Rochelle, Author at Rochelle Weiner Carr

Nuts for fruit and veg

I've been working on a series of fruit and veg for the last couple months and finished them up over the weekend. I was going for fun and funky, and certainly colorful.

These are the same technique I've used for florals in the past - a mix of monoprint, collage and watercolor that I learned from Karlyn Holman this spring. I love the element of the "happy accident" you get with the collage paper and the monoprinting process. You just never know what you're going to get!

I'm going to frame up a few of the originals as groups of two or four I think, for placement at the Galleria. And I just sent scans of all of them, and the little birdies, to get prints in time for the Sept 2 First Friday event at the Galleria. Which are your faves?

The fruits

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The veg

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Art show / Collage paper / Masa paper / Materials / Watercolor - 08/24/2011

For the birds

I've been seeing them everywhere - birds have taken over the interiors and fashion industries in recent years. My head has been turned - so many cute little tweeters everywhere I look. So, inspired by what I'm seeing around me, I thought I'd jump in and try some monoprints with birds as the subject.

For the birds? You tell me. Below are the series finished this weekend.

Collage paper / Masa paper / Monoprints / Paintings / Watercolor - 08/22/2011

New booth at the Galleria!

This week I moved. Took me three days and I'm still not quite done. Arms are noodles, legs are sore, and I'm still washing paint out of my hair (just white wall paint, nothing too exciting.)

I am talking of course about my booth at the Andersonville Galleria. In May this year I started renting a booth there to show my paintings and prints. My first booth, while a nice little place, was upstairs and around two corners. Being close to the wine table on First Friday event nights was a plus but otherwise, this booth was a bit hard to find and low on foot traffic compared to other areas in the place. So, when I got the call that a primo booth had opened up I jumped at the opportunity.

My new booth is on the first floor, in the back room. It's bigger and a bit more expensive, but of course I'm hoping the increased foot traffic will boost sales and therefore at the very least cover the increased price.

New booth at the Galleria, right side

Wednesday I painted the new booth, Thursday I moved everything downstairs and installed, yesterday I painted the old booth back to it's original white. I did 4 coats of paint and can still see some of the gray through the paint so I'll need to go back on Tues for (hopefully only) one more coat. By the time I'm through I'll have gone through an entire gallon of Killz paint. (I thought Killz was supposed to cover anything? hm). I'll have to remember this for whenever I move out of the downstairs booth.

So, now that I've moved, the next two weeks will be about stocking the new booth with new work in time for Sept 2, which is a First Friday night at the Galleria. The shop will be open until 10pm and there will be wine, folks! I'll be sending out an evite and hope to see you all there!

Art show - 08/20/2011

A week of art

I just got back from a week in Canada hosted by my lovely upstairs neighbors. We stayed in a cabin overlooking a beautiful lake (photo at left) in Nestor Falls, Ontario and I spent the entire week soaking up the beauty of the place, snapping pics for future inspiration and ... wait for it... painting.

I painted most of the week (when not eating, sleeping or goofing off with my friends). I got 7 paintings going and wanted to share them here (see below).

They're all in various stages of done-ness and will finalize all of them soon. I'd love your input if you'd like to share your thoughts. Please leave me a comment! 🙂

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Inspiration / Paintings / Watercolor - 08/11/2011

Shadows and daylilies, installment 2

A couple weeks ago I wrote an in-progress blog post about a new painting, "Shadows and daylilies". I've been working on it on and off since then and I wanted to post another installment. It was inspired by a photo I took outside of Galter Life Center in Chicago. That day the sun was hitting the day lilies in such a beautiful way that I knew right away I wanted to try and paint it.

I'm at that point right now where I'm not positive if I should stop before I ruin it, or if I should continue and try to take it further. Yesterday I thought the painting was done but now the more I look at it I am feeling like the painting is about 75% there.

So - I'm going to keep going. Next step is to start working into the areas of shadow with more depth and to add some slivers of shadows in the areas of light. I'm excited to get back to it!

Paintings / Watercolor - 07/24/2011

Justin's sunset - the Aqua series

Well - I have many talented friends. This painting was inspired by a gorgeous sunset photo taken by my neighbor, Justin. I think it fits nicely into my "Aqua" series.

Justin's photo jumped right out at me because of the drama created by the composition and intense color contrast. His photo was amazing - I hope this painting does it justice!

Pictured above, "Justin's Sunset" - the Aqua series. Measures 32" x 40" framed.

Aqua series / Inspiration / Salt / Watercolor - 07/20/2011

Seascapes

Pictured above, "Rolling", watercolor, 32" x 40" framed.

Browsing through Facebook I saw a couple beautiful ocean shots taken by my friend Celia. (I occasionally scroll through Celia's albums because she's got an amazing eye. This is not the first painting I did inspired by her photography).

I've been looking for some subject matter that would translate well to a large canvas and my aesthetic, and that had a tendency toward abstraction. Celia's photos felt like the perfect inspiration. Following are two large scale (22" x 30") paintings finished today. I think I may be on to something here.

"Break", watercolor painting by Rochelle Weiner

Inspiration / Paintings / photography / Watercolor - 07/17/2011

In progress: Shadows and daylilies

Original photo - "Shadows and daylilies"

I've started working on a new painting based on a photo I took last week. Even though stopping to take a few photos made me a little late to my class, I think it was worth it. I feel strongly that you have to grab the moments of inspiration when they are presented to you. The light in this scene was too lovely to pass up.

Wet into wet

The image at left is the photo I took, and last night I started working on the underpainting (below). The underpainting is the first layer of paint, and it's where I determine the beginnings of my composition and the pattern of color I want to create. I always do this step "wet into wet" - which means I thoroughly soak my paper first (I use Arches 140lb watercolor paper) and then work into it with very wet watercolor paint. The effect is that the color seeps like crazy, fuzzing out the hard edges and leaving you with a soft layer of color.

Don't forget the seasoning

Once I'm happy with the underpainting and pretty much ready to leave it to dry, lots of times I will add salt into the wet. The salt has the effect of repelling the color that it sits on, so you are left with spots of white around each grain of salt. If you've ever worked in watercolor you know how important it is to preserve your whites as it's very hard (sometimes impossible) to get them back once you've applied paint to the area. The salt helps keep the whites and adds a freshness and unpredictability to the panel since you can't control how the color will repel.

I couldn't help myself and as it was drying I did start putting in a few sharp lines and shadows. This is not technically the underpainting stage but I just couldn't wait. I finally walked away and left the painting to dry overnight - next step is to start laying in more color and depth. Can't wait!

See the progress on "Shadows and daylilies".

Paintings / Salt / Watercolor - 07/14/2011

Add another crinkle

Still working on the masa crinkled paper technique - I did another in my "Row of Trees" series. I really like how this technique adds a weathered feeling to the painting, an integrated texture that seems to really enhance a landscape painting.

It's funny working with this technique as you really have to be prepared to just roll with whatever happens, more so than in standard watercolor painting. Not only does the color creep across the page as it moves in the wet, but it also runs along the lines of the crinkles.

In this case I think the effect is what I was after. I wanted to catch the feeling of early morning sun casting long shadows against a row of trees. The crinkles seem to add an emotional element to it - almost like a moment remembered from another time - a reminiscence of something pleasant you saw once.

Pictured above, "Shadows", by Rochelle Weiner - watercolor on Masa paper crinkle technique

Masa paper / Paintings - 07/14/2011

Love a gallery night