Author: JohnM

Watercolor Wildflowers is studio artist business by appt. I am a retired civil engineer surveyor - I make landscape watercolor paintings, geometric resin paintings, and other graphic arts related services. I am currently building resin art works using a unique process that I invented. My resin slab designs are geometric themes and color compositions. Art works are transparent, colorful and lit with LED by AC or DC power. Installation in Omaha area is included with purchase. My resin art is unlike any other and will look incredible in your home or business. My paintings are planned, well constructed, and beautiful. Hang them on your wall or in front of a window. I've built LED backlighting which shines brightly through the colorful resin. Commissions
Posted on by — Leave a comment

June Newsletter: Icosahedron

Very clear icosahedron resting on window sill capturing the light in the texture of resin and equilateral triangles

Happy June!  Watercolor Wildflowers Monthly Newsletter featuring brand new geometric art. The Icosahedron.

Resinart nightlights and lighthouses on display in a darkened room. Colors range from red to yellow to aqua to green and blue.
Glowing nightlights and lighthouses on display in a darkened room. Colors range from red to yellow to aqua to green and blue.

This month’s winner of a Planetary Nightlight is Nita Upchurch of redefinedhome.com in Des Moines, IA. Subscribe to this newsletter for a chance to win!   ENTER Drawing by ->  SUBSCRIBE

Customer Newsletter      June 2025

Icosahedron Art in Clear Resin

I see new resin art ideas wherever I look! From nature to man-made structures, there are fascinating ideas in art just waiting to try.  This month it’s the Icosahedron.  A clear or colored, three-dimensional tetrahedron, formed with 20 equilateral triangles. It has a penta-gonal pyramid on “top”, and same on the “bottom”. with a band of five up and five down alternating triangles holding the top to the bottom.  As you turn it over in your hands, it’s hard to tell where the top is.  Each side is the same! Roll it over and there’s another pentagon. You could also call it a geodesic sphere or a polyhedron.

Red Icosahedron play structure. Copyright free Pixabay. December 26, 2016
Red Icosahedron play structure. Copyright free Pixabay. December 26, 2016

My first attempt was with cardboard.  I wanted to get the assembly correct and its hard to tell where to start.  Can a flat paper be cut and folded into a 20 sided geodesic ball? The answer is yes but a stiffer material is needed. 

I cut 3″ triangles from a sheet of 1/8″ plastic acrylic. How to fit, how to join these triangles together? What angle should they be to each other.  The angle between each side should be 138°.  This is called the dihedral angle. It is figured with college level math that I don’t remember any longer. Making 3″ clear or colored resin triangles in exact 60° angles and consistent dimensions is the next challenge. Precision is key to a good fit.  I bought some laser-cut acrylic triangles in the end to keep everything tight and attractive. I used these to create a mold so I can cast the triangle in any color using liquid two-part epoxy resin.

There’s the awkward fit with square edges so the mold includes 21° +/- angle on the inside faces. Each chip touches three times with a 138° interior angle. An interlocking design would help. The result is what you see here:

Icosahedron resting on table in front of a yellow wildflower lighthouse. The icosahedron is made from clear epoxy resin and has 20 equilateral triangles fit together in pentagon shapes repeating around the geodesic figure.
Icosahedron resting on table in front of a yellow wildflower lighthouse. The icosahedron is made from clear epoxy resin and has 20 equilateral triangles fit together in pentagon shapes repeating around the geodesic figure.

These unique pieces of art make a perfect gift for Father’s Day – for the man who has everything – except an Icosahedron.

Basic models are only $45.  If you want an LED light then add $15. Made-to-order or buy online from watercolorwildflowers.com/store/

CALL OR VISIT MY STUDIO 5069 Leavenworth Street Omaha, NE 68106 (402) 943-7516

Posted on by — Leave a comment

May 2025 Customer Newsletter – Renewal

pink peonies with green foliage, one large peony in middle in sharp focus
Newsletter 1 May 2025

Watercolor Wildflowers Resin Artist

This month’s winner of a Planetary Nightlight is Tim Conway of Omaha. Subscribe for free to this newsletter: SUBSCRIBE

Renewal

Welcome Spring! So glad you’re finally here. We had a survivable winter in Omaha but I love the warmer weather and increased light. I grew up in Tucson, AZ so light and warm are important. I’ve started a new part-time job at CNC Surveying, just a block away from my Resin Art Studio on Leavenworth St. If you come by the studio please call me, ’cause I’m just 5 minutes away at work or at home. Going back to work is actually great. It means I can pay rent for the studio and slow burn through my fantastic ideas for resin art projects and paintings.

transparent resin painting in blue, green, black, and yellow with light blue mica powder.
Bioluminescence 23″ x 28″ resin
This is my abstract impression of a dark night glowing with bioluminescence washing ashore onto a moonlit beach. The horizon line from the ocean melts into the distant dark sky of stars.

My younger years were the opposite of a slow burn. I liked that though. I have always been willing to work hard. But the stress of a career and family occupied my thoughts more at 60 than ever before. It had a lot to do with my expectations.

resin art painting of orange lillies in a green garden
Orange Lillies 22″ x 28″ resin This abstract garden piece is a warm mid-summer day. Orange lillies pop out from the garden of green foliage and yellow light.

Worse than it really is?

The problem with age is comparing where you are, your family, your life, against the expectations you built while working to fulfill the dreams of youth. Combine that with inevitable changes in health and you have a greater potential for stress, more health problems, more worries and more reasons to be upset. Add some regrets onto the mix and

THIS is why people need time to relax and repair. Plan, and then take some deserved scheduled time off to rest and re-align. Spend time without the stress that brought you into those difficult thoughts. If you don’t recognize yourself anymore, you need to make a significant life change. I was lucky to be in a position to semi-retire. And for God’s sake, listen to the people who love you. I’m happier with simple. What I do now at a slower pace leads to greater creativity. COVID taught the world that people, and time, and the pursuit of happiness are SO much more valuable than things, and hurry and hate. Please be kind to others.

I’m glad my perspective changed. I had to see my achievements of a long marriage and a happy family as greater than anything else accomplished in my career. I realized that ambition doesn’t guarantee success.

That is not to say I wouldn’t love to sell some of the art I’m making. But, the pressure is off and that feels great!

Poppies and Thistles in watercolor
Poppies & Thistles in watercolor, 27″ x 16″

CALL OR VISIT MY STUDIO 5069 Leavenworth Street Omaha, NE 68106 (402) 943-7516

Posted on by — Leave a comment

April 2025 Customer Newsletter – Nightlights

globe with disk looks like planet with rings is lit by LED puck light underneath
Oregon wild Iris painted in watercolor of purple and yellow. This logo has three main petals and six minor petals in the center.

Watercolor Wildflowers Resin Artist

blue light shining through Planetary Night Light.
Each nightlight set comes with a globe, an LED puck light, and remote control clicker.

Free Monthly Planetary Night Lights

I have been developing the best way to create these Planetary Night Lights. Practice and fine tuning. The nightlights were good, just not as refined as I’d like. It’s worth noting that working with resin is a messy process. It’s so messy that resin work can only be done in a studio with rough floors, tools, and plenty of supplies.

Here’s the deal: Some friends, acquaintances, and a few others have received two emails from me. If you want to unsubscribe, please look for the Unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email. If you’d like to subscribe officially (and enter the drawing), then please visit my website https://watercolorwildflowers.com and scroll down to the subscribe form at the bottom of any page. At the end of every month, I will pick someone who signed up that month using the form to win a free Planetary Night Light. March’s winner is Mimi True of Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture.

Video of the Planetary Nightlights.

Why Art?

Your home is a canvas for your individuality, and it should showcase your unique style and personality. With Watercolor Wildflowers home essentials and decor, you can craft a living space that truly feels like your own. From handmade card tables to curious decorative accents, I can offer some art pieces to transform your house into a space you love. Illuminated wall hangings, window sun catchers, lighthouse lamps are some you may like.

Artist builder sitting at folding rustic card table for size reference in living room setting.
Artist builder sitting at folding rustic card table for size reference in living room setting.

hot air balloon resin painting stood up on table to see transparent quality

What is a Tessellation?

Mirrored Equilateral Triangles

If you start with a “grid” of 60° triangles and mirror the contents to the adjacent 60° triangle and repeat that to the edge of your paper, then you have just made a tessellation.

Epoxy Resin and Brass Rods

Crafted from resilient thick epoxy, this 3/8″ thick slab is an example of my work. This is the first time I have used brass rods to separate the puddles of color. Previously I have used clear silicone caulk to blend in rather than outline the colors. This looks like stained glass but it is more durable. I’m working on a similar piece but with copper tubing which is a little easier to bend and doesn’t weigh as much as brass.

Hot Air Baloons

I like the design but the craft could use some improvement which I’m taking care in the current piece. It will be copper with white and gold baloons surrounded by a brass frame.

Shop now

Transparent Resin Lighthouse Lamp

My personal favorite is this transparent resin lighthouse with spriral staircase. This is my original design and creation from plans and testing and molding and pouring and cutting and welding.

The roof is 18 little triangles made from black and then white epoxy resin. Its actually a trick to get a cone shape. I thought it would peak easily but it wanted to flatten out.

The spiral stairs are made from brass welded with a soldering iron. Its more of an artistic staircase than a functional climbing spiral into the lantern room.

A blue-green LED bulb shines bright from behind patterned resin cylinder sitting centered in the widow’s walk. Aptly named for the women who paced, hoping not to lose their sailor husbands at sea.

The widows walk is painted like a map legend for best visibility. With some ingenuity a sailor could guess the ships direction and distance from the lighthouse.

The base is a heavy hexagon shaped ring that holds the electrical connections and power the invisible cord through the brass tube in the center of the spiral staircase. The tube pops through the floor in the lantern room holding the LED bulb.

a resin lighthouse with a blue green LED light inside the lens room, a black and white painted widow's walk surrounds the bright light, and a spiral staircase ascends to the light through the middle of the blue resin walls in the shape of a hexagon and which sit on a blue resin base containing rocks at the ocean level

brick building with window and door and resin art hanging. This is the entrance to my studio in Omaha at 5069 Leavenworth Street
brick building with window and door and resin art hanging. This is the entrance to my studio in Omaha at 5069 Leavenworth Street.

I’m a resin art studio in Omaha on Leavenworth Street and 50th Ave. I’m living my retirement dream of building art. I love trying new things so supplies are funded by my part-time job at CNC Surveying just a block from my studio. Please drop by, I’m only 5 minutes away, home or work.

Subscribe

Subscribe to enter monthly drawing for Free Planetary Night Light