Judith Freeman Clark, paintings

Alstadt - Salzburg, Austria  SOLD A few summers ago my husband and I spent time traveling by train and car through Germany and Austria. Driving through a portion of the Alps was not as hair-raising as I'd worried it would be (I'm not fond of heights!)... and our destination, Salzburg, was one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited. We were there during the Festival -- music was EVERYWHERE. This painting is from a photo I took as we walked to an afternoon performance of Mozart quintets. While it may look a bit more structured than some of my other 'loose' paintings, I did this without any preliminary drawing or pencil guidelines. I find that it helps to have a good brush that has a nice, responsive 'spring' to it.

Stargazer   SOLD There is such a temptation to over-work a watercolor painting. The inclination to make it 'perfect,' or to work towards something approaching photo-realism, is difficult for me to resist.  I've tried everything to break these habits -- including holding my brush in the 'other' hand (for me, a lefty, that would be my right hand...) -- but I still find that I drift unwittingly in the direction of too much control. I have always liked to draw, and yet I find that attempting to render, realistically, with watercolor, is a perhaps one reason my work can look over-done and stiff. One solution is to stop drawing and simply paint -- no pencilled-in guidelines, just water and lot's of juicy color. In the case of this floral painting, I gave free reign to the pinks and yellows, hoping they would mingle on the paper and create interesting depth and shadows. Boston Winter   SOLD I sometimes carry a tiny travel box of watercolors with me when ...

Reference photo, 8/2013 In recent months, I've been experimenting with watercolor portraits and thought I'd show several stages in the development of a study I painted of my brother, Scott. I worked from a few digital photos I had taken this summer. Although they basically outdoor snapshots, not done with special lighting, etc., they provided a good jumping-off point for this watercolor sketch.  Step 1 One of my goals was to keep the painting style loose. So, I purposely avoided using masking fluid or penciled-in guidelines. I think that because my brother's face is relatively familiar, it was easier for me to work quickly, without a preliminary drawing. To approximate the color of his face (which is deeply sun-tanned), I started off (Step 1) with a very pale wash of burnt sienna, using some Winsor violet to tone it down a bit in places where darker shadow would later be laid on. I used a slightly less dilute combination of Winsor violet and burnt sienna in th...

Like so many other people during these early days of 2014, I've been fairly occupied with lots of things that have kept me away from my studio (except for short bursts of painting every now and then). Nonetheless, I've felt productive -- especially since I have started to loosen up even more with brushwork, color, form, etc.  "Seasons: Summer-Autumn" SOLD All this sub-zero weather we've been experiencing has fueled my desire to paint flowers in all their luscious variety of form and color. "Hydrangea, small study"