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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Roses
and Love
15"X15"
I used a heart grid to emphazise the connection
between roses and love.
I
started the painting with a wet on wet wash- taking care to
leave the center of the composition unpainted. This is so I
can make the greatest contrast of light and dark paint where I
plan the center of interest.
Once
I had laid in the initial wash I drew the hearts. The rule of
a grid painting is to change the value and color at each line.
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Krenek's Gin
22" X 30"
Going
out location to local cotton gins near Houston Texas used to
be an August and September ritual of mine. The conditions
would be awful- very hot, cotton flying everywhere and noisy.
However now the gins have been torn down because of
development, I'm glad I endured and the paintings are precious
to me.
I
finished this one at my studio- using blue casein on the sky
and the foreground shadows.
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Hope
Boat House, Devon UK
15" X 22""Hope
Boat" house was done in my car with the painting balanced
on the steering wheel. The weather typical for summer-
cool, sunshine with intermittent showers. The
dramatic perspective commands attention.
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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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