Last spring, fortunate folks from around the world were privileged to witness spectacular displays of northern lights.

Many people posted their photos of this cosmic magic online so the rest of us could enjoy it too.

Several of my previous clients were caught up in the excitement of these celestial sightings and asked me if I would create some paintings of northern lights to add to their collections.

This inspired me to produce a series of eleven aurora paintings this spring and summer. Six pieces were done in more traditional green and blue hues. The other five artworks were inspired by the pinks, oranges, and yellows seen in recent aurora events.

All eleven scenes are imaginary places, but their details come from my close observation of nature. It takes at least five layers of paint to build up the intense colour and soft transitions of the aurora skies. (Not to mention lots of practice, and several failed attempts, to determine the right painting strategy!)

Let me introduce you to this new group of paintings.

Sky Magic (commission), varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel (sold). Northern lights curve through the heavens, echoing the rolling hills of a winter wonderland. Sturdy northern trees nestled in snowy beds create bold silhouettes against this magical sky.

Sky Dance, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel $600. Northern lights waltz across the night sky in a luminous cosmic dance. Their glorious hues and shapes contrast dramatically with a stark winter landscape. Click here to see framed views of this painting.

Passing Through, varnished watercolour on 11 x 14 inch panel $900. Northern lights are an awe-inspiring sight. They billow and flow over the wintry land, quickly passing through the night skies as we gaze on in wonder. Click here for more information about this artwork.

Northern Frolic, (commission) varnished watercolour on 4 x 6 inch panel (sold). Sometimes the aurora appear in spring or fall when lakes are open to reflect the lively celestial dance.

Northern Delight, (commission) varnished watercolour on 4 x 6 inch panel (sold). This small painting was a test piece for a larger composition, but turned out well enough to stand on its own merits.

Royalty on the Ridge, varnished watercolour on 16 x 20 inch panel (sold). This painting came about when I wondered what northern lights would look like combined with two iconic northern features - white pines and a rocky ridge. Adding a full moon completed the majestic scene. This piece has found a home with a collector in South Dakota.

Evening Magic (commission), varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel (sold). Last spring, the pinks and yellows of the aurora were unusual and amazing, especially when reflected on peaceful northern lakes. This painting now resides in Czechoslovakia.

Evensong (commission), varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel (sold). It was pure joy to work with these intense colours. They contrast dramatically with the starry night sky and the trees on this wee island.

Watching the Show, varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel $650. This display of colourful northern lights shines through the night sky like a prism. White pines angled down the hill remind me of stadium seating at a concert. They have a front row seat for the cosmic performance. Click here to see framed views of this piece.

Witnessing Wonder, varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel $650. Northern lights dance across the night sky in rippling rays of prismatic colour. Like the venerable white pine in the foreground, we are privileged to witness this celestial wonder. Click here for more details about this painting.

Springtime Aurora, varnished watercolour on 10 x 10 inch panel $600. In this scene, glowing hues of the aurora contrast dramatically with tree-covered islands in a vast northern lake. Click here to see framed views of this artwork.

I hope you have enjoyed this parade of new paintings. It was very satisfying to imagine and invent beautiful wild places bathed in spectacular aurora light.

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Today is International Rock Day, a fitting time to share the inspiration behind four of my recent paintings.

Each of them grew from my exploration of the rocky shores of northern Ontario lakes. These places restore my soul and I look forward to spending time near beautiful northern lakes each year.

Superior Sapphire, varnished watercolour on 24 x 12 inch panel, $1400.

This painting was an imaginary night scene, composed using elements from three actual places I visited. Pictured below are my reference photos.

The first photo is the boulder-strewn shoreline of Lake Superior at Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, taken in 2017 when we camped near this beach.

The second photo captures a beautiful full moon over Lake Ontario. We were camped just steps from this beach at Quinte Isle Campark in 2020.

The third photo I selected for its overhanging branches. We were hiking the shoreline trail at Solitaire Lake near Huntsville, ON in 2022.

Click here for more information about Superior Sapphire.

Twenty years ago, my husband and I spent a sunny August weekend at a lodge on a cluster of tiny islands in Georgian Bay. While kayaking there, I was treated to my first up-close views of the iconic rock of that region of Ontario. 

The patterns in these smooth rock slabs and the windswept trees are an artist's dream to paint. They have inspired many artworks over the years, including the three shown here.

A Place to Dream, varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel, $650.

Pictured below are the two reference photos I used. The first one was for the foreground and middle ground of the composition. The second photo provided the background islands as well as the colour and texture of the water.

For more information about A Place to Dream, click here.

A Place of the Heart, varnished watercolour on 14 x 11 inch panel, $900.

I had a choice of two photos as reference for this scene. They were taken in morning light and evening light. I felt the first shot did a better job of showcasing the foreground rock slab, so this is the photo I referenced as the painting progressed.

I altered the shape of the large island to place it entirely in the composition, and added some rocky islands in the middle to lead the viewers eye to the island. I changed the shape and size of the trees to make them more dramatic.

Click here for more information about A Place of the Heart.

The Windy Shore, varnished watercolour on 20 x 16 inch panel, $1500.

This is one of my all-time favourite paintings. The sinuous lines in the rocks lead the viewers eye into the scene and up through the wind-sculpted tree. I love the contrast of warm stone with the blue waters of Georgian Bay.

I used three reference photos to create my composition. The first one was the main reference, and I emphasized light and shadow on the rocks.

I used the second photo to see more details of the headland.

The third photo provided the cloudy sky and a handsome windswept pine tree.

For more details about The Windy Shore, click here.

I hope you have enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at how I explore beautiful wild places and transform those experiences into paintings that embody the soul-deep connection I have with this land.

If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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I am happy to share that Starting Over, varnished watercolour on 12 x 9 inch panel, has found a new home. Thank you and congratulations to the collector and to Colborne Street Gallery by Tim + Chris in Fenelon Falls, ON. This painting has an interesting back story. It took five years to complete.

Why so long? It began its journey as a demonstration painting for my beginner watercolour workshops in the spring of 2018. Pictured below are students in class, with my painting in its early stage laying on the table in front of them.

I continued to work on this demonstration painting during several more pebble workshops. Once classes were done that year, I put the painting aside because I didn't like the colours. The leaf was dull and dark and didn't contrast with the pebbles enough.

Since watercolour is a transparent medium, any new layers of colour I might add would just increase the dullness and darkness. The pebbles had good shape and composition but the colours were all too similar.

The painting languished in a drawer in my studio for five years until I came across it one day. I thought I really should do something with this piece, or scrap it.

Then in the middle of the night, the solution came to me: coat the leaf in acrylic absorbent ground medium, which creates a white surface with properties similar to virgin watercolour paper, and begin again with fresh colour.

The next day, I started over on the leaf using warm autumn tones, added glazes of colour to make each pebble unique, and deepened the shadows in the crevices. The painting was much richer looking and the leaf stood out from the background.

I titled the painting Starting Over, referring to the rebooting of its creation journey, and to the theme of rebirth implied by the fallen leaf beside the seed of new life.

This painting story is a lesson in patience and tenacity for us all. Sometimes we just need time to ponder our options and come up with a new way forward.

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If you are familiar with my artwork, you know that my paintings often feature the distinctive rock and stone of the Canadian Shield region. This past winter, I took some time to delve into this subject in a BIG way.

From January to March, I worked bit by bit on the largest watercolour landscape I ever have done. The subject was one of my favourite pebble beaches on Lake Superior.

Each of the stones in this scene required 3 to 6 layers of paint to achieve a realistic result. My goal was to create pebbles so true-to-life that you want to reach in and pick one up to examine its wonders.

I took the reference photos for this project in the summer of 2022, when my husband and I visited Marathon on the north shore of Lake Superior. The primary reference was the photo above, showing him looking down at the beach stones.

I love the way his silhouette contrasts with the foggy treeline as it disappears into the misty background. I had to lay down on the stones to capture the camera angle I wanted, where all the lines converged on that distant figure.

I also took about fifty other photos of individual stones with unusual patterns and striking colours I found elsewhere on this beach. These became very useful as I worked on the final stages of my painting, so I could insert some of these more interesting features into the foreground stones.

The most difficult part of this scene, believe it or not, was the forest. I knew I had to get that right before I invested weeks and weeks into painting stones.

Portraying masses of tree foliage has always been a challenge for me, but I took it one step at a time, beginning with the misty sky and water in the distance and working forward to the more vibrant deep greens on the left side of the painting.

Shown here is the finished artwork, 'I Think I Found One', varnished watercolour on 28 x 40 inch panel. I breathed a happy sigh of relief when this one was done!

Over the three months of this project, I remembered to take a photo of my work in progress at the end of each painting session. Recently I assembled the photos into a time lapse video showing the sequencing of my work on this piece. Click on the image below to view the 2-minute video.

I developed a profound bond with this painting during our time together as its creation journey unfolded. It represents important aspects of my life: a love of travel and exploring new places together, a fascination with stones, and an enduring connection with Lake Superior.

For the time being, I am keeping this special painting in our home, to enjoy every day. At some point in the future, this piece will tell me when I can let it go to its forever home.

Prints of this painting are available in a variety of sizes on canvas, paper, and other substrates from my print-on-demand publisher Fine Art America. Click here to see the selection.

If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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This year I have been spending lots of quality time in my art studio, working on a half dozen large paintings.

The four new watercolours pictured here with me are part of this collection and share an interesting coincidence.

When my husband and I were travelling in the Airstream last summer, I was able to make only small paintings at our dinette. About four months into the trip, I started to yearn for my roomy home studio so I could create some larger, more impactful paintings.

In this state of mind, I perused my digital folder of hundreds of finished paintings going back 30+ years and made a list of a few dozen extraordinary images that I felt would be suited to large-scale paintings.

In other words, I planned to employ the original paintings as preliminary studies for big, exciting scenes that still hold a piece of my soul, using skills that (I hope) have been honed to higher levels of excellence.

I am so excited to share with you the re-imagined works I have painted this winter.

We Are All Connected, varnished watercolour on 24 x 24 inch panel, $1800.

This is the third stone circle I have painted and the largest so far.

All my stone circle paintings symbolize unity and the stripes on the stones represent the traits we share that connect us together, even though we are unique as individuals. My hope is that we focus on what unites us, rather than what divides us.

For details on availability of We Are All Connected, click here.

The first two stone circle versions were each 12 x 12 inches, inspired from actual striped pebbles from my own collection, and completed in 2018.

They are Circle of Kindred Spirits and Unbroken. Both titles were suggested by my Facebook followers and both paintings found new homes.

The Unbroken image was licensed in 2019 for an album cover by Canadian gospel singer/songwriter Terry Posthumus, who also acquired the original painting to display in his recording studio. You can read about this fascinating art/music journey here: The Unbroken Story - Why My Painting is on an Album Cover

Winter's Embrace, varnished watercolour on 20 x 16 inch panel, $1500 (shown left).

This painting is a reinterpretation of Snow Flurries (pictured below), an imaginary 12 x 8 inch scene I painted in 2004, that was inspired by many snowmobile adventures in the Ontario wilderness.

Even though this is a winter scene, it feels cozy and inviting to me. The pillowy snow and the warm tones of birch tree, creek, clouds, and shrubs make the viewer feel welcome and sheltered.

For information about availability of Winter's Embrace, click here.

Untouched, varnished watercolour on 12 x 24 inch panel, $1400 (shown above). This painting captures the soft, rosy light of a calm winter morning at the lake. Stately white pines cluster quietly on a rocky island, listening for the faintest whisper of the wind. For details about this painting's availability, click here.

Untouched is a reinterpretation of Enchantment (shown below), a 5 x 14 inch painting I created in 2006.

My initial inspiration was a photo I took back in the 1990's (shown below), on a snowmobile trip in northern Ontario.

This is a photo of my booth at the 2006 Buckhorn Fine Art Festival, where Enchantment was sold to a collector. It is the tiny painting in the middle of the far right wall. In those days, I was framing my watercolours with mats and glass. Now I mount them on art boards and varnish with a UV blocking coating, eliminating the need for glass. You can read about my framing process in this article: Framing Watercolours Without Glass.

Superior Stillness, varnished watercolour on 16 x 20 inch panel, $1500, captures a twilight moment, when majestic trees are silhouetted against a simple sunset and everything is quiet. Water laps gently against the rocky shore as moon and stars look on from above.

The location is Picture Rock Harbour in Pukaskwa National Park, which is on the shore of Lake Superior near Marathon, ON. Places like this make my spirit soar. For information on availability of Superior Stillness, click here.

This is the third time I have painted this scene, and it resonates so powerfully with me, I feel like I could paint it again sometime in the future. This artwork celebrates all I hold dear about northern scenery: vast skies, clear blue water, smooth stones, and hardy pine and spruce trees.

The first two interpretations of the scene were created in 2020. They were titled Be Still (8 x 8 inches, shown left), and And Time Stood Still (12 x 16 inches, pictured below right).

The inspiration for all three paintings was a photo taken by Tania Bortolon Krysa, who I met through Facebook. Tania loves the same kind of wild places that I do and takes excellent photos during her adventures.

She was on a back country camping trip and her party stayed overnight in tents on this beach. She graciously granted me permission to use her stunning sunset photo (shown left) as reference for my artwork.

I hope you have enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at my recent paintings. There are many ways to interpret the beauty of nature as works of art. I am finding new avenues to express my deepest, heartfelt admiration for this rugged land that speaks to my soul. Stay tuned for more of my re-creations in this new collection.

Which painting is your favourite? If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to see more of her painting stories, travel tales, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming exhibitions.

In my last post, I told the story behind my painting Yesterday's Dreams, which was inspired by a vintage gas pump we saw on our last trip to Newfoundland.

Today I am sharing the creation story of another painting inspired by the same trip.

I took some artistic licence and combined two scenes into one that celebrates the beauty and grandeur of the rugged west coast of Newfoundland.

My photo of a tree growing from a rocky cliff was taken on the Port au Port peninsula near Stephenville, and my photo of large boulders was from Gros Morne National Park.

My painting began with a detailed pencil drawing on 300 lb watercolour paper.

I did some colour test swatches and selected four Sennelier paints for this project: Sennelier Red, Sennelier Yellow Deep, Phthalocyanine Blue, and Ultramarine Light. Every colour in the painting was mixed from these pigments.

With clear water, I dampened the watercolour paper where the sky would be, working right through the trees on the cliff and the mountains on the far shore. Then I painted horizontal strokes of greys and blues to simulate clouds with a bit of blue sky peeking through.

Once the sky dried, I mixed a neutral grey and painted the shadows on the cliff while I could see my pencil lines clearly. (Many artists would paint the rock colours first and the shadows second but I do the reverse.) I blurred the paint lines where needed with a second brush loaded with clear water. 

I wet each boulder, one at a time, and painted graduated shadows to give the effect of spherical volume.

Using three different green mixtures, I painted the tree foliage, paying attention to placement of the light and dark shapes. This section turned out better than I hoped. I used to find general foliage masses exceedingly difficult, but I kept observing trees and practising painting them... for a few decades... and they gradually began to look more realistic.😁

Then I painted the tree trunks and golden tones of the cliff.

I added more tans and browns to the rock face, sprinkling some table salt on the larger masses to create a mineral effect. I did the same on the boulders. Once the salt dried I brushed it off.

I used a dull navy blue to paint the mountains on the far shore, making sure to keep the horizon (the top of the water) straight and level. Then I added the purple-grey undersides of the waves and let everything dry fully.

I added another layer of colour to deepen the mountains on the far shore. After that dried, I carefully placed the colours of the ocean in horizontal bands of blues and tans, in between the white foam tops of the waves (which were left the colour of the paper).

More details of cracks and shadows were added to the cliff face.

Once the ocean section was dry, I added the brown reflections in the lower right.

To complete the painting, I added more colour and texture to the cliff face, and painted stripes and deeper shadows on the boulders.

I titled the painting Guardians of the Bay (varnished watercolour on 12 x 12 inch panel). It took me six days to paint this scene, and it was acquired by a collector of my work before the paint was dry.

I always will have a soft spot for this artwork, as it captures wonderful memories of the summer we spent in Newfoundland.

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My husband and I have had the privilege of spending two summers touring the island of Newfoundland in our travel trailer. We were there for two months in 2007 and three months in 2019.

While exploring the back roads of the Bonavista peninsula on our more recent trip, we came across this rusty gas pump on its concrete pad, smack in the middle of a field of grass, in the tiny settlement known as Red Cliff.

The price on the pump was 75 cents a gallon, so it probably made its last sale in the 1970’s, before the metric system was adopted in Canada. Any surrounding buildings were long gone. On the shore beyond, a row of houses and fishing sheds had succumbed to wind and rain.

I could imagine a story here about the families who lived and worked in this beautiful place. I knew this would make an exciting painting subject and took lots of photos.

Back at home the following winter, I got to work on a watercolour interpretation of this scene, beginning with a pencil drawing on 300 lb cold press watercolour paper.

I used Sennelier watercolour paints which are made in France and I was very impressed with their clarity and strength of colour.

The three pigments I chose (Sennelier Red, Sennelier Yellow Deep, and Phthalocyanine Blue) worked perfectly for mixing every colour needed in this painting.

First I painted blue on the sky and water, working wet in wet and avoiding the row of houses in the background.

The grass was finicky to paint, using many layers of masking fluid and paint to achieve the effect of individual blades of grass. This part of the scene took the longest to paint.

I began by protecting the body of the gas pump with masking tape, and the fence posts and blades of grass in the foreground with masking fluid.

Once that dried, I painted in the first layers of the grass field and the concrete pad, working on wet paper to create soft transitions of colour.

After the first grass layer dried, I masked out more blades of grass over the existing paint, let that dry, added another layer of green paint, and let that dry.

Repeating this process a few times gradually built up grass blades of differing values, and this variety is what makes watercolour grass look real.

After removing the masking, I deepened the blue colour of the ocean, making sure to keep the horizon line absolutely straight and level.

I added colour to the white blades of grass that had been under the first layer of masking fluid, and painted in the shadows of stony details on the concrete pad. 

The rusty gas pump was an absolute joy to portray in watercolour and very easy to do, compared to the grassy field.

Having well-focused reference photos of the pump from every angle, and up close, was key to recreating this relic in a realistic manner.

I worked on dry paper using a two-brush technique. One brush was loaded with colour and one held only clear water. I laid down paint in the shape I wanted, and then used the clear brush to subtly blur or soften the edges, to bleed out the colour where needed. This was very effective in portraying streaks of rust.

The same two-brush technique was used on the black rubber hose on the pump, creating the soft grey highlight that produced the look of a cylinder.

I used a magnifying glass and super fine Micron pens with archival ink to do the lettering on the pump.

The final step was to paint the dilapidated houses and fishing sheds on the seashore in the distance.

Again, I had taken excellent reference shots of the buildings when we were there, and used the photos extensively to portray these rustic structures accurately.

I love the atmospheric feeling of this scene. It brings to mind stories of the glory days, when this was a thriving little settlement full of energetic families, with a glorious view of the sea.

In this photo, I am holding the finished painting in my art studio. In front of me, you can see the three tubes of paint I worked with as well as the #12 round sable/synthetic brushes I used to paint this artwork.

I titled the painting, 'Yesterday's Dreams', (varnished watercolour on 14 x 11 inch panel), paying homage to the families who called this place home during the last 250 years. A collector acquired my painting a few months later.

Although the original has found its forever home, art prints of Yesterday's Dreams are available from my publisher FineArtAmerica, a world-renowned print-on-demand company. This image can be enjoyed on canvas, paper, wood, acrylic, or metal prints, or featured on other fine products. Click here to see the 'Yesterday's Dreams' selection on my FineArtAmerica web page. 

Newfoundland remains one of my favourite Canadian destinations, featuring the hospitable, fun-loving, hard-working inhabitants, their wondrous musical abilities, and world-famous natural attractions such as Gros Morne National Park and Western Brook Pond.

We also greatly enjoyed the historic Viking settlement re-enactment at l'Anse aux Meadows, numerous iceburg-sightings, a vast array of lovely wild flowers, and learning the history of the cod fishery at Twillingate.

The Skerwink cliff trail and historic architecture at Trinity, magnificent sea views at Bonavista, berry picking on the Avalon, and the vibrant culture and architecture of St. John's all were wonderful experiences.

I believe every Canadian should visit the island of Newfoundland, given the chance. If you need persuading, check out the adventure highlights of our most recent trip in my other posts: 'Icebergs of Newfoundland', 'Top 14 Vistas of Newfoundland', 'A Whale of a Tale in Newfoundland', and 'Seeing Caribou and Moose in Newfoundland'.

If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post.

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When my husband and I were travelling in the Airstream this summer and fall, I was able to paint ten small watercolours at our dinette. You can read about this mobile studio setup in this post: My Art Studio on the Road.

Working in a confined space meant I was limited to making paintings about a square foot or less in size. Once we were about four months into the trip, I started to yearn for my roomy home studio that would allow me to paint some larger, more impactful paintings.

One day when we were driving in the truck, I perused my digital folder of hundreds of finished paintings going back over thirty years. I made a list of a dozen extraordinary scenes that I felt would be suited to large-scale paintings.

In other words, I would consider these previous paintings to be studies for big, new, and exciting reinterpretations of scenes that still touch my soul.

Once we arrived back home last month, in very short order I got to work sketching out a couple of these paintings.

I am thrilled to be immersed in larger works; the first one I completed was this tall Lake Superior pebble beach scene, Simply Superior (varnished watercolour on 36 x 12 inch panel).

I remembered to stop and take photos of the work as it progressed, so I could share on social media the steps of creating this artwork. I have posted these photos below.

My strategy was to finish a small section of the scene before proceeding with the next section. This provides exciting glimpses of the final artwork and encourages me to continue through the difficult middle phase that all paintings experience.

I used masking fluid to save the white of the paper to represent highlights on the exposed stones. The underwater stones were difficult to create. The water in Lake Superior is so clear that underwater stones have the same colour and clarity as wet stones above the waterline. Several pale blue layers helped to 'submerge' the underwater elements.

After three days of work, the upper half of the painting was completed, except for some minor adjustments that would be made in the final 'polishing up' of the painting.

Next I worked on the warm coloured stones in the lower half of the scene. Each stone required three or four layers of paint, with at least several hours of drying time between each layer. I painted a blue wash over the underwater section to help me get a grasp of its boundaries and to subdue the colours that would follow.

Once again, I completed one limited area of the painting at a time, to help fuel my excitement for the project. With a painting this large, it can be difficult to remain patient enough to work through the relatively unattractive early and intermediate stages, before reaching the satisfying realism of the final stage.

It took me twelve days in total to complete this painting, spread over a month. That averages three painting sessions per week.

Here is a photo of me holding the completed painting in its frame. This was a challenging piece but worth the struggle, as you can tell by my smile of relief.

Click here for more information about Simply Superior.

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My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring western USA and Canada in our Airstream trailer this year. It has all the comforts of a small apartment, and I often refer to it as our mobile condo.

During the 20 weeks we were away, we drove just over 20,000 km which made for a comfortable, relaxed pace. Some locales we visited only a day or two, and others had us settling in for a week or more, depending on what there was to see and do in the area.

In previous blog posts I shared my favourite photo highlights from the first half of our trip. If you missed them, here are the links:

My Summer Travels in the High Desert

Pacific Northwest: Forests and Freshwater.

I will be sharing more travel stories and including videos and photo highlights of our trip in coming months, as time permits. I have a lot of painting to do, since the fall and winter seasons are when I produce the majority of my artwork.

However, as we travelled, I made sure to take time for a few hours of painting every week or so.

I have learned that this regular creative time is essential to my well-being. I get cranky if I have a long stretch of time without having fun making art.

My husband would go off to see a car show or for a walk, and I would set up my portable studio at the dinette in our trailer, as pictured here.

My painting setup is very simple: a fistful of brushes, two small travel palettes, a dozen small tubes of paint, pre-cut sheets of watercolour paper, a few foam board supports, and some reference photos. I also employ a folding LED desk lamp, old rags to protect the dinette surfaces, and some repurposed pantry equipment.

I generally had three paintings in progress at any one time, so if I had to stop working on a painting while it dried, I could work on another one in the meantime.

Getting all my equipment set up at the dinette takes about five minutes, so it is no trouble to paint for just two or three hours, and then put everything away.

Cleanup takes about ten minutes, including washing my brushes. Watercolour is especially suitable for a mobile studio like this, as there are no solvents needing disposal.

To avoid the risk of mould or mildew, I have to let my paintings, brushes, and rags dry fully before I pack them away. I also need to let my palettes dry so the paint won't spill during storage. Watercolour paint can be reused another day, by adding water to dissolve the dried paint. This is another factor that makes this medium ideal for travel.

I came up with the idea of using the shower stall in our Airstream bathroom as an overnight drying area. This keeps all the materials out of our way so we can use the living area of the trailer. This photo shows three paintings drying after a painting session.

The shower seat holds the paintings on their supports as well as my palettes. On the floor is a zippered clear plastic bag (the kind that blankets come packaged in) that I use as a storage case. Resting on top of that is a rag and my wet brushes. The shower stall has a small retractable clothesline (not shown in the photo) that I use to hang more rags to dry.

After drying, all my painting supplies fit into the blanket bag, which I then stow into one of our overhead cupboards in the Airstream.

I was very happy to complete these ten new paintings during our travels. That equates to an average of one painting every two weeks.

Back home in my art studio, I mounted the watercolour paintings onto archival wood panels, shown here.

I use various heavy objects at hand (including my awesome pebble collection) to help affix the watercolour paper to the cradled panels.

Once the adhesive was dry, these paintings were trimmed, varnished, and framed. A few of these new paintings have found their forever homes and the rest are being delivered to my retail galleries in Huntsville, Fenelon Falls, and Port Perry, ON. To view details and locations of the remaining pieces, visit the New Paintings page on my web site.

For a complete description of how I mount and varnish my watercolours, see my article Framing Watercolours Without Glass.

We had a wonderful holiday and it feels great to be back home again. I am keen to start on several large scale northern landscape paintings in my roomy studio. Now that cold weather is here, my little gas fireplace will be put to good use.

If you have comments you wish to share, please do so using the 'Leave a Comment' button at the top of this post. 

Subscribe to Karen's Newsletter if you wish to see more travel tales, painting stories, studio news updates, or notices of upcoming exhibitions.