Recently we took a trip to my husband’s family’s home in Depot Bay, Oregon. I brought along some paints so that I could spend a few hours doing what I love to do most…and revisiting an old friend, watercolor.

Oregon was beautiful but also a bit cold. Many of the days were sunny, which was a blessing. So on one day, I pulled out my trusted watercolor paints while my son and husband visited an aviation museum…and I painted this small magenta pink plumeria watercolor. It took two days of quiet where the guys were off doing father-son activities.

I’d love to show you how it was done.

First Video of Two painting Sessions

(click to watch or watch on YouTube)

My circular palate is original…and it was given to me by my first art teacher at age 11! She also introduced me to Arches watercolor paper (still using it!) and Winsor and Newton Artist Series paints. (Thank YOU, Sandi).

I made a cup of tea…and set up!

I’m always so excited to put down vibrant color, in this case, Permanent Rose. You’ll notice that I don’t clean my palate often…as I use the mixed colors for quick grays.

Color…the bright hues of reds, oranges and pinks…my most favorite colors to begin with because they are so pretty. Watercolor was my first medium and I painted exclusively in this until I was 28 years old, believe it or not! The orange accents are for the exotic leaves. This painting will be layered yet loosely painted.

The time that this session took was easily a couple hours. I’m not a super fast watercolor painter, it’s more of a constant motion when I’m in the groove. This session ended at a half way point in the painting…and I’d love to show you a bit of Oregon Coast.

The next day we visited Newport, which is a fishing village with a great downtown for gift shopping and restaurants. I loved the colors of these buoys! Should I paint them in the future??? And if so, watercolor or oil?

We took a stroll down to view the fishing boats and if you look on the lower right, you’ll see a seal swim into the scene. I love the colors of the water, the detail of the boats and their reflections—these are subjects that I’ve often wanted to paint…as I’m mostly a detail artist.

The town has lots of shops and we went into nearly all of them!

In the next video I’ll be wrapping up this painting in a second session! Thank You for watching! Please share if you know other’s who’d love to watch me paint.

If you would like to see more of my Youtube Videos, please visit my channel, Jenny Floravita Island Art here.