Coral Horizon One by Carol Engles

8x10 watercolor with pastel and charcoal on paper. I thought this was an interesting color combination - coral or peach with green. I like to rotate my work between the primary colors and the complimentary ones. I also, once again, find my self unable to to get away from charcoal and line - it keeps pulling me in!

Pink Sky

5x7 watercolor with pastel. Ok,Ok, I know these are Spring colors and I wouldn't see this landscape looking out my studio window on a November day, but I was in the mood for this. I always find abstract landscapes relaxing. As I have said before, they aren't as demanding as my geometric abstracts. Hopefully, they convey a sense of peace and relaxation to you as well.

Charcoal Grey Tower

10x14 watercolor with pastel and charcoal on paper. Big Surprise ! Another piece with lots of charcoal! Once again, I can't help myself. I wanted this to have an urban, warehouse look to it. Waterfront perhaps. Tell me what you think. I always love receiving your comments.

Olive Green and Violet One

8x11 watercolor with pastel and charcoal on paper. This is a color combination that I find very interesting. Violet and green are complimentary colors on the color wheel, or actually what you would call split complimentary. I brought in a bit of red violet, grey, taupe, mauve, yellow and light blue for more interest and then added the red, black and white line which I often do, for a punch! Tell me what you think of these colors together.

City Corner One

17x23 water media with pastel on paper. Framed and matted to 27x32. This painting is currently available at the Aaron Gallery in Washington D.C. If you're interested, contact the gallery at (202) 234-3311. I try to get a lot of movement and/or energy in these cityscapes. Hope you like them. They are rather demanding to do. I need them to be geometric and energetic at the same time!

Green and Grey

8x10 watercolor with pastel and charcoal on paper. In this piece, I smudged the pastel for a softer technique. These colors are interesting I think. The grey and the blue green are not often seen together. I also used subtle colors like aqua, pink and mauve. It is very easy to use the same colors over and over again, so I think it is important to try different combinations and see what happens!

Charcoal Vista Two

10x14 watercolor with pastel and charcoal on paper. Lots of line in this! Yes, I had to get my hands on charcoal again. I don't know why I like this sketchy style so much. I do these really fast and hope to capture the energy.

Futura Blue One

10x14 watercolor with water soluble crayon, pastel and charcoal on paper. I think I have used almost every color in this piece! Once again, I am happily "playing" with charcoal. As I have said before, I enjoy watercolor and drawing media so much. Acrylic and oil are wonderful as we all know; but other media, in my opinion, are just as valid and dynamic. When you put the art work under glass they sparkle!

Charcoal Vista One

10x14 watercolor with pastel, water soluble crayon and charcoal on paper. I love working with all these media and have rediscovered charcoal the last few months. I avoided charcoal for a long time, maybe because it reminded me of my demanding drawing classes! Ha!

Autumn Cityscape

11x17 watercolor with pastel and charcoal on paper. Lots of orange and brown in this piece -autumn colors! I was thinking of New York or another city with fall foliage in the park! That's the fun of abstract - using your imagination!

Vegas Cityscape One by Carol Engles

17x23 mixed media on paper. This is framed to 27x32. This piece is on display at the Aaron Gallery through November 30, 2009. I have three other paintings there as well. It is very exciting for me! If you're interested, contact Annette at (202) 234-3311.

City Wires Five

10x14 watercolor with pastel on paper. I was in the mood for these lighter, softer colors. It is actually Spring colors in Fall I guess! I love to work with bronze, Burnt Sienna and browns, so I will be getting to work with those colors soon! But, today, these colors caught my fancy!

Yellow Expression by Carol Engles

10x14 mixed media on paper. Ok, this is not my usual style. This is truly abstract expressionism. I just went after the paper with lots of line. I had to be careful not to overwork the piece, because you can lose the linear or sketchy quality. This style actually takes a lot out of me - maybe it's the emotion or possibly the physicality of putting down so much on paper really quickly.