Now I'm sure it's a gourd.
Not that it really matters, but. . .

Awhile back I posted this
Today on the same vine, I found this little guy. He's a gourd for sure. I don't know why it is so different - short and mostly green instead of long and yellow. I wish we had a long enough season to grow some more - who knows what we might get!

I have three beautiful pears sitting on my work table. Pears and gourds seem to be very attractive this time of year. I think it's because we aren't ready to give up on the "real" things we've been able to paint all summer and start working from sketches or still lifes now. I do have several things I am anxious to get going, and I have some commissions I really need to do. So do 'em already.

This is colored pencil on Bogus Rough sketch paper.

One last sketch in Bay View?
I only had a few minutes and it was pouring rain. I'm just not ready to give it up yet - I want to get a few more sketches in before the season is over. Well, face it, it is over.

I had my moleskine, my little altoids tin paint box, and my water brush. I sat in the car, and it was raining so hard that the raindrops were actually distracting. Sometimes it doesn't take much!

As far as the composition is concerned, there is a lesson here - do as I say, not as I do - a tree covering up the corner of a structure is VERY awkward - and here I have two. They look as if they are holding up the corners of the porch. This is a very interesting cottage with all kinds of porches, rooflines and doors, windows and railings every where.

When I look at this little watercolor now in my sketchbook, I am reminded of a nice escape, doing what I love, even in the pouring rain. It was fun, and I like the colors. It captured, for me, the feeling of place.

Wesley's Lane Rooftops
As usual, I did the sketch first, then took a photo for reference before I left.

In the finished painting I simplified some things and added color.

I used the sketch as reference, not the photo. I like to use a sketch because it doesn't lock my brain into any colors - just the lights and darks. The colors come from the way I felt about the subject as I was sitting there.

I felt as if I had fallen down a bit on the perspective on the right side in the sketch. By the time I got to that side I had had enough of figuring out rooftops and I was getting a little distracted by the time. I figured the photo would give me all the information I needed to get the rooftops correct. But when I went to work out the composition, I wasn't crazy about the right end of the rooftop anyway - it still felt awkward to me, even in the photo. Not really awkward as in incorrect, but I felt it really didn't need to be there at all.

I have been trying to get used to a new brush - Cheap Joe's Silver Black Velvet Oval
I think I'm going to like it. I have seen some people do some pretty nice things with it - SO I AM GOING TO TOO. It holds a lot of water and pigment, but also does a nice dry-brush.

The painting is 11X15, watercolor on Arches 140 cold press. The sketch is done on Bogus Rough Sketch paper with drawing pencils and a white prisma color pencil.

I hope there are no art critics or "gallery scouts" lurking around my blog. Good or bad (yes, I know which) it was a fun little painting to do. I was trying out some Aquarius II watercolor paper and a little ink crosshatching. I am not a good crosshatcher and I have never used this paper before - I don't even know where it came from. I found it in my studio while I was moving things around.

The bowl is pretty crooked and the perspective isn't what I would want my drawing students to do, but if you try to do everything perfectly, you'll never grow as an artist. Playing is learning! Just keep the brushes moving!!!

So, the Aquarius paper. I don't know. In the Cheap Joe's description it says it is a cold press finish, but it feels smoother than that - more like a hot press. It is 80lb, so it doesn't feel real substantial, but because of it's content (cotton and Fiberglas) it doesn't buckle. The colors stay pretty bright. I wonder if it would work as a watercolor sketchbook paper. I don't think I have heard of anyone using it for that. I am going to ask around. I'll get back to you. You may not be interested, but I'll still get back to you.

The Morning Sun in Bay View

This is a small painting meant to be a study for a larger painting.

Done from this sketch

The mid-morning sun on this building made very strong shadows. By afternoon, it's just any ol' white building.
I'm still trying to decide if I want to do this in acrylic or watercolor, and right now I am leaning toward watercolor on 300# paper. But I am seeing it in a horizontal format, not vertical like this one. I would have more of the building showing to the left and right. But then - I like the vignette style of the sketch rather than the watercolor finished to the edge.
I don't know - acrylic on panel? Or watercolor on clayboard . . .
Just do it. Whatever.