More Practice Exercises

Lindsay (dear daughter) had a minimum day today but I managed to get to the gym and get in some painting time. I tried two exercises, the first of which seemed to be very simple but proved to be frustrating. Trying to watch on-line lessons and paint along isn't as easy as one would think. Anyway, the first is a sunset sky behind a simple cinder cone mountain, Mt. Fuji. I definitely need to work on painting "looser", this looks more like acrylic than watercolor. The second painting is Arizona Butte. This one came out a little better but still not as loose as I'd like. The sky actually turned out nicely but the scanner didn't pick up all the color, but you get the gist.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Moonlit Sky

Okay, okay, so I'm not doing so great at making this a daily thing so far, but here is a little exercise I worked on yesterday. It is from an on-line series of lessons I signed up for. You only use two colors Ultramarine Blue and Payne's Gray. Everything is painted and lifted while the entire thing is still damp. The coolest part was lifting the "silvery light" from the clouds closed to the moon using a damp paper towel. I've lifted color with a dry towel before but never a damp one. Fun!

First Blog

Okay, here is my attempt at creating my first blog, and all without the help of my teenage daughter! I haven't entirely decided what this blog should be about, except perhaps as a way to commit myself to working on my art every day. Now, let's see if I can post a picture. This is a plein air painting I did on an outing with the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society at the Warren Hutton House in Saratoga, CA.