Benny's Landing

Painted here at the beginning of last year, with mostly disastrous results, and took the picture this is painted from.
There was a ton of largely indiscernible "information" under the house and the dock and I was trying to just indicate that there was something there ... not entirely successfully (got much too dark in some places), but success enough

Bird postcards

Also, very glacially, working on postcards featuring birds, using a gouache and colored pencil technique taught online by Val Webb. I like the results but find working with colored pencils somewhat laborious--so it helps to keep it small!

Higbee Beach

Plein air painting yesterday afternoon.
Was going to skip it because of the heat, but glad I didn't: there was no shade, but a lovely breeze, and I took a couple of dips too.

Today's efforts

Decided to try a little painting on the deck, such a perfect day. Until I got swarmed by mosquitos ...
The geraniums were painted without drawing. I've decided I like a loose approach to the leaves, just wobbly-edged ovals.
The sunflowers I drew. Perhaps too much as I felt very much that I was filling them in!

Ohio Ave and Delaware Bay

Took a few painting supplies on my bike ride this morning. By the time I stopped to paint, half the water had leaked out all over everything, including 5x7 block. Since the paper was wet I was going to just head home, but another voice in my head won out, the voice I'm trying to make louder.

Way back

I began to try to break out of my slump with these tiny imagined landscapes ...
Funny that of the few things I've done so far they're my favorite.

And introducing one of my four--started with two ...-- new cats, Arya.

Sunflower farm

Started this on location at a nesrby farm.
Now poking away intermittently at home!

In October I'll be in an Alvaro Castagnet workshop, so I've got to get comfortable with my paints before then.

3 days

Another ( nearly) year of no blogging and hardly any painting.
Going to try to change that-- no matter how awkward and disappointing these first steps are.
I spent about 15-20 minutes the last 3 mornings, before becoming overwhelmed by dailiness, painting a small, 7x10, sketch.
Going to push for 5 days a week.

a willet?

9x12

I'm not 100 percent sure what kind of bird this is ... a willet, perhaps?

more beachgoers

Another painting from one of my photos. And my completed homemade sketchbooks--two with Coptic binding, one with Japanese stab binding.

Beachcomber

From a photo I took last summer.
Didn't get to the beach much this summer, for some reason. Always regret not having had enough fun when summer ends!

Beachgoers

Another sketch of beachgoers. Feel it could use some punching up ... But I'll leave it and call it a hazy day.

Sunday project

 

Working on making a few little watercolor journals: two with Coptic binding, one with a simple Japanese stab binding.

Also, a little contour drawing. 

Not working ...

I set up a little still life that I thought looked so nice, simple and bright.
But I couldn't translate it to the paper (one mistake was using masking fluid).
So, inspired by Rhonda at Watercolors and Words, I decided to try to fill the space a la Shirley Trevena ... Easier said than done as I don't have her facility with shapes, among other things.
But, I figured it couldn't hurt to practice on a failed painting.
This is how far I got this morning.

Oysterman

From a picture I took of an oyster farmer returning to the dock.
Overworked the dark greens a bit--they kept drying too light. And I was hoping to get more variety in there; when I painted it, I thought I was varying them...not enough though.

photo refs

Yesterday was the last day of the summer flounder season.
Didn't catch any flounder, but got a couple of nice reference photos.

Bad paper :-(

Didn't finish this little sketch--struggled too long with it as it is--because the paper was not cooperating.
I have this problem with paper sometimes--too old? too much humidity? It becomes absorbent, flattening the color and making mixing on the paper and hard edges impossible.

Cloud study

Once in a while I get an urge to try painting clouds. There are so many watercolor techniques to practice: color mixing, hard and soft edges, wet-in-wet ...
And the subject itself is new daily

Eastern robin

Watercolor with black and white ink.

Outside Espanola, NM

I have numerous--beyond numerous, really--photos of NM: Espanola, Santa Fe, and my favorite, Taos.
They always seem too daunting to paint!
But this scene appeals to me so much--I am crazy for pinons!--I decided to finally try.