Beach Scenes by artist Liana Yarckin

22x30

original watercolor

by Liana Yarckin

I had so much fun painting the last group of seals that I painted another seal.  We saw this little guy in Chatham Harbor.  He and his 5 or 6 buddies were having fun swimming for the morning crowd.  An hour and a half had gone by before we knew it watching them.  They would come mostly on their backs and show their bellies to the sun.  It was really relaxing watching them swim and float with such ease.  The water was truly clear so that you really could see their bodies in the water.

So.... what should I name this painting?  Do you have an idea?  Morning Swim, Cool Waters, Self Reflection?  This painting makes me think of the cold water that I have dipped in only briefly.  Because the water is so clear, it always tempts me to go in, but, it is soooooo cold.  It is refreshing, but, I always stay in for under 5 minutes.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on titles and the painting!

Beach Scenes by artist Liana Yarckin

King of the Bell Buoy

15x22

My son and I were so lucky to get to spend some time in Newport Beach with his best buddy from school.  Aside from the mild temperatures, enjoying everything alfresco, walking on Balboa Island (I took tons of pics. for paintings of these charming streets), hanging out with good friends and dinner on the beach, we were so lucky to see these seals.  Some friends took us on a boat ride all around the marina.  The highlight of our boat ride for not only our little ones, but, I think it brought out the child in all of us, was riding out to the bell buoy to see these seals.  We were able to get very close and hang out for a bit to watch these cute guys swim and hang out on the bell buoy.  I cannot say that they were sunbathing.  There was such a thick mist in the air.  They call it June Glooms and it was still hanging around on this morning even though it was mid July.

From the artist's point of view, although the original photo shows the entire bell buoy with several seals and even a seal swimming in the water, I focused on this group of seals for this painting.  I did want to keep enough of the buoy in so that those familiar with the area would know exactly where this was when they see it and also, I liked the contrast of these wild creatures on this hard man made structure.  

I painted the seals with quinacquidone gold, yellow ochre, brown madder, french ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and a mixture of permanent rose and Winsor Blue.  The red in the buoy has about 5 different shades of orange to red.  This painting is twice the size of most of my paintings.  I felt like the size was necessary for the subject.  I did enjoy having a larger area of paper to mix my colors on.  In addition, I did use a 1 1/2" flat brush for most of the painting.  

Thanks for visiting and / or thank you to my email subscribers for taking the time to read my thoughts and emailing me yours.

Home Portraits by Liana Yarckin

11x14 watercolor

by Liana Yarckin

11x14 watercolor 

by Liana Yarckin

Above are two house portraits I did in May and forgot to post.  The painting on top was commissioned as a gift for her husband's 50th birthday.  The timing was perfect because they had just completed renovating this home using "green building".  This means the home is environmentally responsible and resource efficient.  Aside from being friendly to the environment, the materials used and the HVAC system both protect and improve the occupants' health and productivity. 

The painting on the bottom was commissioned for a Mother's Day gift.  This house is the definition of charming.  It truly is one of my most favorite homes.  I love all of the details, the stone work, the windows, the iron window boxes, the gorgeous ironwork on the door and then the perfect lavender and white petunias overflowing in the window boxes.  

If you would like to commission your home, vacation home or a gift, please contact me for details.  I offer 11x14 watercolors or 8x10 pen and inks at reasonable prices.  To see a  collection of home portraits by me, visit my Facebook page or website.

Have a great week!

Conch Shell Abstraction Complete

Conch Shell

16x20 watercolor

by Liana Yarckin

 Painting Area one day on vacation

A lobster roll from J.T.'s Seafood, check out that claw

I finally finished the conch shell abstraction.  It was a fun and liberating experience.  Finishing it in my studio got me lost in the zone.  I continued painting in the grid with gradations, then at a stopping point, I noticed it was two equals - water and shell.  I decided to work on the shell so that it would pop out as the star.  I left the white strips because they reminded me of the sunlight reflections in the water.  I was trying to show a conch shell in beautiful clear moving water like the water in Turks and Caicos where it is so aqua, yet, see through to many several feet below.  Several shades of aqua blue with white sand far below and reflections of bright sunlight.  Please read my last post to get the full story of the abstraction process.

I am thrilled that we got to go on our annual Cape Cod trip to visit my husband's family.  Normally, we stay for a long time and I get to crank out a bunch of paintings, but, this year we did things a little different.  With my kids at camp, my husband and I went to Montreal.  This was such a fantastic trip.  The highlight was riding the rental bikes that are on every corner all over to see the sites.  We were lucky to eat delicious French food and go to the comedy festival that happened to be in town.  Then we drove to Maine to pick our kids up from camp.  Our road trip included stops in Burlington, VT and Kennebunkport, ME before ending up at the Cape.  So in other words, I had a blast, but, did very little painting.

I had to post a pic of a lobster roll from J.T.'s Seafood because of the last post from photos taken the previous summer.  I promise I am not on commission or an owner of J.T.'s, but, take a look at that lobster claw.  The best lobster roll I had this trip was at The Colony in Kennebunkport, though.  

Despite not painting much, I took several photos of cafes, sailboats, flowers and anything that made me say, "ooh, i want to paint that."  Where are your summer travels taking you?  If it is summer in your parts of the woods, that is. 

As always, thanks for visiting and your comments and thoughts make me smile.