Heat of the Sun

"Adobe in the Sun", 7"x9", watercolor on paper, copyright Erin Rogers Pickering

The heat and the vibrancy of the Southwest sun.  Love it!

I really pumped up the color of these buildings to capture the experience of that moment, and that trip... 

The heat, the vividness, the energy, the wonder, and the deep-down-all-over-amazing feelings of being in Taos.  The firey color palette brings it all back in a heartbeat!  I can feel the warmth of that sun on my face again.

Like getting a visual hit of vitamin D.  

Ah... that'll help get me through the rest of winter in NJ.

Upcoming Watercolor Workshop - playing with paint

Evergreen, watercolor sketch, copyright Erin Rogers Pickering

My  little girl loves "water painting" with me!  We go through stacks of copy paper painting, experimenting, doodling, mixing colors and playing... okay, we both love it!  :)

Last week while painting with her I took out my Strathmore watercolor cards so I could 'play' a little more seriously.  I am starting to prep for a watercolor workshop on Jan 29th at Gerayln's Art Studio, and wanted to try out some salt techniques.  So using her crayola pan paints and some wacky, bent up bristle brush I tried out the salt on my tree.

Now, I love my Windsor & Newton series 7 brushes and my holbein tube watercolor paints (never giving them up!)... but I was impressed that I got decent results with kiddie brushes and paints because I had good paper.

And, she was super excited, and felt very grown up, to get to paint on Mommy's cards!


“When we engage in what we are naturally suited to do, our work takes on the quality of play and it is play that stimulates creativity.” – Linda Naiman

For details on playing with watercolors at my workshop check out Maplewood Patch.