Mulholland Twilight – Nibblefest
“Mulholland Twilight” 8 x 10 – oil on canvasboard
SOLD
The purpose of Ebay’s monthly Nibblefest is to generate interest and publicity for our works and the person with the most unique bids from different bidders is the winner. For this reason, it’s good to keep the price in a low range as long as possible because it encourages more nibbles. Of course, I’d love to see it sell for a good price at the close of auction, but in the beginning, small bids from a lot of different people is ideal. In fact, I’d love to see 15 + people bid on it in 50 cent increments.
I only take part in this activity once a month, so if you’ve been interested in owning one of my paintings, this is a great time to do it.
This painting – a view of the San Fernando Valley from Mulholland Drive – is even more vibrant in person. The sky is a blend of ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson, with accents of cerulean blue and cadmium red. It’s the sort of sunset that is all too rare because of our lack of clouds. But when they happen it can be magical. In the distance the lights were just beginning to come on, creating the kind of wild/urban scene that can only happen in LA.
Flint Canyon Trail – Daily Painting
“Flint Canyon Trail” – 9 x 12 oil on canvasboard
Graduations and reunions are completed (joyfully) and we are catching up after all the partying and celebrating. Here are our son and daughter, who will be having her own MBA graduation next year.
So, it was time for me to get back to painting, and new watercolors, oils and pastels will follow soon. This painting represents a portion of the Flint Canyon Trail which is part of a large loop of trails that goes through La Canada, Flintridge, where we live. The trail is most beautiful in early morning and late afternoon light (this was about 6 pm.) The canvas was toned with burnt sienna underneath which adds an overall glow as bits of it peek through here and there.
Descanso Camellia
“Descanso Camellia” – Approx 15 x 11″ – watercolor on paper
SOLD
This is probably the largest floral piece I’ve done so far – and I enjoyed the process very much. Essentially it’s no different from working small except I have to stand back more frequently and use larger brushes to avoid getting too many picky details.
Busy, busy. I don’t have time to write much right now – I’m up to my ears in framing and gathering materials for a new class I’ll be attending tomorrow. Plus, our son is graduating from UCLA on Saturday and we’re co-hosting a grad party for him and some of his roommates.
OK, back to work for me …
Gloriosas and Delphiniums
9 x 12 – watercolor on Canson cold pressed paper – Gloriosas and delphiniums
Well, here it is 1:50 am again. I was drifting off to sleep when Ripley (who sleeps at the foot of our bed) suddenly barked once and woke me up. If I am awakened as I am making that first descent into sleep, it seems to take the edge off my sleepiness and I might as well get up and do something. Which I did (exhibit A, above.) I think these yellow gloriosa daisies are called “Irish Eyes” because the centers are as green as the emerald isle.
I got a pretty cool new brush the other day and I was eager to try it out. So I clipped a piece of paper to my easel, vertically, did a quick sketch and painted this as only a half-awake, half-asleep person can do. This Davinci Cosmotop is just dreamy – it holds a lot of paint and releases it smoothly.
Now that this is done I feel a little sleepier – I hope.
Peonies Plein Air
Plein Air Peonies – 11″ x 15″ (quarter sheet) Arches 140# watercolor paper
SOLD
Well, the show was a success in every way and I have lived to tell the tale. Kudos to Lori and her family for not only organizing the event but offering their home as our gallery and creating an atmosphere of conviviality and creativity. We all arrived an hour before the studio tour began to set up our easels and help with last minute details … but everything was in perfect order so there was little we needed to do. Tour guests began arriving promptly at 1 and continued throughout the afternoon with only a few lulls and many surges. The organizing committee asked if artists might have some sort of demo set up at their studios, and several of were happy to oblige, setting up our easels around a beautiful still life arrangement artfully presented by painter Carolyn Jean. I haven’t done very many floral still lives but I loved the challenge of these peonies – which we cannot grow in Southern California. These buxom blooms came from Whole Foods market, and I understand from my artpal Nan that Trader Joes is carrying them as well.
The light changed quite radically during the hour or so that I was painting these, but I tried to keep the memory of the glow even while they slipped into the shade of the umbrella and grapefruit tree. I invoked the muse that speaks to Charles Reid to please give me a hand with the looseness – that is to say, to please stay my hand if I should try to get too fussy. Because I paint landscapes more than arranged flowers, this experience has given me the incentive to do more painting out on my back patio this summer.
All in all, we had a good day. I sold this painting of the garden at Casita Del Arroyo
to a lovely collector, and Robin, Ginny, Carolyn, Louisa and others in our group had sales as well. It was an auspicious beginning. But the best part was being in the company of good painting friends, family and art lovers on a perfect late spring day. Assuming the stars all align correctly, I can hardly wait until we do it next year.
Easel setup
I’m out for the day watching some master painters at work at Pitzer college at Claremont. In addition to seeing them paint I’m also interested in observing their tools and methods. Speaking of plein air, here’s a photo of my current setup when I’m painting watercolor. The little shelf is cut from one piece of masonite and attaches to the legs just by pressure-fitting (no screws or clamps.) It also helps to add extra stability to this lightweight Daler-Rowney easel. In this case I was using my studio palette because I wanted to use big brushes. The mist bottle helps keep the paint damp, especially when there’s a warm breeze blowing. Value sketch is there for reference, because light (and shadow forms) change really quickly at the end of the day. My water bucket hangs conveniently nearby. I use the mat to help evaluate what I’m doing when a painting is in progress, as this one was.
If you’re in LA, I’m going to be taking part in a group exhibition on Sunday afternoon at the studio of Lori Koop in Sierra Madre, where the city is hosting an open studio day. Several of us will all be painting outside for the duration of the event. If you want the address to stop by, drop me a note – address is in the left sidebar in the About Me area.
Newport Vignette
This is just a quick and loose sketch based upon scenes from our Newport paintout day. I don’t know why, sometimes I like the fast and loose ones better than the ones I toil over for hours. But I just can’t bring myself to ‘dash off’ something I intend for a show. Which is the kiss of death, of course, and invites overworking , overthinking, just over-overing. Sigh.
There’s an Irish proverb, attributed to various people, that says
“Work like you don’t need money,
Love like you’ve never been hurt,
And dance like no one’s watching.”
And to that I might add … “Paint like it doesn’t matter.”
Now I’ve got to finish framing up a few things to take to a friend’s open studio tomorrow, for a group exhibition on Sunday.
And gather some things together for another library show on Saturday. Then back to the painting board!
California Farmhouse
California Farmhouse – Aprox 9″ x 12″ – watercolor
While I continue to work on my big painting (yes, I finally put brush to paper yesterday on that snowy white sheet) here is a painting I did a few weeks ago as a practice using warm and cool colors alternatively. The actual scene was rather lackluster with uninteresting lighting so I decided to spice it up a bit using a range of colors typical of the California scene painters of the 30s and 40s.
I might paint this one larger, too, some day.
OK, back to work for me …
Procrastination vs. Incubation
“Market Flowers” – watercolor on paper – About 8″ x 6″ – Fabriano Artistico 140# cold press
I’m working on a big painting project right now – a full sheet watercolor that incorporates most of the different techniques I regularly know and use and a few new ones. It’s an ambitious project and I’m dedicated to seeing it through, even if I have to paint it multiple times. Right now, I’ve done the design and color studies, I’ve tested the colors I’m going to use on a separate sheet of paper and labeled them all to know what’s mixing with what. I’ve even abandoned one paper surface in favor of another. Ordinarily I would call this hesitation to jump right in “procrastination” – but the more I wait the more I’m working out other design issues, coming up with new solutions and so on. I think it is more like a period of gestation as the ideas take shape. All the while I read voraciously; I review my notes from class and from demonstrations I’ve seen. I test different ways of moving paint; I practice watching the sheen leave the paper for the exact right time to scrape away a highlight or to drop in a dollop of thick pigment. . I am like an actor rehearsing my timing, watchful that I don’t make awkward entrance too soon or an exit too late. Or like a juggler trying to keep all the plates spinning. My brush is a tentative dancer, exercising at the barre, trying to develop muscle memory so the moves become both spontaneous and automatic. I wait. I think. I test.
So while my project is percolating in the back of my mind, I did this brief and loose wc sketch of a flower vendor’s booth at Sunday’s farmer’s market. As you can tell, I’m thoroughly enjoying painting negative shapes (such as around the buckets and umbrella ) … and alternating warm and cool colors in one continuous passage – and even throwing in a few calligraphic brushstrokes for umbrella poles and bucket details. Any minute now I’m going to return to that big piece of 22 x 30″ paper – perhaps charged with a few new ideas about lights and darks and linking of shapes and colors.
Casita Del Arroyo
Casita Del Arroyo – 7.5 x 10 (cropped) in Raffine sketchbook
This weekend I’m working pretty intensely on a couple of paintings – still in the planning stages – so I’m posting this sketchbook page painted about ten days ago at the Casita Del Arroyo in Pasadena. You can just see the top of the chiminea behind the lush foliage – my point of view.
This is another page from my Raffine sketchbook, now down to its last pages. I’m going to have to make the decision whether to order another, bind my own or go with the Bateman smooth paper sketchbook which just doesn’t respond the way I like . It’s great for ink but too slick for the way I like to work. Falling back to the Superdeluxe Aquabee is another option, but not the best one. Maybe I’ll try making a hot press sketchbook as some of my other painting journaling friends Kate, Laura and Roz have done.
What I like in a watercolor sketchbook:
The ability to move paint around on the paper and get the reflected colors of ground, sky and such. This means the paper can’t be TOO absorbent or the paint just soaks right in from the first stroke. This Raffine allows some movement of paint, which is good – but it’s not as bright white as I like.
Maybe I’ll gesso some index stock and see what that looks like – after I get these paintings, done, that is. I am SO easily distracted when I have a deadline, y’know?
This morning we went out to our town’s annual Memorial Day French Toast Breakfast, which was delightful. We met some other people, enjoyed some chatting, and I drew people for about a half hour after that. (I might post the quick sketches if I get a chance.) Then we took a diversionary trip to a few garage sales where I found some lovely props for some still life paintings and we met more charming people.
If I get a break later tonight I’m going to do a little gardening – it feels like summer’s here already and I don’t have all my flowers planted yet.
