Category: Watercolor

Categories
Glass Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Clover Honey Bubblebath and Bath Brush

Clover Honey Bubble Bath

Watercolor in large Moleskine watercolor sketchbook
Click here to see larger

These lovely items were my birthday gift from my office and I’ve been dying to paint them. I’m probably going to do it again as a “real” watercolor too, not just a sketch like this one. I might give it a shot in oil too.

The bubble bath in the bottle is thick as honey and looks and smells like it too. It’s full of other wonderful things from the garden: lettuce, celery, sage, clover, bilberry, cucumber, rosemary and avocado oil. It’s called Gardener’s Greenhouse Bubbling Bath Clover Honey. It’s the nicest bubble bath I’ve ever had and the bath brush is lovely and soft. I used them last night for the first time and it was heavenly.

My cats had never seen bubble bath before, and being fascinated with anything watery, were transfixed. While I lay in the tub and read, they fished for pawfuls of bubbles, tried to eat them, which I discouraged (I tasted it to see if it really tasted like honey and sadly it didn’t–soap!) and chased them around when I fluffed some onto the floor for them.

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. with a headache today and had a really busy day, including practicing setting up for plein air oil painting by assembling everything and then painting in my own garden. I picked a perfect spot — my Japanese Maple glowing in the light–but by the time I had everything together, it was in the shade. I painted anyway, and the painting turned out fairly icky. But it was all about rehearsing and hopefully I found all of the problems and things I still need to make this set up work. More about that later…for now it’s time to catch up on the sleep I missed last night.

Categories
Landscape Life in general Other Art Blogs I Read Outdoors/Landscape Painting Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Towata Park, Alameda

Towata Park, Alameda

Ink and watercolor in large Moleskine watercolor sketchbook
Click here to see larger

Thursday night was a 2-hour plein air paint-out on Alameda Island that was part of the Frank Bette Art Center’s annual invitational weeklong event that culminates in a show and a fund-raising auction in the park Saturday. Susie and I went there straight from work and had a very enjoyable time looking at all the accomplished plein air painters at work spread out over about a half-mile square area. It was warm, very windy and the sun was setting on the water, creating glare amidst views of a marsh, the bay, a small boat harbor, San Francisco across the bay, and a huge old concrete bridge with rush hour traffic flying across it a very short distance away. Despite all these challenges, the artists were doing some amazing work. After we’d admired all the interesting styles and techniques we found a spot where we could sit and draw too.

We’d both been attracted to the funny little boat to the left of the picture so we both drew and painted the same scene (but quite differently) in about 20 minutes. Then we took another walk around to see the finished pieces and left as the artists were setting up their paintings in a circle so that they could vote on the winning painting. While we were there, I got to see Ed Terpening, a fellow blogger, in action (the painting he was working on last night can be seen by clicking his name), and met Tom Zephyrs, a fantastic artist who is the brother-in-law of a childhood friend. Susie and my favorite was a large pastel in brilliant colors of the imposing bridge by artist and blogger Ann McMillan. She won first prize at last year’s event and that pastel is featured on the Frank Bette’s website page about the event.

Two nights in a row of painting inspiration and two nights in a row of dreaming about painting…until the earthquake hit at 4:42 this morning, putting an end to lovely dreams for the night. Fortunately it didn’t create any problems and was short enough that I didn’t even have time to do my usual earthquake reaction: panic and try to remember what it is I’m supposed to do during an earthquake. It felt like someone had taken my one-story, rectangular house that is much longer one way than the other, and picked it up at one end and snapped it, like you do with a sheet when you’re opening it and laying it on the bed.

Categories
Outdoors/Landscape Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Colusa Circle’s Kensington Bistro

Kensington Bistro

Ink and watercolor in small Moleskine notebook
Click here to see larger

I supposedly work half a day from home on Mondays so that I can get out and paint in the afternoons. Unfortunately I often have trouble turning off the work email and end up working most of the day. Today I forced myself out the door around 3:00 for a walk and a visit to my favorite produce market, Colusa Market in Kensington. I parked at the Colusa Circle, took an enjoyable walk, and then came back and sat on a bench in front of the pub called the “Kensington Circus” and drew the Kensington Bistro across the traffic circle. The little peaks on the building are all wonky but I just couldn’t make myself get out a ruler and use 2 point perspective. I just wanted to draw so I did. The bistro is situated on a slight hill so the building does slant downhill from left to right…but still…

Categories
Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Quick Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe

Ink & watercolor in large Moleskine watercolor notebook
Click here to see bigger

When I was traveling across country many years ago, taking an old highway instead of a huge interstate, I stopped for breakfast in an old-fashioned roadside diner with wood panelled walls and big, dark padded booths. I was handed a typed menu covered in a thick plastic sleeve with red leatherette edging. There was a typo on the menu that said, “Fresh cantalpupe.” I’ve never been able to look at cantaloupe since then without remembering that wonderfully odd typo and saying silently to myself, “cantalpupe.” Try it…it’s so fun to say…but then so is cantaloupe with it’s extra, silent “u”. Shouldn’t it be pronounced cantaloope with that u in there?

And it tastes good too. Now I’m going to go eat my still life and go to bed!

Categories
Animals Flower Art Outdoors/Landscape Watercolor

Butterfly at Blake Gardens

Butterfly watercolor

Watercolor on Arches paper, 11 x 7.5″ (with a touch of white gouache on antennae)
Click here for larger version

Buttefly photo

(Above) Reference photo I took on Thursday at Blake Gardens.

I have two more days of vacation left and finally I’m really ready to paint. I’ve sorted out the images I want to work from and have some ideas how I want to approach them. This first image seemed to call for watercolor and it felt good to get back to paint again tonight.

But unfortunately today mostly got lost to errands, paperwork and monitor calibration again when I called the company who makes the Eye One calibration tool I bought because of some continuing problems I was having. Their tech support was superb and the patient and intelligent gentleman I spoke to uncovered a number of problems I’d created by messing around with stuff I shouldn’t have been messing with. He helped me undo my mistakes, got everything working properly, and helped me to understand more about the concept of color management.

Now it’s back to managing REAL color on the end of a paintbrush. I’m not panicking too badly about the end of vacation because I only go back to work for one day (Thursday) and then I’m off again for my usual 3 1/2 day weekend.

Categories
Every Day Matters Illustration Friday Sketchbook Pages Studio Watercolor

IF: Twist; EDM #124: Something Yellow

Twist; EDM Something Yellow

Watercolor in Moleskine large watercolor sketchbook

This week’s Illustration Friday challenge is “Twist” — there’s nothing like a nice twist of lemon in a glass of ice water (or in something more exciting, like a lemon drop martini, which I’m sure sounds better than it tastes, since I’m not a fan of martinis). And last week’s Everyday Matters challenge was to draw something yellow…so there you go.

I did this watercolor sketch yesterday but when I scanned it, my monitor display was driving me crazy. No matter what I did in Photoshop I couldn’t get an image that looked anything like the original. I tried again and again to calibrate my monitor using Adobe Gamma but just couldn’t get it right. I finally gave up around midnight, vowing to resolve the problem today one way or another.

Today I went to a great photography store in Berkeley, Looking Glass Photo. They rent and sell everything you need for digital or film photography and they’re staffed by experts who are generous with their knowledge. Initially I was going to rent a fancy set of calibration tools but a handsome, Buddha-like man named Paul (a customer who used to work there) steered me towards buying a simpler unit for not much more money than it would have cost to rent the unnecessarily fancy tools for just one day. I bought the Gretagmacbeth Eye-One Display 2 which looks like a small regular computer mouse.

I waited until it got dark out, turned on my full spectrum overhead lights only and then hung the little device over my monitor. I tried the automatic calibration which was OK, and then I tried the more detailed program, which I think did a better job. When it finished, I scanned my little lemon twist and amazingly it appeared on my screen just like the original. I have no idea how it will look on your screen, but at last, after all the changes in my studio, my monitor, scanner and printer are all working together again. Whoopee! Now I can get back to painting instead of messing with computer stuff!

P.S. If this looks washed out or too bright on your monitor, please let me know.

Categories
Flower Art Gardening Landscape Outdoors/Landscape Plants Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Tilden Botanical Garden

Serpentine Cone Flower

Serpentine Cone Flower
Ink and watercolor in large Moleskine watercolor notebook
Click here to see enlarged

Today I went to Berkeley’s Tilden Park Botanical Gardens with Richard. It’s a lovely, serene place filled with California native plants and trees from giant redwoods to wildflowers. He hiked around the hills, fields, bridges, creeks and wooded areas, enjoying the quiet breeze and birdsong. Most of the flowering plants had already done their big blooming in the spring but these coneflowers grabbed my interest so I sat down on the grass and did this quick sketch while Richard, a photographer, took close up shots of flowers.

Then we decided to move on to Blake Gardens. Richard had never been there and there were many parts of the estate I’d never explored, so we hiked all around there too, finding amazing jewels of nature and design at every turn. We took lots of photos but since time was limited and we wanted to see everything, I didn’t do another drawing. Now that I’ve seen the full scope of what’s there I think it holds promise for unlimited painting opportunities.

Categories
Animals Landscape Outdoors/Landscape Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Patterson House at Ardenwood Farm

Ardenwood Patterson House

Ink and watercolor in Moleskine large watercolor sketchbook
Click here for enlarged view

This is the Patterson House at Ardenwood Farms, an historical, working Victorian farm in Fremont, California. They have a blacksmith shop and people dressed in period costumes using the tools of the time to cook, churn butter, wash clothes, and other chores; a horse drawn train, farm animals and historic farm equipment. We’d planned to go sketch all the sights and activities on Thursday but when I phoned Ardenwood they told me there would be 250 campers there that day and the next. She recommended we come today when there were no groups scheduled so we did. Unfortunately she didn’t mention that everything was shut down on Wednesdays–no docents in Victorian clothes, no activities, nothing. The only thing to see was the house and a few farm animals.

Michelle and I wandered the property, noting where things would have been happening if they weren’t closed. We decided to draw the house, which was very enjoyable. I drew directly in ink and then added watercolor. Then we visited the barnyard animals, watched the funny goats, some mating bunnies, and drew this solitary bunny:

Ardenwood bunny

Ink in moleskine sketchbook

Tonight I went by myself to Ashkenaz Music Center since nobody else wanted to join me to hear the most amazing musical group, The Fishtank Ensemble. They are a unique and extremely talented group of musicians who play a combination of Gypsy, Eastern European, Klezmer and Jazz with some unusual instruments, including a Japanese Shamisen, a musical saw, several different violins and other string instruments, accordian, standup base and a female singer with an extraordinary operatic voice. It was fantastic! I’d heard them live on the radio on an NPR program a few weeks ago and had been trying to find their CD locally and was amazed when I drove by Ashkenaz and saw their name on the marquee for tonight. What a treat! And they had their CD for sale which I bought.

I think I’m finally getting into this vacation thing–going to a musical concert on a “school night” is great!

P.S. Does the picture of the house look overly contrasty or washed out on your monitor? I’m still having trouble getting my monitor to properly display the intensity of the color and contrast. I’m afraid I’m toning down the image in Photoshop to make it look right on my monitor which tends to mamke everything look very strongly colored. So then it looks good on my monitor but I have no idea how it looks on anyone else’s.

Categories
Landscape Outdoors/Landscape Watercolor

Judy’s House – A Watercolor Dilemma

Judy's House - A Dilemma

Watercolor on Arches paper 15 x 22″
Click here to see large version

This was a painting that was going well–it was commissioned by a friend as a gift for her husband for their anniversary. She wanted me to paint their home and cats in their favorite spot at the front window with their tulip tree in bloom.

As a first step I’d done a perfect flat wash for the sky. Then I did the cats in the window since that was a key feature and moved the rest of the painting along, blocking in the shadows, doing the shrubbery and the other other windows, and the details. Then disaster….

I had a latte sitting on a tall table in the studio. The painting was taped to a drawing board that was sitting on the floor leaning against the table. The next thing I knew the cup was knocked over and coffee was dripping off the table, down the sky in the area to the left of the chimney. I quickly blotted the painting and used a sponge to successfully remove the coffee before it stained. It left that area looking slightly lighter. I tried to ignore it, but today, when the rest of the painting was finished I decided to go over the sky with another wash of blue. But by now the paper was wrinkled and the paint sunk into the valleys, creating anything but a flat wash. So, I tried another wash, which just exaggerated the valleys. Then I tried removing paint with a tissue to give the effect of wispy clouds but that didn’t look right either. So I wiped off as much as I could, waited for it to dry and painted another glaze of blue which not only did the same thing, but also got a little splotchy on the right side.

I’m going to flatten the painting by pressing it under tissue paper and a pile of books for a few days and then maybe try again to glaze the sky. I have this awful feeling that I’ve ruined the painting, not just the sky but many other areas too, and that I should probably start it over again, which I really don’t feel like doing at this point … or maybe it will look better after I don’t see it for a few days.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Here’s the finished painting

judy-final-p1010478.jpg

Categories
Flower Art Life in general Painting People Plants Portrait Still Life Watercolor

Birthday flowers from my neighbors

Birthday Flowers

Watercolor painted quickly and directly on Arches hot press watercolor paper without preliminary drawing and then when dry, Pentel brush pen to draw/paint the lines. 7.5″ x 11″
Click here for enlarged view

My wonderful next-door neighbors brought this potted azalea for me as a birthday gift yesterday, along with a nice card and a hug from each child. I have the sweetest neighbors. Not long after I first moved in I fell in love with their kids and after photographing them at baby Alex’s baptism painted these portraits of Alex, Yessica and Erick which they have hanging in their living room. We help each other with all sorts of things and they often bring me delicious home cooked Mexican food (including delicious barbequed salmon with cactus relish).

Then my sons took me out to good Thai food last night. It was wonderful being with them and realizing more than ever what great young men they’ve become. It made my day, even though I looked like a gimpy old lady with my limping and had to sit on my fleece jacket because the sciatica makes it hurt to sit without extra padding. But the combination of their good company, the good wishes of people who’ve written or called to wish me speedy recovery and happy birthday, the yummy Thai food, some nice pain meds and a Singha beer made for a perfectly happy birthday! And I am getting a little better each day.