HILARY
PAGES GALLERY 2000
WELCOME!
Artists statement
adapted from the end of Watercolor Right
from the Start.
"Only
paint what excites you. You are the boss!
And dont let anyone tell you what you
should or should not paint. The more you paint
the better your paintings will be; and the better
your paintings become, the more you will want to
paint, and the sooner your individuality
will emerge in your paintings. So start painting
now! Your life will be enriched and you
will transmit this joy to all who cross your
path! If you're painting
you're free from worry. If you are
painting you're happy!"
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The White Door
22" X 30"
I
loved the symetry of this striking Houston scene
and I invented the shadow to make a dynamic
composition. Completed with just four tubes of
paint- Permanent Rose PV19, Winsor Lemon PY175,
Cobalt Blue PB28 and Winsor Green blue shade PG7,
I made the darks by combining Permanent Rose and
Winsor Green. The painting has been selected for
the Houston Watermedia 2000 calendar- a fitting
start to my Gallery 2000! |
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Chester
15" X 22"Painting on location is a
particularly uplifting experience. I
painted direct (no pencil drawing) and happened
upon this viewpoint, which leads the viewer
to the church steeple, with the aid of my
visualizing mat/viewfinder. I achieved the light
railings by scraping off the still damp paint
with the flat end of my paintbrush. One loses
account of time but it seemed I completed the
painting while my husband ate an ice cream--
maybe a bit longer!
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Conway
22"X15"
I
spent a morning painting on site in Conway, Wales while my husband was working
nearby and my son and friend were sight seeing. The high perspective and the
stark white building captivated me. I added the solitary figure as he
tottered towards the water and included the metal
railings to echo the shape of the figure. I
re-did the painting back home and painted
direct to match the boldness of on site
painting.
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Nude
(Back)
22" X 30"The afternoon I did this painting
there was a cloudburst in Houston so only two of
us from our lab group, the totally dedicated (or crazy) came to paint, meaning that we both had
a very good positions regarding the model and the
lighting. The
beautiful violet color is Cobalt Violet PV49 made
by Daniel Smith Inc.
See also Tammy and Martha.
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Recumbent
Nude
22" X 30" At our Wednesday afternoon painting
group where I completed this painting, the model poses for
twenty minutes followed by a five minute break
over a two and a half hour period. After sketching the model in pencil I laid in the paint wet on
wet and then "negative painted"
(painted around the figure) until the figure
emerged. Finally I added the details. The key with
painting the figure is to get a good drawing at the
onset. And
that only comes with practice, practice,
practice!
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Jennie
15" X 16" This rapidly executed painting of my
daughter was done as a demonstration at one of my
Portrait and Figure workshops. I applied a wet on
wet wash over the pencil drawing and when this
was dry I added the hard edged medium values and
finally the darker details on the face. Overall
it has loose, painterly quality.
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Hastingleigh
22" X 15"This mysterious house nestled in the
green trees was our subject for a workshop I
taught in Kent, England. There was a howling gale and
driving rain much of the time, but participants
gamely donned raincoats and held
umbrellas and
sat outside and sketched the scene though a
few prefered to work from their cars! We completed the paintings
back in the studio.
If you view this
painting while squinting, you can see that it is
constructed with two interlocking shapes- lighter
on the outside and darker on the inside. Strong
paintings are comprised of a few, simple
underlying abstract shapes.
I completed this painting using
just three paints: Winsor Lemon PY175, Quinacridone Magenta
PR122 and Winsor Blue RS PB15.1
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Hibiscus
Morning
15"X22" The
brilliant red drew me to paint this beautiful
flower. Each morning I would set my potted Hibiscus in
the window to catch the Texas sunlight and then
paint direct from light to dark,
allowing each wash to dry before applying the
next. I had
time for one bloom a day before the light
changed. I unified the painting by adding the darker leaves and the suggestion
of a window- shape.
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Floral Bouquet
22" X 15"
I painted this bouquet of flowers as a short demonstration
before a group new to watercolor - probably
not a very smart decision. I boldly laid in swimming colors,
painting wet on wet until by the time they had to
leave I had what looked like a right mess! The
mystified group were very polite and thanked me
and said how
nice the painting looked. In
watercolor, the experienced know that seeming chaos is usually the precursor to a strong
painting- a fact that was undoubtedly lost
on this particular audience!
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Serapes
and Shadows
15"X22"
In this colorful scene painted on
the verandah of the villa in Acapulco where I
teach workshops, I was struck by the strong
shadows cast by the chairs and the brilliant
morning light. Notice that the brilliant serape
colors in sunlight are washed out. The colors are
most intense when in shadow.
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