Watercolors by Celia Blanco

"Monte Prena and Monte Camicia" "Wildflowers" "Alpine Geraniums" waiting it out  in the car  wild flowers I love this dramatic picture my husband took The most incredible bowl of beans on earth! Gran Sasso National Park is situated in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is off the beaten path as far as mass tourism is concerned but a beautiful place worth visiting. It is one of the largest protected areas in Europe, the majestic mountain massif dominates the landscape and is the highest mountain in continental Italy south of the Alps. (information taken from Wikipedia) We stayed there last week and savored the wonders Mother Nature offers. I painted a few paintings in my sketchbook, but I mostly enjoyed the overall beauty of this incredible place. In any case, a trip anywhere in Italy is always a wonderful gastronomic experience. This region is particularly well endowed. It has superlative wines, meat and dairy pro

Geranium Light   watercolor on Cartiera Magnani paper 35 x 49 cm./ 13.5 x 19 inches Available I started this painting back in September and decided to lay it aside soon afterwards. Honestly, I felt daunted by painting in a larger format, which I used to do often before but had finally put aside ( 20 years ago, yikes!). I pulled it out and decided to finally face the music. I love the beautiful light pattern created by the rising sun shining from behind the flower. I was worried whether placing the flower in the middle would work or not, a few thumbnail sketches to work out my ideas first solved the problem. It was challenging to work on the larger size , working on unfamiliar paper added much stress. I bought loose sheets back in September, by Cartiera Magnani, that I used for this project. In the end, it was fun. I just needed to get into a different mind-set. thumbnail sketches always help I hope everyone is enjoying the coming of Spring!

Table for One watercolor on FABRIANO Artistico paper 12,5 x 18cm/ 5" x 7" A quiet meal alone, you and a bottle of local wine. The smell of rosemary bushes and the warm sunshine in your face. Well not today, it is a rainy Monday but the fun of painting allows you to escape! I tried to simplify the scene to leave the focus on the chair and geraniums. I eliminated much of what is going on in the photograph to a few important elements, hopefully I succeeded. I wish everyone a great day, thank you for the visit!

"Summer Morning Geraniums"  20 x 30 cm watercolor on paper ( Cartiera Mangnani hotpress) In the first months of summer, the light is very strong at dawn and into the early morning hours. It's a great time for taking reference photos because of the abstract shadow patterns that objects create. In this painting I tried to push the idea and work with the shadows being formed against the building. The brightly colored petals are being warmed by the rise of the early July sun. For lack of better ideas, the title to this watercolor is... "Summer Morning Geraniums". I started this painting as a sketch to test paper I recently purchased and in order to play with some new colors in my palette. There are many mistakes in the painting but I managed to finally achieve strong darks. Hooray!! I need to work on my leaf painting skills, they never come out looking right. Indigo blue, Winsor Green and  new Gamboge are my new colors from Winsor and Newton.  I hopefully didn