I wish I was out walking and sketching again on this trail near my house instead of working on rebuilding my website all weekend. I was determined to finish tonight but I still have a few more hours of work and it’s time for bed.
I spent several hours this morning looking at the Squarespace web hosting platform and it’s so much more customizable and comprehensive (and complex) than the system I’ve been working with on Network Solutions. I came so close to chucking everything and starting over on Squarespace. But with only the last 10 percent left to do I decided to just finish even though it won’t be perfect.
At the same time I’ve been adding pictures and descriptions to my website, I’ve been entering the same data in an artist’s database called eArtist. It’s a fantastic program and works beautifully. You can track everything about each artwork, which then links to any exhibitions, sales, collectors, print editions and more. It’s easy and quick to use and the proprietor provides excellent support. I only wish I’d started doing that a long time ago.
I really appreciate those of you who said you’d be willing to look over my website when it’s ready and give me feedback. I’ll be in touch very soon (I hope!)
While I’m busy in the studio with a painting project, here are some photos of creepy critters in my garden and the creepiest of all, on a big SUV.
First I opened my front door to grab the mail and as I reached out, this was guarding my mailbox box. She turned her little ET head towards me in a friendly sort of way.
I reached for my mailbox and...
But I thought Praying Mantises were green? Are they chameleons?
Spooky Shadow!
Then I was watering the garden and spotted this big guy.
Big Hefty Spider. Should I be scared?
I’m curious whether it’s a kind of spider I should be worried about. She? was huge! If you know, do tell. I touched a silken strand leading to her web and she went running down it, thinking something juicy had landed there.
Here’s what she looks like from on top:
Big one from above
And this pretty little one was hanging out nearby.
Little Pretty Spider
Maybe about to be lunch for the big guy?
And now for the creepiest of all…I saw this giant Yukon SUV in the parking lot at the doctor’s office. Can you imagine being someone who would hang these on their car? They even had a baby seat on the back seat, fully equipped with a TV screen facing it. Scary.
What are they thinking! Yuck!
I hope I haven’t ruined your day with obscene car accessories and insects! Maybe I should remove this last picture? Or the license plate number? But I guess if they have the balls to hang them off their car in public, they mean to be seen. Or am I joining them in contributing to the downfall of civilization by posting it? And oh yeah, the Yukon gets 12 mpg and costs over $42.000.
Port Costa's Bull Valley Restaurant, Oil on panel, 9x12
When we gathered for our critique on the patio outside the funky Warehouse Cafe, a biker bar at the end of Port Costa‘s main road, I thought I’d gotten my painting of the Bull Valley Restaurant off to a good start. It was a sunny Saturday and the quirky local residents of the little town had been very welcoming, chatting and joking with the plein air painters.
Just as the critique was getting started the old lady bartender turned up the rock and roll so loud that we couldn’t hear each others’ comments and suggestions. Someone went in and asked her to turn it down and she sneered, “This is a bar. We play rock and roll!” Although some of our group had bought lunch and beer (served in mason jars), I guess we weren’t exactly their preferred clientelle.
Their usual patrons continued to roar in on their Harleys and wanna be Harleys. Some were dressed in full leather or raunchy heavy metal t-shirts and black denim. At least half of them were over 50, the guys paunchy and bald and the women, with their dyed thinning black hair, looked “rode hard and put away wet” as I’ve heard it said.
Anyway, back to the painting. As you’ll see from my initial sketch below, my perspective was even further off than it ended up in the finished painting above.
Port Costa-WIP 1
I’m always amazed how often my eyes fool me. Sometimes I’m sure a line slants one way and then I hold up a pencil to check and the line slants in the completely opposite direction.
This is the point when I stopped painting on site, planning to finish at home from photos.
Port Costa WIP 2
Once home I realized that I had a serious perspective problem with the way the roof line and the line where the building meets the ground were parallel to each other instead of coming towards each other to finally meet at a vanishing point. I worked on the painting for a couple of days and thought I’d fixed it (blind to what was in front of my face from seeing it for too long).
When I shared what I thought was the final painting with some artist friends, they generously pointed out a few things that needed adjusting, including continuing perspective problems. Below M. added lines in Photoshop to demonstrate for me how I’d gone wrong with the perspective. It’s so great to have that kind of support!
Diagram showing how the perspective should have been
In the end I decided I’d taken this painting as far as it needed to go and moved on to the next project. But I promised myself that next time I’d pay more attention to perspective.
Palace Hotel Garden Court detail, Copic Multiliner
After an all day meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday I met art buddy Sonia for some sketching at the Palace Hotel’s Garden Court atrium. It’s a stunning and historical room but detail lover that I am, I chose one tiny spot across the room to draw and then spent an hour on it, while Sonia did 4 or 5 sketches.
Palace Hotel Garden Court
I started with the furthest chandelier and the clock on the wall and just kept discovering more and more fun things to draw. If we weren’t so hungry and tired we could have stayed there all night sketching.
Two Ladies Chatting Over Coffee
The first lady just slid right off my pen, perfectly drawn (as I saw her) but her friend kept moving and I couldn’t get close to a likeness.
Random BART Subway Sketches
More commuter sketches (and one eagle who adorns the top of the Oakland City Hall). My co-workers and I took advantage of a sunny and surprisingly quiet day at the office to walk to Oakland City Center for lunch (ergo the Bean and Cheese sticker) and I even had a moment to pull out my sketchbook.
That messy little boy top right was on a field trip but looked like he should have still been home in bed. And that’s where I should be too. It’s been a rocky week. Glad it’s over.
Friday night was the monthly Stockton Avenue Art Stroll, a neighborhood art walk that is always packed with people, live music, interesting art displayed in venues ranging from actual galleries to a beauty salon and a holistic health center. This time there was also a contingent of art cars since one of the people showing his art, Ken Duffy, is married to a local art car artist, Emily Duffy (her “Vain Van” is pictured above on the right, with more photos on her website).
But Friday night I saw my favorite art car ever: The Witchmobile! (Click to enlarge to see all the glorious details below).
Witchmobile front
Witchmobile rear (note broomsticks)
Witchmobile driver’s seat!
Witchmobile Crow roof ornament
Witchmobile front grill
Witchmobile broomsticks
Witchmobile great bumpersticker
I’ve always loved art cars. Years ago when I was married and a stay-at-home mom, I gladly drove a rusty old brown Toyota Tercel (that we called the “TURDsel” since that’s what it looked like) so that we could afford the vintage Porche my husband had always wanted. I wanted to do tromp l’oeille painting on the Turdsel so that it looked like a pile of dog doo with flies buzzing around it in 3-D. But my husband was embarassed enough that we had that ugly rust-bucket parked in front of our house, let alone one that said out loud “I’m a piece of S**T”).
I’d also thought about turning my previous car, a white Toyota Corolla, into a swan, covering it with white feathers and making a swan head to sit on top…
“Da Group” (Benicia Plein Air Painters) met to paint at 3:30 today at a private boatyard in Benicia. The owner of the boatyard is a professional house mover so along with the numerous old boats docked there, his property also contains two wonderful old Victorian houses that he moved by barge to his property and will eventually fix up, planning to live in one, and use the other as an office. (The office is currently home to a huge flock of pidgeons, so he has his work cut out for him.)
He generously allowed us access to his property to paint. It it was so windy that I decided to sketch instead of hauling out my oil painting gear, even though there was a plethora of tantalizing painting subjects. This old paddlewheel boat was really fun (and challenging) to draw. I had my 9×6 sketchbook, a teeny weenie watercolor set (6 colors in a miniature Altoids tin, about 1″x3″), one paper towel, a water bottle, and a water brush. It was tricky holding onto everything so it wouldn’t blow away.
The other painters were braver, found more wind-sheltered spots to set up, and then painted whatever was in their line of sight. They were still at it when I left at 6:00 p.m., my eyes and ears stinging from the wind.
Here are some of the sights around and near the boatyard (click images to enlarge):
Have you had bad experiences with plein air umbrellas that were flimsy, funky, poorly designed, or just plain hazardous when it gets windy? Often when my plein air group is out painting, a gust blows over an easel or two when the umbrellas attached to them turn into sails. When I felt my old umbrella about to carry off my easel I started attaching it to the tall handles of my rolling cart (which also got pulled over once) but I had a hard time adjusting my small umbrella to be in the right place, at the right height or at the right angle.
Now I have a ShadeBuddy Umbrella and Stand and the problem is solved. In the picture above the umbrella is set up in my backyard next to my Soltek easel. (Also pictured, is my trash container (a mesh pop-up laundry basket that folds flat to a circle about 8″ in diameter) clipped to my easel, a folding brush holder, and a plastic shoe box that holds my paint palette and paints. You can see the large area of shade the umbrella provides.
The pansies and pitcher on a table I was preparing to paint are on the far right.
Cylinder that holds umbrella
The umbrella and the stand are two separate sections that fit together into the sturdy black zippered bag with a shoulder that comes with them. At the top of the stand is a white cylinder (above) into which you stick the umbrella’s wooden handle. There is a secure locking mechanism for keeping the umbrella in the cylinder and a knob that allows you adjust the angle of the umbrella and then holds it in firmly at that angle.
Foot pedal
The cylinder is attached to a metal pole that has a pedal about six inches from the bottom that you step on to push the pointed end of the pole into the ground. When I set mine up for the first time I was surprised how well it all worked and how easy it was. I tend to be spatial-relations challenged and am always prepared for difficulty when assembling things but this was a snap. I was able to adjust the tilt and direction of the umbrella as the sun moved, and the vented umbrella handled the afternoon wind gusts with without even a flutter!
The umbrella is very well made, with a 48″ diameter with “wind vented construction combined with a nonreflective black lining to keep your colors true and a reflective silver outer shell to keep you cool.” Both the closed umbrella and the pole are 48″ long and, when stashed together in the bag, weigh a little over 4 pounds.
The umbrella and pole are manufactured and sold by Judsons Art Outfitters and are also sold at several major online art supply stores. I checked prices and availability on the web and bought mine on sale from Dakota Art Pastels. It was my first purchase from Dakota (in Washington state) and they provided excellent service. My new umbrella arrived two days after I ordered it.
Having the easel made my previously posted painting, “Pansies in Pitcher Plein Air” a pleasure to paint, even under the hot sun in my windy backyard.
Because I really appreciate good tools and well-made products that just work (and that experience is so rare!), and because I know that many other plein air painters struggle with lousy umbrellas that flop or fly, I wanted to share my positive experience. I have no other connections with the manufacturer or store (except that I think highly of both). Judson Art Outfitters also manufacturers the Guerilla Painter line of plein air products and is a family-run business with very helpful and knowledgable staff who can answer most plein air outfitting questions with expertise.
Cloudy Bay, View from China Camp, oil on panel, 9x12"
When I first arrived at China Camp in San Rafael for our plein air paint-out, I decided to make the dramatic, dark clouds my subject. Except that once I’d completed a quick thumbnail sketch for composition, drew the main shapes on my panel, blocked in the colors of the sky, clouds, land, water… POOF! The sun came out, the clouds blew away, and the hills that were my darkest darks were now glowing with light.
Since the scene was now completely different I put the panel away and started another small study, which I might mess with a bit and post another time.
I planned to finish the first painting in the studio, from photos I took before everything changed. Of course later when I looked at the photos, they had none of the color and drama I’d seen and felt in person. So I tried to work from memory along with the photo, and eventually just let the painting tell me what it needed.
This is the original block-in with the painting barely started. I’d put the clouds in first, but after I’d blocked in the rest of the elements, realized they were way too dark.
China Camp View blocked in
And this is the photo of the scene, in which the colors are all wrong, and which mostly just confused me when trying to paint from it.
Photo of China Camp cloudy view
As a wonderful bonus to the pleasure of being out painting on a gorgeous day, my painting group had hired plein air painter Elio Camacho to lead a workshop for us that day. I used to study with Elio a couple years ago so it was great working with him again. He is such a generous teacher and brilliant artist. Everyone had rave reviews afterward and were very pleased with what they’d learned that day.
A few weeks ago my plein air group met on a blistering hot day at a little shadeless park alongside a marsh that was right next to the noisy highway and a block from an upscale shopping center (Village Shopping Center in Corte Madera). Some watercolorists in the group set up at the shopping center but were kicked out for taking up outdoor tables meant for food court customers.
Reference photo
I was tempted to leave. The scene didn’t appeal to me, I was tired, it was hot, there was no shade or other facilities and the noise of the traffic was terrible. But I decided to give it a shot, and of course, as I started drawing I got more enthusiastic (“such cute hills” I said to myself, and listening to music with headphones helped block out the highway noise.
Initial sketch on panel
I stopped taking photos after the one below because I was trying to finish quickly as the temperature kept climbing. I nearly completed the painting on site before I started feeling like I was getting sunstroke and had to pack up and head home, without even waiting for the critique.
Starting to block in color
I worked from the reference photo a bit in the studio but then just started addressing the painting’s needs instead of what was in the photo. I tried not to mess with the hills and trees that I’d painted on site because I liked the way they were loosely painted in.
The first hydrangeas of the season provided an opportunity to try out ink and watercolor in the Fabriano Venezzia sketchbook I posted about yesterday. First I drew directly in ink and then tried painting the flower on the right by wetting the paper there, and painting into it. I didn’t like the results and tried lifting off the paint with a tissue and was pleased and surprised that it came right off, leaving only a slight stain. Then I painted back into the damp area and got the results I wanted and completed the rest of the painting working very loosely.
The painting was easy compared to trying to get the image in the sketchbook scanned or photographed for posting. The image above was the result of clamping the edges of the sketchbook to photograph it (see below) and then using Photoshop’s Clone Stamp tool to “erase” the clamps and then using the Levels and Dodge tools to clean up the shadows caused by the paper buckling and some reflections from the light source.
Ready to photograph
I also tried scanning the page in the sketchbook but encountered the same problems I had yesterday with severe blurring plus shadow from the seam. I (want to) like this sketchbook, but preparing the images for posting is really a hassle. Even if I wasn’t working across the spread and just painted on one page I’d still have the problem with the shadow and blurring since it happens on the righthand page.
Scanned version, after major touch-up
Have you had this problem and solved it? I’d be so grateful for suggestions!
Jana Bouc, Artist 