Sunday, May 31, 2009

More from My Dew Drop Series

Lime-Ade Dew Drops
by Watercolor Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Art Card - ACEO
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inch

Art Cards are miniature works of art, the size of trading cards 2.5 x 3.5 inches. The same size as standard trading cards. They are known as "ACEO" (Art Cards, Editions & Originals) when sold and "ATC" (Artist Trading Cards) when traded amongst artists and collectors. Art Cards are a fantastic way to start or add to your art collection! Start your art collection today ... buy original works of art!

You can view more of my Art Cards on my website:
http://rasquier.com

Support the arts and artists!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Dew Drops in 3D

Watery Dew Drops
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
ACEO - Art Card
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inch

A trio of wet watery dew drops on a blue green background. These little drops really have that 3 dimensional look you think you can touch!

• Sold

Friday, May 29, 2009

A Day of a Dozen Dew Drops

Cranberry Orange Dew Drops
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
ACEO - Art Card
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inch

Today I painted a dozen more art cards to add to my Dew Drop Series. I will slowly add a few of them here. I will also be adding them to my Etsy Shop. If you love this series keep checking back here for more!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Lavender, Yellow & Violet Red

Pretty Posies
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
ACEO - Art Card
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches

A pretty little bouquet of flowers, loosely painted in watercolor.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Clean Your Palette!
This is a super important tip, especially if you want to create watercolor paintings with bright beautiful colors.

If you are like me and have tube paints squeezed into a palette and allowed to air dry, it is important to clean your palette when you are done painting for the day.

If you have a problem creating muddy paintings, perhaps one of the problems is dirty colors.

Simply take a damp flat brush and swipe it over the top of the color a few times. Rinse your brush and repeat on each color. Wipe up the large mixing tray too with a damp sea sponge or damp paper towel.

There is nothing like starting a new painting with a clean palette of gorgeous colors.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

The Popular Dew Drop Series

Mystery Drop
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
ACEO - Art Card
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inch

A mysterious little water drop on an unusual background. My dew drop series is such a fun series to continue painting. It is becoming very popular!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Inspired by Nature

Springtime Forest IV
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
ACEO Art Card
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inch

A hint of the colorful flowering trees off in the distance with the evergreens. Just waiting for all the leaves to bud out on the big leaf trees. I just love springtime!

I've been slowly adding the Springtime Forest Series to my Etsy Shop. Nature is a huge inspiration to me.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

More Drops

Fire Dew Drops
by Artist Rita Squier

2.5 x 3.5 inches
Original Watercolor Painting
Art Card, ACEO

A fiery red, orange, yellow background a glow with little dew drops.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Framing Watercolors
Watercolor paintings should be matted and framed under glass. It is important to use a mat when framing your watercolors. The mat keeps the painting away from the glass and creates a bit of air space between the glass and the mat. I always use acid free mats on my paintings. The watercolors are mounted to either the mat or the backer with tape hinges. This allows for natural expansion and contraction of the paper through out the year with the change in humidity. If possible a brown paper is taped to the back of the frame to keep dust out.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Unique Dew Drop Backgrounds

Royal Dew Drop I
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
ACEO - Art Card
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches

I decided to be a little more creative with some of the backgrounds for my little dew drop paintings. I love the royal purple and blue in this one!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Painting ACEOs for a Show

Springtime Forest V
by Artist Rita Squier

2.5 x 3.5 inch
Original Watercolor Painting
Art Card ACEO

I painted a whole new series of art cards for a show I will be attending today. I created a "Springtime Forest" series. Here is just one in the series.

This little watercolor can be found in my Etsy Shop.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Lovely Little Floral Painting

Pink & Blue Posies
by Rita Squier

2.5 x 3.5 inch
Original Watercolor Painting
Art Card, ACEO

A simple little bouquet of cosmos and forget-me-nots done in watercolor.

• Sold

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Just Painted

Evening Forest
by Artist Rita Squier

2.5 x 3.5 inch
Art Card, ACEO
Original Watercolor Painting

I was painting a bunch of Springtime Forest watercolors and decided to change up the color a bit to give it a different mood and color scheme.

• Sold

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

My Student's Art

Art Card Swap in Watercolor Class
Last night we swapped Artist Trading Cards in class. My students loved it! Everyone had so much fun trading the mini works of arts amongst each other. The biggest challenge was getting around to trade with everyone between the steps of our painting project.

We all painted 18 art cards using watercolor, in any style and subject mattered. I had a few extra in my give away stash, more to choose from is always fun.

Here are the art cards I traded mine away for ... I love them!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

The Kneaded Eraser
When creating watercolor paintings that are rather detailed, one tends to draw in the details first with a pencil. Those who are picky about their drawings tend to spend way to much time erasing their pencil lines. Number one tip, draw less and then you'll end up erasing less often. However, if you are one who has to draw and erases either a lot or occasionally, I highly recommend using a kneaded eraser. They leave relatively little to no eraser dust behind. When it gets dirty, simply knead the eraser, twist and pull, fold it around on itself ... and voila - a clean eraser! Picture number one shows my kneaded eraser torn in half. The left piece is the dirty piece, the piece on the right has been kneaded and is now clean. You can also shape the edge to fit a rather small place if you need to erase something small or narrow.

Picture 2 shows my eraser test. I drew two horizontal lines. Then erased a spot directly below each eraser. On the top line I brushed away the eraser dust with the back of my hand. On the second line, I left the eraser dust in place. A pink eraser will sometimes leave a smudge of pink on watercolor paper. The gum eraser leaves behind a lot of eraser dust plus sometimes leaves a smudge of graphite from the pencil. I suppose a white eraser would be my second choice in a pinch. The best eraser for erasing pencil marks on watercolor paper is the kneaded eraser.

Draw lightly in pencil before painting in watercolors. If you have made your pencil drawing too dark on your watercolor paper, you can use a kneaded eraser to lift up some of the pencil line. Just blot the lines with the eraser, knead and repeat, do not rub.

One little extra note ... once you paint over or spread clear water over top of a pencil mark, it's there to stay.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Trading Art Cards

My Watercolor Art Cards, Waiting to be Traded
I teach a watercolor painting class for adults and I introduced my students to the world of Art Cards - Artist Trading Cards - ACEOs. Tomorrow night we will all be trading amongst each other in class. Shown here are the cards I painted to trade in class. All of my art cards are original watercolor paintings.

ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions & Originals
ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards

The art cards are known as ATCs when traded and ACEOs when bought and sold. They are pretty much the same. The key important thing for art cards is the size. ACEOs and ATCs are alway 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. They can be created in any medium.

Buying or trading art cards is a great and inexpensive way to collect little pieces of original art from a wide variety artists.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Tangerine

Tangerine Dew Drops
by Artist Rita Squier

2.5 x 3.5 inch
Art Card - ACEO
Original Watercolor Painting

It is going to be a rainy Saturday afternoon if the sun cannot manage to break through the clouds. Raindrops, dewdrops ... the sunny tangerine orange color. I really love this series of ACEOs! Hope you do too.

Enjoy the weekend!

• Sold

Thursday, May 7, 2009

A House with the Illusion of Trees

Here is just one example of how I used the illusion of trees process in a commissioned house portrait painting. It really does make a great background in a painting.

I enjoy painting commissioned house portraits. I paint them in three sizes, if you're interested in having one painted for you or as a gift please let me know.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques for Watercolor Painting

The Illusion of Shrubbery
Painting a mass of shrubbery as a background to give the illusion of trees and stuff can be painted in watercolor using the wet into wet method. Wet your paper and keep adding wet color. The key is to add paint in the same degree of wetness as the paper. I created this entire small painting with a 3/4 inch flat wash brush. I used Maimeri Blu artist quality watercolor paints on 140 lb. Waterford cold pressed paper.

1. Start by wetting the paper with clear water.
2. Add a wash of blue for the sky leaving spaces of white for clouds.
3. Using a pale mix of green and blue add the background shapes.
4. With a slightly darker and warmer mix of green continue creating shapes that represent trees, don't paint a tree.
5. Add splotches of yellow here and there between the green.
6. Add mixture of burnt sienna along the bottom.
7. Continue to add an even darker mixture of green and also brown in dabs and touches to represent blurred tree shapes.
8. Allow the paint to completely dry. The colors will diffuse and blend.
9. Shrubbery, a mass of trees perfect for the background forest of a watercolor landscape painting.

Monday, May 4, 2009

A Sparkling Water Drop

Orange Dew Drop
by Artist Rita Squier

2.5 x 3.5 inch
Original Watercolor
Art Card - ACEO

A miniature painting on 140 lb. Saunders Waterford cold pressed watercolor paper with artist quality Maimeri Blu watercolor paints.

• Sold

Friday, May 1, 2009

May Day

Callas
by Rita Squier

A simple bouquet of calla lilies for May Day!

Have you secretly given someone flowers today?
Maybe you should.

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