Today I’m working on a watercolor for the glass series. I had hoped to do lots of painting in winter for upcoming shows and festivals, but have had some distractions. On the upside, I am really glad three of my December pieces have been accepted in juried shows.

My painting process is a lot slower than in the past — I would sit down with a full sheet and be able to complete it within a week or less! Now that I’m into realistic details and the abstract design, it’s taking me longer. The more I observe, the more I see.

The exciting thing that happens while I paint is getting more ideas for the series. I’m working now with a variety of clear glassware and some colored. I love the fractured divisions of planes and shape and color distortions. My goal is basically an interesting design with a strong value pattern. Sometimes I’ll spend a couple days painting one glass. Today’s design involves playing cards with the glass patterns in a vertical design, which accentuates the tall glassware. The painting was inspired by Bob Dylan’s song, “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.” So if anyone wonders about the hearts suit being prominent, that’s the reason. I’ve done a smaller painting focusing on just one glass in the center.

The curved shapes of the glass have distorted the smaller shapes of the cards, which changes in the sunlight and colored glass. I displayed this painting at the art talk yesterday at the Wednesday Club, for the sake of demonstrating my painting process and also brought a finished piece for them to compare. A very successful afternoon!