BEACHED SAILBOAT

BEACHED SAILBOAT

What a majestic sight! Walking along the beach on Florida's Gulf Coast, I spotted this beached catamaran sitting alone, silently, gently tilting with the soft waves. This gem would look wonderful in your home, a reminder of a special vacation or just a peaceful vision.

Simply Gorgeous

"This is a gorgeous collection from the OnFireTeam. Enjoy!," says oneofakindbabydesign from oneofakindbabydesign . I'm so pleased that my Beached Sailboat was included in something called "Gorgeous!"

POMEGRANATES

POMEGRANATES

The pomegranate is mentioned in ancient texts of the Bible and Homer. It's valued for its beauty and versatility as a fruit with medicinal qualities, It also is a symbol of prosperity, fruitfulness, and ambition, with many myths and religious meanings ascribed to it. That's what drew me to create this watercolor, showing the stunning fruit growing on its small tree. I hope that you enjoy the fine art reproduction made from my original painting.

New Growth for the New Year

"Enjoy these organic, growing images from the On Fire for Handmade team!" says Molly Kimball from ElephantBeads . My Pomegranates fit right in with this great theme!

BEACHED SAILBOAT

BEACHED SAILBOAT

What a majestic sight! Walking along the beach on Florida's Gulf Coast, I spotted this beached catamaran sitting alone, silently, gently tilting with the soft waves. I tried to capture this lovely moment in my original watercolor painting. This gem would look wonderful in your home, a reminder of a special vacation or just a peaceful vision.

Lush is Life

Ana Gonçalves from ChanelledCreations created this gorgeous collection featuring 100% EtsyLush Team Members. I'm thrilled that she included my Sailboat!

BIRCH TREES IN WINTER

BIRCH TREES IN WINTER

In a surprise early snow, some trees on the mountains still have their leaves, but the birch trees are already bare. This majestic painting will create a peaceful, serene look at Nature's Beauty right in your home!

Hey Santa, Can You Make My Wish Come True?

Daniela Mati from supplierofdreams created this wonderful collection of stunning handmade and fine art items for you to enjoy!

PURPLE RAIN

PURPLE RAIN

 I was inspired to create this one rainy day while looking out of my window during a storm and picturing all of the wonderful colors that could be there instead of gray! This fine art reproduction of my original painting will be stunning in your home!

Purple rain, purple rain....
Justyna from YarnAndArt  created this stunning collection of fabulous purple items from talented and creative people on Etsy!

PINK SUNSET

PINK SUNSET

 For me, this painting expresses the beauty of a serenely peaceful evening sky with its pink, turquoise,and peach colors - colors that are soft and beautiful. What a wonderful fantasy, a soothing focal point for your very special room!

Just Peachy

"A collection of items in pastel peach," says StarJems from StarJems . Enjoy!

POINSETTIA

POINSETTIA

This gorgeous flower is perfect any time of year, but especially at Christmas! I hope that you will find a great home for my Fine Art Reproduction of my Original Watercolor Painting of the brilliant Red Poinsettia.

ON FIRE Red Gift Guide

"Gift ideas from the On Fire Team," says Hazel Wollbrinck from MyGemstoneDesigns  of her firey red gift selections!

Christmas Shopping 101

jcstrong from jcstrong  says, "Let's see, a card, ribbon, wrapping paper, and a gift; that should do it! Etsy has everything you need....." Have fun shopping here!

SUNSET WITH PELICAN FINE ART PHOTOGRAPH

SUNSET WITH PELICAN

"Sunset with Pelican" is a Fine Art Photograph that shows the brilliance of a dramatic orange sky. The pelican adds a wonderful dimension to this Gulf of Mexico scene. This photo was taken on Anna Maria Island in Florida and will make a great addition to your home.

This Gift Guide is ON FIRE!
"Warm up your holiday shopping with members of the On Fire For Handmade Team!" says Aimee from aimeesrockworks . Enjoy!

MAUVE PANSIES PAINTING

MAUVE PANSIES

This original painting of the softly subtle colors of these Mauve Pansies will bring the garden indoors into your home!

What color is puce?

graphicals from graphicals created this amazing collection. Now you know what "puce" is!!

POMEGRANATES WATERCOLOR

POMEGRANATES

by Barbara Rosenzweig

The pomegranate is mentioned in ancient texts of the Bible and Homer. It's valued for its beauty and versatility as a fruit with medicinal qualities, It also is a symbol of prosperity, fruitfulness, and ambition, with many myths and religious meanings ascribed to it. That's what drew me to create this watercolor, showing the stunning fruit growing on its small tree. I hope that you enjoy the fine art reproduction made from my original painting.

Snuggle Bug Sunday Morning with Friends
Curator Anne from WeeLambieKnits says, "Like reading the Sunday paper!" I hope that you enjoy this terrific collection of handmade and fine art gift items!

SUNSET ABSTRACT 1 WATERCOLOR

SUNSET ABSTRACT

by Barbara Rosenzweig

The changing colors of the sky always fascinated me. Here, the sun had just set and the sky's vibrant hues are vividly reflected in the water. This origianl watercolor painting is a soothing addition to your home.

Sunsets on Fire
"Last night's sunset was as gorgeous as these! Enjoy!" says Curator JimAndGina from JimAndGina.

BIRCH TREES IN WINTER ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR

BIRCH TREES IN WINTER

by Barbara Rosenzweig

In a surprise early snow, some trees on the mountains still have their leaves, but the birch trees are already bare. This majestic painting will create a peaceful, serene look at Nature's Beauty right in your home!

Warm inside and out!
Curator Robin from Nibord says, "These are things that warm me literally and figuratively." What a wonderful collection!

GIRL INTO THE SURF WATERCOLOR PAINTING

GIRL INTO THE SURF

by Barbara Rosenzweig

My wonderful scene shows the pure girlish delight at being on the beach. I tried to capture this child's independent strut into the surf to fill her bucket! Can you smell the salt air, hear the surf, and feel the sand between your toes?

Beach House Finds

Curator Jennifer Seward from bluewaveglass selected wonderful items for this collection! Check them out.

MUREX SEASHELL WATERCOLOR PAINTING

MUREX SEASHELL

by Barbara Rosenzweig

This Murex is one of my favorite seashells! I love all of its soft pink, purple and amber tones, its distinctive spikes, textures, and valleys, and its luminous translucent shell. I tired to capture just that for YOU! This fine art reproduction makes a wonderful companion piece to my Chambered Nautilus, Knobbed Whelk, and Sea Urchin.

Linked to Mosaic Monday

Woodland Silk
"Delicate colors of sea foam and pale pink bring a special feeling to this treasury of wonderful creations.... Please visit each one and make it one of your favorite items....," says Curator Marge Mills from PersonalDesignz. This is an absolutely stunning collection!

PAINTING PROCESS - LITTLE BOY BLUE in the CORNFIELD

Over the past few months, I had gotten a lot of questions from people who wanted to learn more about my painting process. So at the end of August, I posted my first demo about my “Devil's Trumpet” watercolor painting.

Now, instead of a flower, here’s a new painting that I would like to share with you.

First, I took a number of photos of an adorable child who was at the local farmers' market where I was showing my artwork. After chasing him around trying to get a good shot, he stopped for a moment, slowly looked behind him to see if I was still there, and I finally got the shot I had hoped for!

Once I had sketched the image of the boy from the photo onto heavy weight 300 lb Arches watercolor paper, I had to decide where I would have him standing in the painting. For me, the parking lot and Jeep just didn't work. In my mind, dressed as he was, the best setting would be in a cornfield.

I worked on the figure first, starting to roughly put in some details like the shirt, jeans, and shoes. I left the face only lightly filled in. For the hat, I put in jagged lines of a darker straw color to indicate its woven nature, with the suggestion of a hat band. However, before going too far, I wanted to create a sense of light and the feeling of a cornfield to help me maintain the goal that I was striving for.

I then continued to slowly work on the clothing, concentrating on the dark folds to give the shirt and jeans depth and dimension.

From there, I finished the preliminary painting and then started to fine tune it - most time-consuming part of creating an artwork.



There are many, many stages of this process that I will not be showing you because a lot of them are subtle. From the painting below, you can see that I had started defining the cornstalks, glazing (adding light washes of paint) to the clothing, and reworking the face, which I continued to do for quite some time. Although in the photo the light was actually coming from the back of the child , I wanted it to come from the front in this painting. Because of this, I had to darken the back of the child, putting shadows under his hat and lightening the front of his face and body. For the cornstalks, I added the tassels, but didn't want to make them as distinct as the child to give it a dreamy effect.

The process continued with adding shadows to the back of the hat and back of the shoes, as well as lightening the front of the shoes.

Little Boy Blue in the Cornfield

by Barbara Rosenzweig

The final steps involved a lot of tweaking. For the face, I corrected his eye and the shadows to show his rosy cheek and the light coming on it at the proper angle. It was also necessary to better define the ground the child is standing on, the corn stalks, and the dimples in his elbow. Adding more stalks farther in the background I hoped would give a sense that the cornfield might be a vast one.

So here it is, "Little Boy Blue in the Cornfield." What do you think? Do you have any questions that I haven't answered? Do you have any suggestions for other subjects that I should try?

Thanks for coming along on this painting journey with me!

Linked to Tell Me Tuesday, Handmade Tuesday, Share the Love Wednesday, Wordish Wednesday, Sizzle into Summer Wednesday, Alphabe-Thursday.

PINK SUNSET WATERCOLOR PAINTING

Pink Sunset

by Barbara Rosenzweig

For me, this painting expresses the beauty of a serenely peaceful evening sky with its pink, turquoise,and peach colors - colors that are soft and beautiful. What a wonderful fantasy, a soothing focal point for your very special room!

Color Language

Curator Connie K. from ConnieKSalesArt said that she was, "Inspired by the art on Etsy. Beauty color. Amazing artists. Thank you for inspiring me."

MAUVE PANSIES PAINTING

Mauve Pansies

by Barbara Rosenzweig

This original painting of the softly subtle colors of these Mauve Pansies will bring the garden indoors into your home!

Blue and Burgundy "On Fire"

Curator Hazel Wolbrinck from MyGemstoneDesigns created this wonderful collection! So glad that my Mauve Pansies painting was a good fit here!

SEA URCHIN WATERCOLOR

Sea Urchin

by Barbara Rosenzweig

Another example of Nature's treasures from the Sea! The lasting color, the beautiful shape, the bumpy texture where its spines were attached, makes this sea urchin skeleton a facinating sea creature. This fine art reproduction of my original watercolor painting makes a unique gift for a shore home, especially when grouped with my other shell paintings!

Burgungy will set you ON FIRE!
Curator Jane from cardsbyjane creasted a collection of items that are richly colored in burgundy. Lots to choose from and enjoy!


On Fire - B is for Burgundy Blue
Curator Barbara from TouchOfSilver created a wonderful collect of handmade and fine art items, including my Sea Urchin watercolor painting. I hope that you enjoy it!

PURPLE RAIN WATERCOLOR

Purple Rain

by Barbara Rosenzweig

I was inspired to create this one day while looking out of my window during a storm and picturing all of the wonderful colors that could be there instead of gray! This will be stunning in a modern as well as traditional home!

Linked to Pink Saturday.

B & B ON FIRE
Curator Janet Long from Unrise has a wonderful selection of Blues and Burgundies, with my Purple Rain watercolor included!



Purple Rain
Curator Rebecca from NotMyBag created this uique collection that I hope you will enjoy!

RUSTY MOTOR WATERCOLOR

Rusty Motor

by Barbara Rosenzweig

It was love at first sight - the rich rusty colors blended with the wonderful blues, along with vivid shadows! Who would think that an electric motor could give such pleasure? Treat the man in your life to a great painting that will really liven up his workshop!

Boogie Woogie Blues

"I love this color combo, congrats on your beautiful items my fellow Etsiens!! says Curator Dee from kadootje77.  It's really neat that Dee created this collection with these colors, since that is the reason I painted my Rusty Motor watercolor.