Plein Air - Almaden Lake

Another nice day, albeit a little windy, spent painting with friends at Almaden Lake. My goal today was to do a bunch of quick, loose studies and just have fun.

Yupo Roses

This week I was trying my hand at a loose interpretation of some blossoms - Charles Reid style - but wasn't having any luck. For me, loose equates to sloppy. I guess I'm just not confident enough for minimal strokes. Anyway, after a couple of attempts, I remembered I had a brand new pad of Yupo that I'd been wanting to try out. Having no experience whatsoever I decided to just jump right in. I didn't know if you could draw directly on Yupo, or use liquid mask or create layers. So, of course, I tried all three! I am actually pleased with my results. I will confess that I did wipe the entire thing off once and sprayed down the center to remove excess paint twice - that's the beauty of Yupo! Now, just one question - is there anyway to "fix" the artwork so it doesn't melt during the next humid day?

Plein Air - Anna's Garden

I finally made it out to meet the plein air group today - it's been a while for me. Anna was gracious enough to invite us to paint her garden. Her garden extends around the entire house and it is stunning! She has murals and facades painted and built into exterior walls and fences, statues, a waterfall, potted plants galore. Even her driveway and side yards are magnificent! I started out in the driveway looking toward the house and planned to work my way to the backyard, but being a slow painter and having so much to look at I never ended up moving locations! I did take a tour of the back though and it is a painter and gardener's paradise! Thanks Anna!

Tahoe Art Faire (WIP)

This is a piece I started a while back and have decided it is time to finish. After simplifying my reference photo a bit, I began by painting in the shadows, something I don't generally start with. That turned out pretty well, but made me hesitant to go forward. Now that I've started on it again I'm realizing that it is much more complicated and tedious than I first realized. I actually thought I might finish it TODAY! I will keep working on it. Here is my effort to date.

Following the Masters Assignment #2 - Completed

Here is the completed assignment for Following the Masters.

"Following the Masters" Challenge #2

I've joined Michelle Burnett's Following the Masters on-line challenge. Challenge #2 (my first) is to make our version of Walking on the Beach, by impressionist Joquin Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923). I started this last night and, since I'm out of ink for my color printer, I'm working from a grayscale version of the picture. Here is my work so far.

Rocky Beach

Since finishing the Watercolor Beyond the Obvious class I have been kind of slacking, catching up on things other than painting. I also started working a little on color theory - I am amazed at how many times I've tried to make a gray-scale value "color" wheel only to find that my grays were too dark and didn't transition properly into my light values. Taking a breather from gray-scale studies I did this painting, Rocky Beach, along with an on-line video. Trying to paint with a video is actual harder for me than trying to figure it out myself, but here it is. I paid for the on-line class so I'm going to finish it!!! :)