Watercolor "Cotati Fields"

 I started working with watercolors again. I might have painted one every few years, or let's just day "once in a while". I was never using the media quite right. Never had a formal lesson in watercolors. So I decided I needed to correct this and learn how to do it properly. For a quick one, this isn't too bad.

So, here's one I did in 2009 of a scene near where I live in Northern California. "Cotati" is a small town near me. At this point I was still painting incorrectly with these paints but by accident, nearly correctly. 

So, as practice, I've been painting on 4x6 inch postcard sized watercolor paper. This way I can quickly practice a technique without committing to a full size painting. 

I'll be posting more of these, showing my progress.

Small Walnut Wood Bowl

 This is a Walnut wood bowl measuring 3.5 inches diameter and a little over an inch high. Finished with Pita's True Grit.

Walnut Wood Box w/Finial

 I posted this Walnut bowl last week. Then I made a lid for it, so it becomes a box. Dark wood is Walnut. The light wood is Sycamore. I added a textured rosette between the box and the finial.

Small Maple Bowl

 Here's a Maple wood bowl measuring 4 inches diameter and 2 inches high. Finished with Pita's True Grit.

Small Walnut Bowl

 A small Walnut wood bowl measuring 2.5 diameter and 2 inches high. Finished with Pita's True Grit.

Small Maple Bowl

 This is a small Maple bowl measuring 4 inches diameter and 3 inches high. Finished with Pita's True Grit. 

Small Walnut Wood Bowl

 Here's a small Walnut bowl measuring almost 3 inches diameter and 2.5 inches high. I made a textured bead around the rim. Finished with Pita's True Grit. 

Small Sycamore Bowl

 This is a Sycamore wood bowl measuring 3.25 inches diameter by 2 inches tall. Finished with Pita's True Grit polishing compound (mineral oil, beeswax and diatomaceous earth). This is my new go-to finishing compound. I love this stuff. 

 

Small Spalted Pear Bowl

 Another small spalted Pear bowl. This one measures 2.75 in diameter and 1.25 inches tall. Wet sanded and finished with mineral oil. 

Large Pear Bowl

 Here's a simple, plain Pear bowl measuring 8 inches in diameter and 3 inches high. It's large only in the context of my bowl-making. It would be medium sized in the real world. Wet sanded and finished with mineral oil. 

Small Spalted Pear Bowl

 Here's a spalted Pear bowl measuring 3 inches in diameter by 1.5 inches high. I made a textured bead around the rim.  Finished with mineral oil.

Small maple box.

 

This Maple box is 3 inches high and 2.75 inches in diameter. Though the lid and the cup look like different kinds of wood, they are both spalted Maple. The lid is loose-fitting. The finish was done using my new "true grit" polishing compound. Nice little box.

Maple Bowl

 

Here's a 6.5 inch diameter Maple bowl about 1.5 inches high. Hey, no spalting on this one! I tried out a new finishing compound on this bowl. It's called Pita's "True Grit" polish. It polishes wood turning up to a nice semi gloss sheen with no dust at all. I think I've found my new finish.

Small Birch Wood Dish

 This is a 3.5 inch diameter Birch dish. It has a Danish Oil finish. There's a small foot on the base. This was turned green, so there's some expected warping.

Small Maple Dish

 This is a 3 inch diameter Maple dish with a small pedestal. As an experiment, I used shoe polish to stain the interior of the dish. It didn't work so well but it didn't ruin it, so I'll go with it. 

Birch Wood Bowl

 This is a 4.5 inch diameter Birch bowl. It was turned green, so it warped, as intended, as it dried. I finished it with orange oil/wax. 

Small Birch Bowl w/Celtic Knot

 Here's a 3.5 inch diameter Birch wood bowl. I made a hand-drawn Celtic knot design around the outside of the bowl. It's burned with a woodburning tool. There's no finish on the bowl.

Small Maple Bowl

 This is a 3 inch diameter spalted Maple bowl with a cherry bark stain on the exterior. I stained the base and the rim with black. I put a satin clear coat on the exterior and oil and wax coating on the interior. Nice little bowl.

2 Blue Gum Eucalyptus Bowls

 

Here are a couple of green-turned Blue Gum Eucalyptus wood bowls, measuring 5 inches diameter and 2 inches high. These are kind of fuzzy looking because they haven't been sanded. The wood is very wet making them unable to be sanded; it just gums up the sandpaper and makes it more difficult to sand when they dry. I'll sand the by hand once they dry. I'll post photos when that happens. I expect them to warp due to how wet the wood is. 

9 Inch Spalted Maple Bowl

 

Here's a heavily spalted Maple bowl measuring 9 inches diameter and 3 inches high. This bowl almost looks like it's been through a fire. The wood is solid considering how spalted it is. This is the largest size bowl I can make on my small lathe.

 

9.75 Inch Spalted Maple Bowl

 

Here's a 9.75 inch diameter by 2.75 inch high Spalted Maple Bowl made from crotch-wood (the place where two branches form a "Y"). Interesting grain happens at that place. The spalting isn't very heavy here but there's a lot of different colors present. Black CA glue was used as a fill on splits and voids.