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Hello my friends. As I logged into my blog site, I was shocked to see it had been so long since I wrote last. I'm going to try to be more intentional this year to write to you a bit more regularly. The seasons have turned quickly from my last blog post over the summer, to fall. I'm finding myself painting almost daily now. Between the weekly classes and commissioned pieces, I've been keeping my hands busy and the paint palette wet! This weekend and next, I'll be out at local events if you'd like to see what I've been working on and snag some unique holiday cards and gifts.  To celebrate fall in my classes this week, we painted pumpkins, gourds and my favorite, fall leaves! We worked by first wetting our drawing of the leaf with clean water and then dropping in rich colors and letting them intermingle on the paper. As it dried, we lifted out the veins of the leaves (using a clean damp stiff brush) and darkened a little bit above and below the leaf veins to give them some depth. We discussed how fall leaves are incredibly beautiful, yet also imperfect and damaged a little bit ... just like us. Honestly, I've been dwelling a lot on this idea lately and have been totally enjoying a song called, "Beautifully Broken" by Plumb. Such a freeing and refreshing idea!   Each of these I painted quickly in about 15 to 20 minutes using mixes of Ultramarine Blue, Cad Red and Cadmium Yellow. I tried not to overwork or overthink them. It helped to tip and turn the board as I was working to let the colors run together. Once the first layer was dry, it had lightened up quite a bit (unfortunately, watercolors dry lighter then when you first paint them.) So I had to layer on some additional paint to get the intensity of color desired. We put in some wet blobs of dark in order to show the leaf decay and spots. This leaf reminds me of a giant sycamore tree Daniel and I once had.  I love the shape and juiciness of this leaf, but the green got a little too intense. I went back in and darkened it when I should have left it alone ... my fatal flaw. ; )  The last one I painted yesterday was my favorite. Wish we could enjoy this kind of leaf color more in Florida! If you are local and have some free time this weekend or next, come and say hello to me at an upcoming event. I'll have these original leaves for sale as well as some holiday recipe notecard sets. Hope to see you out and about enjoying the fall!
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Caryn DahmWhether I am painting custom artwork, creating a water colored logo for a client, or teaching art students, I hope to refresh and inspire others with my work. Read more ... 
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