R.L. Davis Fine Art

What a wild and strange year it has been.  From politics to the art world itself, where a lost Da Vinci painting sold for over $450 million at auction. I often wonder if my artwork will ever be worth millions after I'm gone... oh well, onto other things! 2017 in review... My very first gallery show was in January of this year. While it was cold and the threat of snow made many stay indoors, the turn out was surprisingly good!  I sold about 5 originals which made me so happy and thankful.  I had doubts that my artwork would even be sale-able, but that has definitely helped to convince me otherwise.  While I would continue either way, it is always nice to know that someone else likes what you do. My first experience into art event organization also happened this year.  Yours truly was the Co-Chairman for Splash.  It's an art event where artists can gather to paint, talk, and learn.  We have demonstrations of various mediums, classes and a plein air contest.  To

Source: www.dickblick.com Escoda Kolinsky Sable Hair www.dickblick.com Now that you've purchased your watercolor paints, what brushes do you use? If you already have your brushes, that's awesome!  Now get painting!  Go on! Which ones do you choose when starting out?  How do you tell a good brush from a bad one?  Which sizes should you use?  How do you clean and care for your brushes?  There are a lot of questions here, so let's get started! Brushes made especially for watercolor are going to be soft, with longer bristles and shorter handles than for other mediums.  They are designed to control the flow of water.  The ability of the brush to do this can get tricky. Watercolor Brushes The best... Kolinsky Sable Hair Brushes. Why are they the best and what are Kolinsky brushes? Kolinsky brushes are made from the tail hair of a type of weasel only found in Siberia. They are expensive and can run anywhere from $25 to well over $300.  The list price

Today's post is still art related, but it's going to be about the excellent art event that happens every year in my town of Elizabeth City, NC .  It's a great art event that anyone can join at all levels in their art career.  We have instructors who are professionals in their respective fields to help guide you on your artistic journey.  You can visit Arts of the Albemarle's website for more information on the instructors. We also have a wonderful open studio where artists can set up their work space.  It's a great opportunity to meet up with friends or make new ones!  We can share ideas and techniques and just be creative with other creatives!  The studio has such amazing energy during this time! The Plein Air Paint-Out and contest also takes place during the week.  If you love painting outdoors, Elizabeth City has such wonderful temperate weather in late October and November.  The air fairly zings with autumn crispy goodness! Arts of the Albemarl

I love landscapes.  I'm an outdoor person.  Leave me to it and I will end up outside.  I will walk and lose myself in the sounds, sights and smells of nature. My heart is a wide open space to explore.  It's where I want to be, everyday.  It's what I want to share with the world. It's like a deep connection to a soul mate.  It's in my soul, in my head and my heart.  It's stuck with crazy glue or something, because it's never coming off.  It's my safe place, where people don't exist. No one to tell me how to do things, how to act and how to be. There are secluded valleys, forests forever locked in autumn, towering mountains that reach into the heavens and the skies!  There are endless skies of sunsets and sunrises! Critics complain that a landscape has no value, no story.  I will disagree. Value Study of Trees - Charcoal It starts as a song, that only works in harmony, resonating down to your bones, and awakes memory. The wind blowi

Despite what many non-watercolor artists say, watercolor can be versatile.  You can make mistakes and you can correct them (to a certain extent). Ripped up gauze detail. I like to think of mistakes in watercolor as a challenge.  Yeah, I may have ruined what I had had in mind, but the mistake now pushes me to think differently.  How can I incorporate this "mistake" into a 'happy accident'.   Since I am creator, I can now take that mistake and mold it.  How can I use it to create something new. Hence the experiment.  Sounds like a bad B-movie, LOL! Colors used: French Ultramarine Blue Quinacridone Gold Quinacridone Red In my latest watercolor, I wanted to play around with different textures and see what I could come up with.   The final piece. The first image shows the texture I used at the bottom of my paper.  It's just some gauze that I ripped up.  I put it in place and then saturated it with water and color.  When dried,

A fun little sketchy piece done on Arches 140lb. block pad.  I like my rural landscapes, but urban landscapes can really be fun and challenging.  I'll definitely be painting this again sometime! I tried to mimic the photo reference in the angle of the buildings but played with color.  I think I need to go a little bolder/saturated in my colors and bring out the browns, reds and golds a bit more.  I like the blue watering can, but I'm now thinking that should have been a brighter turquoise color.  Maybe in my next incarnation of this image I'll change up the color up a bit more.   Short and sweet today.   I've got some works in progress I should start completing! Follow my art on social media: Facebook: R.L. Davis Fine Art & Photography Instagram: rldavisfineart Twitter: Rebecca L. Davis

A sketchbook for an artist is like a personal diary.  Along with intimate thoughts, it includes very personal pictures that pop into my mind seemingly at will. My thoughts are probably very depressing to others.  But, we all have a unique view of the world, life and everything else.  Between those bleak lines of dispiriting thoughts, there is beauty.  Beauty is seen in many forms, but for me, nature truly inspires me.   For no matter how brief our time is on this earth, nature will always be raw.  It can be dangerous and mysterious but those moments of beauty overshadow it all.  It never bends to the whims of others and therefore the only force on this earth unapologetic to be itself. Life is a dark struggle in the night, with brief moments of joy scattered about like stars. Our lives mimic nature, dark and dangerous and yet beautiful, if we but look. The sky is never truly dark at night.  On those special nights when the stars shine brilliantly, you can sometimes catch a

Now that you've had a small peek into my process, I want to share a few things I've learned over the years about watercolor.  In this post, I'll talk a little about paints and show you the set up I use.  It's never too early to think about starting watercolor! I tried to keep the information below minimal, but it's so hard! LOL!  I could probably talk for hours about watercolor paint!  I'll try not too, I swear... ! We can always explore this topic again. Watercolor can be very finicky if you use inferior materials.  As such, it usually puts off many who want to try them out. Use professional/artist grade materials. Trust me, your art will thank you!  Yes, I know they can get a little expensive, especially if you don't even know if you'll like them.  But trust me, it will be worth every penny spent. With that said, you don't have to break the bank buying them.  There are plenty of fairly inexpensive artist grade paints out there.  Winsor &

I have a love/hate relationship with spring.  On the one hand, I love all the new growth.  When all of the brown and drab of a dry winter turns a lovely shade of green.  All of the spring flowers popping up in colorful clumps from a slowly awakening earth emerge.  Feeling the sun's warmth as the cold north winds slowly change their course. It's beautiful. My allergies, on the other hand, despise spring and all the pollen it brings!  Pollen, that dusty stuff that clings to cars in a thick green layer.  The puddles of rain ringed in the villainous green stuff.  My sinuses rebel like the rebel alliance in Star Wars.  It wages an ugly war with my head that leaves me irritated and sometimes unable to do any art work! But, despite all that, spring is still a wonderful time of year and presents a wonderful opportunity to paint.  All those vibrant spring flowers throwing pollen in my face like confetti just yearn to be put to the brush! Like tulips.  Nothing says spring more th