“Spring Rose Series #1”, Oil on Linen Panel, 10×8”
My roses have started their spring parade of long stem blooms and I can’t resist painting them even though I’m allergic to their scent. This painting started a whole series that went from OK (this one) to 5 total fails (each painted on top of the previously scraped one), to one I declared successful, which I’ll post next time.
See photos of the setup and work in progress below.
Lemons, Hydrangeas and a Bottle Cap, more random table stuff. Procreate on the iPad.
A sunny morning, two bowls of lemons and a vase of hydrangeas. What could be better than sunshine and happy summer colors. The series of digital still life paintings I’ve been posting were done last summer while my kitchen was being remodeled and I was using my studio as my living space so it was easier to paint digitally than on canvas.
It also meant that during the remodeling months from June to October my life was so crazy I didn’t really have time or mental bandwidth to post to my blog, hence finally playing catch-up now.
Rose in Mom’s Milkglass Vase, oil on Dura-Lar, 12×9″
This was a fun two afternoon painting. Below are the steps in the work in progress and photo of the setup. This was painted about a year after my mother passed away. It’s poignant to be painting some of her special glassware.
Rose in Mom’s Milkglass Vase, Procreate sketch on iPad.
Irises on a White Cloth, oil on panel, 14×11″ Available here.
I painted these from life, but first did a value sketch in Procreate to help me stay within the range of values I chose for the painting. That’s a concept I’ve been pondering: that you can design whatever value range you want for a painting, from mostly light to mostly dark, and then mix the paint colors accordingly. I printed out the Procreate value sketch and put it on my easel for reference as you can see in the work in progress photos below.
Bouquet for Busby, ink and watercolor, 11×8.5 inches
On this shortest day of the year here are some cheery flowers to brighten the darkness.
While I was away visiting my mom last weekend, my cat-sitter Rachel (of McGraw’s Paws) cat-sat for the first time since Busby my tabby cat died. She was sad not seeing him too and left me this stunning bouquet of flowers in his honor and a lovely card with these wise and beautiful words about sorrow that are worth remembering for any loss:
‘When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”
Every Day in May 4: Spice Bottles, ink and watercolor, 8×5 in
I have a whole rack of Penzeys spices but these are my favorites that sit out on the counter for daily use. Their pepper is nothing like the tasteless stuff from the supermarket; it has wonderful flavor and I put it on almost everything. Their cinnamon is sweet and delicious and the Sandwich Sprinkle is great on salads, veggies and meat.
Every Day in May 3: Curtain, ink and watercolor, 8×10 in
I have such a tiny bathroom I had to sit on the sink to draw this. My favorite part was drawing the funny patterns on the glass blocks in the window. When I remodeled the bathrooms in my duplex I requested glass blocks in the shower and a window that opens set inside the glass blocks. The wavy glass was fun to draw and is meant to provide privacy but in reality, it’s not perfect. Good thing the neighborhood doesn’t have a few of the window! Also featured in the sketch is my Black and Decker dog washing shower attachment that makes it super easy to wash my dog and she loves hopping in the tub for her spa treatment.
The branches I snipped from a tree in Berkeley provided many opportunities to sketch and paint. The first were watercolor sketches. Then I did these two oil paintings and some other sketches I’ll post later. Two of my favorite things to paint: flowers and glass. Crab Apple Paired (above) is available here.
Sake Bottle with Flowering Crab Apple Under Warm Light, oil on archival panel, 6×6
This sake bottle is from a nice sushi dinner I had with my son. He’s much more knowledgeable about such things so he ordered the sake. I was delighted by its wonderful peach colored bottle with a kind of etched surface. I knew it would be fun to paint. I used a very warm light for this still life set up which made everything a little peachy. This little painting is available here.
Purple wildflowers in purple glass vase, ink & watercolor 8×5″
This was one of my favorites of all the wildflowers (see previous post for the wildflowers’ back story, which had such a variety of parts, from the pea-like pods to its spiky green leaves, plus I love purple.
Big yellow wildflowers on stalks, ink & watercolor, 8×5″
Another curious plant with a variety of features and quite vibrant in color.
Yellow spikey flower with photo
Here it is above in real life (though a bit blurry) with its portrait.
I had to take an allergy pill halfway through the day because all the wildflowers were making me sneeze.
California Golden Poppies, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
The first attempt at the poppies above came out nice and fresh but my pen was running out of ink so I drew over the lines with another pen and then wasn’t crazy about the composition so I sketched them again (below).
California Poppies, #2, ink & watercolor 8×5″
I liked the composition better. Since this is our California state flower, it deserved an encore anyway. If you know the names of any of the flowers, let me know and I’ll update the captions.
Bachelors Buttons (I think), ink & watercolor, 8×5″
Just days before the city mowed down all the “dangerous” wildflowers on Carlson Boulevard for the second time, finally killing them, I walked along the narrow median strip with cars zooming by, and snipped specimens of each to paint. (I previously wrote here about why they were dangerous. They grew back after that first trimming.)
Pink Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5×8″
Pink wildflower sketch with photo
I took them home and went wild, putting them in pretty bottles and vases, then sketching and painting them all day long.
Pink & Yellow Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5×8″
Pink and yellow wildflowers with photo
My goal was to make free and fresh sketches of each flower that captured its personality while keeping composition in mind.
Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers, ink & watercolor, 8×5″
Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers with photo
I postponed posting because of the time it would take to prepare the many sketches, scans and photos from that glorious day. I finally made the time; I didn’t want to be posting spring wildflowers in the Fall!
Lacy Wildflowers in Blue Bottle, ink & watercolor, 8×5″
Lacy Wildflowers in Blue Bottle with photo
Do you know the names of any of these flowers? If you do, please leave a comment and tell me and I’ll change the captions with the correct names.
There are many more wildflower sketches to come, which I will post in Part 2.
Dandelions and Wine, Oil Painting on Gessobord, 10×8″
It was time to take a break from portraits and do some still life painting after ten failed attempts at painting a friend from a not-great photo. I gathered some dandelions from my neighbor’s yard (I’m sure he didn’t mind) and stuck a few in my favorite old French Cognac bottle (that I found in the street years ago). With the addition of a bottle of Spanish wine, I had a still life ready to paint.
Dandelions & Wine, Watercolor, 7.5″x5″
But first I did this watercolor sketch. Even if I plan to finish an oil painting in one go, it always helps do a sketch first to get to know my subject. And since I’m eager to get started with the oil painting, I work quickly which keeps my watercolor fresh and not overworked.
It was a relief to turn out something I liked after my frustrating journey with the portrait. But I haven’t given up on it. There are still two failed canvases facing the wall, waiting for me to make them work (or smash them to bits!)
Jana Bouc, Artist 