daniel smith

On Hospitality

/ Jodi / 54 Comments
Pineapple Watercolor 11x16 Artistico Fabriano 140lb

Pineapple Watercolor 11×16 Artistico Fabriano 140lb

On Hospitality…

“True Hospitality
is when people leave
feeling better about
themselves –
not better about
you.”
– – Shauna Niequist

My hope is that all who enter my home leave feeling better about themselves.
Better because they felt welcomed….. loved…….. and comfortable.
Better because their bellies were filled with yummy food.
Better because we shared good wine or good coffee.
Better because we laughed.
Better because we could be our authentic selves.
Better because we shared and created memories.
Better because they know they are always welcomed back.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Watercolor Pineapple – a sign of hospitality – using Daniel Smith Cadmium Yellow, Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Umber, Olive Green, Perylene Green on 11×16 Artistico Fabriano 140lb Cold Press.

 

A Bumble Bee Named Buzz

/ Jodi / 57 Comments
Buzz the Bumble Bee 8x10 Watercolor 140lb Saunders Cold Press

Buzz the Bumble Bee 8×10 Watercolor 140lb Saunders Cold Press

A Bumble Bee Named Buzz.

On the edge of a meadow lives a bumble bee named Buzz.
He lives near his aunt and his uncle and his cuz.

Aunt Sally, Uncle Sam, and Sherman they was.
They love Buzz more than any other in Americas.

Sherman and Buzz love to play and dance because
It is what all the bumble bees in the meadow does.

So if you see dancing bees and think your eyes are a fuzz,
don’t be surprised if it’s Sherman and Buzz.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

This is just one of a series of fun animal watercolor paintings and rhymes I am pursuing.

See the others:
A Rare Hare with Flare
A Duck Named Chuck
A Fawn at Dawn
Rooty the Rooster
A Precocious Pink Pig  
Hal the Colorful Cow
A Mouse named Klaus
Pam the Lamb
An Otterly Awesome Otter
Earl the Squirrel
Adele the Gazelle
A Snail’s Tale
Chippy the Chipmunk
Hedy the Hedgehog

#WorldWatercolorMonth

Watercolors Used:  Daniel Smith Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Indigo, Perylene Violet, Permanent Rose, Olive Green, Perylene Green.

A Snail’s Tale

/ Jodi / 50 Comments

Snail Tale Gail Watercolor 8x10 140lb Arches Cold Press

Snail Tale Gail Watercolor 8×10 140lb Arches Cold Press

A Snail’s Tale.

Slithering along the rust-colored earth and shale,
a beautifully bright snail
whose name was Gail
set sail.

Gail was on her way to a sale –
she hoped she would make it without fail,
but it really was to no avail…
Do you know how slow a snail does travail?

But who needs to fight tooth and nail
when you already blaze a trail
that is off the scale…?
Look at you Gail  – you will prevail!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

This is one of a series of fun animal watercolor paintings and rhymes I am pursuing.
See the others:
A Rare Hare with Flare
A Duck Named Chuck
A Fawn at Dawn
Rooty the Rooster
A Precocious Pink Pig  
Hal the Colorful Cow
A Mouse named Klaus
Pam the Lamb
An Otterly Awesome Otter
Earl the Squirrel
Adele the Gazelle

PS – This one is for you Dena! 🙂

Painting inspired by the beautiful work of Tilen Ti

Adele the Gazelle

/ Jodi / 41 Comments
Adele the Gazelle Watercolor 8x10 140lb Arches Cold Press

Adele the Gazelle Watercolor 8×10 140lb Arches Cold Press

Adele the Gazelle
was quite the bombshell.

She had the most magnificent smell,
it was almost as if she cast a magic spell.

Though most gazelles are not permitted to fly,  Adele was one you could not tell.
She simply believed it a myth she must and would dispel.

So after her jet flight and arrival at the airport in Nevel,
she proceeded directly to slide down the luggage carousel.

She bid her traveling friends farewell,
and headed northwest towards her hotel.

And when she rang the desk’s silver bell,
you should have seen the personnel!

But then they smelled Adele so swell,
as the stories go that they do tell,

And just like magic, they knew full well,
they, too, were under her incredible spell.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

This is one of a series of fun animal watercolor paintings and rhymes I am pursuing.
See the others:
A Rare Hare with Flare
A Duck Named Chuck
A Fawn at Dawn
Rooty the Rooster
A Precocious Pink Pig  
Hal the Colorful Cow
A Mouse named Klaus
Pam the Lamb
An Otterly Awesome Otter
Earl the Squirrel

#WorldWatercolorMonth

Funky Flower in Amethyst Genuine

/ Jodi / 35 Comments
Funky Flower in Amethyst Genuine Watercolor 8x10 140lb Arches Cold Press

Funky Flower in Amethyst Genuine Watercolor 8×10 140lb Arches Cold Press

A Funky Flower in Amethyst Genuine.

Just some late night splashing that resulted in this beautiful surprise in the morning.

This Daniel Smith Amethyst Genuine is a gorgeous color with a bit of sparkle in the sunlight.  The photo makes it appear more blue than it really is, but I like it nonetheless.

Trying to at least do a watercolor painting to share every other day for #WorldWatercolorMonth!

A little diversion from my animal rhyme series, but more to come – watch for an otterly awesome otter named Potter in the next few days!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

Be Bold

/ Jodi / 46 Comments
Pink Rosebuds Watercolor 5x7 140 lb Cold Press Saunders

Pink Rosebuds Watercolor 5×7 140 lb Cold Press Saunders

Be Bold.

Be bold…
in doing what you love,
in doing what feels good,
in doing what makes you happy.

Be bold…
in making your own kind of beauty,
in being your own kind of beauty,
in seeing the beauty in others.

Be Bold!
Be You!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Quick, loose painting done on Saunders 140lb cold press watercolor paper using Daniel Smith Rhodonite Genuine and Sap Green watercolor paint.

Pink Apricot Watercolor Tulips

/ Jodi / 46 Comments
Pink Apricot Watercolor Expressionist Tulips - 8 x 10 Fabriano 140 lb Cold Press

Pink Apricot Watercolor Expressionist Tulips – 8 x 10 Fabriano 140 lb Cold Press

Pink Apricot Watercolor Tulips.

I found a few extra moments to steal away to my art studio this past weekend.

I felt like painting some tulips – inspired by our recent trip to Phipps Conservatory‘s Spring Flower Show.

I gave this one a couple tries before I finally decided I liked this version.  I started too tight and too “literal.”  I so admire folks who paint things that look exactly like real life, but it is not my passion.   In my first go, I tried much to hard to replicate the photo.  I then loosened up a bit and created this version that more represents the beauty I felt looking at the tulips.

To me, this painting speaks Joy and Happiness and Life.

And that is what I am feeling this week as we count down the days in wedding week!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Daniel Smith Watercolor Paints used:  Rhodonite Genuine, Cadmium Yellow Light, Green Gold, Perylene Green

Paper:  Fabriano Artistico 140lb Cold Press

Potted Blue Lavender in Watercolor

/ Jodi / 25 Comments
Potted Blue Lavender in Watercolor - 8x10" - Fabriano 140lb Cold Press

Potted Blue Lavender in Watercolor – 8×10″ – Fabriano 140lb Cold Press

Potted Blue Lavender in Watercolor.

Oh what fun I had splashing this blue – Cerulean, French Ultramarine, and a splash of Red for some violet tint.

This painting was inspired by one of my favorite watercolor artists, Andrew Geeson.  I love Andrew’s loose style and his fun Youtube tutorials.  I like to watch him do it, and then walk away and try to create it in my own way.  Mine usually look quite different, but that is the beauty of everyone’s personal style.

I love the smell of lavender!  For my soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Liz’s bridal shower, her sister made favors for everyone of lavender sugar scrub.  I use it almost every day!  She made it from coconut oil, sugar, and lavender essence.  It is so heavenly to rub between the palms and fingers of my hands and on my feet, making everything so much softer and smelling beautiful.

Lavender can also be used in gourmet cooking.  I’m excited to try a recipe one of Liz’s aunts has made for the wedding cookie table.  She made earl grey tea bread with lavender butter!  Doesn’t that sound amazing?!

So no wonder I am thinking of lavender.  I think I will look into buying a lavender plant and seeing how well it does in my little corner of the world.

In the meantime, I thoroughly enjoyed painting lavender in watercolor with a short little half hour break at life in between.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

 

 

 

 

Into the Woods in Watercolor

/ Jodi / 57 Comments
Into the Woods Watercolor 9x11" Arches 140lb Rough

Into the Woods Watercolor 9×11″ Arches 140lb Rough

Into the Woods in Watercolor.

As I dream and wait for the trees in our backyard woods to transform into their Spring and Summer beauty from their current state of brown dormant sticks (recently covered in snow yesterday!) , I found a tiny bit of time late one evening this week to spend in my art studio painting a simple “spontaneous” landscape watercolor painting.

I haven’t had much time for art lately, so it was fun to create this little scene by completely wetting down the paper first and just throwing on some Cerulean Blue, Olive Green, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna and Quinacridone Gold and then twisting and turning the paper to allow it to form a soft background.

Once dry, I used a rigger brush in the same colors to add a bit of definition here and there.  The total time spent on this was less than 30 minutes, but it felt great to paint.  I was inspired by Steve Mitchell’s Spontaneous Watercolor Landscape to try this technique and hope to do it again.  This is the kind of painting I really love to do – spontaneous, somewhat abstract, and very relaxing.

Happy Weekend!  Hope you find time to do the things you love!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Something about Sunflowers

/ Jodi / 39 Comments
Sunflower Loose Watercolor 11x14 on 140lb Fabriano Artistico

Sunflower Loose Watercolor 11×14 on 140lb Fabriano Artistico

There’s something about sunflowers
that draws me in artistically again and again.
I’ve painted several versions in the past year or so
since I’ve taken on this challenging and fun journey of watercolor.

I saw several loose and similar to this on Pinterest while perusing
and had the urge to paint sunflowers again.
There’s just something about sunflowers!

For this one, I wanted to work on creating lots of layers of greens from Prussian blue, so I created this little mixing tester sheet ahead of my painting to see what colors could be created from mixing it with yellows and browns.  Look at all of these amazing colors.

Daniel Smith Watercolors used:  Prussian Blue, Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Light Hue, Raw Sienna

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

PS  This original painting, as well as prints and cards are available at our Etsy Shop:  McKinneyX2Designs