Livin' Large

You don't see very many over weight people in Europe so I was surprised to see this large lady at an outdoor cafe. She looked like a happy sort and was enjoying the company of friends while having lunch.
4 1/2" x 6 1/2" watercolor

Mountain Colors

Having lived in the Sierras for more than 20 years, scenes like this are commonplace and even taken for granted. We lived approximetly 20 miles outside of Nevada City, near the little town of North San Juan. The town has 2 small grocery stores, 1 gas station, 1 bar (The Brass Rail) and 1 restuarant (Toki's). Most of the town residents are either loggers, miners or hippies, and quite a colorful lot they are. I have many good memories of those people and times. Debi and I lived, and our kids grew up in the woods on our 6-1/2 acre parcel. We built a house, dug a well and planted a huge garden. (We were in the hippie group.) Chickens, turkeys, goats, ducks, Great Danes and cats romped all over the place. What a fun time in our lives. Then we moved to civilization and got civilized.......(sort of)....... but we still have the memories.

9"x12" watercolor on 120 lb. acid free paper $120.00 +$5 S&H

Autumn Leaves

Leaves changing colors, cooler weather, Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend, Sun. 11/4.
In 1784 Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea of setting our clocks ahead during the spring and summer and then setting them back during the winter. The reason was to save money on expensive lamp oil. Pretty good idea.

It's not the cooler weather that makes the leaves change colors, it's the lack of sunlight.
As the photosynthesis in the leaves slows down and the chlorophyll dissappears, the bright green in the leaves is replaced with the yellows, browns and reds that we see, from left over glucose. These different colors have always been there but the bright green chlorophyll covered it up. The brown colors in leaves from oaks and other trees is the left over waste. It's the combination of these things that make for the beautiful colors we see.

9"x12" watercolor on 120lb Arches paper. $125 + $5 S&H prints available $30 ea.

Easy Rider

This is one of my favorite watercolor surf paintings. Fast and spontaneous, not spending too much time laboring over details. After I finished I sprinkled sea salt over parts of the wave to get the mottled effect. The large granules of sea salt suck up the water and paint and leave a blank area. When the paint dries the salt is wiped off and voila it's finis. Mon deu!! (?)

watercolor 5"x7" on Canson 140 lb paper NFS

Coyright Bill Reed 2007

Gardenia

Painting a white flower on white paper is quite an interesting set of problems to solve. Basically it's painting only the shadows. I threw away a few before I started getting the hang of it.

This is a 9"x12" watercolor on 140 lb paper $65.00 + $5 S&H