getting serious about loosening up

Watercolor on gessoed watercolor paper. My daughter, Kajsa, went to Yellowstone this summer and took several photographs of the wildlife - I painted this once and it was stiff and awful so I tried again and this time it turned out much more like what I was aiming for -  I have never painted on gessoed paper before but it sure helped me to keep it loose - 8x10 -

I like this one!

This started out to be an acrylic under painting for an evening sky and distant treeline water color painting.  I realized that the foreground was too dark to go back in with watercolors which had been my original intention. (OK so I wasn't thinking straight from the get go ) Anyway,  I started messing around with pastels on the under painting and this is what I got and I'm very happy with it- Surprise!!! I never like my artwork and I like this. 11x14 on 300lb water color paper.

Having more fun with watercolors

Still having fun practicing watercolors -  working on getting looser --- for my birthday I got four new watercolor books that have inspired me to try new and different styles and techniques - I'm thrilled because I feel good enough to practice several days a week - small 4x6