Back after long break

Well, I have moved and my orchids are finally beginning to recover fromthe shock intheir new home. Lost most of the dendrobia, one is hanging on, and the phals of course are stalwarts.

Next half up tomorrow

Well, I have the first session of painting all up in these five clips. I am loading the second session into the editor now.

Kaleidescope Orchid

Finished the second painting video today. The very first section is up now, and I am editting the second 3-minute bit now.

Today's shooting went really well. It rained and I got a sequence of the rain pouring down beyond the window, and then for the rest of the video the sound of rain falling made a nice backdrop. Then the leaf and pot got really going on their own, with flowing colors... hard to explain... how watercolors can "paint themselves".....

I still have to remember the camera angles, but this is waaaaaay better than my first one! I am really beginning to enjoy this.

Another painting

I did another painting video today. Managed to get it done nicely in one long "take". Can't load it up until the battery recharges. I got the painting about half done and it took 30 minutes, so I will cut it down to one 5-minute sequence and then tomorrow hopefully can nicely finish the second half.

I am not happy with my first orchid painting. I "fussed" with it too much. This second one is not my best, either, because of the distractive affect of speaking for the camera, but it is better. I want to become completely natural and be able to "finish" a piece all in one fell swoop.

I bought two blooming phals for this. Almost bought a paph but it was $25 and I needed to stay under $15....

Final Cut

I have pulled together some clips to make the "final cut" of this painting video. I had to learn a lot about camera and lighting placement as well as planning for the edit, so this is still not very good, but I feel confident that my next one will be better.

Video Painting Sessions

As you can see, I have started to post videos as I go along with a new watercolor. I know these videos are a little "rough" but I am certainly going to improve with practice. I can't upload more than about five minutes' worth at a time and it seems three minutes is the ideal length for online video segments, so I am breaking this up into sections.

It is just my technique of quick-sketching and if you have not painted this way, I hope you give it a try. You may find yourself spending some very rewarding afternoons in forest, field, and garden. I'm deliberately keeping the materials basic: just a pad instead of the fancier mounted-paper rigs many watercolourists use, and just a small portable paintbox instead of an elaborate palette and tubes of paint. This is a "kit" you can keep in your car or even a purse if you choose to paint post-card size.

They died.....

The two remaining Antelope Orchids died. I am not surprised because I certainly had separated them all too soon. This is a learning process!

Well, anyway, I have some more of the larger ones that are doing well. I'm following the lead of some more experienced growers in Orchidtalk and putting some on a driftwood mount, and they are doing very well. I think I will stick to the larger orchids and avoid flasklings for a while. I'm obviously not ready.

I started another watercolor today, and am videotaping the process. It was kind of funny, because I set up the camera on a tripod and then blithely painted and talked, and most of the time the only thing the camera was recording was the back of my shoulder, or my arm with the paper & brush beneath the lower edge of the screen! Obviously, I have to learn better spatial awareness if I am going to make painting videos.

But all was not lost. In spite of the difficulty, I did manage to capture at least a little that might do the job of presenting a good beginning. I'm painting a Phal with deep alizarin-spotted blossoms. Tomorrow I should get quite a bit done, hopefully with better camerawork.