My Self-Invented Method
The 80 Eggs Project
Early on, I set out to invent my personal style of "wet-in-wet" painting with watercolors.
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I endeavored to learn how to paint smooth-as-silk gradients, from highlights to shadows, and on the rounded surfaces of fruit.
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​I assigned myself a study where I painted egg-like shapes to learn how to achieve smooth transitions on the curved surfaces and shadows.​
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As I experimented, I found the correct ratio of pigment to water, gaining some control over the medium to achieve a smoother gradient.
By the end of the study, I had painted 80-ish eggs! My efforts had paid off!
Still-life setup on my lanai in Kona
Completed painting :: Carmen's Passion
​​​​​​​​​This painting, Carmen's Passion, shows my still life setup and the finished painting.
(Notice on the bottom on the mango on the far left, I snuck in a sliver of orange light!)
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The yellow plumeria, red and green coffee berries, papaya and lilikoi (passion fruit), were harvested wild from our property in Kainaliu.
In the darker sections of my paintings, there are upwards of 10 to 12 layers of the pigment/water mixture, creating the most saturated jewel-tone colors imaginable.
​​​​My larger works took 35 to 45 hours from conception to completion.
