Day 29 Leap Day Painting

Sunset Trees 
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

Today is Leap Day!  It is also Day 29 of my Painting A Day Challenge for the month of February 2016 ... the last day of the challenge.

Sunset Trees brings an end to this challenge.

My next challenge is to get all of these 5x7 inch paintings up for sale on either my website or in my Squier Etsy shop.  Contact me if there is a particular one you are interested in purchasing.

Happy Leap Day!

Day 28 Painting A Day

Misty Sunset
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

Sometimes you think you have a bright and brilliant sky and then the watercolor paint dries back a lot more than you expected.  It is one of the many tricky qualities of watercolor painting.

Day 27 Flowers

Flowers to Brighten Your Day 
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

A fun quick loose floral painting for a very busy day.  Flowers can brighten any day.

Day 26 Magnolia 4

Magnolia 4
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

Day 26 painting is another magnolia branch.  I love this style of painting and I love the magnolia tree in my backyard.  I cannot wait for it to bloom each Spring.  It is simply gorgeous.

Day 25 Painting a Pagoda

Pagoda
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

On request, a challenge ... paint a pagoda.

Painting A Day for the month of February 2016 is going pretty well.  Four more days!  It's Leap Year!

Day 24 Painting A Day

Bamboo
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

Keeping with the oriental style of painting and using my chop, I decided to paint bamboo this morning.

Day 23 Painting

Magnolia 3 
By Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

I couldn't resist!  Another twiggy magnolia branch beginning to bloom.

Day 22 Magnolia 2

Magnolia 2
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

I love Magnolia so much I had to paint a partner for it, Magnolia 2.  I also LOVE the Series 7 number 7 and the point the brush has.

I used my Chinese chop on these Magnolia paintings.  Hopefully it says my name Rita.

Day 21 Oriental Style

Magnolia
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

I have had a Winsor Newton Series 7 size 7 round watercolor brush for several years now.  It came in a beautiful box.  This past week, I finally removed it from it's box and used it.  I don't know why it took me so long to start using it.  I have a bunch of Series 7 brushes, but this one arrived in a pretty box.  It has a fantastic point and I was able to create this beautiful oriental style Magnolia painting.

Day 20 Painting A Day Challenge for February 2016

Stormy
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

Day 20 gets a stormy sky with a dark and colorful background and moody rocks and trees.

All of my Painting A Day paintings for the month of February are for sale, just contact me if you're interested in purchasing one ... or more!

SOLD! :)

Day 19 True Blue And a Bit of Purple

True Blue Heart
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor & Ink
Size: 5x7 inches

Day 19 is a fun wet into wet wash.  Wet paint into wet paint, changing colors.  Clear water into wet paint.  Splatters on wet, splatters on dry.  Quick strokes of ink with a brush tip pen.

Varying shades of blue and purple too.

Day 18 Quick Bouquet

Pink & Yellow Poppies
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

A quick colorful bouquet painted with a round watercolor brush.  Going from color to color, allowing the colors to blend and mix right on the paper.  A few splatters for fun fun and texture adds a bit of interest to the painting.

Day 17 Landscape

Prussian Landscape
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

Day 17's painting, is it really Prussian blue?

I'm not so sure, but that is the title I wrote on the back.

Day 16 of a Painting A Day

Blue Bouquet
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

A monotoned watercolor painting for Day 16 of this Painting A Day Challenge.  A fantastic shade of blue that has a great range in value, it goes really dark.

Day 15 Landscape

Deep in the Forest
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

Day 15's watercolor painting starts with a very wet into wet background.  Scraped in rocks and trees.  And just a few touches of details when dry.

Day 14 Valentine

Valentine 2016 
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size:  5x7 inches

A quick fun little watercolor sketch.

A simple heart painted in clear water with a mix of two red colors dropped in and allowed to spread all on its own.  Splatters of colors add texture and fun.

Day 13 - Watercolor

Trees
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

A monotoned painting in MaimeriBlu's Green Blue, a lovely color that has a great range in value.

I used a spray bottle to spritz clean water in spots on the watercolor paper and then added wet into wet color and shapes and wet onto dry to form the crisp edges on the evergreens.  I scraped in some rocks and tree.  Then when dry added in the tree branches and a few sprigs of grass.

Day 12 Still Painting

Arctic Blast 
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

February has finally arrived.  It has always been the coldest month of the year.  Single digit temps and below zero temps, winds, snow ... it's Winter! The weatherman says the weekend will get colder.

Brrrrrr.  A chilly looking painting for Day 12 of the Challenge.

Day 11 Painting A Day for the Month of February

Red Posies 
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

I love Day 5's Blossoms, I wanted to create another loose, expressive floral watercolor.  The colors are vibrant, the strokes are looser and more free than the first one.

Challenge yourself to paint in a style you're not used to.

I cannot wait for the flowers of Spring!

Day 10 The Snowman Painting

The Snowman
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

Today was a hectic work morning.  I decided to take a break and headed outdoors to build a snowman.  I ended up creating two snowmen, actually 1 snowman and 2 snow lady.

Upon my return to the warmth of my studio, I painted this fun little snowman.

Sometimes, silly is good.

Day 9 Landscape

Forest Day Dreams
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

I switched to what I have always called my scrap palette to create this landscape.  Day dreaming of a time when there are leaves on the trees and birdies flying through the forest.

My scrap palette is a butcher's tray with colors I have popped out of my regular watercolor palette for whatever reason.  You can view one of my old Tuesday's Tips for Watercolor Painting, Removing a Color to see how it is done.

Day 8 - Painting A Day

Frozen in Time
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

A little landscape using my blue palette.  If you find using a single color of pigment to create a painting, try limiting yourself to 2 or 3 colors.  With a limited palette you can create stunning watercolor paintings.

All of my Painting A Day for the Month of February paintings are for sale.  Contact me if you are interested in purchasing one.  I do plan to put them up for sale on my website or in my Etsy shop, but in the meantime, if you really want one, contact me!

Day 7 Another Color Study

Floral Color Study
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

I found a palette in my studio that has 6 colors of watercolor paint squeezed out in little blobs.  Four different shades of blue, one purple and one neutral tint.  It's Sunday, but I wanted to continue my Painting a Day Challenge for the month of February.  Plus I wanted to try to guess the colors of paint.  On the tray, they all look very similar.

Prussian Blue, Primary Blue Cyan, Green Blue, Ultramarine Light, Permanent Violet Bluish and Neutral Tint.

Day 6 - Monotone in Blue

Chill
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

It is fun to challenge yourself to create a painting with a single color of paint.  It doesn't always have to be shades of black or sepia.  Choose a color that can go really dark and has a great value range and you can create a stunning painting.

Day 5 A Floral Watercolor

Blossoms
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

An expressive and loose floral watercolor painting for Day 5.  Sometimes it is simply fun to play with the colors, the water and see how they react with each other and draw out a subject matter within the results.

Day 4 of Painting A Day

Landscape in Grey
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

It's Day 4!  I painted this lovely little landscape this morning.  When I went to take a picture of it, there was a kitty sleeping in my picture taking window.  So I waited until this afternoon.  Guess what, there was a different kitty sleeping in my south facing picture taking window.  So I took a canvas board and found a bright and empty east facing window and was able to snap a picture of today's painting for my Painting A Day Challenge.

I decided to challenge myself and create a monotoned watercolor painting.  I love the way it turned out!

Day 3 of the Challenge

Hearts
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size:  5x7 inches

It was a heart painting day!

I started out creating a background wash over the entire piece of paper and then I painted the negative space around the hearts one layer at a time.  I believe there are 6 layers in all.  I lost count.

Day 2 Landscape with Trees

Path to Spring 
by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting
Size: 5x7 inches

It has been a very mild winter so far in upstate New York.  Luckily we are far enough North to have missed the big blizzard.  But then, it's only the beginning of February the coldest month of the year.

Landscapes and trees are among my favorite subjects to paint.  Perfect for day 2 of my Painting A Day Challenge.

New Painting A Day Challenge 2016

Dew Drop Trio in Blue 

by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting

Size: 4x6 inches 

Spring in the Catskills 

by Artist Rita Squier

Original Watercolor Painting

Size: 4x6 inches 

It's February and I have decided once again to challenge myself to paint each and everyday this month.  I created two watercolors today.

I may enter one of these paintings in the Twitter Art Exhibit, I need to decide which one!