Category: flora and fauna

flora and fauna, Nature, thoughts behind the work

Watercolor abstract leaves painting and holiday cards

Michele B. Naquaiya
Abstract Leaves Watercolor, 2020, full sheet painting

This is a large watercolor and right now it’s in the gallery waiting for a home. I’ve been painting big lately and it feels really good. There’s lots of underpainting and patience in preserving the white areas in this work. That’s really necessary to keep the colors clean and the feeling fresh. The basic idea to start with was to take leaves and branches from my little
garden and draw and paint from life as the composition.
Painting from life has always been my favorite way to go. The colors and shapes point me in the right direction. I did some underpainting with inks on completely saturated full sheets. I used my fingers and didn’t use a brush for the underpainting.
I stuck the very wet paper to a big sheet of plexiglass and it sticks very well and stays wet a long time. I can dry it between takes in the sun. This is my favorite style of painting. It reminds me so much of how I used to paint in California years ago. It’s liberating. Someday when I grow up, I’ll make a video of the technique.
I’ve been remiss in posting for many reasons I think we are all feeling. Lockdowns, covid fears, busy with life chores, some health issues and the list goes on. Anywho, I’ve had a bit of a difficult mountain to climb but I’m happy to say it’s hopefully over. I have lots of new art challenges and I’m facing them head on.
With the work at home as normal now and the new lifestyle settling in, painting has taken on a new pleasant dimension. I surround myself with studying intently trying to catch up on my digital drawing that I haven’t done in a long time. I even bought Affinity Designer software which is completely wonderful. Photoshop is still my go to but I love what this program does afford. I’m beginning to have some time with it.
Since we got through Thanksgiving and have a little less than a month before Christmas, I’ve been busy designing and redesigning my holiday greeting cards. It’s kind of amazing to realize how many I have drawn and painted over the years. This is kind of goofy fun because it’s so flippant. I still try to put some thought into each one and people love them and yes, they get it. The season is very short when you are trying to play catch up on time. Everybody knows you should start December in June but hey, stuff happens. It’s been fun playing catch up and I’m posting one card a day on my Facebook page.
I have done two more large paintings and I will post them to catch up.


this is an old, old one I’m reworking
this is a new digital one
flora and fauna, Holidays, Illustrations, Nature

Cornucopia for fall

Michele B. Naquaiya

I have always loved the fall season. September used to be my favorite month in elementary school. I remember the chilly mornings of New England and the changing of the leaves from greens to oranges and yellows and reds.
This is a tribute to the season. A thankfulness of great squashes like butternut, acorn and of course, the mighty pumpkin. Have a pumpkin latte and enjoy what the season brings.
Here is the painting on my products.

flora and fauna, patterns

Red and green abstract floral

Michele B. Naquaiya

green-mandala-intense-low

I’m loving abstract flowers again.  This one is a combination of watercolor and intense markers. It’s interesting on its own and it gets wild as a repeat pattern.
These kind of paintings to me are more like drawings and they are an in between mix of media which is really fun.
Here is the link to purchase on over 80 products.  my goodness…

flora and fauna, Illustrations, Uncategorized

A few tulips

Michele B. Naquaiya

tulip-combo web

I have not been posting here in a long time as I have been filling every day with remodeling a house in Mexico.  The project has taken literally 100% of my time.
I also no longer have hi speed internet.  When you rent, the wi fi belongs to the owner of the property.  Upon moving, I lost my wi fi.  This is a difficult concept to grasp but I had no choice in the matter.  Now that I own a home here, with proper procedures, I can get on a waiting list.   I plan to get good service which will be fibre optics as soon as I can but
that is dependent upon many technical and administrative goals to be achieved and a time element I have no control over.  I won\t
go into details but it is complicated to say the least.  Life in Mexico is very easy for some things and very complex for others.  Also the town I live in is putting up all new transformers and poles.  The new poles aren’t completed yet.   We seem to have lost power on a weekly basis for months now but it is slowly getting better.  The main drag is being completely overhauled and redesigned to be safer and more efficient.  It’s hard when there is only one street in an out of town.   For now at least I have something
which at times can be as slow as ancient dial up.  I may be posting photos of the remodeling I’ve done to my cute little abode.  It will depend if I have enough energy. ha

These are little watercolors done out of my head and I’m just putting them here as a
test so I don’t forget how to type or upload anything. chuckle. chuckle. It ain’t so funny. So it looks like this house demands another full month of my time.  I’m shooting for the bulk completion at the end of July.  Since the onset of Covid 19, social distancing, etc. I miss my blog as its primary function for me is to keep a record of what I’m doing here in the progress of my art and watercolor painting.

Lots of people have really suffered with this horrific pandemic and I have only felt a little discomfort from time to time.  I don’t and won’t complain.  I keep my workers employed and that is my contribution to the Mexican labor force that is so loyal and hard working.  They have families to feed and life is normally a struggle anyway so this is super hard for them.

I am going to try to draw every day even if it’s for a few hours.  I miss working on my tablet, my originals on paper and anything I am used to.  I am painting some paper mache animals and masks a friend made for me.  It will be a gringa’s view of a traditional craft.

purchase here

 

 

fantasy illustration, flora and fauna, landscapes of imagination, Nature

Golden Sun, landscapes of imagination

Michele B. Naquaiya

gold-sunburst

It is giving me a great piece of mind to paint strictly from my imagination. I am not sure why it is a healing and soothing activity, but I am enjoying it.  I adore this watercolor paint for its intensity and versatility.  It is pretty magical and powerful color.  the red lines are a red permanent ink done with a speedball nib.gold-quin-wc