Zion National Park

I've painted this picture before.  It was when I was just starting out in watercolors.  I spent hours drawing, and painting and fussing over it.  I tried hard to make something that would look nice, but in the end,  I think, I ended with a giant mess. 

So, over the weekend, I was going through some old works of mine and found this picture in the bottom of a drawer.  I thought I could paint it again to see how I could do.  This time, however, I handicapped myself.   

I went to my studio, only to find that my daughter and her friend had ransacked the place.  It took far too long to put back together.  So when all was said and done, I only had a very short amount of time to paint.  No Drawing for me.  Gonna have to paint wet into wet.  

Starting at the top, with a light orange wash, and changing to darker oranges and greens and grays as I made my way to the bottom.  The second wash saw me start in the very back with the same light wash.  Then onto the middle cliff,  a little more intensity.  The front was, of course the most intense.  Cliff walls done, it was on to the trees.  A little patter of green here and there.  A little grey for some water.  then wait just a sec and zip in some lines for tree trunks.  

I know its not high art, but given the time that I had to do it, I don't think its half bad.  And given that the first go round I did of this painting took many many hours, and doesn't look any better, I think its great.

More Sketching

Another lunchtime sketching session today!  We all walked across campus to the market and sat at picnic tables.  I didn't have the best view, so i decided to paint what was right in front of me, literally.

Ed was busily painting the CAMPUS MARKET sign above the doorway while I was painting him.  When we were done and comparing paintings, we all had a good chuckle over my painting of Ed.

Yes, I know that the painting is completely bisected by the umbrella pole, that is kind of the point.  We are trying to paint exactly what we see.  I could have looked around the pole to paint Ed, but for what we were doing this is much more accurate, fun and funny.

I'm having just a bit of trouble with this paint kit.  I feel like the paint is either too strong or too weak, and I can't quite get it right.  The background in this painting should have been weaker to push it back further, and the cement table should have been a bit darker to bring it forward.  Well, live and learn.  It was still fun.

Fishy Fishy Fishy Fish

For Sale. Watercolor. 6x9. $25

Alright, sticking with my recents aquatic theme, I give you some more fishing lures.  I made sure to make the colors a little bolder and brighter.  And add a little shadow to the background behind.  My hope is that that would make them stand out just a bit more.  For some of the lures it really did, some not quite as much as I wanted.

As I was painting this one, i suddenly went, uh oh, its a brown background with a brown pole and some darkish color lures, I hope its not too brown.  Well, it does look a bit brownish, but I don't think it takes away from the picture as a whole.  I also tried to make the pole look round.  Not exactly sure how that one turned out!

Trying hard to loosen up my painting style.  The wall is supposed to have reds and yellows and greens in it.  Guess that was a bit too subtle.  The next one will have to be a bit better.  I think the mixing of the colors on the lures is better.  My favorites are the ones on the ends.  One other thing.  I started cheating my highlights.  You may look and see the white highlight lines.  They are not paint at all.  White colored pencil.  Takes all the stress out of trying to leave white area when I paint, and when you look at it, you looks like a real reflection.  Yes, I probably could do the same with white gouache, but this took all of a few seconds to do and looks nearly exactly identical.

Hope you all enjoy, I had a great time painting it.

Better 1, or Better 2. Better 2 or Better 3

If you were at the optometrist, you would hear something like, "Better 1 or Better 2."  In this case, you have three to choose from.  I was asked to do 3 paintings of the same thing.  It just so happens it was the doorway I previously did in blue.  I was also asked to do it in cranberry.  Now, I get cranberries in a baggie at Thanksgiving time like most people, and they all seem to be slightly different colors.  In that vein, I made the doors with mottled colors.  If you look, you can see reds, greens, blues, and terra cotta.

Tried to make the foreground just a bit darker than the background.  Also tried to be a little brighter at the top and a little darker at the bottom.

In general, I like the way they turned out.  I have some definite favorite parts of each, and think grab all those and put them on one page, it would be a knockout painting.

I hope you all enjoy them, and more than that,  I hope their future owners like them.

buffalo wings

Today the Cal Poly Urban Sketchers met in the Biological Sciences Museum to do a little sketching.  After looking around at all the animal heads on the wall, I settled on this.  It is an African Buffalo.  It is really a dark brindle color, but I didn't want to make it quite that dark for fear of it becoming too dark.  I think this way it gets the point across.

As you can tell, it's really just a head.  It is hanging over the door, which i neglected to put into the picture.  From the size of the head, I have to believe that the beast is enormous with the hind 3/4 attached.  I definitely think our group will be back to paint again really soon.

Play Structure

So last Saturday I took the kids to the park.  If you've never been to Del Mar Park, they have this huge play structure.  The kids love to climb it and slide down the giant green slide.  Well, this Saturday there were a lot of kids there, and good ole dad didn't have to climb and play with them nearly as much, allowing me the opportunity to draw for a bit.  It really took about an hour to draw this, but I think it was worth it.

I didn't paint it until I got home.  Once at home, D got in the tub and Olivia helped me paint.  I would paint a tiny little section, and Olivia would ask, "Can I see it, dad?"  After I would show it to her she would say something like, "You're doing great, dad." or "I'ts really looking good, dad."  She really is amazing for only being 3.  Oh, and it took me a long time to paint it.

Hope you enjoy it.

A Little Urban Sketching

Yesteday and today I decided to do a little urban sketching.  I suppose that is the new term for painting plein air.  Urban sketching sounds a bit less hoity toity.  I have been walking around campus trying to find places to sit in the shade and paint.  The shade part was crucial for me, and as I found out, was also the limiting factor in what I paint.  It turns out that nearly all the benches on campus are in direct sunlight at noon.  Who would have figured.  Anyway, in my hikes around campus, I found 3 places to paint.  They all seemed to fit onto one sheet, but the sheet is bigger than my scanner.  The first picture, Bench on Dexter Lawn, is actually on the bottom of the sheet.  You can see part of the Building 52 Plaza in the top right.

This is the picture that is above it.  This is Building 52 Plaza.  Or at least part of it.  I don't think I got this quite right, but you get the idea that it is a bench with mulch around it, and (absent detail) brick walkway in front of it.  I assume you all can tell it has a tree behind the bench?

This third picture is actually the first one I did.  I wanted to get the little taco stand next to this, on the left side of the tan building, but i didn't have a clear view from the bench I was on, so this got chosen by default.  Some different types of bushes and shrubs with a few rocks, and a wooden wall behind, just in front of the building.  I'm extremely happy with the way this turned out, I often have trouble working in different colors of greens.  The fact that you can see 4 distinct colors of green and a little shading in each is, for me, a triumph.

Wednesday's Door and Window

Watercolor 6x9 SOLD

I think todays picture came out pretty good.  A nice perspective painting.  I painted this because I loved the way the wall had stucco, brick and rock exposed.  It made the surface really interesting.  I just hope i did some justice to the real place.  Hope you all enjoy the painting.