Saturday, July 24, 2010

Summer Daze


On steaming hot summer days do you ever find yourself daydreaming about waves and cool ocean breezes?  Summer Daze is a 5x7 inch varnished watercolor on board and she is dressed in a lovely frame with 2 inch molding (framed size 9x11).  This painting is ready to take out of the box and hang on the wall.  This is a great gift idea for your friends or yourself.  Take a mental break and enjoy that ocean breeze.
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10 comments:

Judith Angell Meyer said...

This is a lovely little piece Vicki. Should sell very quickly!

I guess I have to show my ignorance here, but I actually never heard of varnishing a watercolor. What do you use, and how do you use it? How does the original change? Thanks for your information. :-)

Pat said...

Lovely little watercolour.
Reminds me so much of the beach and lazy days :)

Vicki Greene said...

Thanks so much Pat and Judith.
Judith on the topic of varnishing watercolors there is discussion on both sides of the fence but if you do a google search and/or check out WetCanvas there are several articles about it. I know that several well known artist are varnishing including Arleta Pech and Brigit O'Conner(who has created a video on varnishing WC). I am sure there are different ways to approach varnishing but this is what I do. It started when I tried to use aquaboard (created by Ampersand for watercolors that you can seal and frame w/o glass) but I did not care for the surface so I mounted 300 lb watercolor paper to my aquaboard using Golden Soft Gel Medium and painted my picture. I then spray sealed it using several layers of fixative and then I varnish it using 3-4 coats of Golden Satin Varnish. It gives a very natural finish that I like. Then I can frame as I would with an acrylic or oil. Since the varnish is an acrylic many say that makes the painting a mixed media but I am not entering any shows at the moment where that is a problem.

Christiane Kingsley said...

Vicki, this painting provides the perfect escape on a hot humid day: looking at it, I can so easily imagine the fresh breeze, the cooling sound of the crashing wave! It is a beautiful painting in the perfect frame.

On the topic of mounting the WC paper on a board: can one mount the WC on something like those thin masonite sheets/boards sold in art supply stores?

Vicki Greene said...

Christiane this was mounted on aquabord with is just 1/8 masonite with a special gesso coating. I used Golden Soft Gel Medium to mount the paper to the aquabord.

Christiane Kingsley said...

Thank you, Vicki. I should try this method one of these days. I love the results...and framing without glass would be a dream:-)

r garriott said...

So cool, so refreshing! Very nice.

Teresa Mallen said...

Lovely ocean colours and fabulous spray! The frame is perfect for this piece. Thanks for taking us to the sea! :-)

Vicki Greene said...

Thanks Christiane, R & Teresa. While I would not give up the traditional way of framing watercolors, I enjoy trying something new and I really like the process and results with this.

Barbara Fox said...

Vicki, I love this painting, and the framing is exquisite.
I have been mounting and varnishing paintings too. I started with some little ones, and have moved up to full sheet (scarey!). I love the look, and have found that a mixture of gloss and matte varnish really bring out the colors of florals.