Spring Wildflowers

Artist's statement: "Watercolor painting is the most unforgiving media. Once the brush touches the paper you have committed yourself to the composition. Fixing a mistake is extremely difficult. I have always wondered why new artists start their painting education by taking a watercolor class. It is one of the hardest media to accomplish. I have been painting with watercolors for over a decade and am still thrilled when a composition is completed the way I intended. My paintings are usually done in series because I like to work with one theme while changing the composition and colors. Before a painting is started I work out the composition through several drawings and a lot of mental painting. Completing a painting can take several weeks. One reason it takes so long is the use of 'staining ' where a heavy coating of paint is applied to an area and is left to dry over night. The paint is removed and the paper is stained with the color. When additional colors are applied in the area the original color shines through creating a color that can not be achieved by mixing paint. I hope you enjoy the beautiful colors 'staining' has achieved in my work My art education started as a young woman by taking every fine arts class offered at the local community collage. I resumed my arts education later in my life by attending Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. The rest of my education was through completing hundreds of drawings and paintings until I felt confident enough to paint a finished painting."