Let’s Make the World More Colorful Watercolor 11×14
Let’s Make the World More Colorful.
Let’s make the world a happier place.
Let’s make the world a kinder place.
Let’s make the world more loving.
Let’s make the world more peaceful.
Let’s do it one person at a time.
Let’s do it one act a time.
Let’s Make the World More Colorful.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Goldfinch – Mars, PA – April 2018
Showing Your True Colors.
If you could show your true color,
what color would you be?
Yellow is the color of sunshine, hope, and happiness.
Yellow stands for freshness, happiness, positivity, clarity, energy, optimism, enlightenment, remembrance, intellect, honor, loyalty, and joy.
Bright yellow is an attention getting color, and when used in combination with black, it creates one of the easiest color combinations to read and see from long distances. This is why school buses, taxi cabs, and traffic signs are painted yellow and black.
If you were a color – would you be yellow?
If I could be as beautiful as this goldfinch that visits our backyard, I sure would be.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Flames of crimson, pomegranate, and persimmon,
ambered gold, chartreuse, and mossy greens
struggle to compete with the saturated sapphire sky
marbled with softly suspended cottony clouds.
The intensity of the beauty surrounding me
almost overwhelms my senses.
My eyes and my mind try to absorb it all
as if snapping photos in a continuous burst mode
trying to find a special place to store them
to remember on a dark, dreary day
when my heart can’t remember the bright warmth
or the splendorous display of Autumn’s kaleidoscope of color.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Crazy Colorful Pineapple Crown Watercolor 11×14 140 Saunders Waterford
Crazy Colorful Pineapple Crown.
Because it’s Friday…
Because it’s been that kind of week…
Because I needed to just cut loose…
Because why not?
A crazy colorful pineapple crown!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Autumn’s Grand Decree.
The old dogwood tree
whose blossoms caused glee
when bursting open in Spring
cannot compare
to the colorful majesty
of Autumn’s grand decree.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
A Rainbow of Umbrellas Shading the Sunshine at Pittsburgh Three Rivers Arts Festival – June 2017
May the shelter you seek
from sunshine or rain
be as bright and cheerful
as this canopy of colorful umbrellas.
And may you always remember
even the most beautiful flowers
need both sunshine and rain
to bloom and grow!
Cheers & Hugs in Rain or Shine,
Jodi
#Pittsburgh #ThreeRiversArtsFestival
P.S. Got lucky and spent a beautiful sunny day at our local arts festival Saturday with a couple of my favorite girls. The festival is sadly known for bringing the rain every year, and it has been living up to its reputation ever since. Poor vendors. Bring on the sunshine!
Mixing Basics in Watercolor: Blue – Red – Yellow.
Going back to basics with my new watercolor palette and realizing all the colors that can be created by using three simple basics. For all three of these simple, loose, impressionistic flowers, I used the same colors: Cobalt Blue, Permanent Rose, and Lemon Yellow.
For the first I mixed Permanent Rose with just a drop of Cobalt Blue for the flowers and Cobalt Blue and Lemon Yellow pretty equally for the green.
For the second I mixed Cobalt Blue with just a drop of Permanent Rose for the flowers and Cobalt Blue and Lemon Yellow with an emphasis on the Cobalt Blue in places nearer the flower.
For the third I mixed Lemon Yellow with just a drop of Permanent Rose for the flowers and Cobalt Blue and Lemon Yellow, but only a tiny bit of Cobalt Blue to lighten up the green.
And there are likely hundreds more color combinations in various shades that could be achieved by simply using these three basic colors.
It’s fun and easy and creates such clean, bright, un-muddied results when you keep it simple.
I also used one brush for everything – the Rekab 320S #2 Squirrel Mop (which I could only find by ordering from Australia, but LOVE it – also recommended by Debi Riley), It is so versatile, but I really had to learn to use it after using inexpensive synthetic brushes at first. This brush holds a lot of water and paint. It also can come to a fine point and do small lines with a light touch, and can make fat, wash strokes too.
So if you are even thinking of giving watercolor painting a try…. three colors, one brush (you don’t have to order from Australia – but find a nice natural hair medium sized brush to achieve results you will really enjoy) and some paper (I recommend you start with Cold Press 140lb Arches) is really all you need to create some beauty and experiment with this wonderful hobby.
Thanks to the inspiration of Debi Riley on Watercolor Basics! So much to learn from such talent!
Enjoy the journey!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
My Favorite Color…
My favorite color is yellow
for sunshiney summer days
and chirpy gold finches
and the tartness of lemons.
My favorite color is blue
for the beauty of the sky and the ocean
and robin eggs
and star-shaped bachelor buttons.
My favorite color is red
for hearts
and raspberries and strawberries
and dark, dry wine.
My favorite color is pink
for lipstick
and nail polish
and my granddaughter’s cheeks.
My favorite color is green
for springtime grass
and soft, feathery hemlock trees
and arugula.
My favorite color is black
for yoga pants
and nighttime skies
and patent leather peep toe pumps.
My favorite color is brown
for the smell of the earth
and rich, creamy gravy
and the color of my morning coffee with cream.
My favorite color is purple
for sweet smelling lilacs
and intricate irises
and Barney the dinosaur.
My favorite color is white
for the first blanket of snow
and the stars that twinkle in a midnight sky
and marshmallow fluff.
How does anyone choose one favorite color
when there are so many reasons
to love every color?
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
PS It was so challenging for me to choose only 20 colors to fill my new watercolor palette from the 55 colors I have in my stock. But oh how fun it is to start fresh with a new clean palette and all the possibilities it can create.
Do you have a favorite color? However do you choose?
If I had to choose
a color
to describe
Bliss,
I believe it would be
the color of maple leaves
in the Autumn sunshine
dancing in the breeze.
They delight my senses
with their bright
and joyful display.
Until Spring…
when the color of Bliss
is again the color
of the maple leaves
even though that color has changed.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Focusing on peace.
Looking up
past the bare
tangled
web
that tries to
block our view…
Looking beyond
what is
closest
and darkest
and right before
our line of sight…
Is beauty
and brightness
and color
and possibilities
and hopefulness
and mystery.
Look up…
Look beyond…
See the beauty.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
the creative life in between 