Sketchbook Rose - 7 x 10
While I work on some larger projects to prepare some paintings for shows, here’s a page from a Canson Montval sketchbook with a full blown Descanso rose. I didn’t spend a lot of time working on the subtle turn of each petal and leaf - I […]

Alverno Villa study - 7″ x 11″ watercolor in Raffine sketchbook
This morning our paintout group had the great treat of going to Alverno School in Sierra Madre, where there still stands a beautiful structure which was a villa of a wealthy man in the 1920s. There were so many wonderful views that […]

Tonight was Pasadena’s semi-annual “Art Night,” during which all the museums and other cultural institutions are open free to the public for their enjoyment. There’s not enough time to get around to all the rich offerings, but we had the opportunity to visit the Pasadena Museum of History where we saw the artwork of Sam […]

˚
“Teahouse in Twilight” 9 x 12 watercolor in Raffine sketchbook.
It should come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog that I’m a very big fan of the California watercolorists of the 20s, 30s and 40s. The colors they used, the free use of color, line, shape and value and the […]

“Spring Thaw” - Watercolor on paper - 15″ x 11″ - 140# paper
We’ve been discussing color studies recently in the everyday matters yahoo group, so I’m posting this, and the preliminary “thumbnail” study as an example of that sort of thing. In a value study, the lights and darks (without color) […]

“Citrus Valley” - 9 x 12 sketchbook study
Between holidays and business, this week’s paintings may consist of quickie sketches in my sketchbooks. This study, painted in my Raffine book, represents a part of the landscape we visited last Sunday during some high windstorms. The area is near Ojai - inland from […]

Let’s say you’re a passenger in the car riding around with someone else doing errands. And let’s say one errand takes an unpredictably long time and there’s literally nothing attractive to paint or draw, even though you’ve got a sketchbook, portable palette and waterbrush with you.
You could read a magazine you keep in the car […]

I am frustrated today because my Yahoo email is bouncing and every reactivation request I’ve put in is not working. I get error messages back that reassure me that Yahoo is working hard to upgrade its sites to serve me better and if I don’t hear anything after 4 hrs to get updates here […]

Yesterday I got my first Raffine sketchbook by Lana, recommended by Lin Frye, so I decided to give it a test drive. The 9 x 12″ paper is very thick and slightly absorbent, and I’d say it takes a wet wash pretty well without bleeding through the back side of the paper. There was only […]

It’s been awhile since Ripley has been featured here, so I thought I’d post a charcoal drawing of her I did tonight. If you remember the secret code, sleeping dog = most likely drawn from life, which this was.
I saw a pretty interesting charcoal demonstration about a week ago. The artist was using many […]