After some time off, I’ve been back to work on getting the next set of mini’s ready for my next art fair on July 16, as well as working on a commission.
I’ve been drawing, drawing, drawing… I get into these drawing moods, and spent the better part of a week with ink pen in hand.
Then I got into preparation mode for summer painting – this meant cleaning up and re-organizing my travel palettes and making some watercolour opacity strips. Thanks to a great blogpost by Jessica Seacrest on travel palettes, I got my own in order, complete with making small legend cards to insert in the cases to help me remember what the colours are. I switched up a lot of my colours, and organized them into hues as best as I could. Then I went to work on making opacity strips, something I’ve been wanting to do since Shelley Prior introduced them in her classes. Taking a permanent black pen, like a Sharpie, draw a line down a piece of watercolour paper, then paint strips of similar hued watercolours full strength across the paper and write down each colour name and brand. In the Sharpie stripe, you’ll see if the paint is not visible (translucent) or you see some it (semi-opaque) or if you see a lot of it (opaque). I made 6 cards (reds, browns, purples, yellows, greens, blues) and attached them with a ring clasp. These strips are also handy when you can’t figure out a colour to use or blend – hold them up to your subject and pick the closest shades.
With all preparations done, I finally put brush to paper, and here’s the first mini of summer! Flowers! The photo source for this piece comes from the town of Bordighera on the Italian Riviera – this beautiful bouquet sat next to us on a green sideboard table at La Cicala, a fabulous seafood restaurant up in the old town. If you are visiting this area, an evening dinner here is a must!
#32 – Liguria Flowers – sold
I’ve got mini’s in the queue of New York City, the Cinque Terre, Guell Park Barcelona, Quebec City Canada, and some more Tuscany and Umbria, as well as some larger pieces! It will definitely be a working summer, so I best get back to it!
Art We Wonderful by Marion Younan 
Beautiful work Marion 🙂
Thanks, Snehal! Like on your blog today, flowers help Mondays!
Thanks Marion! Glad you loved them! 🙂
Love your paintings Marion and these little palettes that you have put together! My eye keeps getting drawn to the one on the left. You’re paintings so tempt me to go home and cut some small paper. Such magical pieces, they make me want to visit all of these places!
Hi, Jessica! I was using a combination of palettes – I had 6 on the go at one point! But I love those little Whiskey Painters palettes, and invested in another one to get that 6 down to 4. Ha ha! Baby steps!
Doing small pieces are fun and a challenge, and speaking of magical places, your universes would be amazing as small pieces!
Wow… so lovely Marion! I’m impressed how it’s impossible to tell just how small that little flower painting is without seeing that last shot. Your details are exquisite!
Thanks much, Charlie! You’ve quieted my inner critic for the evening, as I always fret about how these mini’s come across online!
No fretting! They look beautiful!!
Incredible painting, Marion! Would love the dimensions and to know specifically what wc paper you used. Thanks for the very informative post in addition to your lovely watercolor! Wow!
Hi, Laura! Glad you liked it! The paper I use is Arches 140 lb cold pressed natural watercolour paper. The size of the mini pieces are 2.5″ x 3.5″, the size of a standard sports trading/bubblegum card.
Amazing. Thank you.
Thanks a bunch, Laura!
They speak of Summer!
Absolutely! I love it when arrangements have wildflowers and branches picked on a walk.