Another Pop Art Diva Painting – Sleeping Beauty

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Sleeping Beauty was one of the watercolor original paintings that I didn’t finish 2 weekends ago. Well, it was almost finished when I did that stupid thing an artist can do every once in a while, I tried to change something mid stream. Watercolor is a very unforgiving medium, it doesn’t like change – unless of course the change was it’s idea! Those of you who work in traditional watercolor techniques know what I’m talking about.

I had to put it aside that Sunday because it was getting late and come back to it this weekend.  I turned it into an opaque watercolor because I had to cover up my mess on the face – the only area I leave white of course – and use an opaque Titanium White for the skin tone.  It actually gave me an opportunity to try out some new modeling ideas using soft grays and I really liked the effect.

I also took the opportunity to color some of the stars in the negative space.

Mistakes can often lead you down a new road you might not have traveled and help you out in the end by improving your work.  Anyway, Sleeping Beauty turned out lovely and is one of my favorites. I really like having the face coming in from the side and off-balance like this.  You’ll note that I rarely do a centered piece – usually I find them uninteresting and boring in design.

SLEEPING BEAUTY

an Original 8″x10″ Watercolor and Acrylic Painting on 200# D’Arches Cold Press Watercolor Paper

$185.00 Plus Shipping*

Contact Me to Purchase “SLEEPING BEAUTY” Original Art

(I ship by Boxed Priority Mail – if you live in the U.S. the total shipping cost is $12. If you live outside the US I can figure your shipping costs once I have your address.)

Care: Electra should be framed and mounted under glass to protect her delicate sensibilities – watercolor divas are susceptible to UV and moisture damage!!!)

 

Star Diva – Pop Art Diva Original Watercolor

STAR DIVA

Series: Pop Art Divas, Original Watercolors

I like stars and use them a lot in my art, especially in this series of Pop Art Divas Originals.  If you take a look at this style of pop art cartoon done in the sixties you’ll see a lot of stars – check out the great cartoons done for Yellow Submarine and, of course, take a look at Peter Max’s work from that era – stars are all over the place.

I actually sign my first name – which is Terri, by the way, lol – with a star and have for decades.  For some reason I left it off the logo for PopArtDiva.com – maybe I’ll add it next time I do a redesign – maybe not, lol.

But the stars are showing up all over the Pop Art Divas – it’s part of the genre to me and this is my first Star Diva with a few simple stars in the background and one as a beauty mark by her mouth.

STAR DIVA

an original 6″ x 10″ watercolor and acrylic painting on 200# D’Arches watercolor cold press paper

$175.00 Plus Shipping*

Contact Me to Purchase “STAR DIVA” Original Art

(I ship by Boxed Priority Mail – if you live in the U.S. the total shipping cost is $12. If you live outside the US I can figure your shipping costs once I have your address.)

Care: Electra should be framed and mounted under glass to protect her delicate sensibilities – watercolor divas are susceptible to UV and moisture damage!!!)

Retro style Pop Art Diva – Tallulah

Tallulah

Original 8″x 10″ Watercolor Pop Art Diva

When I saw how this Pop Art Diva’s hair just flowed into a design element of its own I made the decision to keep this painting simple and make it  all about the movement of the hair.  I added a simple heart to Tallulah’s cheek and some colored stars to the background and that was it.  There’s something so lovely about the waves and how they are the star of this piece that any more embellishment would have been redundant here.

I named her Tallulah after the actress Tallulah Bankhead who was known for her hair sweeping over her face to create an air of mystery.  This became an homage to my love of old black and white film noir.  If you’re too young to know who Tallulah Bankhead but like old movies you need to Google her – quite an interesting woman.

Tallulah

an 8″ x 10″ original watercolor and acrylic painting on 200# D’arches watercolor paper

$185.00 Plus Shipping*

Contact Me to Purchase “TALLULAH” Original Art

(I ship by Boxed Priority Mail – if you live in the U.S. the total shipping cost is $12. If you live outside the US I can figure your shipping costs once I have your address.)

Care: Tallulah should be framed and mounted under glass to protect her delicate sensibilities – watercolor divas are susceptible to UV and moisture damage!!!)

CAT WOMAN IS A POP ART DIVA – Original Watercolor Painting

CAT WOMAN

I managed to get six paintings done this weekend, Cat Woman is one of my favorites and it was entirely unplanned.

I don’t make any plans for these paintings when I draw them, I just start sketching and let the drawing take me where it chooses.  Sometimes I see something in them right away that names them, sometimes not.  Cat Woman immediately made me think of a woman wearing a cat mask though I hadn’t planned the face design that way, I just followed the natural contours of a woman’s profile.

The cool thing about this particular piece is that you can hang it either horizontally or vertically because of the orientation of the head.

CAT WOMAN

an original watercolor and acrylic painting on 200 # cold press watercolor paper and is 8″ x 12″ in size.

$185.00 Plus Shipping*

(I ship by Boxed Priority Mail – if you live in the U.S. the total shipping cost is $12. If you live outside the US I can figure your shipping costs once I have your address.)

Care: Cat Woman should be framed and mounted under glass to protect her delicate sensibilities – watercolor divas are susceptible to UV and moisture damage!!!)

Contact Me to Purchase “CATWOMAN” Original Art

4 more watercolor Pop Art Divas and some Martini Art

Sorry for the lousy photo – I shot it pretty early this morning and the light sucked, lol. But here’s 5 more sketches I’ll be working on this weekend.  Yes, you do see a Martini in there – I couldn’t resist.  I love doing martini art and produce quite a bit for The Martini Diva Boutique.

This is just a quick post to show you what I’m going to be working on for the next 2 days.  Check back on Monday to see and buy the finished paintings!  Remember, this is the only place you can buy an original one-of-a-kind work of art from me now that I no longer do art shows!

Okay, now to painting! Yes, I ate breakfast so I don’t have to take a break though I may nibble on a few chocolate kisses.

Pop Art Divas – Pixie and Curly make their debut

Pixie is a Pop Art Diva with Magical Rainbow Powers

I really liked the way this Pop Art Diva turned out. She got her name when I looked at her ear and saw the slight slant to her eyes, both attributes reminded me of a pixie’s face. But here’s something really funny. . . after I finished her I kept thinking she looked familiar to me – there was something about her face that reminded me of someone. The I realized who she reminded me of and I cracked up – she looks like Gary Sinese!!! Doesn’t she?  I think it’s the ear, the shape of the eye and the eyebrow arch.  I’d love to delve into why Gary Sinese’s face showed up in one of my pieces, psychologically speaking,  he he.

I also like that I put some decorative elements inside the hair areas for some added texture and I plan on doing that again in other pieces. I think it makes the whole effect more abstract and fun.

PIXIE

an 8″ x 10″ Original Watercolor on 200# Cold Press D’Arches

$175.00 Plus Shipping*

Contact Me to Purchase “PIXIE” Original Art

(I ship by Boxed Priority Mail – if you live in the U.S. the total shipping cost is $12. If you live outside the US I can figure your shipping costs once I have your address.)

Care: Pixie should be framed and mounted under glass to protect her delicate sensibilities – watercolor divas are susceptible to UV and moisture damage!!!)

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Curly - Pop Art Divas Series

Curly was actually the first painting I finished. The curly hair was a good idea in the sketch but it did create a challenge when I went to paint in the color because, unlike the other Pop Art Divas, the color areas weren’t clearly separated. But I do like the effect and it can work well where the hair doesn’t comprise a major part of the design layout.

I’m kind of fond of the polka dot background – it’s something I’m using on my series of Martini Diva Illustrations and I like the retro feel of it and will use that again.

Oh, and today I am snacking on Reese’s Peanut Butter cups,  just in case you follow my artistic fuel consumption. . .

CURLY

a 4″ x 6″ original watercolor painting on 200# D’Arches Cold Press

$135.00 Plus Shipping*

Contact Me to Purchase “CURLY” Original Art

(I ship by Boxed Priority Mail – if you live in the U.S. the total shipping cost is $12. If you live outside the US I can figure your shipping costs once I have your address.)

Care: Curly should be framed and mounted under glass to protect her delicate sensibilities – watercolor divas are susceptible to UV and moisture damage!!!)

NIGHT SKY – A Pop Art Diva Sky Scape Original

Night Sky - 8"x10" Original Pop Art Diva Watercolor

I have quite a few sketches of just Pop Art Diva faces – because I really love doing women’s faces.  I wanted to do something a little different when I sketched this one.  I was thinking of a human landscape, using the hair for the sky.

I think it’s a nice concept and want to explore this a little more when I get a chance.  I love stars, moons and comets – they’ve shown up throughout my work my entire life.  I might even do a few simple abstract designs with no faces for fun.  This is also the only painting I’ve done so far without the rainbow color theme.

If you look closely at the hair that shapes up the clouds you’ll see evidence of one of my favorite texturing techniques – while the wash is till wet you sprinkle a few grains of Kosher salt on the area.  The salt draws the moisture from the surrounding area and creates a really fun texture on a flat wash.  This is an old watercolor trick from way back.   I used it here to give the effect of stars in the bottom half of the painting.

I’m relearning a lot of things about watercolor painting – like where not to rest your hand while you’re working and making sure you wait for areas to dry before you go to the next step.  I had to toss out 3 of my sketches last weekend because I smeared something or just plain messed up, it was very frustrating!  Creating art on a computer with a Wacom tablet you don’t have those issues, if you make a mistake you simply delete that layer or hit “undo” – man, I sure wish you could do that on a real painting! The computer is much more forgiving than real watercolors!

Fortunately, I am beginning to remember a lot of little tricks and work area practices from the old days and I was enjoying a much smoother painting experience towards the middle of Sunday.  But I had forgotten the pain of making a mistake that can’t be fixed or “deleted” with a click of a key.  Those 3 ruined paintings in the trash can just drove me nuts, lol.

NIGHT SKY

is an 8″ X 10″ original watercolor

$125.00 Plus Shipping*

(I ship by Boxed Priority Mail – if you live in the U.S. the total shipping cost is $12. If you live outside the US I can figure your shipping costs once I have your address.)

Care: Electra should be framed and mounted under glass to protect her delicate sensibilities – watercolor divas are susceptible to UV and moisture damage!!!)

Contact Me to Purchase “NIGHT SKY” Original Art