Today while out for a walk in the forest with my wife and our daughter, I was doing some field sketching and my wife was observing the leaves of the “Liepa” trees (Linden) that are prevalent here. Every year when these trees blossom, my wife will collect the flowers to make a natural tea that is proclaimed to have properties that have a calming effect and that are good for the immune system during cold and flu seasons. I heard that the wood of Linden trees is used for treatment of liver and gallbladder diseases too. However, I have never researched this claim. Currently these trees are not blossoming but it is very close.

 

Look at that!

One particular painting has been giving me a lot of grief. I just keep finding things about it I don’t like. So I will put it away and bring it out another time and re evaluate it and try to make changes to my satisfaction. One part of the painting that I was not 100% satisfied with was the clouds. I looked at them for a long time trying to figure out what to do with them. My enthusiasm for this painting was sinking and I pondered the thought of scraping the painting. This thought crosses the minds of some artists’ whose creation is not going as planned. I turned away from the painting and gazed out the window of my studio and there they were! I exclaimed out loud, "Look at that!" The perfect clouds were hanging in the sky just waiting for me to capture them for this painting. I swung my easel around and faced the window and painted them  before they decided to float away!

Ah….I feel a new life for this painting and the enthusiasm is back.

What is that!?

Imagine you are walking in the woods. Just in the distance you see this and think; " What is that?" As you approach a little closer....Yikes! Now you know and that you are a little too close.
You can see the complete painting at my website or at this link;
http://www.jerrymoreau.com/large-multi-view/PAINTINGS/2101815-1-162710/PAINTINGS.html
     

 

 

I thought that I would post another one of my “fun” watercolor and ink paintings. I think I saw this character on an old Russian fantasy movie? From what I remember, I changed the character a lot; he actually had fangs in the movie and a really pointed, “witch” looking nose. The stones in the background are from my many references of stone castles. It took only a couple of hours to paint and was a nice escape from the real world.

For the fun of it.

Once and a while I like to sit down and paint something without having to think too much about it. Usually I will  paint in watercolor and ink. This watercolor is one of those times. It's 6 1/4 X 17 1/4 on watercolor paper and I named it the Hunter. It is in no way close to being perfect but I sure enjoyed painting it. Someday I might put together a small book of all of these small watercolors that I have done over the years.