Watercolors by Lynn Holbein

Many of us make resolutions about our health. My ambitious resolutions never seem to last, so I’ve set more modest ones: 3 fruits/vegetables a day (rather than 2), and 10 minutes of sketching a day. What are your 2023 resolutions?

Bruce and I and our family wish you a happy holiday season!

Wednesday will be the longest night and the shortest day of the year. Time to snuggle under a blanket with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. We are in the middle of Hannukah, which ends the day after Christmas. Is it a coincidence that these holy days are celebrated right when our distant ancestors were praying the sun to return?

Meanwhile, one of the reindeer has called in sick, and our one-year-old puppy Sammie is in tryouts for a last-minute substitute on Christmas Eve.

I just painted this, though I took the photo it’s based on two years ago. Our granddaughter Maggie was waiting for “Da Da”to come home from work — so poignant. Now that she’s a mature 4 1/2 with a baby brother, she says “Daddy”, but she still chooses tutus, striped socks and other colorful clothing.

December special: reserve your 11 x 14 pet portrait to be painted (& paid for) anytime in 2023 for $195 + free shipping (usually $250 + shipping). Examples here.

For the holidays, you can reserve an original pet portrait to be painted anytime from now through 2023 at a special price — a matted 11″ x 14″ for $195 + free shipping (instead of $250 + shipping). My watercolor painting will be based on your favorite photo. I have been painting animals in watercolor for 20 years; some samples are below. Click “reply” if interested; deadline to reserve the special price is 12/31/22.

Bruce and I traveled to New Orleans at Thanksgiving to meet our new grandson Jasper, who is six weeks old today. Such a blessing! The photo of Jasper and me is followed by my experimental painting (torn tissue paper & glue, paint & salt, pen) of our daughter-in-law Eva holding Maggie (now 4 1/2) at the same age.

Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday!

Studies show that when we make it a practice to name five things we are grateful for each day, it improves our well-being, optimism and resilience.

When the wind is chilly and the days are short, it’s great to sit by the window with a cup of hot chocolate and watch feathered friends come to your bird feeders. Here, a Carolina wren and a goldfinch are visiting. (If you don’t have a favorite place to get supplies and advice, we love Wild Birds Unlimited.)

It’s interesting how creative energy changes. When I started painting, my goal was to master the skills to be realistic. Now, I want to have those skills when needed (in painting portraits for instance), but otherwise it’s fun to be looser. This quick painting evokes real things, but playfully.

On October 1st, our dear friend Candy Saunders succumbed to cancer. A therapist, social worker and professor, she helped thousands of people. “Throw a stone in the pond, you’ll never know where the ripples go,” is certainly true of Candy, who taught mental health professionals how to treat trauma. “Candy was luminous and so radiantly there,” said a mutual friend. We were blessed to be Candy’s neighbor for over 35 years. I hope my portrait of her captures her irresistible smile. You are deeply missed by so many, dear friend.

Andrew and Eva, our son and daughter-in-law, had a healthy, beautiful baby boy last Monday, October 17th! Here are Andrew, Maggie (age 4 1/2) and Jasper this morning. Below that is a painting I did of Eva when Maggie was a baby (ink with brush and pen on rice paper). At birth, Jasper was one ounce under 11 pounds (and Maggie was also over ten pounds), not surprising since Andrew is 6’4″ and Eva is 5′ 11 1/2″.

Linda Stout is the most accomplished and inspiring person I have known in my lifetime. The daughter of a tenant farmer, a 14th generation Quaker, for 40 years Linda has trained activists across the U.S. and in over 20 countries who are reach across race and class to empower people and get out the vote. This portrait was my present for her retirement party from Spirit in Action last weekend.

This painting was made with watercolor inks (red, blue, green), then painted with strips of clean water which allow it to bleed. I made a two-minute video of the process, which you can watch on my YouTube channel by clicking here. Details below.

Last week I took a portrait workshop with Pam Wenger. This is one of the portraits she gave us to paint. Pam, who is an excellent teacher, specializes in putting “arbitrary colors” in her portraits, as you can see at her website.

Painting ocean waves hitting rocks beneath a darkening sky was challenging. I added subtle colors to the gray scene to make it more interesting. How many colors can you identify?

In the next six weeks until the November midterms, 100% of $$ from my paintings will go to supporting voter turnout. This original is on a 6″ x 6″ board, $75 including shipping.

After two decades of a love affair with watercolor, it’s fun for me to branch out and try other media. Here’s a landscape in pastel crayons, using the principle that opposites on the color wheel (yellow/purple here, or red/green, or blue/orange) make each other vibrate and stand out. So, on a day when you are feeling extroverted and want to be noticed, try wearing opposite colors in your clothing.

Don’t you love the tomatoes of summer? Some of my earliest memories were of my mother bringing home bags full of juicy farmstand tomatoes. Here’s my homage to them. Details below.

This is a living question for me, so I pose it to you: if you pray or meditate, how do you address your Higher Power? I find that the name I use affects my ability to connect. What would you add? What are your favorite(s)?

There is nothing better on a warm day than a glass of ice cold beer. My preference leans to an IPA or a non-alcoholic beer from Athletic Brewing Company (it’s honestly hard to tell the difference). After I painted this, I poured one. Details below.

This was fun to paint, while thinking about these enigmatic animals. I especially love the green eyes and the whiskers. Details below.

Thanks for the enthusiastic response to the sale of last week’s post, 100% of the proceeds going to voter protection in GA, NC and AZ in November! Living in North Carolina is giving me an education in the insidious ways low-income people, especially people of color, can be discouraged from voting. If my brushes hold out, I’ll try to keep up these “Paintings for Voters” until the November election. Details below the painting.

If you think about the composition of this oil painting, it’s as if the viewer was lying on the grass, so that the grassy foreground is 3/4 of the painting. An unusual, but in my mind interesting, perspective. What do you think?

In the next three months, 100% of the $$ from paintings I sell will fight voter suppression in GA, NC, and AZ in the Nov. election. Details below painting.

Oil painting on canvass board, 5″ x 7″ (small enough to tuck in a corner), $75.

I’m exploring oil paints for the first time. Because I work inside without good ventilation, water-based oils seem a safer choice than traditional oils. The buttery consistency of the paint creates great texture, and the long drying time allows revisions for several days. This was inspired by a painting I saw on Pinterest.

Acrylics are so different from watercolor. They are opaque so you can paint white on top of black. Acrylics dry within an hour. You can paint on and on forever, covering previous layers without creating mud. But sometimes it’s hard to know when to stop. This painting went through several iterations.

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.” — Mary Jean Irion

Pinterest (and Instagram) are an excellent way to learn and be inspired by new approaches to art. Last week I discovered Donna Walker on Pinterest, and I’m trying to learn from her paintings. It’s fun to use acrylics for the first time in awhile. This 5″ x 7″ summer scene is for sale for $75 (free shipping); all proceeds will go to protect voters in GA, AZ and NC from voter suppression in November.

Sketching can be quick and doesn’t have to say much — the viewers’ imagination will fill in the rest. These shapes are just little dabs, but do you imagine a scene nonetheless?

Our 16-year-old granddaughter Lila painted this for my birthday last week, basing it on a photo she took of our puppy Sammie. It makes me laugh out loud — the expression on Sammie’s face is part comedic, part demonic. Lila loves not just art but also math, science and dance.

Sammie loves to be outdoors, but she’s not fond of the 95 degree days we’ve already been having. But we are cool and happy inside, as our new solar panels have slashed 75% off our energy bills, and have nearly paid for themselves already with the 26% federal tax credit and $15,000 expected increase in home resale price. One phone call will get you a free consult from your local solar company.

It was fun to create the illusion that you are looking into layers on a flowering tree.

Art to fight voter suppression this November: 75% of everything I make from my art in the next five months will go to fight voter suppression in Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona. Rural voters in these states often find their polling places are surrounded by big pickup trucks with visible gun racks and Confederate flags, and they may have been purged from the voting rolls without their knowledge. The money will go to “safety tents,” where voters can get emergency legal assistance if their vote is rejected, and Covid masks, water, snacks and chairs for those who must wait for 2-3 hours to vote. Information about commissioning a house portrait here, a pet portrait here, and other paintings here.

This was so quick and mesmerizing to paint! I hope you will watch it happen in this two-minute video (click here) which I have posted on my YouTube channel.

Painting this was mesmerizing. With acrylic and oil (unlike watercolor) you can paint on and on, layer after layer. There are probably six layers until this top one. Though referencing reality, this is really a play of color. I limited myself to one flat brush (square along the bottom, 1/2 inch wide), which worked well for the colors but was messy for the edges. How do you like this approach?

It’s been nearly a year since I used acrylic paint, so I had to dust off of my skills. Peonies are one of the most gorgeous flowers, don’t you think?

Thanks for all the great feedback on the painting and video last week! Sharing with you keeps me painting and trying new things.

This watercolor ink painting only took 2 minutes and 7 seconds from start to finish. I invite you to click the link here and watch it happen. Last week someone replied to ask me to narrate the video, so I have done so, explaining my process.

Watercolor inks on watercolor paper, 6″ x 9″, $75.

This painting only took me 2 minutes and 12 seconds from start to finish. I have spent all week figuring out how to share this process with you, the technology of recording it on my phone and posting the video on YouTube. Below is the finished painting, and click the link here for the two minute video of me painting it. Reply if you love this too, and I will post more of them.

This painting is based on a photo from Ireland.

The spring rebirth of the Earth and the Spirit at Easter and Passover are upon us. The bunny is a symbol of fertility, and the lamb of innocence and purity. Here is my watercolor bunny. I haven’t painted a lamb so I gave our 9-month-old puppy Sammie a (reluctant) bath s0 she could be the lamb stand-in.

If you’re interested in making some art, there are many choices. Here are just a few: watercolor paint, watersoluble crayons, brush pens, colored pens and watercolor pencils.

Moving to North Carolina has given me a real education in what “voter suppression” looks like. Members of my church are writing postcards to 7,000 low-income people (mostly African Americans) to warn them that, without informing them, the election board has removed their name from the voting rolls. And that’s 7,000 voters in just one of a hundred N.C. counties in the state.

What can we do? 75% of the $$$ I make from my art in the next 6 months, until the mid-term elections, will be donated to non-partisan groups trying to make sure everyone who wants to has the right to vote. If you want a commissioned painting like a pet portrait (info here) or house portrait (info here), or an original or print of the paintings on my website www.lynnholbein.com, email me here. Together, we’ll fight voter suppression and make a difference!

In a portrait painting class I took recently with Pam Wenger, she had us paint from a photograph she had found on the internet which she named “Mary.” Pam taught us to put color into unexpected places, like Mary’s hair.

Our mini-goldendoodle Samantha is eight months old, and nearly full-grown at 34 pounds. Here’s my watercolor of her lying on our wood floor.

And Sammie in real life.

I don’t really “get” cubism. Is it just taking objects and moving them around (upside down, side to side, etc.) in the picture plane? Here’s my jar of brushes with things turned different ways, a bit crooked, etc.

Aren’t reds and oranges with turquoise a delicious combination?

If you missed it last week, here’s a funny video of our puppy Sammie and her amazing eyelashes. Click here and be sure to turn on the sound in the lower right.

One principle of art is “value,” which means the arrangement of lights and darks. “Value does the work and color gets the credit,” is a well-known artistic saying. It is recommended (though seldom practiced by me) to do value studies before starting to paint in color. These two value studies are my jar of brushes.

Last week I was blessed to take a three-day Zoom workshop on “Quick Sketch Portraits” with Pam Wenger. (Pam’s website is here.) Here is one portrait I painted, following her instructions.

Our puppy Sammie (Samantha), now seven months old and 33 pounds, has the most amazing eyelashes, which our daughter Kate showcased in this video. Take a look and be sure to turn on the audio in the lower right.

As a discipline, I’m spending 15 minutes a day repeatedly painting the same subject– the jam jars filled with brushes, pencils and pens on my art desk. The different sketches will explore a range of approaches — in this case, positive (top) vs. negative shapes (bottom), with the reversal of bright colors vs. grays in the foreground vs. the background.

There is no greater pleasure in life than curling up in a cozy armchair with a good book.

Samantha just turned six months old, a good time to find my favorite pictures of her, and turn them into a collage. Experimenting with tissue paper, gesso (for glue and texture) and gouache (like watercolor, but more opaque).

There’s nothing special about a red pepper, is there?
And yet this is one of my favorite paintings.