Painting without a plan

August 19, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

While I’m sad that vacation is over, it is nice to have some quiet time to paint. What amazes me about these three paintings, is that I had no preconceived ideas until I sat down to paint – I just went with it. All three were done yesterday and they are all so different!

The first one I painted was the flowers in the container. I looked around my patio and picked the container just as I started painting.

The second painting was the hearts. I started painting the background, decided to leave the dry areas dry and filled one of them with a heart. Then I started adding more hearts and the word love. It is my favorite of the day – and I have no idea where it came from!

The third painting is the watercolor background with the ink flowers. I decided as I was painting – to make a colorful background and add ink to it. As I chatted with an old friend on the phone – I added the flower doodles. I looked around my yard for inspiration.

I am excited for another quiet day and more painting!

Watercolor Rose of Sharon Flower

July 23, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I’ve been working on this watercolor flower – a Rose of Sharon, I believe – since last week. I was walking by it, after my run, and took a bunch of photos. It’s funny how you notice things when you are walking or running, that you wouldn’t notice when driving by. It was a “stop and smell the roses” moment. That’s one of things I like about running. It’s a time to think and notice the things around you.

I’m happy with how the flower came out. Especially when I reviewed the stages the painting went through:

The Cottage out back

June 29, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I’ve been wanting to paint this watercolor for a while. The “cottage” looks so pretty with the flowers starting to bloom. I often imagine turning it into an art studio. In reality it is the garage – lol – and it is filled with bikes, the lawnmower, gardening supplies, beach chairs, sleds, and all our other stuff! Not to mention scary jumping crickets.

Some of my steps:
First I drew with ink.

Then I added in the color:

Fun and loose in the garden

June 22, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Today, I decided to sit outside and do a loose, fun watercolor. I didn’t overthink it. I tried hard not to overwork it and I’m happy with the results! It feels good to have some success after two weeks of torment! The week before last, I struggled with beach girl’s face. Then, last week I took a step back and tried to figure out watercolor faces. She is still a work in progress.

Today’s steps:

Acrylic Gerbera Daisy

March 26, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I made some progress today on my Gerbera Daisy. I’m pretty happy. When I first started adding the light pink to the tips of the petals they looked a bit streaky, but I got the hang of it and I really like where I am so far.

Watercolor Flowers – Happy Spring!

March 21, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Lately, I can’t stop painting flowers. I think I’m just very happy Spring is here! Before flowers, I was painting fruit. lol! In the past I was intimidated by flowers. Now, I am getting into it. My first (recent) attempts were more graphic, less realistic.