O'Donnell Lane

Virtual Glen Ellen, CA

If you are familiar with Google Maps, you probably know about the little Pegman you can "drag" to the street for a Google Maps Street View. Fun!

Over at Virtual Paintout, a new location is given each month, and artists drag Pegman to the street and find something they want to paint. This month happens to be the San Francisco Bay Area and surrounding locations. I have never participated in this, but thought it would be fun to paint someplace in that area that I had visited . So I took Pegman to Glen Ellen, to O'Donnell Lane - a little lane we had walked down after breakfast one morning the last time we were there. I just did a quick watercolor in my journal, but I may do it as a "semi-serious" painting and submit it.

Using "Street View" is a challenge. It's not even as good as a photograph and because of the camera lens they use, the perspective is not good. I am always cautioning my students not to use other people's photographs because there is no invested emotion in them as there would be in your own. However - it's winter - we all need a little entertainment. See what Pegman can do for you.

Citrus

Lime and a Tangelo in my Sketchbook

I absolutely love the smell of citrus. It is much more fun to paint it peeled or sliced ~ not only do you have that great smell, but the shapes are better than plain old round or oval. To keep the color "moving", I put a little orange in the lime, and then a little green in the shadow of the tangelo. The tangelos were fun to paint, but they tasted awful.

Did everyone have a nice Valentine's Day? We spent the day tearing out the old tub surround in the bathroom and putting up the new board and preparing to tile the walls. Crooked tub, crooked walls, crooked ceiling, crooked floor ~ what did we get ourselves into!? Wouldn't you think with all that crookedness something would cancel out something else and somewhere something would be straight? Guess not.

Color Demo

Quick demos - not even pretending to be finished paintings.

What I was trying to show here was how we can unify shapes in a painting by carrying colors around the composition. The primary colors on the left show how I put all three primaries in each shape to "pull" the shapes together. The example on the right, done pretty much in secondary colors, shows the same principle - there is pink in the oranges, and orange in the pink flowers. This keeps our eye traveling around the painting instead of zeroing in on one color and then another. Maybe we could call this "unity and flow".

I think a flat color is a flat shape. I am conscious of this in every painting I do. I'm not always conscious of anything else, but what the heck.

Tulips

Flower Power in the Dead of Winter

Is it actually Spring in some parts of the country? We have a long way to go here. The other day in the grocery store I saw these bright pink tulips, and because we also have to feed our souls, I grabbed them up.

In class we did a little lesson on carrying a color throughout a painting. We painted these tulips in a still life with oranges, and worked at getting a little bit of orange into the pink tulips and a little pink into the oranges. Fun!

Are you sketching today? Putting a little bright color in your journal sketchbooks? I am going to go try out some new paper in a new journal (YES, another sketchbook). I'll see how it works with watercolor, pens, prismacolor pencils, etc.

Go create something!

Soup

An ink sketch done in my journal sketchbook.

Sketchbooks are such fun, and so liberating. In a serious painting I would never have put that tomato over the girl's head. I wanted to include the sign and that's where it fit. It's a sketchbook ~ we have permission to do anything any way we want.

On Wednesdays the neighborhood cafe serves homemade Gorgonzola tomato soup. Out of this world!

I think I am finished with snow paintings. Now I need some color. Of course, you wouldn't know it from this sketch.

By the way ~ don't you just love the word "Gorgonzola"!?

Snowsnowsnow

Another Local Snow Scene.

We have only had light snow for the last few days. Enough to keep the old snow white and clean.

This is a watercolor, 11 X 15, on Arches cold press paper. I started this painting as a demo for class, but I really botched the center evergreen. I had the area too wet - I went into the sky too soon with the tree color, and the spaces I had wanted to leave white for the snow on the branches ended up being greenish brown. Yuk. It made the whole demo a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of thing.

Just as a challenge I wanted to save the painting, so I scrubbed the snow on the tree to lighten it up a little, then I painted some other areas of the snow the same color. I think it worked out okay.

This week I will try not to botch the demo. But if I do, I will try to make lemonade out of the lemons. Yes, it is a still life - citrus fruit and tulips.

Bookbinding Mess

. . . and a new sketchbook

I am trying to figure out if it is possible for one person to make one little sketchbook without taking up the surface of four tables. It really doesn't matter if I am working here alone, but I do think I could do this a little more efficiently.

I am waiting for an order of paper to put together yet another sketchbook. Every book has a different reason for being, and the upcoming one is to try out a sampling of different and unknown (to me) paper.

We had an interesting discussion in class today. Someone asked, "Do you ever run out of things to paint?" Everything looks like a potential sketch to me. Maybe not a real serious painting, but everything is at least sketch-worthy. Maybe it is all about the act of sketching and painting, rather than the subject. For me, it's not only about keeping the pencil and brushes moving, but the challenge of being able to get a three dimensional object down on a two dimensional surface. Whatever the reason, when we decide to seriously sketch and paint, we begin to look at things differently. We may even buy different food at the grocery store because we're going to paint it before we eat it.

When all we see outside is snow, and inside, things begin to look a little stale, it's time to give ourselves a challenge - sketch every day. Sketch anything - chairs, food, houseplants, dishes, lamps, silverware . . .

You know, I think we have this discussion every winter about now.
HAPPY PAINTING!

Pens

Pitt Artist Pens in a Cup

I was going to use the pens to do the colors, but then, of course, they wouldn't be in the cup anymore. If I moved one, they would all move.

No snow paintings this week. It has been dark and dreary. I have some good reference photos, but all the gray and brown ruins the mood. Maybe it is time to do some still lifes ~ flowers, fruit, pretty vases, interesting fabric! Sounds fun ~ especially the interesting fabric.

I have been fooling around with bookbinding again. It is habit forming. It's also very messy and time consuming. Maybe that's why I enjoy it so much.

It Takes a Village

Sun on the Snow Between Cottages

I've really been struggling with this one. I just couldn't seem to be objective about it and see what was right and what was wrong (it's the "wrong" that's important), but with a little help from my friends, I think I have it. Thanks for your opinions - I do appreciate them.

This is a watercolor done on a quarter sheet (11 X 15) of Arches 140 cold press. I am really having fun with these snow subjects. Painting snow paintings, reading Jack London, and making sketchbooks seem to be my obsessions of the season. Not too exciting, am I?

Update on my quirky life: the big guy on my speed dial (the tow truck guy) took care of the flat tire on my truck, the big guy I live with ( my husband) took care of the electricity to the bathroom, and in a couple of days he will hook up the bathroom sink. It's no big deal ~ I usually brush my teeth at the kitchen sink looking out the window anyway. I can not stand there brushing for two minutes in a closed up bathroom! I don't know what that has to do with anything, so here I go to work on a sketch for tomorrow's class.

Bay View Cottages

A Row of Cottages in the Snow

Another small painting done in my sketchbook. This is a scene I have painted many times in the summer. In fact, it is one of my favorites. There was a very cold wind coming off the Bay the day we went there to take pictures. There is no way in the world that I would have stayed there to sketch. It was the kind of cold that make your cheek bones ache.

Sketching from the photographs on my monitor certainly isn't the same as really being there, but living in Northern Michigan, I do have to compromise now and then. Doing them in my sketchbook gives me a chance to work out the colors and play around a little bit with the composition. I obviously didn't play around with the colors enough here.

I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to "My Quirky Life". We've been talking about remodeling our bathroom for quite awhile now. My husband decided to put shut-offs on the bathroom sink before we really get into anything. While he was doing that, he broke the pipe. So the electricity to the bathroom light fixtures went out!!! That's the kind of thing that happens here. At the same time, my car sat in the driveway and had a flat tire.

Ordering

So Many Colors - So Little Time

It takes me days to get together an order for paint, paper etc. You'd think I would never have a chance at it again. Why can't I just order what I need and move on? I'm afraid I might miss something, I guess. And I want it all, when actually I like painting with a very limited palette. See the problem?

When an order comes, it is always a little disappointing not to have something new/different - like a little present to yourself. Daniel Smith has a 20% off sale for a few days. That ought to justify something new and different, don't you think?


Still working on the quarter sheet snow painting. Maybe I'll post it tomorrow.

More Snow

Another Snow Sketch

I'm so glad I went out taking snow pics when the sun was shining. We haven't seen the sun here in a couple of days, which is not unusual for this time of year in Northern Michigan. It has warmed up a little - it is up to 34 degrees.

I'm really getting into this snow painting thing. I am working on a quarter sheet painting right now. I am having a little trouble keeping the colors cool enough. I didn't work through the color planning in my sketchbook because I was in a hurry to get it ready for a class demo. I'll see how it goes and then let you know. I do have my pride - I'm not going to post it if it doesn't work out.

Keep warm!

Winter

Watercolor in my Sketchbook

I have said it before - I'm all about comfort - so no, I didn't sit out there in the snow painting this in my sketchbook. A few days ago, friend Karen and I went out taking snow pictures. We took a zillion. It was COLD and sunny - perfect.

I prefer to work from my own sketches when I do serious paintings, not from photographs. So for these winter paintings I intend to use the photographs as reference for my watercolor sketches, and then use those sketches for reference for my paintings. Make any sense?

I have a tendency to get very detailed when using photographs. To keep from getting too detailed with the sketches, I do a quick contour (more or less) drawing and then use a fairly large brush, such as a #12 or 14 to block in the color. My sketchbook pages a pretty small - about 5.5 X 5, which makes about a ten inch, two page spread. A large brush on that sized paper keeps things pretty loose.

So let it snow - I'm all comfy in my studio, working from pics on my laptop, and listening to Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, J.J. Cale - you get the picture. A little too much caffeine, but that's okay.

Mid-values

A simple value sketch and half finished painting.

We worked with shadows again today in my class. First we did simple sketches and blocked in all the middle values. We transferred the drawing to watercolor paper and swooped through all the areas that wouldn't be left white with a wash of manganese blue. In some areas successive colors were dropped into the wet blue paint, and in some areas they were glazed over the dry blue pigment. There is still some more to be added to the painting above.

Next week the class would like to do some paintings of snow. Perfect. I had started to work on some myself, and snow is all about shadows.

Just went to see It's Complicated. Cute. Now I have to go look up the sound track.

Is everyone painting? Wasn't that on your new year's list of goals - to paint more? It was on mine, and I must admit I haven't done too well. I have to think about it. Have to build up to it. It'll be fine.

COLD

Bay View in the Snow

I have a lot of goals and intentions for the new year. Doesn't everyone?! For one thing I plan to do a few snow paintings. I've never had great luck selling snow paintings, but ya know what? The snow is here and I'm gonna paint it. Embrace it. Wallow in it. Not really. As you can see, this is a photograph, not a painting. I am all about comfort and I can not paint outside in the cold! Today was beautifully sunny, and terribly cold - a good day to drive down the street taking pictures.

I have been completely tearing up the house. I have been threatening to do this for awhile, and since I have my big, strong husband home for a few days, this was the time to do it. We
took everything off the bookshelves, out of the china cabinet - even moved the piano back into the living room. We hauled furniture to the attic and five large grocery bags of books to the car . . .

Tomorrow I will finish settling things, and Monday it is back to sketching.

I hope everyone had a great holiday. Hope you're fired up to tackle your resolutions, goals, intentions. hopes and dreams!

Travel Palettes

Paint Choices for Small Palettes
(and toxic pigments and baked ziti)

A few posts ago, Annie had some questions about paints and pigments.

In my book, A Petoskey Watercolor Journal, I list the colors I use in my teaching of watercolor journaling, and I suggest using Windsor and Newton paints because of their quality and availability.

The colors I suggest in the book are: permanent rose, hookers green, ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, and burnt sienna.

I also suggest these colors because I feel teaching journaling technique is more important than teaching color mixing in a brief journal workshop.

So now we come to the "However. . ." I have been using Daniel Smith watercolors exclusively for the past couple of years. No - I am not advertising for DS - just stating a fact. Colors are not the same across the board and I used to use some of, maybe, three manufacturers. Once you get used to a manufacturer's take on a color, it makes your life so much easier to just keep ordering from that one manufacturer. And I do think DS pigments are great.

As for color choices, again, these are suggested because it is easy to run into an art supply store and find them. I am all about instant gratification, and I feel if someone wants to get journaling, they want to get journaling - not try to find a mail order catalog and spend hours looking up the right stuff!

Annie had a question about manganese blue. A few years ago, the original pigment was "outlawed" and we couldn't get it for awhile. The new and improved manganese blue seems to have the same granular properties, which is what I love about it.

So, if I were to limit myself (which I do) to just a very few colors for tiny travel palettes, what would I choose? If I had room for only three colors, they would be permanent rose ( or something similar), ultramarine blue, and hansa yellow or lemon yellow. To add a couple more I would put in hookers green and manganese blue. Two more - cobalt violet and phthalo yellow green (NOT phthalo green yellow shade)

Sometimes, it is not just about the color, but also the properties of the pigment - if it granulates, if it is transparent, if it stains . . .

I had an email this morning asking about the best way to dispose of our paints and paint water if our pigments are toxic. I think the only toxic paint I am using these days is Cobalt violet. I don't use cadmiums and the manganese colors have been reworked, but if some of you are using these (and cobalts), you may want to be aware of their toxicity when painting with children.

As for disposal - I think you might want to google the subject and see what you think is best. I am not well versed in this and don't want to be quoted as saying, "Aw, heck, dump it down the sink". Look on your tubes of paint and see how they are rated - it will be on there. You'll probably find, that unless you are using cobalts and cadmiums, you have no toxic pigments.

"Marpia" asked in a comment how to make baked ziti special. The best way I know to make it special is to serve it by candle light.

Food Blogging - Christmas Season

One More Time

Yes, I'm baking ziti again. AND blogging about it. Ziti seems to be one of my temporary obsessions - like making sketchbooks and reading everything I can find on Jack London. I've put those two things on hold until after the holidays.

I have Christmas Eve Eve dinner to fix and a few errands to run. I have to make a run back to the grocery. I can tell exactly, by looking at my list, which aisles I ran into friends to talk to. I guess I can't shop and talk at the same time. Well, we all knew that.

One more Christmas present to buy and only a few more to wrap. I'm doing okay. How about you? Hope things are going well, and that you are all having a great holiday season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours!

Baby Eggplants

Painting Colorful Shadows
and mixing (baby) eggplant colors

We worked in this week's classes on mixing colorful shadows. We mixed them on the palette and on the paper, getting very different results.

After having a break between sessions and then having a snow day last week, we'll take two weeks off for the holidays. We'll jump in with both feet when we get going in the new year.

The sun was shining here today!!! Wonderful. I went to the post office and there wasn't a line! Sunshine, no line - what a day!

Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts in my Sketchbook

I was ready to cut these in quarters, toss them with olive oil, garlic, and walnuts, and roast them. However - they were just calling out to be painted.

If you haven't tried them roasted like this - oh my gosh! Even if you don't like Brussels sprouts, you'll like these. If you have never painted them - try it. You'll like that too!

MORE snow today! Another class cancelled. During the class time I made a pot of coffee, cranked up Pandora, and worked on my year-end evaluation. Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity has some interesting evaluation and planning strategies - a little over the top for some of us maybe - I don't plan to visit 20 or more countries this coming year, but there are lots of interesting things on his blog.

That's it for my day - Brussels sprouts and year-end evaluations. I miss my students!!!

Cellar Door Painting and the Snow Boarder

Painting on Clayboard

In the previous post I showed the sketch, and I have been working off and on for the past couple of days on the painting.

We had a pretty big snow storm last night, and I had to cancel the first meeting of my eight-week Wednesday morning watercolor class.

You'd think I'd be able to use that time to really get into this painting, but with all the neighborhood activity of digging out, I was pretty distracted. Everyone was stuck - even the garbage truck was stuck. Just as I really got into the rhythm of painting, some guy came along and took a toboggan out of his van and tried to snowboard down the street. It didn't budge, so he kept moving it an inch at a time trying to find a slippery spot. That didn't work, so he hauled out a runner-type sled and tried that. That didn't work either. Then he started to wave down every pickup/plow that went by. Apparently, he wanted someone to plow out a parking space for him, and just thought he'd "snowboard" while he waited. That was my entertainment for the day.

I think I'm going to move into a cozy windowless corner to work, but think what I'd miss. I'm the one who is always going on and on about life influencing our art. Who knows what might come of watching the "snowboard guy".

Cellar Door

Gretchen's Cellar Door

This is a pencil sketch in one of my sketchbooks. I have painted this doorway a few times in different sizes, from different angles, and in various color combinations. I never tire of playing around with those shadows. Right now I am trying it on textured clayboard, and I'm finding the shadows don't work real well on that. I tend to paint in layers, and because clayboard allows colors to lift (the good news and the bad news), it is hard to build up the shadows. I'll let you see what's happening when I get a little further into it.

In reference to the previous post - the last of the ziti (at least three servings!) was finished off by a starving grandson after basketball practice. I knew that ziti would come in handy. Never under estimate your need for baked ziti.

Rosemary and Onions

Thank God for Baked Ziti.

Are we paying attention?
Do we really look at the everyday things around us? A year ago I was having my classes paint a series of themes. They could pick what they wanted to do for eight weeks, and really pay attention to that theme. It makes us aware of the everyday things around us - our food, doorways, barns, chairs, shadows, figures. Our everyday life enhances our art - our art enhances our everyday life.

I don't think a painting starts with a sketch. It starts with observing and appreciating. It starts with the way you see and feel everything around you. Nothing is too trivial to stop and appreciate - whether it's a handful of paint chips just because you like them together, or rosemary and onions on the cutting board just because you like the way they look against the wood.

Tuesday night I made baked ziti - enough for an army. The next day I was very involved in a project that really wasn't going all that well, and I just wanted to keep working on it. Thank God for baked ziti. It's the simple things in life, isn't it? And the ziti.

San Francisco

The Gardens at Grace Cathedral,
San Francisco

I posted this painting in progress a few posts back. I think it is finished - I will have to live with it a few more days to be sure.

I'm catching up a bit on real life today - painting, grocery shopping, doing laundry, cleaning the fridge, attending 7th grade basketball.

It is snowing here tonight. Seriously snowing. This will get me feeling Christmasy, and that's a good thing.

Thanks for hanging in there with me for 30 days of blogging. Although I missed a couple, I was thinking about you!

Bike Ink Drawing

BIKE

An ink drawing done on location a few summers ago.

I'm going through old sketchbooks for painting subjects, class lessons, and for the fun of seeing them again. I've gone back and read parts of my blog also. It is interesting, isn't it, how we (ME anyway) keep going along on the same path over and over. Fortunately, I like my path. If I didn't like it, would I make the effort to change old habits?

We did not start our bathroom project today. We decided we needed to know a LOT more about step two before we start step one. There are a few more decisions to be made. We also have to make very sure that we are talking the same language - you know, the Mars and Venus thing.

Art Supplies

Painting the Altoids Tin Palettes

A very quiet day here today. We discussed and planned (argued about) the bathroom re-do.
We wandered the aisles of the Home Depot for awhile.

I think we are going to start tearing up the bathroom tomorrow. I often say how much I love demolition, but this is making me a little nervous. Oh well, no guts, no glory - right?

Back to the Beginning

Cheese and Crackers

For two days we have worked our way through Thanksgiving food, and now we are ending up back where we started - with the appetizers. No one complained when I hauled the same food out for every meal. I guess we all need to get our fill of Turkey and the fixings, because we might not get it again for another year. We picked the carcass clean and everyone has gone home. Maybe that's why they went home - I kept serving them the same food over and over.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a very busy day - lots of people, LOTS of food, lots of noise, lots of fun. Now we are settling down for the night - and listening to the wind and sleet.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

Ketchup

Yet Another Salt and Pepper Still Life

Nothing much to paint on the table at Applebee's. However the food was very good, and it sure wasn't crowded. I think everyone else was home tending to their turkeys.

With the help of Eldest Grandson, I just put the last of the pies in the oven. When we stopped at the grocery store for a couple of things, the check-out guy said people are still buying frozen turkeys. This is zero hour for buying anything. What are they going to do with those turkeys?

This little still life is the first in my new sketchbook. What is it about the first and last pages??!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

Ivy

Ivy on the Coffee Table

I think I have painted this pot of ivy before. This is the last watercolor page in my red sketchbook. So tomorrow I have to decide whether to go back to my summer class sketchbook (the spiral I use because it is the same format as the sketchbooks my students use) OR break out the brand new spiffy handmade book I made a few days ago. Sounds as if I have made up my mind, doesn't it?

This painting is really pretty dull - not too much of a grand finale for the little sketchbook. I drew it quickly in ink, and when I do that I tend to fill in the color in a color-book style. I just woke up from a little evening nap (I had to try out a new queen size fleece blanket which was really too large and twisty for couch napping), I was blurry eyed, the light wasn't good . . . and so on.

Tomorrow in my spiffy new sketchbook I intend to do a masterpiece. Well, maybe not tomorrow, but it's coming.

Watercolor Classes

WATERCOLOR CLASSES BEGINNING DECEMBER 9th and 10th

I have posted the info for these classes on my Class Site.

Tangerines

Afternoon Snack

I love the boxes that tangerines and clementines come in.

I have one page left to paint in the red polka dot sketchbook. I will start next on the book I just finished. It is a little smaller than the 6 X 6 size I have been using, but with a two page spread across the facing pages, it's not bad. It is a little thick for the page dimensions, which makes it a little more difficult to open flat, but I am only going to experiment with one step at a time. This time it was the kind of paper, next time may be the dimensions.

Okay. Moving on. I think for the month of November I have worn out the topics of Glen Ellen, California, Jack London (watching a documentary tonight. Thanks, Karen) and handmade sketchbooks. Thanksgiving is a natural. We'll see where that takes us.

Nothing

I have absolutely nothing to post today. Since it is "Post Every Day in November" I have to at least say something, but I have nothing to show.

My daughter is a writer, so of course she reads writers' blogs, and I think, "But there are no pictures!". I realize a lot of people blog without visuals - but to be perfectly honest - I don't read them.

So, picture me helping my husband pick up six layers of old shingles from the garage and load them into the truck to take them to the dump. Wouldn't six layers be more than a hundred year's worth!? I am not a roofer, but arent six layers just wrong?! Picture me taking a nap.

Can You Take It?

Can You Take It? One More Journal?

After spending the time and money on the workshop, I wanted to be sure I could make these on my own, and I wanted to make sure I could figure out how to use watercolor paper in them.

My friend Karen (we took the workshop together) came over bright and early this morning, and we started bookmaking. The text block is easy, the covers are easy, but putting it all together is the tricky part.

It is pretty labor intensive - it took all day, and we had so much fun, I can't fix dinner now. I think we're going to have to go out. Pity.

Clementine

Clementine, Tangerine, or Whatever

As I was eating this tangerine and looking through an "old" sketchbook, I came across this drawing I had done of a clementine. I should spend a little more time doing pencil drawings - I love doing them.

It is just a little after four in the afternoon, and it is nearly pitch dark. The street lights aren't on, but the lights are on in the houses up and down the street. My studio feels nice and cozy, but I would really prefer another hour or so of daylight. There were LARGE black clouds over the Bay all afternoon. Oh, no - could there be snow in those!!!???

I met some old friends for lunch today - some women I met when we first moved here 20 years ago. It's a good idea to catch up with non-painting friends once in awhile. There is a whole world out there that I am not paying any attention to. We just can't participate in all of it, can we?

A couple of days ago I had lunch with a friend that has written a beautiful book on art, color, etc. We talked about painting, writing, and publishing, and it has me thinking about doing another book. Well, I always think about it, some times more seriously than other times. Writing a book is kind of obsessive, and I guess I just like being in that mode.

See my FIRST book here. My one and only - so far.

Journals

More Journals

We can't stop making them.

This afternoon I went to my friend, Cathy's, where she was helping some friends make journals. I love to see the variety of colors and patterns every time anyone gets together to make journals. The possibilities are endless. I am not showing the end papers/fly leaves in this picture, but they add even more color and pattern.

I haven't taken the time to make another journal since the Ann Arbor workshop, and I am afraid I will forget if I don't do it soon!

What a great "art day" this was. In class this morning, I had my students working on focal points/center of interest. We were looking through art books and finding the focal points of paintings and discussed how the artist arrived at those focal points - what did they decide to leave out. "Leaving out" seems to be a big part of it. Leaving something out can make a big statement - and be a big decision.

After class, I went to join the girls making journals, and of course we talked art all afternoon. We had a delicious dinner prepared by one of the girls. We sat in Cathy's cozy dining room and talked more art. Relaxing and inspiring.

I'm fired up - so many things going through my head - journals, paintings, drawings, workshops. . . .

Glen Ellen Street Scene

Glen Ellen, California
Three different versions of the same view.

I have already posted the two paintings, and I always think it is fun to compare a photograph of a location with my sketchbook version. The sketchbook version is always the closest to how the place really felt to me. The "serious" paintings are always a little too "dressed up".

In my sketchbooks a few little marks can remind me later of how a place smelled, felt, sounded (tasted, but I'm trying not to blog about food all the time) and how I REALLY thought it looked. A snap shot is just that - a SNAP shot. It just doesn't take long enough for me to engage all the senses.

Carrying a sketchbook around (and PAINTING in it) is such an enjoyable part of my life! It enriches everything. When your life influences your art, your art influences your life - or something like that.

Just paint - you don't even have to show anyone. But you'll probably want to.

Zenith Radio

Z is for Zenith

Back in February and March, I did a series of alphabet illustrations. For some reason I never did Z. So here it is. One of my readers has often reminded me - so this one's for you.

This is one of the many radios my husband has all over the house - not that there is anything wrong with that. This is a late forties Zenith. The sketch is very small - maybe two inches square. After doing these sketches last winter, I was going to go on with another series, but I guess I got a little side-tracked. Maybe this winter would be a good time to do that. Series are always fun to do.

Well, the sketch is pretty boring, but hey, it's a Z, and you've been waiting months for this.

My Desk

Cozying Up For Winter

Spellcheck says there is no such thing as "cozying", but we know there is, don't we? Especially those of us who live in Northern Michigan.

A couple of months ago, I moved a lot of my art supplies into this desk. I wanted it useful and colorful. It makes me happy every time I come in the room, or see it from the back door. I left the file a little larger than I usually do, so if you want to click on the photograph to enlarge it so you can take a closer look, go ahead.

I spent most of the day clearing up a couple of projects so I can move on to whatever is next. I have lots of things that could be next, it's just a matter of deciding where to start. Maybe I should put all my plans and ideas in a jar, pull one out and work on it until it is finished and . . . Okay. It's clear to me now. WORK ON IT UNTIL IT IS FINISHED.

Blue and White Dish

Blue and White Dish With Garlic and a Cut Lemon

This is a small watercolor sketch in my journal of some of my favorite things ~ garlic, lemon, and blue and white china. This is just a quick little painting so I would have something to post.

When we went downstate last weekend for the book-making workshop, we went to a great antique shop. I'm a sucker for blue and white, and the six-sided shape of this makes it a little different to draw.

Last night's maple glazed chicken breasts turned out great. The glaze/marinade is actually for a pork loin ~ recipe here.

Speaking of food. Aren't I always? Right now I am off to the kitchen to fix tacos. Hope everyone is having a good weekend. The weather is pretty nice here ~ so nice in fact that my husband is roofing the garage and I have been shamed (because he is working so hard and the weather is so nice) into getting some things done in the yard that I was going to let slide. Just a few things ~ I don't want anyone to expect this fall clean-up every year.

SKETCH SOMETHING THIS WEEKEND. ANYTHING.

In Progress

Grace Cathedral Garden Painting in Progress

I'm working on this from a journal sketch I did in California. I have a lot of students asked what the process is from sketchbook to watercolor paper. There are various ways to do it - one is, of course, to just draw it again, but that never works for me. Because I was pretty happy with the composition of the journal watercolor sketch, I simply traced the important shapes onto a piece of tracing paper, scanned it, enlarged it to the size of the wc paper, and printed it out (a copy shop will do this for you too), then traced it onto the watercolor paper.
Before I started to paint, I worked out all the light, dark, and middle values on the enlarged sketch. It is very easy to trace a sketch onto wc paper at a window or on a lightbox. The watercolor paper is much more transparent than you might guess.

Okay, here I go. I'm still working on that to-do list (they aren't supposed to END, are they!?) and we're having guests for dinner tonight. I am trying a maple glaze on chicken breasts - we'll see how that goes.

Figs and Produce

Glen Ellen, CA

This painting was done from the journal sketch I posted a few days ago. It's a watercolor done on Arches 140 cold press, 11" X 15". After I photographed the painting, I grayed down the fence in the background to set it back a little more.

I could almost smell the eucalyptus trees as I painted this. The scent is very strong in this area of California.

I accomplished quite a bit today ~ mailed out the summer schedule for the Bay View publication, delivered my card order ~ even went to the grocery store! ETC. I have been blobbing around for so long, that it feels good to be catching up. Of course the blobbing felt good too.

Food Blogging Again

A Huge Breakfast the Morning After Having Nothing to Eat but Potato Chips and Milk for Nearly 24 Hours.

We really know how to live, don't we?

This is one of those "quantity" not "quality" posts that I squeeze in when I'm doing the "Blog Everyday For the Month of November", or whatever it is. The chips and milk story may be useful toward the end of the month, so I'm not saying any more.

I tried to show some things I'm working on, but nothing seems to be working out just right tonight.

In class today we worked on laying in the shadows in Manganese blue (everything that wasn't going to be left white) and then filling in the colors and details. The class did a great job with it! My brain is too fuzzy to explain right now, and it would make a good post someday with a little step by step demo.

As I was plowing through my to-do list today after class, I found out that I have to have my summer schedule (part of it at least) turned in SOON for publication. OK, I can do that.

I'm heading for bed now. Who's going to remind me to do the step by step demo?

Kids Painting

The Kids Painting at Cherry Park

Very quick sketches of wiggly grandkids painting.

We were actually at Paul Moore Park in San Jose, California, but it is on Cherry Street, so it's Cherry Park.

I'm not that great at figures so if the figure is in constant motion that just gives me another excuse for not doing it well.

Running through my to-do list today, and it is going quite well. I am running on empty now, however, and still have a couple of things to do. I just did a little painting to put on a card and it was the most hideous thing I've ever done, so maybe at this point folding the laundry is the way to go.

Handmade Book

Fresh From the Bookmaking Workshop.

All the struggling I have done trying to make hand bound journals ~ this weekend I went to a workshop and learned how to do it correctly! We all know doing something correctly is so much easier. All the time I was stitching the signatures I kept thinking, "I'm doing this! I'm doing this, and it is so easy now!" The class was from 10 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. and we were exhausted when we were finished.

So seven and a half hours and $130 later I have a beautiful hand bound book. That $130 doesn't include shoe shopping the day before, and buying extra book materials that I just couldn't live without. It was a perfect girls' weekend.

Well, so much for blogging every day in November, huh? I will really try to stay on track for the rest of the month. And I think I am home for awhile. I have info to get out for my next class session, a card order to fill, some new cards to design for an order, and some things to get ready for the Art Center Christmas show. And of course, I have to stay one step ahead of my Wednesday class ~ they just get better and better every week.

Giorgios

Dinner for Four at Giorgios
San Jose, California

This place has linen napkins, so we were careful how we splashed around with our watercolors. It was a very crowded little table with pizza (best pizza ever) a big salad bowl, bread baskets, drink pitcher, many plates, and three sets of paints and sketchbooks!

So here I am only into the first week of blogging everyday for a month - and I MISSED yesterday. Last night was an "author event" at my husband's library. The author was David Oliver Relin, who wrote Three Cups of Tea. It was a very interesting evening, starting off with a Central Asian menu for dinner, and then David's inspirational presentation, then a book signing. I have been asking myself ever since sitting down to dinner with him, "Cath, what have YOU done lately?" Everyone was asking themselves that by the time they left the auditorium. I'm just hoping the inspiration lasts awhile. I have a very short attention span.

Rainy Day Still Life

"Baby" Fruit from the Backyard.
A Rainy Day Still Life.

I was painting one day after school with the California grandkids. It was too rainy to go out and paint, so we picked some very small citrus fruit in the backyard, along with a trumpet vine-type flower, and set up a little still life on the coffee table. It was very colorful and we had a great time.

For my class this morning I did a demonstration using the Grace Cathedral watercolor sketch in my previous post. I had worked out a value sketch and had it ready to go on watercolor paper. I was just going to show a few things to get them started on their own projects, but they wanted me to keep going. That class! They ask the best questions, and really make me think about what and how I am painting. Sometimes I just paint along without giving it too much thought, but when I have to give them a reason - that's better yet.

I'll post the painting when it is finished.

While I painted, we talked about California and listened to music from China Town in San Francisco. I'm stretching that vacation out as long as I can.

Garden Area at Grace Cathedral

A Small watercolor done in the garden and labyrinth area
of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

I wasn't about to tackle the Cathedral itself in my little sketchbook - and that's just why I use a little sketchbook - so I won't have to tackle the big stuff.

I think I would like to live in that apartment on the right - the one with the fire escape across the window. Just the way the light was going through it. It was calling my name. But no one else was interested in living there with me, so . . .

It was a nice day to do China Town and walk UP THE HILL to the Cathedral.

I am working on a value sketch of this scene now. I may turn it into a "serious" painting.

The sun is shining off and on today, and the Bay is a beautiful dark blue. Very fall-like, moving into winter. That's okay - bring it on!

Glen Ellen Street

FIGS
TOMATOES
PRODUCE
END OF LANE

A small sketch in my journal, looking down the street in Glen Ellen, California. I am working on a larger painting of this view. It is such fun to paint vacation pictures ~ it takes you back to that place and time.

This afternoon I was supposed to go to District Court Jury Selection for the months of November and December. I figured selecting a lot of jurors for a lot of trials was going to take awhile. About two hours before leaving, the court clerk called and said, "Never Mind." Or words to that effect. So I cranked up my music and continued painting. But in the back of my mind there was this little "Gee. They don't want me?"