Minerva Getty
Minerva – 9 x 12 graphite drawing on pastel paper – after Nollekens
Yesterday I had the opportunity to return to the Hillside Getty in Sepulveda Pass for a little drawing practice. I just had time for two drawings this time – This first was this Minerva, the Roman equivalent of Athena, goddess of war. Unlike the Malibu Getty where there are numerous seats for viewing the sculptures, at the Hillside Getty they want you to keep moving so drawing means standing and balancing the sketchbook on your arm which is what I needed to do here. I much prefer the stability of working on my lap, but sometimes you just need to make do.
There were throngs of people, as usual. I started drawing this from one angle which was completely unsatisfactory and I turned the page over to begin again. A group of women walked by and asked if they could look. Rarely, I say no, but this time I did. “Is it bad luck?” one asked. “Yes, I said, it’s bad luck.” Gotta remember that one. Later another woman asked to see and I was far enough along that I was happy to show her the drawing in progress and we chatted for awhile about both Gettys and their Friday evening drawing class which happens twice a month. The gallery guard stopped by periodically to see my progress, too. He was a really nice guy and seemed to enjoy seeing the drawing take form. He said that an artist occasionally draws upstairs in the painting gallery but he scowls at anyone who attempts to speak to him so that says to me that people generally don’t know what kind of reaction they’ll get from someone who’s drawing. If I’m drawing indoors with plenty of time, I don’t mind stopping and chatting. But if I’m chasing the light with a watercolor outdoors, whoa, that’s a different story and I’m guessing my body language communicates that, too.
Ripley and Shadows – Daily Painting
Now that spring is here, Ripley spends more time outside in her doghouse than under my feet in my studio. I miss the company but I can understand the call of fresh air, birdsong and the opportunity to bark at the gardeners when they visit our neighbor’s house.
I did this quick painting yesterday as an exercise in negative painting and patterning. My objective was to describe Ripley’s shape by using dark background shapes. My other objective was to use more linked shapes rather than painting separate things. For example, her chin blends into her collar and her flank color blends into her chest.
Ripley sez: Did you miss me?
Near Skye
Scottish castle – watercolor on paper 8″ x 8″
Back in the 90s we went to England on business and had the opportunity to drive up to Skye, the home of my distant ancestors. This castle was nearby. I’m sure it would be prettier on a bright sunny day , but somehow mist and brooding moors seemed to fit perfectly.
Back on the home front, we spent this afternoon doing some gardening. After two years my right knee seems to finally have healed enough for me to work outside without concern for pain or undoing the slow process of recovery. So we vigorously trimmed shrubs, pruned the bougainvillea that survived the frost and tethered up a blue hibiscus that was being pushed aside by the bougainvillea. There’s so much work to be done in the yard but I’m looking forward to the exercise in the fine weather.
In the coming weeks, or weekends, mostly, I’ll put in our spring vegetable garden and transplant a few new plants I got at the Descanso Gardens spring plant sale – a fantastic twice a year event not to be missed.
Two koi
Two Koi – 8″ x 8″ watercolor on Stonehenge paper
Two little Descanso koi, looking for some fish chow. Look out for the racoons!
At Mulberry Pond at Descanso Gardens, they have created some ledges and shelves out of rock for the koi to hide under. I heard from one of the volunteers that the racoons will actually wade in the water to fish. But apparently they won’t swim into deep areas. Racoons, herons and egrets are a problem for pond owners who treasure their living jewels. To the predators it’s just an easy meal.
California Home 1 – Daily Painting
California Home 1 – 15″ x 11″ watercolor on paper
SOLD
Can you tell I’m in the middle of a very experimental try-anything phase? Well, I am. I absolutely love the California school paintings of the 30s through 50s, as I’ve mentioned here before, so today I thought I’d try something in that style.
Last year, on a trip to Capistrano, I took this picture of a bougainvillea vine climbing over a wall onto what seemed to be a carport or something undefined. I liked the vine but I wanted it to be part of a larger scene – not just a big pink sprawling mass. I might still paint it again in oil or pastel, but that’s another story.
So, today, while letting the Alverno villa color study percolate in the back of my head, I took out my sketchbook and explored some other ways the vine could be part of an imaginary scene. I invented a cottage for the vine to crawl on, and made the fence lower so it could be seen.
This was one of several value sketches I did, mapping out different shapes that I thought might work.
I scanned that drawing and brought it into Photoshop CS, where I experimented with different colors in different layers. To make the fuchsia-red flowers pop I looked for a complement for the cottage roof – a blue-green. I picked analogous colors for the other trees and shrubs in the scene.
When I got it roughly sketched on the paper, I discovered that I had too much room to the right with nothing going on, so I drew in an old clothesline and tucked it behind a hedge because I didn’t want the fence to run full wide right off the page. And … I liked the allusion to an time before labor-saving devices, and the sun and breeze that it implies. I suspect that there are a couple of little kids playing with a floppy-eared dog in that back yard. Don’t you think? That shrubby background became a place to insert a couple of squabbling birds – geese or ducks, your guess.
So there’s the evolution of a California dream from a long-gone era and I hope you found the journey to its completion interesting. I’ll be putting this in my ebay store, tomorrow probably.
Magenta Gold Iris
Magenta Gold Iris – 6.25″ x 9″ watercolor
Another of my iris clan. I’ll have to check the tag to see what the real name of this one is.
Flintridge Cottage
“Flintridge Cottage” – watercolor – 5.3″ x 7″
Every year our town has a spring garden tour of some of the nicest homes. I often take a camera along to get ideas for landscaping. And occasionally these gardens end up in my paintings, too. This ivy covered cottage is on the route of one of our daily walks. With manicured box hedges, rose bushes and perennial flowers, it looks like something out of a fairy tale.
Palos Verdes Ride –
Palos Verdes Ride – 13.75 x 9″ – watercolor on paper
$100 Purchase from the artist
A few weeks ago, when we went down to Wayfarer’s Chapel for our anniversary, we drove through the Palos Verdes peninsula and I took a few pictures from the car along the way. One of them featured some large eucalyptuses, which I can never pass up the chance to paint. Unfortunately, this area is “no parking” due to extreme landslide danger, so I was not able to get out and sketch. But that’s why I always carry a camera with me. When I got home and took a look at my picture, I saw that there were some riders emerging from the grove. I hadn’t noticed them at all during the drive-by.
If you live in the area , I think we just approaching Portugeuse Bend, coming up from San Pedro. (Googlemap link below.)
His Eye is on the Sparrow
“His Eye is on the Sparrow” 8in x 8in – watercolor on 140# Fabriano paper
SOLD
This painting was partly inspired by the song so loved by gospel singer Ethel Waters, “His Eye is on the Sparrow.”
Although the watercolor painting is sold I since painted the same scene as an oil painting, 11 x 14 inches, oil on canvas.
Interested in this painting?
Click this link to write me. See more of my paintings on my website
Magnolia Glow – Daily Painting
Magnolia Glow – 7 x 11″ watercolor. SOLD.
Although this painting is sold see more of my floral and botanical paintings here
Every year I wait for the magnolias to come into bloom at Descanso. The tulips burst open at the same time, which seems fitting. The downy buds thrust up, covered with a soft casing that seems like velvet or suede. Eventually it begins to show color. This is usually about the time that a rainstorm threatens to spoil the blooms. But, with luck, the tight buds will make it through the showers, to open fully on a warm day. From this tight urn-shaped form they will expand gracefully, the petals laying back in ecstasy. The colors are more subtle in the shade, but I like them best in early morning or very late afternoon, when a slanting ray causes the white of the petals to glow with a hot inner fire.
In this case, the flower was painted first, in general terms. Then the background was added to gauge the contrast. Finally, I went back and added the final color accents to the bloom. I rather like the trapped negative space between the stem and the leaf – it reminds me of certain art nouveau motifs.
