Casualty of War: Fallen Soldier, Study 1

Here is my next attempt in the Casualty of War series: Fallen Solidier, Study 1. The photo is at the top, and my interpretation is on the bottom. I like the wash effects of the walls and floor, and the hint of a soldier entering the room. I do not like how the fallen soldier came out; he is kind of cartoonish. I also need to work on perspective.

The struggle continues.

Miniata Groupers, Chinese Wetmarket, Singapore

This watercolor painting is called Miniata Groupers and is from the Singapore series. Click to enlarge.



It is based on this photograph that I took on my trip to Singapore in 1996 at the Chinese Wet Market. This was a tank of live miniata groupers.


The painting was an exercise in watercolor washes and gradients and was tons of fun. I drew the tank and fish and then painted the water and the painting sat for a long time before I got up the nerve to paint the fish. But once I got started, I was okay and couldn't stop.

Casualty of war, 2009

Please click to enlarge

Here is a new piece of art that I just finished this morning. I had an inspiration a few days ago and have worked on this solidly since then since I feel that stopping our operations in Iraq is way more important than sharing my trip to Singapore. The reason is that we are losing lives of our brave American men and women, plus Iraqis are also being killed. We need to get our asses out of there as soon as possible to end the dying. In the famous words of Edwin Starr "War, What is it good for? Absolutely nothin!"

Cattle statues, Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore, 2009

This is a watercolor painting that I just completed this morning. Chiaroscuro in style, it is of the two cattle statues that detail the cornerstone of the Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple at the corner of South Bridge and Pagoda Streets in Singapore. I took a picture of the Temple when I was there in 1997 on business, and decided that the cattle would make for a great watercolor painting. So, I searched the web and found the photo below in a flickr album.



One never sees architectural details like this in the United States! I am blessed that I had the opportunity to travel to Singapore and see this and thus make this painting. I will continue to make paintings from my travel to Singapore.

Chinese wet market, Singapore, 2009

Here is a new work that I just completed yesterday! It is called Chinese Wet Market, Singapore. I used a photo that I took from my visit to Singapore in 1997 as a model for the work (below).



Unfortunately the colors are washed out in the photo of the painting and are brighter in the original work.

This is my first major work since my brain surgery almost 10 years ago and it was really a trial. The medium is both watercolor and India ink and if you click to enlarge, you will see that I give a nod to my past pointillism days. The painting is 16 x 12 inches.

Hooray for me, now I am a painting fool again! I am excited an happy with many works going!

Koi in Holland Market, Singapore, 98/09

Here is yet another work that I completed yesterday. If you click to enlarge it, you will see that it took eleven years to finish this work. Much transpired in those years!!! Below it is the photo that it is based upon. We also use a version of the photo for printing our bank checks.

Unfortunately, the camera was not kind to this watercolor painting. The background is a lovely light blue and the fish a delicate yellow. Perhaps you can see that I finally figured out how to use my new brushes in the fin work on the 3 fish left upper center of the painting and the red and white one towards the bottom.

I feel that this work is graphically strong and very pretty even though there are some mistakes in it.

This painting is now owned by Francesco & Damien who reside in Madrid, Spain. It was gifted to them for their wedding day.

Great blue heron, 1996

Now we skip twelve years ahead to when we moved from upstate New York to Connecticut. I had by that time acquired water colors and a taste for Hiroshige whose wood block prints I had first seen in the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY.

We bought his book Hiroshige Birds and Flowers and I was very inspired by its 91 color plates. I decided to try and copy them into water color paintings which turned out to be much easier to decide than to do.

This first painting is of a Great Blue Heron fishing. Though Hiroshige never did this painting himself, it is in his style. I did three washes, one at the top for the sky, one at the bottom for the mud and one for the water line. Then I painted the bird and the cattails. I added some small fish for interest and because I am a fish fanatic. I was quite tempted to go at this painting with my India ink and draw all over it as I did with the little fish, but I resisted. Do you think I was correct in this decision and the painting is finished? Click to enlarge.

I’m not quite satisfied with it, but you know, the artist never is satisfied with their work. I think the composition is weak, it looks all pushed over to the right and will never frame well because of that. The heron is floating in the air and not grounded to anything. I could have done better painting his feet. I like how I painted the cattail heads and the washes and the bird’s neck. I would love to hear your comments on this painting.

Cock, 1993

Cock as in Hiroshige's Cock, Umbrella, and Morning Glories on plate 20 of the book "Hiroshige Birds and Flowers". I scanned the image, but the picture was too long for my scanner (click to enlarge):


I felt very inspired and wanted to see if I could render this via water colors. I of course simplified it considerably into just a wash and the cock and here is the result:



It is the only Hiroshige bird that I feel I did a good job with at all. It still needs to be framed and matted and would probably benefit from some tight matting at the sides to make it look narrower and taller. I particularly like the black tail feathers and the feet. Your comments are welcome.

This piece is now owned by Cristiano, who was born in the year of the Cock.

Blue Butterfly tail, 1992

Now that my graphic eye was turned on, I scanned the Chinese Goldfish book for another fish to paint. On the very same page I found one:


The book describes this fish as:

Variegated butterfly tail with reversed gills

But for me, the bright orange and white colors distracted from the strong graphic image of the fish. So I went with Payne gray in my water color interpretation of it. I also took another look at the anatomy of fish scales and devised a new method for portraying them. Here is the result (click to enlarge).



Again, I employed the dry brush method and used a wash with paint pooling for the eyes. I thought the paint would never dry and had a fear that I would smudge it, but that didn't happen. I like how the paint in the tail seems to be different colors, but it is not. It is all just Payne gray. I am in love with this color! I am somewhat happier with how the scales turned out, but not yet thrilled.

This is the mate to the Black Butterfly Tail. I wanted to paint a trio, and did attempt it, but it never worked out. As usual, your comments are welcome.

Black butterfly tail with bulging dragon eyes, 1992

Finally frustrated with pointillism, I revisited watercolors. I searched my books for inspiration and came up with this Chinese Goldfish book put out by Tetra. The wonderful thing about this book is that there are photos straight from China of the way goldfish are kept and propagated there and the way they were kept in palaces in ancient times when myriad servants were around to make water changes in the beautiful porcelain, marble, wood, pottery and earthenware containers. Of course all of the variations of goldfish are shown. This book really spurred my imagination.



My eye for graphics was grabbed by this image on page 67:



The book describes this fish as:

Black butterfly tail with bulging dragon eyes

An exceedingly rare variety of goldfish, renowned for its butterfly-like caudal fins. It is as black as traditional Chinese ink and has large protruding eyes. This variety of fish likes shallow water, only 10 cm deep. An adult fish measures between 15 and 20 cm.

I just had to paint this fish. So, armed with my black watercolor paint I had at it. This was the result:




I used the dry brush technique. In general I feel that I captured the spirit of the fish, but I am not happy with the scales, which I rushed because I was impatient to finish the work. I think that graphically the painting is a success. The final work is 13.5" x 10". Click to enlarge.

I would love to hear your comments.

Pair of bubble eye goldfish

it is a beautiful work and I would love to know when I did it. Do enlarge it to see the details. The colors are beautiful.

Lilacs, 1974

Here is the remainder of my works that I photographed recently with my new camera to record for my original art archives. I thought that I would post them on my blog for you to look at.

The first is called "Lilacs" and I painted this watercolor and India ink in high school (click to enlarge).

I recall not being particularly impressed with it at the time, but looking back I am amazed at the tiny gradients that I accomplished in the vase. It was all done freehand and I know that I could not reproduce this effect right now. I just had that fine analytical touch that later served me very well in the lab.

Fuscia, 1974

This is the very first water color painting that I ever did, while the rest of my high school class was painting apples. I can still see my teacher looking at it with his hand on his beard and saying "Sue, you've outdone yourself. But the task was to use the water color as a wash not as you have. So you will have to do another painting." So I painted lilacs.

What this technique is called is dry brush because the colors are applied and then the next is applied after the first dries. I love this technique because it appeals to the obsessive side of me. The wash is nice too, but far more unpredictable.

While others needed a model to go by, this came straight from my head and is titled Fuschia.


Click to enlarge