effect. 

The reference picture is one I took just after the rain!  The foliage and the flower still held the water droplets.  All very intriguing and quite beautiful.  

At water's edge

Westwind - Water's Edge, 7x5" Oil on canvas

©Helen Read 

 
Last weekend, on an absolutely beautiful day, I went out to a nearby lake to do some plein air painting, and here is the result.   The cat tails and broken reeds gave such a beautiful texture to the scene and the colors of the green and blue of the water were truly lovely.    In our area, it is very rare not to see a small red winged blackbird clinging to a cat tail along the water's edge.
Here, though a little bit hidden, his red wing peeks out! 

Time has almost run out - but its not too late!!

The Studio Upstairs September 10, 2012

Just a few more hours remain!

That's right!   The auction time in nearly over.   Now's a great time to pick up a small still life ~ an original oil painting for nearly nothing!   On Tuesday, about mid day, the time will run out though.  Click on the images below to go to the auction site and see what might be happening!   3 Lemons, 6x6" Oil on canvas      Grapes, 5x7" Oil on canvas   Berry Bowl, 6x6" Oil on canvas   Each of these small paintings is painted with oil paint on a small stretched canvas and is ready to frame.

Thank you for your ongoing interest in art and in my studio!   I hope you will pass on this information to your friends too!   I will be in touch soon with news and new images!  Sincerely,

New Auction through September 11th

7 Day Auction through September 11th. 

3 Great paintings at Great Starting Prices!  

Decorate your kitchen or dining room with
Fruit Still Life Oil Paintings!   

 

Three Lemons, 6x6" Oil on canvas

SOLD

Green Grapes, 5x7" Oil on canvas
Ready to frame

Berry Bowl, 6x6" Oil on canvas

SOLD

September's Featured painting ~ End of the Summer

September's Featured Painting

                                                                  End of the Summer, 5x7" watercolor on Yupo

©2012, Helen Read 

Here is the finished painting!  Once again, I'm painting on Yupo and finding its qualities very interesting.  It holds the paint in a completely different way than the usual watercolor paper does - and surprisingly, texture is very easy to create as well.   In this painting, it begins to move a bit toward abstraction because of the way that the paint pools and puddles.  

Just for the month of September, this painting and its frame are featured for $30.00.   It is a one of a kind, so when it sells, it is gone.  If it does not sell by the end of September, it will revert to its usual price.   Grab it now, at its great price, for that small wall that needs color!  

 

SOLD

A work in progress

 

Work has just begun on a new watercolor painting.
As you can see - it depicts grapes, but it is also somewhat abstract.  

I'm working on Yupo again, which has some very interesting qualities. 

So... we shall see where this goes and how it develops.
In someways, it is becoming its own painting, telling me where to go as we proceed. 

The outcome will be a surprise for me too! 

Time is running out!!

Fence Line, 5x7" Oil on canvas, ©2012, Helen Read 

SOLD

Original Watercolor Paintings

 August Botanicals

What a great time to start or add to your collection of original works of art!   Should you wish matting to be added, there is a small additional charge for that. 

Along with the end of summer comes the beginning of a new school semester.  This week, I've returned to the classroom to meet my new students (about 160 of them this semester).   The semester, ready or not, is underway now.   My summer has been great and I hope yours was too!  I was able to do some travel and my family was in town for a wonderful visit too!   

Now, the fall is in view and fall activities are already beginning! 
In spite of the busyness of the new semester - I'll be working along in my studio! 

Keep in touch!!

Dappled Light

Dappled Light,  8x6" watercolor on paper
©2012, Helen Read
ready to mat and frame

SOLD
and on its way to Malaysia


Sunrise in the east!  As it washed through the trees and bounced off the evergreens in the foreground, I was charmed by the colors I saw!  I've tried to depict the oranges and yellows and the variety of greens as the sun began to peek through the branches.  This one takes on a somewhat abstract quality with the washes of color and the simplified shapes. 


__________________________________

Here's the process I used: 

First, using my reference photo, which I took this morning from my porch, I made a 

very minimal line drawing of the basic shapes and started with some 

washes of color within the areas I saw the colors.

I also put in some blues for the most shadowed area.  I didn't plan it this way, but I did end up with the primary colors as under washes. 

At this stage, I also put in some Miskit to keep certain areas white or the color of the wash that

I wanted to keep in that color. 

Now it was time to continue applying more color. 
I wanted to keep some areas of my under washes visible, so I had to be careful in how much paint to apply.  In my watercolors, the color green can easily become too garish.  To modify that, I added some rust to it, and some deeper yellows. 

After I added most of the color I needed.  I removed the Miskit by rubbing it carefully.  Now some new white was revealed, but I did not want it to remain a pure white. 

So I needed to add some very light washes.  Also, I added some details with fine lines. 

Its nearly done.  Some adjustments to the pure white areas that I uncovered needed some light

washes of color.  You can see the final version of this painting at the top of this post. 
Just a few more slight color adjustments were needed.  

I used pan watercolors by Pelican and #140 Arches watercolor paper. 

5 years ... and counting!

3 shell paintings from 5 years ago
The top 2 now live in Arkansas, the bottom one lives in California

It has occurred to me that my blog, Brushstrokes, etc. is now 5 years old!   Wow.... what an amazing 5 years it has been!   These 3 paintings were some of the earliest paintings I put here on my blog.  All 3 of them have sold and I got to meet wonderful people along the way as they did!  

Its pretty cool to look back and see the pathway one has traveled.  Looking forward, often, no pathway can be seen.   5 years ago, I became aware of the Painting a Day movement that had begun among artists.  I found that idea to be stunning and very inspiring.   And that was the first step on this particular part of the pathway.   The last 5 years have only been part of a bigger journey however, which you can read more about here at this link on my gallery blog.   Creating art in a meaningful way, being accountable to do that, and staying in touch with friends and making new ones through keeping a blog has been such delightful and sustaining endeavor!   Thank you for your continued  friendship for those I met and continue to interact with years ago, and thank you to those who are more recent friends.  

I look forward to seeing the pathway as it continues to unfold!  It will be fun to see how my work and ideas change as time goes by.   By reading my larger story, you will see that my path hasn't been easy or carefree.  There have been unforeseen obstacles, but God has been faithful!  And part of the goodness he's brought into my life through difficult times has been my connection with you through my art and my blog!    Thanks again!

Redesigned website

For the last few days, I've been working on a total website redesign.  Its nearly complete, and ready for some feedback.  My previous design had gotten rather difficult to use.  This is more streamlined, but I'm still not completely sure if it will serve the purpose.  I hope you'll take a look and let me know what you think!  

http://HelenCRead.com

Now!  Back to the studio! 

Fence Line - Featured Painting

Fence Line, 5x7" Oil on canvas

© Helen Read 

This little landscape is a monthly featured painting.   I painted it in recognition of the several severe storms we've faced in the mid west this summer.  They've been severe when they've arrived, but then a rather lengthy drought between.   

This is a very typical fence line of the southwest, often made of sturdy tree branches with barbed wire strung between them. If you look closely, you will see small flowers embedded in the fence line as well. Also quite typical!  This evokes many memories of my childhood, growing up on ranch land.