#5 - Rocky Leaves

This painting was alot of fun (and alot of work). I started by planning out how I wanted your eye to move through the painting. The warm yellow is supposed to move your eye from the lower left corner and weave through and around the leaves and back to the smaller leaf. I also positioned the smaller rocks to follow this path.

I used that fun wax paper technique of apply wax paper shapes to wet paint and then painting over it to define the shapes. The problem was that once I had cut out all those rock shapes and figured out their placement, I realized I had to remove them all to apply the paint. Then I couldn't figure out how they were all supposed to fit again. Anyway, it worked, just took some finagling. When I pulled off the wax paper, the rocks had all these wonderful textures. I had to add the darker shades of color between the rocks and glaze over some of the rocks to give them more form. The leaves were fairly straight forward, but I did struggle a bit trying to keep the back leaf muted enough. I tried to lose the back edge of the large leaf by making it the same value as the background, and make the front leaf have light against dark on one side and dark against light on the other. I think I will try to exaggerate this a bit more in a future painting.

One of the other challenges was figuring out the shadow patterns. I really had to think to decide how the twig shadows would bend over the rounded rocks. I didn't want them to be too distracting so they are not as dark as the shadows between the rocks, which I think was the right decision. Overall, I'm very pleased with this painting. There is alot going on, but it seems to work together.

Nature's Still Life #4 -My Ugly Painting

I call this my ugly painting because the neutral grey background with the drippy texture gives a very cold gritty mood. I tried to contrast the tones with the tints in the leaves, but I think those colors came out too sweet to go with the ugly background, so I'm afraid the mood is not very consistent.

This painting started with a textured gesso surface. I used lots of things to make the texture: bubble wrap, mesh, brush dabs, etc. But you can barely see any of it after I applied the paint. So I spritzed some water and let it drip and wow, talk about texture (I think it ended up being too much). The one success with this painting (although it is hard to see because the other texture overpowers it) are the rocks. I used a really cool technique where I put down alot of color and then put wax paper cut out in the shape of rocks over it while it was still damp. I painted right over the wax paper and let some drip under the creases. When it was dry and I lifted it off, the rocks had all this speckled and creased textures. I'm not sure if it would come out the same way on non-gessoed paper, but I will definitely try it again.

Nature's Still Life #3

This was very difficult. I put some tracing paper on top of the underpainting and played around with the leaf shapes and rock positioning slightly to take advantage of the underpainting. I then glazed colors on top to define the shapes. I tried to do some light against dark and dark against light, but it didn't always show up enough so I had to keep layering. Then I really struggled with intensities because if I kept layering the same color, it kept getting brighter, and I was starting to get a rainbow painting instead of a more tonal painting. Anyway, I'm not really very happy with it, but I'm calling it done.

I should note that I tried a new texture technique on the rocks that I liked. I damped the rock shape and then rubbed watercolor pencil against a piece of medium sand paper. The watercolor pencil dust lands on the damp rock. When you blow on it, the dust around the rocks goes away and you are left with speckled rocks. It works best when you use different colors. This looks good up close, but the texture gets lost from a distance. I might try rougher sand paper next time.

Underpainting for #3

So for my 3rd painting, I decided to do an abstract underpainting in a basic tilted T composition and then try to fit my leaves and twig on top. This part was alot of fun and I really liked what I did here. But what came next was really tough....

Nature's Still Life #2

This is painting #2. I started by painting the shadows in staining colors (see below), and then washed a mix of cerulean blue, raw sienna, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, ultramarine blue (all sedimentary) over the backround. I then used salt and water from my spray bottle to get all the background texture. Next I went in and painted the rocks by first taping around the edges and then sponging, spattering, etc. I realized that my shadows underneath were too hard and I had to scrub them out quite a bit to get the rounded shape back. I also lost more of my whites than I wanted, so I had to Magic Clean some of them back. The twig also needed some lifting to get back to the whites and then I added some blue in the light spaces to contrast with the orange leaves. I purposely kept the leaves a little less textured than the other areas, but in looking at it now, I think they could use more variation. There is actually sponging on top of the leaves, but it may be too subtle.

I definitely think this is going to be a fun subject. I'm looking forward to trying lots of different texture techniques and maybe changing the shape of the big leaf to make it more interesting.

Underpainting for Nature's Still Life #2

This is the underpainting for the painting above. I used Thalo Blue, Alizarin Crimson, and Thalo Green. As you can see the shadows on the rock are too hard and I really had to scrub them later. Also, it is clear here that the shadow under the big leaf is too dark especially relative to the smaller leaf. I was never really able to get them evened out.

Nature's Still Life #1

Okay, here is painting #1 in a series of 20 I need to do for Mike Bailey's Beyond the Obvious Class. I purposely chose something from nature, because for the last two years, I chose things with wine bottles or wine glasses and drove myself crazy getting the ellipses correct. I figure this way I can change the shape of the leaves, rocks, or twig, and they'll still look like what they are. This started from a photo (I probably took about 25; just tossing the objects on to a white piece of paper in the front driveway at a time of day with good shadows). I made the big leaf slightly bigger so it's stem didn't end up exactly in the middle of the painting. I added the extra rock in the top right so that strong curve of the leaf would get broken up. And I changed the shape on one of the rocks to make it repeat a leaf shape.

I was generally pleased with this one, but I had a little trouble with my shadows. The rocks all seemed like they were floating (the reflected color lighted the shadow too much). And when I tried to darken the shadow it lost its transparent color and got a muddier than I wanted. You really need to get the shadows correct the first time, because reworking them is never quite as clean.

Venice Canal

I've been working on this painting all fall and finally finished it! I signed up for Mike Bailey's Beyond the Obvious class and need to take my painting off the board so I can stretch some fresh paper. So I had some incentive to get it done.

I'm pretty happy with it at this point. I think I ended up with sort of an H composition (or maybe an upside down W). I was pleased with the way the squiggles in the water were repeated in the squiggles in the brick in the far wall. And I think the light/shadow pattern on the far wall helps guide your eye to the gondola focal point.

I really struggled with all the detail, and was initially afraid to get darker because I thought it would make it look too busy. But putting in more small value contrasts actually helped make your eye move across the paper. I stuck to a very limited pallette: Azo orange, Cad Red Light, Turquoise, and Thalo Blue.

There are probably still things I could improve, but I think I'm ready to pull it off the board!

Crashing Waves

Because our room was just above these rocks, we would listen all night to the sound of waves crashing as the tide came in. So I made sure I got the opportunity to paint these during the day. My favorite part is the little section of sand at the foreground and I think I started to get the curling wave correct. Of course, the darn thing wouldn't stand still so this was more an interpretation than anything else. Looking at it more, I realize my ocean isn't lying flat in the background. So I probably should have managed that transition a bit better. Oh well, I can still hear the waves.

Playa Escondida Pool

We stayed at a wonderful place called Playa Escondida, "Hidden Beach". I was very nervous as our taxi traversed rocky, windy, dirt roads through the jungle to get there. We were pleasantly surprised by a little paradise tucked away. This is the view from the infinity pool. You cross that wooden bridge to get to the tables where all the gourmet meals are served. The chef is excellent and I believe the place was written up in Food and Wine Magazine. Through the palm trees you can see the hint of the beach and sky. As I painted this, the sun was setting and I kept putting darker darks because I couldn't see my paper any more.

Sayulita Surf Shop

I just returned from a wonderful week in Mexico. Sayulita is a little town north of Puerto Vallarta full of color shops and people. I did this watercolor sketch in my sketchbook, while two local children watched. There is a lot wrong with it, but I still think it starts to capture the identity of the place. There was a really nice mural on the wall of the surf shop of a guy riding a wave. Unfortunately, the other figures in my picture kept moving so don't look too closely.

SCVWS Annual Show Sponsor Award!

Well, I guess I have a good reason to finally get back to updating my blog. Sunday was the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society's Annual Show and Reception and I was fortunate enough to win a Sponsor's Award! Christopher Schenk, a nationally recognized watercolor artist, was the juror for the show. He made these comments on my painting, "A traditional still life handled with great delicacy. The soft edges and quiet feeling give the painting its appeal."

It was a lovely day and it felt very good to be recognized amongst such wonderful artists. I really appreciated having my husband and parents there to support me as they have always done. And it was a nice surprise to have my friends Teresa Day and Cindy Wolverton come to the show and reception as well.

Goldsmith Seeds

What a fun place this was! Goldsmith Seeds is down in Gilroy. Only two of us from the Watercolor Society showed up at this paint site, but it was definitely worth the drive. I just loved the rows of flowers. I did this in just about two hours and have still not done any adjusting at home (although it needs it).

The dirt rows were obviously more brown than the grey I used, but I think the grey makes the bright flowers pop more. Also, my hills in the back sort of faded, but it gives it some good atmosphere. This was a cheaper Canson block and the background washes didn't behave the way I was used to. However, I think their fuzziness plays nicely off the texture in the foreground. Anyway, this one makes me happy when I look at it.

Rengstorff House at Noon

This was a plein air painting I did on June 25th. I managed to find a nice shady spot and was really taken with the wonderful shadows on the ground that framed the bright lawn in the middle ground. I liked the idea of making the house just a background element that the gardens were playing off of. It was tricky making all of my greens interesting enough, but I think it worked.

Downtown Los Gatos

I'm just catching up on my blog for the summer...

Here is a pen and watercolor sketch of Downtown Los Gatos that I did with the Watercolor Society on June 18th. It was a beautiful day with a guitar player practicing in the park and lots of people wandering around enjoying the sunshine. I hope I captured that happy serene feeling. The truth is I had trouble simplifying all that detail and still maintaining the charm.