Judith Freeman Clark, paintings

During this heat wave (due to end by Thursday 6/25, I hope), I've hunkered down in my air-conditioned studio. Prior to temperatures going well above 85 F, I picked a handful of roses from our garden, knowing they'd provide a range of shapes/colors for a quick watercolor. Rather than replicate the dining room table-top where my reference photo was taken, I chose a more dreamy alternative that wouldn't overpower the fragile appearance of the flowers.  I chose a limited palette of transparent or semi-transparent colors for this painting. W&N Permanent Rose; W&N Sap Green; W&N Transparent Yellow; W&N Winsor Orange; Holbein Opera. I did use a semi-opaque color for the leaves/stems –– W&N Indanthrene Blue. I used this also for the background mixed with sap green plus a lot of water.  After pencilling in a basic outline, I painted the background and allowed it to dry completely before doing the roses and the vase. Details about how to purchase this painting are...

"Road to Town" watercolor on paper  14.5" x 18.5" matted & framed A few months ago, I signed up to participate in a collaborative project at the Cape Cod Art center in Barnstable, Massachusetts. I posted a few of my warm-up sketches in the "Cloud Technique" entry here on my blog (3/9/2025). The artist guidelines for the exhibition were clear: "Select a photograph to interpret. Do NOT copy exactly." Because I've always enjoyed painting winter scenes, I chose this stunning photo, created by Stuart Cooperrider , as a reference. As I worked on (and discarded) multiple early versions of the painting, it gradually became clear that my watercolor rendition of the photographer's sweeping panorama could be enhanced by a living presence. A pair of horses in the foreground seemed to be a good solution... 

Am thrilled to learn that my watercolor, "At a Rhode Island Vineyard," was selected by juror Lorraine Watry for inclusion in the 2025 National Watermedia Show at the Rhode Island Watercolor Society. The show runs from May 31 through July 3 at the Society's gallery in Pawtucket, RI. The opening reception is on Saturday, June 7.

From time to time I like to use family photos as sources for paintings. I don't come from a large family, but I do have an enormous collection of old photos –– quite a few which date back to Civil War era. A  number of members of my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) lived into their 90s, so many were alive when I was a child. Since I knew many people in these photographs, it has always been enjoyable to use them as subjects to pain. The following small watercolor sketches gave me a chance to try different styles and color palettes.  One of the sketches, completed in 2024 –– "Mom, with Betty and Skip, Winter 1942" –– received an  Honorable Mention in the Rhode Island Watercolor Society's  Juried Online Show,  Inside, Outside.  The image source was a small, out-of-focus snapshot taken by my grandfather after a big snowstorm. It shows my mother and my uncle, with my grandmother in the background. They're standing in the driveway of their home in B...

I've signed up to participate in the Cape Cod Art Center's juried artists' show, "Points of View" (it will run from June 16 - July 11). My reference photo, a landscape with a distinctive cloudy sky, was chosen from a collection of images provided by juried photographers at CCAC. The goal is to present my own watercolor interpretation of the image (rather than an exact copy). It's a great challenge and a lot of fun to mess around with various techniques. Since I have several months to complete the painting, I'm giving myself free reign, and madly practicing how to paint clouds. Stormy skies, sunny skies, rainy skies, winter and summer skies -- all are fair game. I can't wait to see how this challenge turns out. In the meantime, here are three quick studies, two completed earlier this week, and another that's a work-in-progress. Late Winter Sky, study Late Winter, study Winter Clouds, study (step 1)

Vacation travels and other commitments have left me less time to spend in my studio. Fortunately, my schedule has opened up and I'm starting several new pieces.  My watercolor painting, "Bright Morning Mist," was one of twelve winners in the Rhode Island Watercolor Society's annual calendar contest. I am grateful to the many followers on Facebook who voted for me. Thanks very much! A newer painting, "The Skipper" has been on exhibit in "Primary Colors," an Open Juried Show at the Rhode Island Watercolor Society, throughout August. It shows my son on his sailboat on a long-ago afternoon on the water off Cataumet, on Cape Cod.  A few weeks ago I spent an enjoyable afternoon with one of my granddaughters, setting ourselves up in my studio with the goal of completing a watercolor sketch in just fifteen minutes.  We used a photo of some cows that I had taken several years ago as our reference.  It was fun sharing creative space together, and I was thril...

While recovering from cataract surgery, I worked on a larger version of a 10" x 7" watercolor sketch that I completed last month: a view of the pond at Field Farm (a Trustees of Reservations site in Williamstown, MA). This painting is twice the size –– 14" x 10" –– and shows a bit more of the reflected sky in the foreground.  

I've moved my art gallery to a new website hosted   HERE . This new site, hosted by at Fine Art Studios Online, shows my largest works, many of them framed and ready to hang. Eventually, I will add a section showing smaller, unframed paintings and sketches. Everything at the new online gallery is set up for easy purchases via PayPal (you don't need a PayPal account to buy a painting -- just a credit or debit card). I'm closing out my Daily Paintworks site, and am very grateful to David Marine and his staff for the opportunities provided to me for the past ten years. If you have any questions, please message me either in the comment section of this post (below) or by contacting me via my Facebook page  HERE .   The address of the new site is judithfreemanclark.com

Several years ago one of my granddaughters visited New York City with a friend, and sent back a few photographs. I was intrigued by the idea of doing a quick (well, semi-quick) watercolor sketch of the two teenagers in sunglasses. After I used my MacBook's photo app to crop out the surroundings, I simply enlarged the image and concentrated on capturing their sunlit smiles.  Step 1 I sketched in a few details in pencil, but mostly wanted to rely on my eye and a limited palette of transparent colors to build the shapes and emphasize light and shadow. I tried to remember to stop every now and then to capture the progress of my painting –– always a challenge for me once I get started! For the first two steps, I worked exclusively with my favorite #12 Cosmo-Top Spin round brush, as it holds a good point. Colors used in the first two steps: Holbein's Burnt Sienna and Mineral Violet; and Winsor & Newton's French Ultramarine, Burnt Umber, and Sepia. By step 3, and in the final ...

After way too much time away from painting, I hauled out my oils and easel yesterday so I could start a small ( very small) panel. I knew if I chose anything larger than 5" x 7" I would probably step away and leave it unfinished.  Hence a little study of a barn, based on a photo I took several years ago in western Massachusetts. I sold a watercolor rendering of this barn, but although I'd already done it once, this seemed like the perfect image to be done in oils, and also for getting my creative engines revved up.  Once the panel dries, I'll add a few final details -- perhaps a fence in the foreground, etc. But for now, this is it. Stay tuned for new images later this week. Rural Barn, step 1 Rural Barn, step 2

I've had two paintings accepted by the jurors for this year's Small Stones Festival of the Arts, in Grafton, Massachusetts. " Freeman Farm in the Afternoon" and "Daffodil Waltz" were selected to be shown in the exhibition, and also will be included in the  hardcover exhibition  catalog.  Jurors of selection and awards for the 2022 festival's fine art painting category are JoEllen Reinhardt, Susan Termyn, and William Pope.  Both paintings will be on exhibit in the Great Hall at One Grafton Common, beginning with the Opening ceremony on October 14, and continuing through October 23, 2022.  Daffodil Waltz transparent watercolor    17.25" x 17.5" SOLD This stylized watercolor rendering of springtime daffodils was informed by my appreciation of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Modernist motifs influenced by Japanese art in a style that became popular during the early twentieth century. Having studied illustration in Boston during the late 1960s, I fi...

Set-up The weather being what it is here in the Northeast, I've been doing more plein air work. All week I've spent a few hours in the morning, out and about, trying to capture the feel of this unaccustomed heat wave. On Tuesday, I set up in a local park near my home. My goal: capture the contrast between hot sunshine (relentless, even at 10:00 a.m. it was super-bright, and almost 90F), and the distinctive cooling effect of mature trees that are heavy with foliage.  #1 Composition sketch After noting the general composition, I covered the canvas panel, blocking in large areas of color using Ultramarine Dark, and gradually tempering these segments with splotches of lighter green (blending Cobalt, Viridian, Cadmium Lemon Light, and a bit of Cadmium Scarlet) (#2). I ignored the house (it can be seen in the set-up photo), as it seemed unimportant, as did the small stone retaining wall. I'd originally noted a line for the wall in the composition but felt it added nothing to th...

I spent this morning working on a new panel (not yet ready for viewing) and this afternoon, I devoted time to putting a few finishing touches on "Study #4, Andover, Maine." This painting was posted yesterday in "Branching out..." It seemed to me that certain areas of the sky needed a bit more cloud cover, and some of the foliage and grassy areas benefitted from heightened contrast. And then there was the challenge of a signature. Most recently, I have been signing my watercolor paintings with an old-fashioned "dip pen" loaded with watered-down pigment. Because I don't have that option for signing an oil painting, my full signature poses a challenge on smaller panels like the ones I'm starting out on. I haven't yet developed the knack for doing extremely small detail work in oils. I'll get there, I hope. Here's the finished, signed version of the painting I did in Andover, Maine.  "Study #4, Andover, Maine"

After having spent many decades painting in transparent watercolor, this summer I was intrigued with the idea of working once again in oils. I had originally learned the rudiments of oil painting from my grandmother who, herself a painter, generously supplied me with materials, opportunity, and encouragement. Off and on I dabbled for several years, until other interests diverted my attention once I hit adolescence. Art school would have given me an even more solid grounding in this medium, and others, if I had remained for the entire three-year program, but I left after one year. Fast-forward to June 2022, when I responded to a Facebook notice about a plein air workshop in Maine. As I added a collection of oil paints, bristle brushes, and gum spirits of turpentine to my studio supplies,  and purchased a French easel, I looked ahead with enthusiasm (and trepidation) to the challenge of jump-starting my lagging creative impulses.  It was great to meet other artists in such a r...

My reference for this watercolor project was a photograph of my 2nd Great Grandmother,  Mary Adeline Benson. Mary was born in 1863 in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The photo was taken of Mary shortly before her 1884 marriage to Harry Herbert Stone (1858-1941). At the time of their marriage, both worked in factories in West Brookfield -- he in a box factory and she in a corset factory.  Although this is a sepia-toned photo, I chose blue for Mary's eyes, as both of her parents' photographs show them with light-colored eyes. I used a pencil to mark the spacing for eyes, nose, and mouth, but my goal was to paint "freehand" as much as possible.  I worked with a limited palette for this portrait sketch: Transparent Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Sepia, Transparent Brown, and Mineral Violet for face, hair, and dress, and Cobalt Blue, Payne's Gray, and Ultramarine Blue for the background.  A close look at the reference photo, reveals a slender gold bar pin that Mary pinned to her whi...

Not sure why I find it so satisfying to paint sheep. These are two studies I retrieved from a box of unfinished work in need of attention. Sometimes quick sketches can be saved, but there's no guarantee. These two provided an hour or so of welcome diversion in my air-conditioned studio during a hot and humid holiday afternoon. "Beyond the City Limits"   transparent watercolor  10" x 7" unframed "Sheep VII"   transparent watercolor  8" x 6" unframed

The Tenth Annual One: A Members' Exhibition  runs from Thursday, July 14 through Sunday, August 21, 2022, at ArtsWorcester,   44 Portland St. Worcester MA.   A public reception for the The Tenth Annual One: A Members' Exhibition is on  Friday, July 15, 2022, from  6:00-9:00 p.m. $500 in prizes will be awarded by Karl Cole, Art Historian and Curator of Images of Davis Publications and Co-Curator of the Davis Art Gallery, and will be announced at the reception. Free and open to the public. My entry to the Member exhibition this year is a transparent watercolor, "Alabaster Vase" (previously titled "Ivory Vase").   "Alabaster Vase"   Transparent watercolor,  11" x 14" matted & framed Available for purchase HERE

Thrilled to learn that my watercolor, "Peony Awakening," was juried into the upcoming show, "The National" opens July 11 and runs through August 13 at the Cape Cod Art Center in Barnstable, MA,  3480 Route 6A (Main Street) Barnstable, MA   Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.   (508) 362-2909   "Peony Awakening" transparent watercolor      23" x 19"

I've submitted this  painting to  the "Town or  Country " exhibit for  Juried Artist Members of the CCAC.  One of my favorite subjects -- European landscapes!   The countryside in this alpine area, which is about 25 miles from Salzburg, Austria, is stunning.  The exhibit runs from June 13 through July 9, 2022. Find out more about the Cape Cod Art Center, including directions, here .  "Ramsau, Bavarian Alps"  transparent watercolor Framed, with double mat; 20.5" x 17.5" This and other paintings are available at my Daily Paintworks gallery.  Click   here for access to the gallery. FYI: my reference photo, taken while traveling through Germany and Austria, isn't the best -- I took it from the passenger's side of a moving car!! But it's a great memento of an unforgettable vacation.

"Zinnia #3" Bidding now open at the online auction, here: https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/family-health-center-of-worcester/art-in-the-city-9171?page=2#info