Category: 8×10″

Cloud Study

cloud study watercolor maeiapeagler.com
Day 5 of#30paintingsin30days with my sky theme.

This painting was selected as a DailyPaintworks “Pick of the Day.”

I’m doing a lot practice getting my skies and clouds right.

Soft edges, flooding the paper with water, getting the paint colors and ratios just right.

I do a lot of smaller studies before I do a finished painting.

This is a larger study and I love the way the colors blended and granulated on the paper.

This is watercolor at its best:  you can’t get this effect with any other medium.

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8×10″ #watercolorpainting on 140-lb cold-pressed paper. $100

#landscape #cloudscape #mariapeagler

Mt. Revelstoke Mist: Sky Painting IV

mt revelstoke mist maria peagler watercolor
Mt. Revelstoke is a tiny Canadian National Park popular with skiiers, as it has the highest vertical peak in the country.  We visited in the summer, and at the top of the peak was snow.  In June.  Quite a surprise for this Southern girl.

We drove to the top of the mountain on the Meadows in the Sky parkway.  On the drive down, it started misting over Revelstoke right at sunset, and it was a breathtaking scene.

This is Day 4 of my #30paintingsin30days with a sky theme.  Getting the mist effect on the mountains required quite a bit of practice without it looking overworked.  I’m happy with the way this turned out.  I wanted to emphasize the light and the depth of the scene, neither of which are easy in landscapes.

Price: $100

#mountrevelstokenationalpark #watercolorpainting #canada #revelstoke

 

40,000 Feet: Sky Painting II

This was my view as I flew to Philadelphia in 2014 to speak at a conference of women business owners.

I marveled at the curved horizon line and gentle clouds.

I’ll never be a pilot or an astronaut, but for this one day I felt I had a tiny glimpse of their unique window to the world.

This is my second painting for the #30paintingsin30days challenge, and I’m incorporating an experiment into each painting.  Yesterday it was painting on 300-lb paper; today I painted on Fabriano hot-press paper.

I love this paper, but it’s not ideal for painting skies.  I needed a thoroughly wet surface, and hot-press buckles even when I taped it down.

I also painted this in an Old Masters palette of Indigo, Yellow Ochre and Indian Red, and wow was it depressing.  I’m glad I’m an artist in the 21st century when we’re spoiled with a range of beautiful paints.

This will become the back of a future, more successful, painting:

40000 feet cloudscape watercolor painting old masters palette

I’m making each of the #30paintingsin30days a standard size, either 5×7″ or 8×10″, making them easy to frame.  They’ll be $100 and available here on my blog or on DailyPaintworks.

Price: $100
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8×10″ watercolor on Fabriano 140-lb hot-pressed paper

#watercolorpainting #landscape #cloudscape #delta #mariapeagler

 

Golden Isles Bound

We travel to St. Simon’s Island and Jekyll Island every year, and the cloudscapes on the drive are incredible.

Ironically, I’ve found the most beautiful clouds and sunsets are in open spaces like interstates and large shopping mall parking lots.

This is my first painting for the #30paintingsin30days challenge. I’m focusing on a sky theme, and I’m excited to see the progress I make in my landscapes over the month.

It will be a challenge because we’re traveling for some time during September, so I’ll need to either paint on vacation or prepare some ahead of time.

Truly a joyful endeavor.

I’m making each of the #30paintingsin30days a standard size, either 5×7″ or 8×10″, making them easy to frame.  They’ll be $100 and available here on my blog or on DailyPaintworks.

SOLD

8×10″ watercolor on Arches 300-lb cold-pressed paper

#watercolor #landscape #stsimonsisland #jekyllisland #mariapeagler

My Latest Watercolor Painting

I turned lemons into lemonade with this painting. My beloved lab Shadow fell out of our truck (she was in the back seat on my son’s lap and leaned too far out the window). It was on a Sunday, so I had to take her to an emergency vet.

The only vet open on Sunday was in Blue Ridge, a scenic mountain town about an hour from me. Thankfully she was ok, but on the way home I stopped to take some photos of the gorgeous vistas.

I’ve long wanted to paint hay bales, and did this one directly: no drawing, just paint directly on the paper.

Ebo Landing at Frederica River

St. Simon’s Island is one of my family’s favorite vacation spots, and where we have a family reunion each year.  My husband has family in this beautiful island town, and they graciously provide their homes as our gathering spots for the reunions.

As a thank you, I painted this for my husband’s cousin.  He has a home on the Frederica River, and has a retired pilot boat he use to drive to guide large ships through the channel between Jekyll & St. Simon’s islands.

This painting how hangs in a place of honor in his home.