castle

Here is a castle up on a bluff.  A road runs along the fence up to the castle.  The castle itself is in ruins and casts a shadow on the ground to the left .

House in a field

Well, it's been a while since I posted a painting.  I hope you all enjoy this one.  The stone wall doesn't quite have the depth that I hoped it would, but I'll work on that and make it better.  The house looks good, the trees, not too bad, and the grasses have good colors.  Admittedly, it's not the most exciting picture in the world, but I wanted to give it a shot.

Return to Catalina

Well, I wanted to do a little bit different with this.  I wanted to simplify the boats, lighten the water and move the horizon down just a bit.  I think I managed to do those.  What I am not sure of is if I painted a better picture or not.

26 miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is waiting for me

This is the first painting of the Casino on Catalina Island. The building is an historic landmark. Built in the 20's and home to the worlds largest ballroom dance floor. I've wanted to paint it for quite a while, but have been afraid to do it. This is my first attempt, but it wont be my last. The good? Well, I think it is that I really captured the essence of the building; The isthmus that it sits on, with the palm trees around it. The rest of the picture is questionable. The building itself is almost smack in the middle, the boats in Avalon harbor look terrible. But like i say, its my first attempt. My second will be much better.

San Luis Obispo Mission2

If you liked yesterdays painting, you will probably like this one a bit more.  The wall in the foreground is a bit darker for a bit of contrast and the building is just  a bit lighter.  There is some definition between the tree on the right and the rosemary growing over the wall.  The shadows are pretty good, and the sky is pretty good.  Enjoy.

San Luis Obispo Mission

Ok, so the August watercolor painting challenge on the artist site to which I subscribe is "local historic buildings."  I am bound and determined to learn to paint buildings.  Most pictures of the Mission are not all that interesting, at least imho. This one, though, rather caught my attention.  I thought I could have a go at it.  So here it is.  I didn't wet the paper totally before I began, and found out that I should have.  The tree behind the rosemary on the right hand side needed to be a different color so that there was more of a distinction between the two.  I didn't include too much detail in this because it was my first attempt and I wanted to try getting the essence of the building before I tried mastering the building.  Its a big stucco building, but I think I did a fair job for my first attempt.

Tuesday Lunch - Dexter Patio

This is the second week I've gone outside to paint. This picture, while not all that good, probably, is miles ahead of what I did outside last week. It is such a learning experience to do this. Do I sit in the sun or shade? How fast is the paper drying? How come the colors in my travel pack don't look the same as the ones in my studio? Will I finish in time? Do I have the right brushes? Whew! I think the trees on the right turned out great, the trees on the left got a little muddled. The shrub infront of the window is supposed to be behind the tree on the left... and right for that matter, but its the look of it infront of the tree on the left that really throws the picture off.

Well, some good some bad in this one, but it was definitely an experience.

Hearst Castle Tower

Here is a quick work of one of the towers of Hearst Castle.  If you don't know, I am scared to death to paint buildings.  For some reason they cause me fits.  Well, I am bound and determined to be able to paint them reasonably well.  This is an effort to paint in a very loose style.  I was trying hard not to focus on the details like the gargoyles, the cross pattern in the windows, the molding, railings, or the joint of the granite, rather just to paint the essence of the building.  I guess its like trying to paint what you see if you were to look at the building through a piece of gauze or hosiery.  I think for a first attempt at it, and for being a bit afraid of building, I did a pretty good job.