The poisoned apple

This painting was based on a photo posted by the G+ community Group Watercolor Painting. I took some artistic license with it since the apple was originally green, and had LOTS of water drops on it. Since this was the first time attempting water drops, I decided to limit it to just a few, and I just prefer red apples. I painted the apple with a gradient wash to make an obvious light source, and once I had a beautiful red apple,

it was time to "poison" it with my attempt at water drops. Painting these drops feels so awkward with the darkest part near the light source and the lighter part away from it, but after searching images online, I think I have a handle on it. I rarely use it, but the highlight was created with a dab of Chinese White, right out of the tube. I just need to work on thewater drops being more smooth and round.  It's not really a Halloween themed painting, but if I call it a"poisoned apple", it just might be!

Pumpkin harvest

This painting is based on a photo I took while visiting a local nursery having a harvest festival. They had piles and piles of pumpkins ready for carving.  I really focused on the shading to create texture on each pumpkin as well as to keep their roundness.

Haunted house, plein aire watercolor

A friend had invited me to an "Artober" festival where they invited several plein aire painters, face painters, etc. It was centered around a house that was decorated to the hilt with Halloween decor. Although the task of simplifying it down to paint was daunting, I took the challenge! A majority of the piece was done plein air, but I have to admit, I took a photo so I could finish it at home.
My perspective lines are still off a little bit...seems to be an area I need to work on if I keep painting houses. I used a couple of new techniques as well.  I used a crayon on the street sign to write the numbers and letters so it would resist the watercolor. I also had to lift color off a couple of areas, which I did with a stiff damp brush.  Luckily I was using heavier paper so that this worked. Otherwise the paper would have just started falling apart. I used white paint several times as well with varying success. The cob webs on the bushes just didn't show up like I wanted them to.  Next time, I would darken the bushes and try scraping the webs in with a knife.
At one point I thought I was done, but then realized there were a couple more details that I could add, but eventually I just have to say, "I'm done!" Can you find the four changes I made to the second pic?

On another note, my daughter decided to come with me to try out her artistic side...special effects makeup. Here are some pics of her creations.

Check out more of her work on Instagram:  @autumnelizamakeup

The 4 differences are: I added cobwebs on the bushes (which don't show very well), there's another pumpkin on the right side of the porch, the bat above the new pumpkin, and I moved the base of the street sign :)

Portrait of a zombie

Being inspired by my daughter's special effects make-up, Autumn Eliza SFX, I decided to do a portrait of one of her "zombies". This particular zombie is one she designed for a Halloween costume segment on Good Day Sacramento.
The coloring on the skin was pretty simple since there is no wrong color, but I just used up previous washes of blue and green from my landscape palette to get a creepy pale color.
Happy Halloween!