On the Road Again with Sketches

Coast Trail
9" x 5" watercolor sketch

"Standing on the Corner"
9" x 5"Watercolor Sketch

Foggy Day at Half Moon Bay

For my long-term blog friends, these scenes will look familiar. Bob attends a Flutes By The Sea Master Class in Half Moon Bay every July. This is his third year. I go along for the fun -- the B&B, the good restaurants, the quaint shops, the coastal trail rides on my bicycle, and the sketches I do with my tiny travel set. You can check out previous workshop experiences in 2014 and 2013. My favorite sketch from those trips is the greenhouses in 2013. This year we were there for 4 days.

I actually painted Foggy Day first. After dropping Bob at the workshop, I drove to a parking lot and sat on a wonderful bench over the sea. The following day I went to Pillar Point Harbor, but that was a more ambitious piece and not done yet. I took photos along the coast from my bike in the afternoon. The third day I rode my bike again to a bench and painted Coast Trail. You can probably guess that I amped up the color because the views are so beautiful that it seems that bright.

Standing on the Corner is just a cute scene on a corner near the B&B. Someone has done a very fun bench and I couldn't resist painting it. I did not attempt to do this plein air with traffic. Instead I worked from a photo on my phone. One of my friends really liked this one.

The Friends Meeting House -- California's Oldest

"Friends Meeting House"

11" x 14" Ink and Watercolor on Paper

 

 

The SCVWS paintsites group met at this sweet little spot, tucked away on a quiet residential street in San Jose.  This small building is the oldest Friend's house in California, dating back into the 1800s. It was moved a couple hundred feet when 880 was built.  The day was sunny and warm, and we had a small, but productive group painting. I was delighted to see my host for the Croatian Art Retreat, Marion Podolski.

 

Because I am working on a commissioned ink and watercolor sketch, I wanted to experiment with the medium.  I would like my commission to be a bit more sketchy than this, which I am finding a challenge. Knowing I am doing it for a client makes me immediately more careful.

Magazine Collage of San Francisco

 

"City by the Bay"

14" x 18" magazine collage on canvas

 

 

Begun in November, the piece languished in my art room partially complete. Attic cleaning, travel, dancing, bike riding, and life, all took precedence. Finally a couple days ago, I propped it up on the easel, tossed the drop cloth on the floor, and made a mess.

 

From the late 80s until 2000, I had an old, but sturdy, boat at Pier 40. After Gary died, I realized I did not want to learn marine mechanicals, and turned it over to my partner. It did not have red sails to fly in the sunset, but "Elation" was our home away from home for a number of years. I love the city -- the chaos, the noise, the music, the fashions, the busy people, the bike riders, Market Street, the Transamerica Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, the museums, even touristy Fisherman's Wharf. I hope I captured some of that here.

Room with a View: View from Potrero Hill

"Room with a View: View from Potrero Hill"

San Francisco, CA

5" x 9" Ink and watercolor sketch

Bob needed some flute repair by an expert and he wanted to take a couple Argentine Tango lessons at Metronome Dance Collective, in San Francisco. After searching for reasonable hotels in SF, of which there was none (I don't consider $300 to $400 a night reasonable, even for 4-star places), I decided to try Airbnb.com that we used in Venice Beach to rent a room or cottage from a private homeowner. We found a lovely spot on Potrero Hill, just a half mile walk from the studio. Take this link to the listing. We enjoyed the locale, the wonderful restaurants, Fran's hot tub, our private deck, and  many walks around the neighborhood. No gym needed here. Just walk those hills. We got their via Caltrain and hoofing it up the hills. We used public transit to get to Pacific Heights for the flute repair.

Intrepid cyclist descends 24% grade.



Oh, yes, it's steep.



Fabulous art in front of a home.

Views in all directions and the city center is a roll down the hill.

Breakfast is a treat at Plow Restaurant.

The Wednesday morning clientele enjoy breakfast at Plow.

There are many good restaurants on 18th Avenue, including Plow, described as Midwest farm boy meets Asian city girl. The owners both began chef careers at a top notch East Bay restaurant. A couple of kids later, they live on the Hill and opened this place where you can wait in line, especially on weekends. We lucked out and got two seats at the counter where we enjoyed watching the chef activity.

We also ate at Goat Hill Pizza, really full Italian, which my late husband and I frequented in the 90s while staying on our boat next to the Giants stadium that did not exist then. Chez Maman was a treat, and small Thinker Café on 20th street offered a lovely local experience for breakfast. We got a kick out of the kids ready for school and the city dogs patiently and quietly awaiting their owners. Coffee at Farley's on Monday evening had us tagged as locals -- maybe it was Bob's debonair hat and sport coat, or could it have been my leather jacket and scarf? The sweet little Christopher's Books is still there. This is city life at its best.

A visit to Christopher's Books is always a treat.

Welcome Home

Family Fun

"Faster, Daddy"

15" x 14" watercolor

Gilroy Gardens Family Park

The day our Paintsites group created art at Gilroy Gardens, I did a landscape, begun before the park opened. An hour later the families began to arrive for their Saturday outing. Just below the deck where we were painting were the paddle boats, lovely large swans and ducks with two people on board, usually one parent and one child. I grabbed my I-Pad and took a couple photos. I loved this particular scene with the wake linking the two boats.

I began the painting last Thursday night with my South Side Art Club, laying in the washes over the entire page. I saved the white of the bubbly wake using friskit. There was a row of green and white umbrellas on the hill over the pond. I wanted to suggest the background without drawing attention away from the subject, so I toned down the whites of the umbrella, leaving the pure white for the boats and wake. I also suggested foliage and flowers, without defining them too much.

You can read about our group adventure on the Santa Clara Valley Paintsites Blog.

SCVWS "California Harvest" exhibit

"South Valley Wine on the Vine"

20" x 18" Watercolor

 

 

Every since I saw David Lobenberg's wonderful grape paintings, I've wanted to tackle the subject myself. David is an art professor and will be offering a workshop through our society. I have signed up for it.

 

While attending an event at Guglielmo Winery in Morgan Hill, I took some photos of trellised grapes. I used the reference photos to create a composition of leaves, grapes, and vines. I wanted a somewhat playful version of grapes, enhancing colors of the ripening bunch and suggesting more grapes in the background.

 

The Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society (SCVWS) is sponsoring an exhibit entitled "California Harvest" at Harvest Coffee House in Morgan Hill (at Dunne and Murphy), so I delivered the art yesterday. The show has a wide range of harvest-related subjects and the work is excellent. I chose wine grapes because there are about 60 small wineries within 20 miles of Morgan Hill, with several being right in the town. The show continues until July 27th, so visit the show if you get a chance. I will be at the reception on July 6, from 4 to 6 pm, when Guglielmo Winery will be pouring wine and there will be appetizers at this free event open to the public.

 

I am especially pleased at the location. Most of our shows are done in venues north of my home. Morgan Hill is south by 10 miles. Our Publicity Chair who lives there found the location, and we hope to broaden our opportunities to show and sell art.  I look forward to seeing how the location works for SCVWS.

 

 

The Art Roll Continues

 

"In the City by the Bay"

18" x18" magazine collage on canvas

Expect a few more refinements 

 

Seems that I get a lot of art energy from being around other artists. Between my trip to Murphy's for the Artist Getaway and my all-day plein air session with the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society (SCVWS), I can't  stop creating art. Friend Joan had been fascinated by my magazine collage work, done after taking a wonderful workshop from Derek Gores. After Joan left for home, I cropped an image of my granddaughter hanging off a parked cable car in San Francisco on a family visit to California in 2010 when Kelly was 14. Her hair was flying in the strong summer wind and I liked the angle of her head and shoulders.

 

I have been wanting to create this piece for a while. I spent several hours playing with the image and free-hand drawing it on tissue paper. Then I transferred the image to a canvas, using a broad Sharpie to go over the lines that would guide the collage work. You can see it does not require much detail. 

 

The drawing on canvas

 

 

I set myself up in the garage. This work is too messy for my upstairs studio that is just a side extension of my bedroom. Basically I tear lots of magazine pages into bits and apply pieces of them to the canvas with glossy acrylic liquid gel medium. 

 

The first day's work

 

 

I settled on a color scheme of fuschia, white and black, with some related colors for the hair. After a few hours, I had a good beginning. I knew that I wanted the hair to be ambiguous on the right, and darker to indicate some shadow there. Where does the hair end? That's part of the mystery.

 

 

The second day's work

 

I spent the afternoon in the garage tackling the face, always the biggest challenge for me. I know at this point that I will likely eliminate the watch face on her cheek and the lines of her neck are too defined and straight. The beauty of collage is it's easy to change my mind. Gerald Brommer, a famous artist who first taught me to use collage said, "Just keep adding paper until it's so heavy the painting will fall off the wall." I like the ambiguity that's developing. Is that the back of a woman forming some of her hair. Oh, I see a high heel and some flowers in her clothing. There is the San Francisco skyline.... (rescued from the newspaper a month ago as I thought about this collage).

 

 

The third day's work

 

Now that the canvas is covered, I can begin to refine the image. I eliminate the watch face, modify the neck, and put some white flowers on either side of her. Nope -- don't like those gardenias - too regular and fussy for suggesting a sophisticated city.

 

The fourth day's work

 

Gotta get rid of the white flowers. How about a cable car image? Try some black under the city. I don't like the long diagonal that the black creates. 

 

Final day's work

 

Will it help to break up the black a bit? Better, but I still don't like it. Time to revert back to white.

 

 

 

A repeated photo of the finished (?) piece

 

I kept the text, added some white with text, broke the long line at the top of her head, created some ambiguity in her hair on the lighted side, both on the outer and inner edges. Derek Gores would probably tell me that I need to vary the edges more, so this piece will likely change a bit yet as I contemplate how to make this piece more interesting.

 

Meanwhile, I was able to show one collage piece, at an SCVWS exhibit in the spring. The committee was pretty open-minded to include an all-collage piece as the society focuses on watermedia. My watermedia is the acrylic for the glue.  That event got me an invitation to show that piece and one other at the Rengstorf House in Mountain View during the month of August.









Long-Distance Plein Air All Day Event

 

"Heaven's Gate 2"

20" x 14" watercolor

 

"Mission San Juan Bautista"

9" x 5" watercolor

 

 

Once a year the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society makes a longer trek to paint all day on location.  This year's choice was the small Spanish town of San Juan Bautista. If you haven't been there, it should make your bucket list. We had around 15 artists show up, very good considering the distance for some. I live more south than many, so it's not a bad drive, The mission is the first I every visited, way back in 1976, and remains my favorite. San Juan Bautista has the only original Spanish Plaza remaining in California. I've painted here more than once and sold both paintings. I wrote of one such experience on my blog here.

 

We were treated to a beautiful day with comfortable temperatures. I stood at my easel under a tree and painted from a new perspective. After a few hours, I stopped and vowed to reconsider the work after I got home. We had a picnic lunch, viewed all the work people cared to share, and then selected a new spot to paint. The mission has a long low building with arches attached to the church. When we first arrived, I was taken by the view down the long outdoor hallway. So this afternoon, somewhat fatigued, we settled across the street at shaded picnic tables. I didn't have a great view of  the hallway, but I could see a nice vista. I settled on small and used my new Arches block that is perfect for small sweeping landscapes. I've seen other artists use that block and had to have one.  I removed some distant trees to add the expansiveness that I felt when sitting there.

 

The wind began to really blow, as it can in this area close to the Pacific Ocean. That's why San Francisco Bay is a great venue for the America's Cup. Friend Janice and I left about 3 p.m., having completed a couple paintings each, and Janice had done a wonderful ink drawing of an old adobe to which she will add color.

 

For a fun read, check out the paintsites blog: http://scvwspaintsites.blogspot.com/ , Brad is a very charming writer and he keeps the blog updated. He always asks for people to send in their work, but only a few do. So this time he told us he was taking photos for the blog. We can tell him if we want to be named with our work. There were many nice pieces.

Artist Retreat in Gold Country Continued

 

"Morning on Lake Alpine"

14" x 16" Watercolor

 

The view.

 

Our foursome ventured to Angel's Camp looking for acrylics for Jeannie, but alas, the Mercantile did not open until 11 am. Coming from busy Silicon Valley we were constantly stymied by the very limited hours of businesses. Most restaurants closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Those that didn't. closed Wednesday and Thursdays. Most shops open at 11 or noon and close by 5. Now I understand why people have multiple jobs to survive in such beautiful, remote mountains.

 

I then drove us to Lake Alpine at 7303 feet of elevation. It was quiet there with just a few people kayaking, canoeing, or fishing. We settled in to paint the scenery. Mandatory was some shade, so I found a lovely place under the trees with a view across the lake. After a few hours, we enjoyed lunch and then visited Calavaras Big Trees State Park to show the giant Sierra Redwoods to my East Coast friend Joan (not to be confused with the Coastal Redwoods near my home).  She was appropriately in awe.

 

We were too late to attend the joint critique session, so we went straight to dinner. The following morning we painted at a gorgeous property just a few miles from the center of Murphys, Ironstone Winery. There were beautiful grounds, a huge outdoor amphitheater for performances by major entertainers, and a nice tasting room/cafe. We skipped the wine and went straight to painting. I did two pieces -- one a display of flower-filled wine barrels and the other a vineyard view. I framed the florals for the art show.

 

Wednesday afternoon was a wrap-up with an art show at Hovey Winery in town. We set up on the large lawn. We could show three pieces each, one that we brought with us and two from our getaway. I had Bob cut mats, I prepared frames, I picked out one landscape to bring with me, and in the haste of leaving home left all behind. Someone loaned me frames and I bought one. I showed "Morning at Lake Alpine" and these two.



 

My "Ironstone Winery" and "Mike's Barn"

on display at the final art show at

Hovey's Winery

 

Joan brought a lovely oil painting of two lambs.

 

 

Jeannie displayed a gorgeous texture-filled watercolor of the coast.

 

Janice showed a piece from her colorful crab series and a painting of rocks and water done at Ironstone Winery.

 

 

The following morning we wandered the town and had breakfast at the old Murphys Hotel, a place with lots of history since opened in 1856. Jeannie and I were armed with cameras for capturing our final reference photos to use in our home studios. We packed out belongings and hit the road back to San Jose.

Painting in Gold Country

 

"Gold Country View"

New Melones Lake

20" x 15" Watercolor

 

The view from the pool

 

Packing up after painting by the pool

 

 

Mike's Barn

7" x 5" Watercolor

 

 

Oldest barn in Calavaras County

Repaired

 

Every year, my artist friend Joan and I take an art vacation together. Since meeting on a Maine workshop in 2002, we've maintained our cross-country relationship and taken some great trips, including to tiny Cauliagno, Italy, in Western Tuscany;  and Les Bassacs, a petitie hilltown in Provence, France. The link takes you to the final entry for that memorable 2011 experience. Italy was pre-blog days.

 

This year Joan came from Connecticut to attend an Artist Getaway in Murphys, California, heart of the Gold Country.  We were deep in Mark Twain's frog jumping country -- Calavaras County. Joining  us were 40 other artists, among them two of my good friends from the watercolor society. The four of us would pile into my little SUV and head out to paint the gorgeous scenery. We were enjoying a dinner at a nice restaurant on our first evening when a couple came up and chatted with us because we were having such a great time.  When we told them we would be doing plein air painting, they invited us to their property the following afternoon.

 

In the morning we went to Columbia, a wonderful state park that preserves an old gold mining town. There I painted my mandatory failure and got that out of the way. After our picnic lunch, we headed to the home of Penny and Mike. We bumped up a dirt private road and then entered their property via a controlled gate. They live at the very top of a steep hill, so we admired their cattle as I carefully took the hairpin curves to the house.

 

We scoped out the magnificent views out over New Melones Lake, and Mike piled us into his pickup truck to survey the property and visit his barn, the oldest remaining barn in Calavaras County. Returning to the cool shade by the pool on this very hot day, we set up and began to work. Penny told us the vineyards supplied the wine we drank the night before.

 

The panoramic view demanded a large painting, and it was just such a delight to do. I loved the shapes of the mountains, water, vineyards, and trees. Penny was amazed with the speed with which we painted. We were done in a couple hours.  When we shared the results with the AG group and told our story, everyone was intrigued by the serendipity we experienced. Life brings lots of memorable experiences when I am open to them.

 

Later in my room, I did a small painting of Mike's barn. The photo is taken behind glass, so not so clear. I will replace it soon.

 

 

A Room with a View: Late Day in Napa Valley

 

"Late Day in Napa Valley"

Silverado Resort grounds from the Mansion Lounge

 

In May, Bob and I attended a lovely wine tasting and dinner honoring patrons of the School Health Clinics of San Jose. There was a silent auction and I was the lucky winner of two days at a condo at the Silverado Resort . What better time to get out of Dodge for a brief respite than while under remodel construction. We loaded the tandem and vowed to park the car for our stay. The condo is beautiful with a master suite, living area and kitchen right near the main pool and jacuzzi.

 

On the first evening we shared a light meal at the Mansion Lounge. This was our view.

 

The real deal

 

I was intrigued by the play of light and shadows as the sun dropped low in the sky over one of the golf courses at the resort in wine country (pardon the reflections on the glass door). I played up the shapes and light in my small sketch done in my Moleskine watercolor journal using Koi pan paints and a water brush.

 

The next day we rode the tandem up that mountain you see and were very happy we did not have a huge touring load on board.

 

Bob and bike at the Silverado Resort

 

We spent time at the pool where I captured a view I want to paint. I was prone on a lounge chair when I saw the play on shadows on the umbrella and had to get my camera. I plan to fill the picture plane with the umbrella.

 

 

At the main pool

 



Tomorrow I will attend a demo by Derek Gores and then a 4-day workshop to learn his approach to collage. We will be painting with paper. Because of my love of the shape element, this workshop is calling me.



Working on a Commission

"My Nepenthe"

11" x 14" Watercolor

A friend who attended my art show and saw a tiny painting of the scene from the Nepenthe Restaurant in Big Sur was hoping it would be larger. I offered to do a larger version. I started it last week and finished today. Well, I might add a few more touches. It's always a challenge to recreate a piece. Each one turns out unique, no matter what. Now to mat, frame, and deliver. I am promised a second commission.

Then I turned again to Bob's paternal grandmother, Bertina, from her wedding photo around 1912. I like how I painted the first one, but I didn't have the drawing bang on. So I tried a second time and I still wasn't satisfied. I was encouraged when I talked to an excellent artist at Open Studios this weekend. Rajani said that the painting I was admiring was her third try and she almost gave up. I was encouraged to finish yet a third version, this time in the smaller format to enter in an exhibition of small paintings. I need to live with that one a day or two and likely make small modifications. Then I will post.

Plein Air at Campbell Heritage Theater

"Floating Glass" 

7" x 10" Watercolor

Campbell Heritage Theater

10" x 14" Watercolor

The Real Deal

Today's Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society plein air group met in Campbell, a distinct small town surrounded by San Jose's 179.8 square miles and 17 miles from my home. Campbell has a very charming downtown and on the West side is their Community Center with the Campbell Heritage Theater, formerly a high school auditorium.

I had just two hours to paint. I was intrigued by the glass balls lit from below in the reflecting pools, which had a Dale Chihuly look to them, colorful stationary balls that look like they are floating. I found I couldn't rush the painting as each section needed to dry so the paint wouldn't bleed. Thus I began a second larger piece of part of the beautiful 1930s theater. I almost finished each piece before leaving the site. Tonight my South Side Art Club had to cancel Thursday night painting session, so I went up to my studio and put the finishing touches on the two pieces.

"Floating Glass" is whimsical and probably doesn't make much sense as a standalone piece. I felt the ball needed the contrasting purple to stand out, so that is what became of the grey cement. Though "California Heritage Theater looks more golden than the building in the photo, it's pretty close to how it appeared in the sunshine. I don't know why the photo looks so pure white, not being much of a photographer. There was a little artistic license applied to remove a wing and another building and somewhat relocate the cypress trees to enhance my design.

In a few days I will write about my show at The Forum and the reception.

More Winter on the California Coast

"Misty Christmas on the California Coast"
Andrew Molera State Park
15" x 18"

Continuing the theme of winter, here is another painting inspired by Christmases spent in the Big Sur area 0n the California Coast. That year we hiked in Andrew Molera State Park to the sea along Big Sur River. I loved this simple scene of evergreens backing dried grasses along the trail. You can see another view of the park that includes the river in an earlier post.

I started and completed this painting during my Thursday night art group. Our numbers were decimated by winter colds, so three of us joined together for a lovely evening of painting. I was hosting and searching at the last minute for art supplies and a subject. I grabbed a 300 pound Arches cold press paper, not my usual 140 pound paper, and a folder of photos of subject matter that emotionally connects with me. Thinking winter, I settled on this scene. I wet the entire sheet, did not sketch out the scene, and used a limited Stephen Quiller pallette, ala Tom Fong's Fast and Loose approach. For the trees, I used Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Orange, and Burnt Sienna. Latter I went back in and introduced a bit of green mixed from Thalo Blue and Cad Yellow Deep. I worked at adding variety in the values. The grasses are Permanent Orange, Cad Yellow Deep, Thalo Green, and Magenta. I scratched in some weeds and added Permanent Orange to some. I had fun doing some positive and negative painting. This morning at critique group, I got a thumbs up on this one without any suggestions for changes.

These California winter scenes are a marked contrast to ones I have painted of winters in North Danville, VT, where son Jeff's family has a small farm with horses. Recently I painted "Winter in the Garden" from a photo Jeff took a couple weeks ago. Having grown up in Vermont, I could feel the cold, crisp air and the bright sunshine in late afternoon. To give you another view of that garden, here is a photo Jeff sent a couple days ago of two of the three horses in the great snowstorm that covered a third of our nation.

"Photo by Jeff Paquet"

The horses' blankets are covered with the snow falling and the hillside behind the trees and garden is completely obscured. The water tub for the horses has a heater to keep it from freezing in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom where I have experienced -42 degrees.

Sketches from Local Travel - Rooms with a View

"Historic California Theater in December"

from St. Claire Hotel
San Jose, CA

"A Grey Day in the City by the Bay"
from Mark Hopkins Hotel
San Francisco, CA

December is always a busy month, with my birthday and then Christmas. We usually like to do something special on birthdays. This year we took light rail to our own downtown San Jose, about 10 miles away. We checked into the historic Saint Claire Hotel, enjoyed Christmas in the Park, and attended a live musical about Ginger Rogers at San Jose Repertory Theater.

Christmas in the Park on my birthday

My art supplies were meager -- a sketch book that does not accept watercolor well and my Koi watercolor set with brush pen. I depicted what I could see of California Theater, a restored movie house turned symphony and opera house, from my room. You see the valley and the mountains of our fair city done on paper that does not take watercolor well. I sketched in sepia ink and then applied color.

Yesterday we returned from two nights in San Francisco where we met up with a friend from the East Coast. We stayed at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, only because I am very good at bidding on rooms on Priceline. We did however, spend our room savings having the breakfast buffet twice at the Top of the Mark, that venerable institution with the best views in town from high on Nob Hill.

View from our table at the Top of the Mark on Day 1
(Grace Cathedral is visible in the foreground)

Day 1 we awakened to sunshine and a layer of fog. Day 2 we awakened to rain and mist. I did this little piece on Day 2 from our room, and all I could think was shades of grey. You see the TransAmerica Building (pyramid shaped), some of the Bay, Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island, and the hills of Berkeley in the distance. Here is my photo of from the room:

"Grey day in the city by the Bay

The piece was done on the same sketch pad not meant for watercolor with the same pan paints and brush pen.

In retirement, we have an uber social life, so time for art has been limited the past week. I've been doing some pastels in drawing class, but I hesitate to show them as they are only half done. Maybe Monday I will accomplish more.