Purple Coneflower

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Another day, another flower painting. The local season is winding down, so I'm capturing them while I still can.

I keep running into hydrangeas

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

I discovered another beautiful hydrangea bush on a walk today and had to paint it. There's no way I have enough skill to capture its beauty, but this painting tries to capture its essence.

Shrub roses

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on Arches cold press paper 

Trying to loosen up my watercolor painting style with this one. I passed these shrub roses on a walk a couple days ago and snapped a photo with my phone.

Another hydrangea painting

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor and gouache on cold press paper 

Keep trying til you get it right. I didn't use masking fluid this time, painted around the buds but ended up  losing some of the highlights after an ill-fated attempt to glaze them. Fortunately I have a starter set of Windsor and Newton gouache so this gave me a reason to put the paints to use. Everything else is watercolor.

Hydrangea blooming

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Another flower found on my daily walk - a hydrangea just starting to bloom.

Another flower gets a close-up

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Still working on my watercolor techniques, this time with another floral painting. Thanks to a beautiful photo I found on this Facebook group.

Orchid

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Today's painting was inspired by a photo of an orchid I took at a botanical garden when I visited my nephew in Hawaii in 2014.

Name this flower

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

I saw this flower while taking a walk yesterday and took a photo. I think it's a Gerbera Daisy, but I'm not sure. In any case it is a beautiful flower and I hope I did it justice.

PS, I'm an idiot. It's a zinnia. 

Purple Coneflowers

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

The Coneflowers are fading as Summer wanes. Here is a watercolor painting to memorialize them.

Spring blooms

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

Here's another watercolor painting done with Qor watercolors. Enjoy!

Watercolor Iris

Painting by Vicky Christensen, watercolor on cold press paper 

I had an underpainting set aside that looked ready for an iris so that's what I painted today. This is my first time using Golden Qor watercolor and I had a few problems glazing over some of the colors. I'm not giving up, just need to get used to the brand. The pigments are beautiful.

Here is what the underpainting looked like:

Big sunflowers

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic mixed media on 14 x 18 inch canvas

This is the third painting in my flowers series, employing sgraffito on black gessoed canvas.

Iris

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic mixed media on 16 x 12 inch canvas

Today's painting is the 2nd in my series of floral paintings done by using sgraffito to 'draw' the flower on a thick layer of paint/gloss gel applied to a black canvas, and layers of transparent glazes and tinted gel.

Back to black

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 12 x 12 inch canvas

I had an old painting I wanted to make over and wanted to start with a layer of black gesso. Next a layer of titanium white + ultramarine blue + gloss gel, which I carved into with a silicone shaper to draw the flower. Then layers of gloss gel with tints of transparent paint, followed by a layer of glazed color.

Expressionist bouquet

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 x 12 inch canvas

This started out as several layers of stencils and random marks then sat for a while waiting for an inspiration. Today it magically became a vase of flowers in a sort of expressionist style. Look closely and you'll see the underlying stenciled layers.

Transformation

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 24 x 18 inch canvas

 I decided to give an old painting a makeover.  Just finished this afternoon.

Below is a snapshot of the old painting.

Hidden flowers

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on 12 x 12 inch canvas

Here's a new abstract painting. There are several layers of high flow and fluid acrylics, including iridescent gold paint.

Spring blooms

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on 12 x 12 inch canvas 

This is a little painting inspired by the flowering crab trees on our boulevard.

Tropical garden

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on 16 x 12 inch canvas

I finished this little painting today. It started with some green-gold paint leftover from another painting. I followed with high flow acrylics I spread with a silicone wedge, then
let the resulting lines and shapes guide me.

Jack's beanstalk

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on canvas

Just finished this painting. It's lots of layers, including some drips of high flow acrylics that I incorporated into the final composition. This is the biggest abstract I have ever painted.