THE GRAND CANYON, watercolor

THE GRAND CANYON, watercolor on Arches paper, 22x15", will be in exhibition at the Ahmed Shawky Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, in March 2016.

Presented on my DAY 3 of the Painter's Challenge! Today I nominate Peni Rubin to the five paintings -five days challenge.

MOOREA, TAHITIAN HOUSE, watercolor on Arches paper

MOOREA, TAHITIAN HOUSE, 7.5x10" , watercolor on Arches paper.

Open houses, with decks and straw rooftops are common in Samoa and Tahiti. Just floor, wooden columns and the straw roof, no walls, are called "Fale", in the original language of the islands. They are perfect for a warm weather year-round, with occasional daily warm showers. That's why they hang the clothes under the roof-top. No insects or poisonous snakes, warm air and warm water, fruits and flowers all around you, what else do you want????? Paradise!!!!!

READY TO GO, watercolor on Arches

READY TO GO, watercolor or Arches paper, 14x20 in. Painted on location in Säxnas, Sweden, last summer, READY TO GO has been accepted at the San Diego County Fair Fine Art exhibition 2014, along with four more paintings. SDCFair opens on June 7th, and lasts one month, till July 6th. Come visit us, have fun at the fair, and buy a painting!

"People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills...There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind...So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself."        --- Marcus Aurelius

WATER STAIRWAY IN SAXNÄS, watercolor on Arches

Water Stairway in Saxnäs, watercolor, 14x20 (36x51cm.)

Ryan Brown, in this year's  January/February Artist Magazine,  has said: "The media are feeding the public a diet of superficial images". I agree. We artists must both educate ourselves and our audience at the same time.

According to Greg Albert, there is a simple formula to use in a painting: mostly, some, and a bit. Most of the colors should have the same characteristics, some should differ from the first, and a small bit of color should differ from the rest. I am trying to do this, not very easy!

Asa Bostrom, pastel

Asa Bostrom, pastel, 41x31 cm. Not available.
Asa Bostrom is the artist with whom I am sharing this Residency in Budapest. She is from Sweden, she is a profoundly serious artist, writer, poet. She modeled for me to do this pastel portrait. I did not have proper materials, so I painted Arches watercolor paper with a layer of raw sienna watercolor, then used some old pastels, and colored pencils from the corner store. Not the right material, but definitely the right model. Asa is a wonderful artist and a beautiful person. You can see her work at her website: www.asabostrom.se

Celebration

Celebration, watercolor on Arches, 14x20" (35x50cm.) This painting is from 2006. I did quite a few  still-lifes that year.
I've just finished reading  PACEM IN TERRIS,  a love story by Frederick Franck. The love story of building this house/home as a spiritual retreat, open to everybody, free. It's a beautiful book, on loan to me by my friend Frank. He knows what's good for your soul. "I knew, for sure, where my drawings came from: The pen became the seismographic needle that traced down the tremors on the retina."  "The meaning of life is to see."

Marche de Vendredi, watercolor on Arches paper

Marche de Vendredi, France. watercolor on Arches paper, 30x22" (75x55cm.) Available. Juried in at the San Diego Watercolor Society, April 2012 Show, in exhibition at their gallery in the NTC Promenade, San Diego, California.
"Art is creation; therefore, life itself at its fullest...Art is an eternal force like ethics, like revolution, like the very totality of the universe." Lajos Kassak, Hungarian artist, in his Picture Architecture essay in the MA (Today) Hungarian publication, 1922.

No Regrets, transparent watercolor on Arches

NO REGRETS, transparent watercolor on Arches paper, 30x22", available.
This is one of the watercolors in exhibition and for sale at La Jolla Art Association Gallery, at the Open Juried Watercolor Show, April 9-22, in La Jolla, California. I was the juror for that show, and have three watercolors representing me there. It's is a good show, come see it, and buy some art.  Please also come to the Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony on Friday, April 13th, from 5:00-7:00 pm. The address is 8100 Paseo del Ocaso, La Jolla Shores, San Diego, California. You are invited, hope to see you there!