Dunyavi Choreography

Margaritaville

With preparing for dance performances, recovering from dance performances and gardening three days a week, I decided that a new painting for April just wasn't going to happen. So I pulled out an oldie but goodie.

This is from a Plow and Hearth catalog from a few years ago. I was fascinated by the colors in the photograph of the pitcher and wondered if I could represent it in watercolor.

I was worried about accidentally making the color of the margarita mix too strong so I painted thin layers of lime or yellow color over the drink mix over and over till I was satisfied. I tend to be timid in my colors and often layer because of this fear, but in this case it worked well and gave the liquid mixture in the pitcher the depth it needed.

Bulerias Performance April 7, 2008

Dancers: Brenna Warnock-O'Hara, Lupita Espinosa, Peggy Bishop, Jenn Benites, Chandra Nair and Jennifer Laughlin

Sevillanas Performance

OK, this isn't watercolor, but it is art! Sevillanas are a folk dance from Southern Spain. They are taught as part of flamenco now, though their origin is not the same as flamenco. In Spain they have Sevillanas parties where people of all ages attend. It is a way you can flirt with someone of the opposite sex. So for young people, they are often eager to learn these dances so they can show off to a boy or girl they like.

This particular dance is just one of a thousand variations, though the basic structure is the same. There are 4 coplas, or sections, and each section is comprised of three parts. Each part is joined by what is called the "pasada sevillana" step. This is the first Sevillana I have learned and of course my first Sevillana performance. It's quite fun to dance with a partner because you really interact and the audience can see this, which makes the dance more interesting. I'm a student dancing with three teachers. I hope you like it!

Les Contamines

Les Contamines is in the French Alps. I visited my French cousins in February 2004 and took a photo of this scene while skiing down the slopes. I didn't take the photo while actually in the act of skiing, but while taking a break from skiing. I hadn't skied in 16 years(!) and so it took a long time for me to get down a slope that would take an experienced skier 10-15 minutes. However, each time I took a break, (or fell), I was able to take in the beauty of the Alps and take a photo. I was lucky I didn't smash my camera during my tumbles or break my leg for that matter. After skiing down this long slope, I went back up the mountain to visit with my cousins during lunch. Afterwards, I stayed at the lodge, which was just a large deck outdoors, and painted a small water color of the mountains. The temperature was about 25 degrees F that day, but with the cloudless sky, there was enough sun to paint and not form ice crystals till about 3:15 when the sun was starting to dip. That painting was very simple, but a French lady saw it and asked to buy it. So I sold it for 25 Euros!

Owen and Marlo

This portait was done on commission. I was nervous about it because I wasn't sure I could make them look blond and get enough contrast. I wanted the hair of the children to sort of glow. I think the children's hair color turned out well, though I didn't achieve as much of a glowing effect as I had envisioned. This painting was done in October of 2006, before I started reading art books. I worked very hard on this painting, too hard, and I can see it. The art books are helping me work a little less hard with decent results.

Winter Sunset

This painting was a candidate for a Christmas card. I used a technique I read about in a book by Nita Engle, "How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself". Her book inspired me to experiment and that has helped me loosen up a bit and not worry if my painting is "good".

I ended up not using this painting for a Christmas card because I had another painting I liked better. Maybe I'll use this one next Christmas!