APPLES

Watkins Cinnamon Tin and Apples

This is a watercolor on 140 cold press paper - has anyone else noticed the change in texture of Arches 140 cold press? I don't like it! It still handles the same, but I don't like the look of it. Oh well, nobody asked me - "they" never do, but I guess if this is the worst thing I have to gripe about today, I'm doing okay. And it is the worst thing.


This was a still life set up for my classes this week. It was a real challenge with the almost monochromatic colors, an over-crowded set up that needed editing, and the mixing of the reds and greens for the apples - that combination can turn to mud. Both classes really got into it!!! They worked for an hour on the drawing and composition, and then did a wonderful job getting in plenty of contrasts with lights and darks, and their color mixing was wonderful. I think everyone had a real feeling of accomplishment when they left.


As usual, I am not crazy about my background. It is a small painting - really just a study - and I didn't want to get into what might be going on in the background. But still. Any suggestions?

Spring Lake

Here it is October 6th, and it felt more like a hot day in August.

I was doing a watercolor journal demonstration and paint-along event for the Little Traverse Conservancy. I had chosen the Spring Lake location because it has shelter. First we needed it because of the sun and then because of the rain - and we were only there for two hours!

A wonderful group of people showed up. They were all eager to paint and they all did a great job. Some were new to watercolor, and some were experienced but liked the idea of the simplicity of a small journal page done quickly.

Thanks to Cindy from the Conservancy for spending the afternoon with us, and thanks to all of the participants that let me expound once again on how much fun watercolor journaling can be!

Pumpkins and Squash

When I mentioned to a friend that my Wednesday morning class wanted to paint pumpkins, she came baring pumpkins and squash the next day. That Cinderella pumpkin on the right has a beautiful shine to it - almost as if it had been glazed. They are all beautiful - great colors, interesting textures, and wonderful quirky stems.

The class met this morning and they did a fantastic job of painting them. They really captured those colors and textures.

Sooner or later I am going to have to cook some of these, but for awhile I'll enjoy sketching and painting them.

Guess Who Came to Dinner.

REALLY!!! A pileated woodpecker came to my little bird feeder today. We live in the city! Pileated woodpeckers live in the forest! I have only seen one other in my life. I must admit that I did not take this picture - I found it on a public-domain-picture site. The woodpecker didn't stay long - he took off as soon as I came near the window, but there is no mistaking this bird - nothing else looks like it. Except of course Woody Woodpecker.

Colorful and oh so tasty

A few days ago I did a private lesson with a student/friend and his daughter. The lesson was the daughter's birthday present - is that fun or what!? Not only did I have a great time painting with them at his beautiful home overlooking Lake Michigan, his wife fixed a fabulous lunch! As she dished up this beautiful borscht and set the soup plates on the black counter top, I just had to run and get my camera. My daughter asked if the host didn't think it was odd that I was taking pictures of her soup. I said anyone that can create a borscht that beautiful, wouldn't think anything of someone shooting a few pictures. It was unbelievably tasty too - light, a little citrusy with a hint of ginger . . . oh, this isn't a food blog?

The painting was lots of fun too! The father and daughter paint in very different styles and it was fun to see their two versions of the same scene - both with great results!

Monoprinting Again

Yet another monoprint or monotype (?) of Memorial Garden in Bay View.

I'm trying to get back in the swing of working indoors and I need a few little projects to transition not just my painting techniques, but also my brain. Doing small prints like this is almost like coloring in a coloring book - I know, it looks like it too.

I'm using too much ink and the paper was too damp. I tried bristol board this time. It's fun, it's relaxing, and it keeps the colors flowing.

My classes begin next week - Wednesday and Thursday. When my summer craziness (crazy is good) was over and the California kids left, I had a hard time with the "nothingness"! Although I did have things to do and things I was doing, it just wasn't the same. Now a few things have come along that really need attention, planning, meeting with other people, research . . . I'm gonna be okay. The momentum is beginning to roll things along, I have to pay attention to my calendar, I have to keep ahead of things a little. One of the things I have going on is with the Little Travese Consevancy.

But right now I am going to go bake a birthday cake for my sweet husband, then get ready to go to my oldest ( 9 years old) grandson's football game, then have the family over for cake and ice cream tonight.

Fall Classes

Fall Classes 2007

EIGHT-WEEK WATERCOLOR CLASSES
$105 per person for each eight-week session.

The Wednesday morning class meets from
10 a.m. to noon, beginning September 26th
The Thursday afternoon class meets from
1 p.m. to 3 p.m., beginning September 27th.

We will start at the beginning and work through the thought process of what makes a good painting, why we want to do a certain subject and how that translates into a painting. Using some of the simple rules of composition, we will be deciding what we want to "say" in a painting, and how to say it in the simplest way.

We will cover color mixing (on the palette and on the paper) and controlling the application of the watercolor on the paper.

We will study the importance of value contrasts (the lights and darks) and learn how to achieve those darks.

With the individual assistance and critique, along with plenty of demonstrations and instruction, beginners, as well as the more experienced, will be comfortable in these classes.

Feel free to contact me with ANY questions!

Please contact me at ccare@triton.net for more information or to register.
See the list of supplies suggested for this class.

Check out my class blog

Everyone Seems to be Leaving

This is a watercolor sketch done in my journal on the last day of the last of my Bay View classes. It always makes me sad to say good-by to the last group. Many of them are leaving for home - which means somewhere warmer for the winter.

Not only was it the end of summer classes, but the California kids were packing up to leave also. We had three wonderful weeks with them! Three weeks is enough time to work their way into our lives and then make a big dent when they leave. But it was a GREAT three weeks. Little kids can make a BIG dent, can't they!

I have a few projects that I need to get going on - things that really need attention RIGHT NOW, so I will try to shift gears into "business mode" and catch up a little on things. I always get into nesting in September - cleaning, rearranging, biting off more than I can chew . . . I think I will have to forgo some of the nesting projects for a bit. However, I don't think I can forgo the cleaning for too much longer!

Green, green, green

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF OUR LITTLE BOAT.
The next time we will take a yummy snack, books, an anchor, and a new motor. We did a lot of rowing.
Susan Lake is an old fashioned little lake with only a few cottages and no speedboats. Everywhere you look is green green green.
For this little sketch I did a very quick contour drawing in ink, then painted it using the water in the bottom of the boat.

Do Not Disturb

Rudy (the cat) and I had a good time today staying home. It was fun to just putter around the house and clean - from the looks of things, for the first time this summer. Well, maybe not quite that bad, but then again, maybe. I have been coming in from classes and painting, dumping down one stack of things and gathering up more for the next day. The stacks were beginning to have no rhyme or reason and I was afraid something would get left behind, as in slip through the cracks. And if you have seen our quirky house, you know I mean literally slip through the cracks.
I only have two classes this week, so I thought I would take a day or so to get in touch with home, and get ready for the California kids and grandkids. In the afternoon we had a thunderstorm. With no outdoor class to worry about, I was hoping it would be a good one - we really need the rain. A quarter of an inch - better than nuthin'.

Sit Awhile and Paint

What a pleasant place to sit and paint on a hot day. It was about 78 degrees when we arrived at 10:00 this morning. Everyone found a spot of shade with a wonderful view of Karen's garden. She claimed that the garden isn't at its best right now - could have fooled us! It is beautiful!
Karen keeps a colorful and lush garden and it has all kinds of things to discover - plants and interesting objects. AND she serves peach iced tea to my classes.
The paintings all reflected how relaxed and comfortable everyone was. Nice job, Class! And thanks a lot Karen for having us!

Sunday Afternoon

As part of the Bay View Library Sunday Afternoon Series, "Authors and Artists", I did a paint-along event. First I talked about journal painting, and showed the materials I like to use, then I did a quick demonstration - a watercolor sketch of the front entrance to the Library. I encouraged everyone to give it a try, and some people that painted had never painted before! Was that ever fun! The beginners did amazingly well, and I hope they are hooked. The seasoned journal painters , as always, did some beautiful little paintings.
I really enjoyed the afternoon and would like to make it an annual event. I was planning the event without knowing where I would hold it, when the Bay View Librarian emailed wondering if I would consider doing something with them for their Sunday afternoon series. Neat how that stuff works out.

Thanks to everyone who attended, and everyone that helped. I hope all of the people that were there yesterday painted a little today! If you're reading this, please let me know if you are painting. Or let me know if you are not, and I'll see what I can do!

Lavender

What a wonderful place to spend a couple of mornings painting!
This lavender farm is only a few miles from us, maybe six. It is a world away when you are there. It looks like nothing I have ever seen. It smells like nothing I have ever smelled. Even the sound of thousands of busy bees is soothing. The very dramatic skies of the past two days has certainly added to the beauty.
Unfortunately, I have nothing "showable" from my painting time spent there. It is very hard to capture the light and texture, to say nothing of the color - but I'm working on it - taking a few notes, doing some studies, soaking it in.
I can see how a person could get very "into" lavender. There is something about it that kind of casts a spell. I guess that is what lavender is all about, isn't it.

This wonderful produce wagon is always at the local farmers' markets. As I sat behind it painting, they began to pack up all of those great, tipsy, white boxes.

What fun to sit behind the market stalls and paint unnoticed. Maybe unnoticed, and it really doesn't matter anyway - well, maybe sometime it does....

I am knee deep in summer! No - up to my neck, and I love it. Classes everyday and getting ready for the Petoskey Art in the Park. This post is to let you know I have not fallen off the face of the earth. This week I have a journal class in Bay View four afternoons, two morning watercolor classes, a class at a lavender farm (!!!) and a demo/paint along at the Bay View Library on Sunday.
FUN!

Daffodils and Color Wheel

Watercolor on Clayboard

I started this painting awhile ago in daffodil season, and I have yet to finish it. I have been playing around with the background - I can't seem to get anything I like. I am happy with the flowers, but it is a very incomplete painting. I hadn't planned the composition before I started because it was just a little demo to show how I would do the blossoms. I didn't follow my own advise - plan it well and use good paper, because you never know when your masterpiece is going to happen. Be prepared. Expect the best. Etc.

My summer classes are filling up. I am SO ready! I'm eager to get out there painting in my favorite places and to see all those people who enjoy it as much as I do. It's a great way to spend the summer!

BEAUTIFUL!

Are these the most gorgeous pansies
you've ever seen in your life!?

Well, maybe not to some of you. I noticed that my friend, Karen, didn't buy any of these, so maybe it is just me. This morning I am still moving them around the house, looking at them in different light, although I know they would rather be outside.

I don't have good luck with pansies after the nice summer weather hits, but since they are the first things in the greenhouses and we are all dying for color, who can resist.

We hit some second hand shops and greenhouses yesterday - in a cold rain, but we had fun!!! It was kind of a preview because most things weren't even blossoming yet. Kind of a private preview at that - no one else was out. We had big plans for lunch, but never got there. That's another story. Let's just say we got to ride home in a great big tow truck - Karen's first time!

At one place we went, there were some absolutely beautiful pots - nice simple shapes and in colorful glazes. They came in orange, yellow, lime green . . . They were putting African violets in them. I went to bed with those colors on my mind, and woke up this morning with those colors on my mind. I think I just may have to go back for some. I wonder if the tow truck is running on schedule today.

Watercolor on Canvas

Another Mackinac Island Scene

It is cold and snowy again today. It felt great to paint this door from some sketches and photographs from last summer. It is almost the middle of April, and we have another weather warning for the next 24 hours - for snow.

I am getting ready for a two day watercolor workshop using clayboard, watercolor canvas, Yupo, and bristol board. I wanted to make sure I had a decent painting on each one of the surfaces for examples. I have never done very much on watercolor canvas, and now I think it is my favorite thing to paint on! I don't want to influence anyone ahead of time - I am interested to see what the class thinks when they get painting.

Fabric Folds

In my classes this week we worked on fabric folds and drapery, and a little bit on lace. This was my demo in Thursday's class. These simple paintings of fabric could be addictive. I really don't think there is a market for them, but everything isn't about the money, is it? Well, yes, sometimes it is. Maybe I could get a grant or something to spend the year painting fabric folds.

White on White with Hoisin Sauce

This is a small watercolor painting done as a quick demo in one of this week's classes. I set up a rather busy still life (very edited here) of white objects with one dark object in the forefront. The challenge was to show the white objects as white, but to balance the values in the painting to make the darker bottle of hoisin sauce fit in without being the only object that we notice in the painting. I wish I had photo shop so I could take out the red background and try some other colors and values. I think maybe putting that red background in was too obvious a balance. Maybe I should have matched the value, but not the color.

My students did a great job with this. At first they were a little frustrated, and they fussed and sputtered, but then they turned out some really good paintings - very individual and personal styles.

The above is a very simple mono-print with watercolor.

It seems to be the time of year for distractions. Why does this always happen to artists? I don't really know about the rest of the country, but in Northern Michigan, winter can be pretty much our down-time. Classes slow down to a couple a week instead of the summer schedule of a couple a day. Painting on location is limited to visits to warmer climates (not happening), shows and art fairs are non-existent. So there's this little thing in our brains that says, "Don't worry. You have plenty of time. That time-table you worked out to make sure you'd be ready for summer? You don't really have to take that seriously".

I have been working on commissions. So, see, that's pretty constructive. I have been playing around a little with some mono-prints. That is not all that constructive, but it is creative. I'm not sure I can wrap my brain around the process enough to tell you what it is all about - or even if you want to know! It's not that I'm that dumb - I am just very hungry right now. If you really want to know, Belinda Del Pesco is the queen of mono-prints, mono-types, block prints ETC.

And then I came across this little "game" on someone's blog. You google your first name and the word "needs", as in "Catherine needs", then list the first ten that come up. I thought "this is silly!" but of course I had to try it. And of course I had to share it with you in case you are avoiding your to-do list too.
1.Catherine needs a sanctuary, periodic retreat from the world. Yep.
2.Catherine needs another yacht! Catherine needs her rowboat repaired.
3.Catherine needs a lifestyle that allows her to be spontaneous. Okay, yeah. Someone finally recognizes this!
4.Catherine needs to get back to Charlie. Charlie. Mmmm. I don't remember any Charlie.
5.Catherine needs to put her everyday chair in the car when she drives. I certainly don't know what to say here.
6.Catherine needs a pick-me-up. Sure - after getting that chair in the car. . .
7.Catherine needs to make sure and explain the death of Michaela's mother. Well, I don't know Michaela, and I didn't know her mother either, but I'll see what I can find out and get back to you.
8.Catherine needs to grow up and become a woman. No, I don't think so - then I'd have to decide what I want to be when I grow up. Too much pressure.
9.Catherine needs to develop her dramatic acting skills. Ask my family, I think I've done that.
10.Catherine needs a good man. Catherine HAS a good man!!!

I haven't done anything "serious" in awhile - including this. My Thursday afternoon class wanted to play around with watercolor on gesso-ed paper (gesso is a canvas primer that resists water). The good news and the bad news is that the color can be lifted. It is so forgiving, it is really never finished - I just keep adding here, subtracting there, and each subsequent layer of color pushes around the previous layer.

Now I want to play around some more with clayboard. AND some monoprint. AND . . .

I really do have to get to WORK. Every once in awhile I have to get this experimenting out of my system. I guess that is the way we grow, isn't it. If we don't try something new - or at least something splashy, juicy, or messy, we'll just stay the same forever. Or at least our art will. That's what I'm telling myself, and that's what I'm telling my husband when he says "Haven't you received any checks lately?"

In my classes we have been working on composition, and recently we played around with two very simple concepts - contrast and placement of the center of interest, or focal point. The focal point was placed a third of the way up or down the paper and off center. It was painted with the most contrast - lightest light against the darkest dark, and with the hardest edges.

Painting on a small piece of paper with a fairly large brush ( #12 or 14 round) seems to be very freeing (is that a word?) and proves to us that we don't need a lot of detail.

The experienced students seemed to enjoy the review and had fun with the color mixing, and the beginners found out what they could really do with a few bold, juicy strokes.

This is the MOON! Setting in the west this morning!!! A fantastic view from my studio window - just like a summer sunset, I watched the moon sink into the Bay.

Well, here we go - a new year. There is something unsettling to me about a new year - like the loose ends should be all tied up, and new beginnings should be in place. They're not. When are we supposed to tie up the loose ends? When are we supposed to get the new beginnings all lined up - nothing slows down for us to do that. In fact, if anything, everything just speeds up.

The sun is shining today and the Bay is very blue - a mixture of Ultramarine and Winsor Blue. My classes resume this week after a Christmas break, and I'm anxious to get at it again - painting, teaching, planning . . .

The loose ends don't need to be tied up by the new year, and the new beginnings happen a little at a time. There's no rush. I'm going to have a cup of tea and calm down now. Thanks for "listening".

And now I'm playing

This is a monotype - I think. I don't know why I am so fascinated by monoprints/monotypes, they don't make a lot of sense if you think about it. What has a one-time thing got to do with printing? Anyway, I want to try more. This was more or less the first one I have ever done - that means it is the first one I would make public. The others were just smears. So this week I think I will fool around with monoprints a bit.

Maybe I'll set some goals for '07 - or maybe dig out the list from '06 - it hasn't been used.

Also need to clean up the Christmas mess. Where does all that stuff come from!? We pulled all the Christmas boxes out of the attic, only opened one, and we are still stepping over the others. At least we don't have as much as usual to put away.

It was dark and rainy here and we had the flu!!! Everyone had the flu - grandmas and grandpas, babies, and everyone in between. At least when everyone in the family is sick, no one expects much of each other - like wrapped gifts or meals! But somehow our son and daughter-in-law managed to pull off a wonderful Christmas evening meal and a great family get-together. We actually did have a VERY nice Christmas.

I have been following Belinda DelPesco's blog, and now I feel like experimenting a little. If this monoprint thing works out at all, I will post it with some very simple instructions - because that is all I'm going to do - something very simple. You CAN try this at home.

Yes, I am working.

I am getting a few boxes of cards packaged up for the book store's order. That's about as creative as I seem to be right now. I am working on a sketch for a commission, and I'll post that soon. It's not a big deal difficult sketch, but Christmas panic has set in and everything seems like a big deal.

I wasn't sure my printer would make it through the order, but it did. I think it is related to the energizer bunny. Even when it says it is out of ink, (for a long time now) it keeps printing in full color. It makes horrible noises and just keeps spitting out the prints. I have to babysit it and tell it it really isn't out of paper. I don't think it is worth getting new cartridges for, so I'm squeezing all of the ink out of it I can. But I think this is its last real job.

I know you were all just dying to hear about my printer, huh? But I haven't posted a real painting in so long, that I had to post some kind of work related subject.

Pear on a Blue and White Plate

Back a couple of posts, I showed a photograph of this pear, and told of my intentions to paint it and the linens it was on. As you can see, the linens took second or third place when it got right down to it. I was really taken by the colors of the pear itself and really liked the reflections cast by the pear onto the plate. So I spent most of my painting energy trying to get the rich colors of the pear, and then working on those reflection on the plate. I love the pattern in the plate, but wanted to show it as simply as possible. By this time it was all about the pear, and the linens fell by the wayside.

Maybe next time.

Last week when I went to the grocery store, they had a large bin of beautiful red pears. They had gorgeous gold undertones, and now, as I remember them, they were a bronzy red that looked as if they were glowing from within. You know, actually, I think that isn't true. Our produce department does not have wonderful lighting, and unless they really were glowing from within, which I realize wasn't really the case, they were probably just pretty pears. I have made them so beautiful in my mind, that I really don't want to go back and see just plain old pears there. I'll stay away from the pears for a couple of weeks. It would just be too disappointing.

A Corner of my Studio

A few days ago I said I would post some pictures of my studio. It is a small room - about 11X11 with a nice, large, north window. If I have a large project to work on, I can always take it downstairs to my classroom. I am finding that this space is a nice cozy place to work, and I have those caster or glide-y things on the legs of my drawing board and tables, so I can easily push things around into any configuration I need. Not the wheely kind of casters, but those hard, flat, smooth things that stick on the bottom of the legs.

I certainly can't contain all my stuff in this room. Instead of saying I have my studio in our home, I really must say our home is in my studio - paper and paintings stacked in the living room by the studio door, paintings and mat board in the bedroom, framing equipment in the back porch . . . .

Note the apple green color of the old floor boards. It's such a happy color and I just love it!

This is a great place to hide out today. It has been snowing like crazy, and I decided to stay here and work on a sketch for a commission instead of running errands. I've got my Pandora station playing, and I'm feeling creative.

A couple of months ago I moved my studio from a very small room conveniently located between my classroom and the kitchen on the main floor of our house, to a little bit larger room upstairs. I didn't exactly do this voluntarily, but like so many things in our lives, this has turned out to be a good thing.

I actually never paid much attention to this room - yeah - we have so many, Ha! Our kids used it now and then for a summer or a brief period between other living arrangements, and it was a good place to stash stuff. And the grandkids liked it when we made it into a dormitory for over-nights.
When I moved everything out and painted the old uneven floorboards apple green, the room began to "speak" to me. Everything fits in here pretty well, and the light is great from this large (about 6 feet wide) north window - and here is my winter view. That's the Bay out there in the distance and I look across the rooftops of the neighborhood and downtown. I love it. I feel warm and cozy and creative and nurtured and . . .

I'll get things straightened up some day and get it all cute and take some pics of the room itself. Don't hold your breath - I'm pretty slow at straightening up and making cute.

I'm going through a stack of old linens. Even ironing a few - ironing old linens is quite therapeutic. Try it.

These belonged to someone in my family, and even though I'm not sure who, there is just that strong family connection when I handle them - who washed and ironed them before I did? I think they are only a couple of generations old, and these don't appear to be hand-made.

I keep picturing these cloths in small still lifes. There is something about the simplicity of the lace with a single small plate and a piece of fruit that keeps calling to me. I enjoy doing what I call "personal still lifes" in my classes. Everyone uses no fewer than three objects, places them right in front of them, and really zeros in and crops the composition. A view finder works well for this.

Now that I've said I want to do some, maybe I had better get busy and show you that I DID some. Of course, I do have a few things to do this week - cook a turkey for one.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Relax. Eat a lot. Enjoy your friends and family!

Check out the November/December Watercolor Classes

This is a small (5X7) watercolor. I want to have some small paintings done for the Christmas shoppers! It's mid-November and I am still thinking summer. Isn't it great to be able to "beam up" a summer day just by going through your sketchbook and reference photos. I was painting this while a gray drizzle just hung there like one big drippy cloud all day.

It's still summer in my sketchbook!

This is the periwinkle cottage I keep trying to paint. Yes, I know it isn't periwinkle. There isn't anything wrong with your monitor. I just couldn't bare to cover up that sparkling white.

Awhile ago I posted a photograph and a watercolor journal sketch of this cottage, and I was also working from a value sketch that I wanted to post, but just couldn't get a good image of it. I did it on the Bogus Rough sketch paper and that doesn't scan well, and I am getting a glare when I try to photograph it. The value sketches I work from are, I think, the most important reference tool I use. The accuracy in the details and the colors don't do as much for a painting as the contrasts of the lights and darks. Maybe that's just my opinion - maybe that's what works best for the kind of painting I want to do.

I was very frustrated with this painting - and a few other things in my life. It was wishy washy, the center of interest was not working. . . . I had some very dark paint in my brush and I thought it would feel good just to smear it all over the painting!!! But at the last minute I put a streak of dark down the left side of the tree trunks and then some darks in the background, dark in the windows, dark in the foreground foliage . . . Okay, I felt better then.

Some day I will paint this cottage again and I WILL paint it periwinkle. I guess it isn't just the color of the cottage that speaks to me, it's the setting and its attitude. Now I'm gonna work on mine.

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.

Squash/Gourd

I know what you're thinking -
"after three weeks of not blogging, she posts a moleskine page of a gourd/squash thing???!"

Yes.
Things have been a little out of kilter here, and I am trying to get back to normal. So, maybe to some of us sketching an unidentified growing object is normal.

A loooooonnnng vine grew all summer by the back door. It had a lot of blossoms, but this is the only squash/gourd it produced. I think it's a gourd - although not one I am familiar with, but I am really not familiar with gourds. So, whatever. It is a great New Gamboge color - Gamboge right out of the tube.

It's the simple things in life.

Isn't this the cutest cottage! I have tried many times to capture this. I think I did get the feeling of the setting when I was over there painting a few days ago, but missed the color by a mile. Doing the small journal watercolor sketch at least gave me the feeling of the setting. Just being there working on the sketch for awhile imprints something in the brain that helps when a serious painting gets underway at a later time. So now I have some sketches and some good photographs. So sometime soon I will get going on it.
While I was painting this, there was a very cool breeze coming off the Bay, but when I walked down a ways, in the shelter of some cottages, it actually felt like a hot summer day. It was a great day to be sitting out there sketching. We may not have too many more of those days. I don't mind cozy indoor studio work - once I get into the swing of a new season's routine. Routine - did I say that?

A gorgeous day and a great group of painters!
And a wonderful view to paint.

I spent a very enjoyable day teaching a watercolor workshop at Harbor Cove, a private association on Little Traverse Bay. It was hot! And sunny! With a cloud or breeze now and then to give us some relief. Perfect. Everyone there had a successful day of painting. Painting on location is not easy, and the Bay is not an easy subject - changing colors, changing light, no focal point, toooo much water, toooo much sky, toooo much distance . . . Every single person there did a great job of handling all that.
Thanks, Ginny, for once again, making the location available to us.

Sketching in Bay View

I had planned to get so much done during the couple weeks between the end of summer classes and the beginning of Fall classes. Best laid plans. Well, no, there were no plans - that's why nothing happened. But does something really NEED to happen? Isn't it okay to just BE? The problem with that is, you have to give yourself permission to "just BE" before you do it or you'll think you AREN'T doing something else that you are SUPPOSED to be doing . . . .

I read several artists' blogs and it seems many of them are trying to use this time to plan classes and clean studios. Come to think of it, I planned classes, and I sent out info. I had intended to plan the rest of the year(!) and recap the summer - close enough. And it is not too late to clean the studio. It took three months to get these stacks of paper scattered everywhere, so I can take awhile to clean it up. If I am missing something urgent - it is probably already too late. That makes it not urgent anymore. Right?

This drawing was done Friday in beautiful morning sunlight in Bay View. Now I am anxious to paint it!!!! Nice dark, bold shadows. Watercolor? Acrylic? Watercolor on clayboard?

Memorial Garden Again

Another nice evening to paint in Memorial Garden in Bay View.

The garden is so well tended and there are so many views that would make a good painting subject - sitting outside the garden, painting in - or sitting inside the garden, painting out. This little painting was done from inside the garden painting out. There are many inaccuracies. The main one being distance - the cottage was actually not this close and the tree was closer. I was looking through more flowers . . . . AND SO ON. After a busy day, just sitting there, soaking in the colors and the quiet with my good friend and painting buddy, is almost enough. But I was there to paint, and I wanted to capture what I could see of the cottage and get the colors down the way I "felt" them, and I did that.

Just before the sun set into the Bay we walked down the street along the water. We really wanted to see the sunset from our friend's garden, so, uninvited, we walked through their beautiful yard, to the water's edge. Thanks Bob and Elaine - we enjoyed the sunset and your wonderful garden immensely!