a la turner

                                6x8

I watched a London Drawing Group video about JMW Turner.

I love his Margate watercolors and did these little studies trying for the mode of Turner.

Funny how when I want to paint light I can't get light enough!

I pulled out this tiny palette of colors that didn't fit on my main palette-- there are warm and cool grays, a couple of schmincke granulation colors and Daniel Smith shadow green and shadow violet, which separate into their component colors.

Was thinking if I added a couple of yellows and a red, this could be a Turner palette.

daffodils 1

Daffodils are coming up!

My first attempts, 2025.

oyster shells

                             6x8

A mix of NJ and ME shells.

Haven't painted in a bit and these are fun to experiment with.

I start wet in wet and try to refine them as they dry.

I used 4 colors: raw sienna, burnt umber, indigo, and lavender.

skies

                              8x10

.                                8x8

Wanted to get the paint wet today but I wasn't compelled by any subject in particular ... Good time to paint skies, which I feel I haven't done in a while.

These were both painted on Saunders Waterford cp, which is more bumpy and stays wetter longer than Arches, it seems to me.

Tried a copy of a Turner: he does so much with just the primaries. I painted this with just blue, red and yellow. And I think there's a good variety of color but I am far from achieving the subtleties of color and temperature in the original!

Inspired to pull this book off the shelf and give it a go.

And more paint tubes ...

Painted these along with Watercolor Fanatic, who I just came across. He paints wetly and strongly! And has a lot of free lessons on YouTube.

chimneypots

                             8x11

Haven't done much with my Chimneypots of Scotland idea ... I was just so taken with the Chimneypots everywhere we went; a great graphic element I thought/think.

I have some good ref photos to work from.

practice

Blind contour of a tube of paint drawn with a paintbrush; washed and details added after.

Would like to try to draw with the brush more.

sketches

.                           8x8

Trying to paint these in a wetter, freer way.

The pepper is actually better than I thought, tho I wish I had indicated the stem. I've always found pepper hard to paint. It's not so much the shape as it is the shiny surface, which ends up confusing me!

plein air

my friend Gina and I said as soon as it got to 60 degrees we'd go out painting. So the other day it was 57 but seemed so nice, so we decided to go to Hereford Inlet and paint. Well, the wind shifted and we froze our butts off! But we stuck it out for nearly 2 hours!

classwork

                            11x15

The preliminary studies are always better than the "painting."

Two more paintings following along with a Lois Davidson demo on YouTube.

Good practice for me using a big flat brush, I think.

roots pt 2

These are from the 2nd half of the workshop.

The exercise below was interesting: Chloe had 5 ref photos, a couple were the same root turned sideways, and we drew one after the other on the same piece of paper. So the first image below is what I had after 2 photos; the last after 5.

roots pt 1

I have not been diligent about keeping up with it, and I think that's okay, but I am going to try harder because it is such a wonderful resource: these drawings were done in a workshop with Chloe Briggs. You can draw with her--and it's a great experience--every Monday at drawingisfree.org. for free. Just log in.

I follow Chloe on Patreon and she really provides great content: thoughtful, meditative, expansive.

These drawings are from an online workshop.

sketchbook

Quick studies from photos I took in Maine.

still life

                             10x14

An in-progress still life on hot press paper.

I'm not sure I can complete it ...

stormy sky

                            10x14

Painted along with Lois and Morgaine Davidson Art on YouTube. I really enjoy their stormy sky paintings.

hyacinth

                          10x14

I buy bulbs most years to force with the idea of painting the stages to blooming.

3 of my 4 bulbs are in full bloom and I haven't gotten around to it till today.

amaryllis

Still plugging away at the amaryllis!

This one is the fanciest, with very fine stripes and a bright green center.

classwork

                             11x14

From class with SaltyWaterArt last night.

The study is always better than the painting. Planning to do more "studies" (😉) from the reference.

from a car window

                           11x11

I took a picture of this scene from my car in Maine.

Started this painting a while ago and, I think, finished it today.

patterns

                              8x10

Enjoying painting patterns, it's very engaging.

This is hot press paper and the sizing was not great, which kind of helped me keep all the little bits of the pattern discrete.

amaryllis

My final amaryllis is about to bloom.

still life

                              10x11

Been dabbing away at this little still life for days and I think it's finished.

My red and white amaryllis is about to bloom; I am forcing several hyacinth bulbs, which are in various stages ...

Having a hard time painting of late, feeling low, anxious ... Started about nine days ago😟