SUNNY TRIO

A number of weeks ago, I completed this painting, and tried to get a good photo of it to post. I never did get a good likeness and when I tried to correct for color in Photoshop, some were too yellow, some were too green. I posted a picture of Sunny Trio anyways, and when I spoke with a new artist friend, Vern, he told me that the colors looked pastel and washed out on his big, beautiful monitor. I was really disappointed, and wouldn't let my husband mat and frame the painting because I didn't have a good enough photo for my portfolio.

But - FINALLY - I have figured out how to get an accurate replication of my paintings!!!!

I have scanned the painting in sections, brought it into Photoshop and merged the sections to make the final picture of this painting - and it finally looks RIGHT!!! You can see the beautiful batik background and the brightness of the yellows and the centers of the flowers. And the greens and blues are the right hues. I am so excited to learn how to do this! It will revolutionize all my efforts from now on with my paintings. No matter how many sections I have, Photoshop will merge them into one picture. I LOVE technology!!!

So Vern - I have reposted this one so that you can see it as it truly is. Thanks for pushing me to find a new way to get it right! :-)

If you are interested in purchasing this original 15" x 22" watercolor painting on 300 lb. Arches paper, please contact me at

jogiesbrecht@gmail.com

Pair of Onions in transparent watercolor

This is a small (for me) painting  - only 4 inches by 6 inches, but amazingly, it still took me quite a bit of time to do! I thought that if I am to reach my goal by the end of 2009, I had better begin to paint some paintings that were smaller than 22.5 x 30.5 inches! When you are working in watercolor paints, and applying many glazes of color, it can take a LOOOONNNNGGGG time to complete a painting. What was my goal, you ask? Well, I hesitate to say as it is already the 13th of March - but it was to paint 50 paintings this year. Please don't gasp so deeply! Remember, in my mind a goal is just something to strive toward. I may never reach that goal, but I figured if I didn't set something in writing, I would mosey along, and not really achieve anything significant. And how many have I completed? (I KNEW you would ask that question!) I have now completed 3 paintings, and have 2 more on the go currently. However, the two I have started are 30" x 30" and 22.5 x 30.5 inches... both are very large. So, I will be working on smaller paintings at the same time as these two larger ones - in order to reach toward that goal by December 31st. 

Now that I have finished with these two onions - they are going into the next couple of days of meals. I read one person's tweet (she is a writer for a newspaper in the States), and she has issued a challenge to "eat to the bottom of your fridge for one week".  By this, she meant to not buy any groceries for a week, but instead, be really creative to eat everything you already have in your fridge (and in your cupboards). I thought that was a great idea, and so far this week, we have had Jambalaya, home made beef and vegetable soup, salmon, sweet potato and green beans and a meal with a sausage that was stuffed with spinach and feta cheese. I repeated the spinach as our vegetable, along with carrots and squash. Tonight will be leftovers, and on Saturday I will make homemade brown beans and whole wheat bread (which I usually make on Saturdays).  What do you think? Can you go a whole week without purchasing any groceries, and instead put together meals with what you already have in your cupboards and fridge? Lots of people were really creative - and there were some very unusual combinations being put together.  I am sure that is how some recipes came into existence, especially during the Depression. 

Speaking of Depression recipes - if you want to see a dear and amazing 93 year old woman sharing recipes that she grew up on in the Depression, go here to watch her cooking on YouTube! 

Happy weekend, everyone!

Pair of Onions is a transparent watercolor painting, 4" x 6" on 140 lb. Arches watercolor paper.  Pair of Onions,  is $49.00, unframed, plus shipping and handling or $56.00 in a clear glass clip frame, plus shipping and handling. If you are interested, you can e-mail me at: jogiesbrecht@gmail.com.

a work in progress

After spending two weeks in Mexico, what else would I want to do except paint something that reflects the sights, sounds and smells of the fabulous marketplaces which are in every city? So, here is the beginning of a full sheet watercolor of a lovely woman selling flowers.

I told you that we had several adventures on this trip - the first being just getting to the airport. Because of the snow, we had to wait for our plane to be de-iced, which meant we were late taking off. We made it into Los Angeles just in time to make our connecting flight, but when we arrived in Guadalajara, we discovered that our 3 checked bags had not made the connecting flight. It is such a pain to try to explain that you are missing luggage when you do not speak much Spanish, and the forms you have to fill out are not long, but painfully slow to do. Our kids thought we had missed our flight, and were ready to leave the airport just as we came through the customs doors - whew! Glad they waited so long! It was a 37 degree C. day - and we were loving every minute of warmth. :-)

When we got to the house, we found this very sweet message from our granddaughter who had given up her room for us.  There was also artwork on the walls, which had price tags on each one - her own art gallery. We ended up buying every picture of course... what fun! What a great imagination she has!

Our luggage arrived late the next day, to the delight of all. We finally had clothes to wear, and the gifts we took from others as well as us were given out. There was a great deal of excitement in the air. One of the items the children had asked for was a pair of rubber boots, so that when the rainy season comes, they can be outside in the rain. (My daughter remembers vividly her red pair of boots which she wore when she splashed in puddles and walked to school. I am sure she has told her children stories about those red boots!) You will not believe it, but the next afternoon, there was actually a shower. Sydney and Mateo ran to get on their new boots, and played in the yard as the few sprinkles came down. They weren't even wet when the rain ended, but they had "played in the rain"!

Next post I will tell you about our trip to the beach - Manzanillo. Another adventure for another day!

Now back to painting. YEAH!!!

Retreat Road

A couple of years ago, I was at a retreat centre just outside of Calgary. When I went for a walk down one of the nearby roads, I came upon this pretty scene. An artist friend of mine, Michelle Wiebe, has been encouraging me to focus on my watercolors, and to be more "loose" in my approach. Well, Michelle, this quick little study is for you! :-)

Onion Bucket

Being a mostly self-taught artist has meant not just exploration and discovery for me, but also study of and learning from other artists' techniques. This 22 1/2" x 15" watercolor is probably my favorite of all my watercolor work to date. It was inspired by the work of Ray Hendershot from his book, Texture Techniques for Winning Watercolors. I have done other watercolors of buckets since painting this one a number of years ago, but the pleasure this painting brings me each time I view it pushes me forward to learn and grow more as an artist.

This painting is not for sale. 

Please contact me if you wish to commission a painting: jogiesbrecht@gmail.com