"Hi Tech, Low Tech"
7' x 10"
Watercolor

Plein Air Painting in Downtown San Jose

Today was sunny with a chill in the air. Bob had seen some lovely old houses around Delmas and San Fernando Streets in downtown San Jose when riding Light Rail. He suggested that we take our small folding bikes and go via Light Rail and bike to photograph and paint. While Bob wandered a couple streets and shot photos, I sat in a small park and painted using my tiny Koi pan set with waterbrush.

I was captivated by the scene of the old Delmas Market with a very pretty home behind it. This scene is backed by modern high rises, one of which houses the Adobe company, one of the many high tech companies here that are household names around the world. Think Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Reader. We have such an interesting mix of historic homes and businesses and the very newest architecture and companies. I did not realize until later that Bob had taken a few photos of me beside our bicycles deeply involved in painting this scene.

Tomorrow I get to have another plein air outing with the watercolor society Thursday morning group. We are traveling south of my home about 10 miles to Morgan Hill, a pretty little agricultural town that grew with the tech industry. We will be painting the historic Granada Theater on main street, encouraged by the group attempting to save the theater from demolition. More to follow.

Art Workouts

"Manual Labor"
13" x 15"
Pastel

"Springtime in Santa Teresa Park"
10" x 7"
Watercolor

Some art activities that I do are similar to my visits to the gym. I am building my art muscles. At drawing class this morning, we started this pastel, which I will continue working on next week. From my drawing class, I not only learn to draw accurately, but also learn a lot about value and color relationships. I have to flex my art muscles to make myself a stronger artist. Everything I learn transfers well to my watermedia works. Bob Semans brought in some broken concrete and old brick he had removed from a patio at his home, along with the tool he used. This piece was challenging and satisfying.

Yesterday was a glorious sunny day, so I rode my bike to the top of Santa Teresa Park, located at the edge of my neighborhood. The park is so lovely with mountain peaks, and in about 18 minutes on my bike, I can be on a mountain in a world where nature prevails and there are no visible signs of the million people living in San Jose. I've been wanting to paint the hills during different seasons, so this was a modest start. I used my tiny Koi watercolor set and brush pen with the handle filled with water. I sat on a rock next to my bicycle and painted. I also took some reference photos of multiple scenes visible from the rock. I'm sure I was a rather amusing sight to the hikers and bike riders out getting their exercise. I found this a great way to flex both my art and body muscles.

In the sketchbook

"Bob on Amtrak to Sacramento"
Watercolor on sketchbook

"Waiting"
Pen on sketchbook
Amtrak Station
Davis, CA

"Waiting 2"
Watercolor on Sketchbook
Amtrak Station
Davis, California

We are missing touring with our bicycles. Next year we plan to ride our touring tandem from Florida to Maine, but this year, no big tours await. So we decided on the months when we are not taking a trip, we will do small tours. Amtrak California has many places you can go with your bicycles. We are fortunate to own folding tour biycles that can be put in a common luggage rack if there is no bike car. Amtrak buses will carry bicycles in the luggage compartment.

Adventure 1: Take the Capitol Corridor train to Sacramento, about a 2.5 hour drive by car, visit the world class train museum in Old Town, stay in the couples suite at the Internation Youth Hostel, ride to Davis the next day, and catch the train back to San Jose. This trip also involves riding a few miles to Light Rail, going downtown, and riding a mile to the train station to cover the 14 miles from home in a timely fashion.

One thing we learned touring is "be flexible because things will happen." At the station, we learned that the tracks were under repair between Fairfield and Sacramento for several weeks, so we had to be bused in that area. Amtrak told us we were taking a chance they could not carry our bicycles. We were prepared to ride 45 miles if necessary, but it would have messed up our museum visit. All went well both ways and we had a wonderful trip.

I took my 4" x 6" Koi pan paint set with Japanese brush that holds water in the handle and a small sketchbook. I captured Bob on the train (this one is for Myrna Wacknov who told Bob she recognizes him from my various sketches and painting), a pen and ink sketch of a man reading a book while waiting outside the Davis Amtrak station, and a watercolor of the same man. Waiting areas are great places to capture people who tend to stay put. The paintings were done without drawing them on the sketchbook.

See finished pieces of Adult Bob and Baby Bob posted earlier in this blog.

"Birthday Memories"

"Birthday Memories, 2009"
11" x 14"
Collage, Watercolor, and Acrylic

As I was opening my gifts, mostly delivered from Amazon as we are a bi-coastal family, I was taken with the wrapping paper in lovely contrasting colors of blue and orange. One piece was blue with writing on one side and beige on the reverse. I decided I would recycle some of the interesting paper items into a piece of art commemorating my birthday 2009. One of my gifts is Betsy Dillard Stroud's wonderful "Painting from the Inside Out" given to me by son, Jeff. Inspired by "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" and recalling our wonderful workshop, I devised a compositional sketch centered around an orchid from a corsage that Bob gave me.

Let's call this experimental, as I don't know, nor do I care, if there is a right way to approach a piece like this. I drew my design on 300 pound watercolor paper, cut the collage pieces, and adhered them to the paper with mat medium as I learned from Gerald Brommer. When the base layer was dry, I painted the orchid in watercolor. I then began applying acrylics with a brush and stamping with acrylics to pull the background together. I found that I deviated from my design somewhat, responding to the image as it developed.

When I took Mike Bailey's 10-week Watercolor Beyond the Obvious workshop, I found that the process featured recently in Watercolor Artist magazine pushed me toward creating geometric shapes. I attribute this penchant to my engineering gene that guided my work life. By golly, that is what is emerging here as well.

I included elements that recall special moments, relationships, adventure, and where I am at this time in my life. The orchid represents my loving relationship with Bob, the gift wrap recalls my two wonderful grown sons, and Bob's little note on the Amazon gift card validates my role as artist. A piece of the 17-Mile Drive brochure provided directions on our bike ride to Carmel, and brings back memories of our cross-USA tandem bicycle ride in 2008. The coffee sleeves from a local Pacific Grove coffee shop take me back to several wonderful restaurants and cafes where we dined. The spiral pattern for growth and squares for stability are part of a stamp that I carved relating to my life. The rectangular decorative stamp reminds me of other parts of the world that I've been privileged to visit. One can say a lot about their life on a quarter sheet of watercolor paper

Experimental Acrylics

" Plymouth Covered Bridge"

New Hampshire

7" x 5" acrylic

"A Rose Is a Rose"

7" x 5" acrylic

" Sunset over Long Lake"

Adirondacks, New York

7" x 5" acrylic

After my two private lessons on acrylic, I wanted to try some different genres with acrylic. Using the paints we had left over after the lessons (they kept well on styrofoam trays in a plastic ziplock bag), I did these three small studies.

The first and third are memories of our cross-USA tandem trip in 2008. We saw the covered bridge just three days before we completed the trip in Portland, Maine. As I am a native New Englander, these old relics are dear to my heart. The Long Lake picture was taken from a boat after we were treated to dinner with an extended family by people we met on the street. One of those great experiences that we will never forget. The roses are done from memory.

In each, I tried to get passages of transparent, translucent, and opaque paint. Some I succeeded in my goal better than others. The roses have a lot of opaque and translucent paint. The bridge piece has quite a bit of transparent and some translucent (far mountain) and opaque (green trees). The lake started with transparent rose washes that show through the translucent and opaque paint.

July Beauties

"Millbrook Farm Lilies"
North Danville, Vermont

The last several days have been filled with work on an upcoming workshop I am coordinating for the watercolor society. You will hear more about that as I learn to collage and texture surfaces and rise to new heights of creativity. I've also done some bicycle education, and I helped hang the latest SCVWS art show in Palo Alto today. More on that with my next post.

All that to say that finally I can write more about my Vermont stay and show you a piece of art done at my son's home. Most of my Vermont time was dedicated to a lovely town celebration of the Paquet family farm centennial. Over a 100 relatives were there for 3 full days of festivities. The farm hosted the fireworks, three music groups, and a barbecue for well over a thousand people last Friday. The upper barn was filled with memorabilia and the Jim Douglas, governor of Vermont, visited this special museum and bit of Vermont history. Family members directed the parking of 6 acres of cars and the state police turned the road into one-way traffic. Alphonse and Emeda Paquet, the farm founders, would surely have been pleased. You can read about the history and planned celebration.

On Monday I had time to sit in the afternoon sunshine and paint in the gardens of Millbrook Farm, my son Jeff's home. The Tiger Lilies are prolific and lovely in orange and yellow. I used some of the negative painting techniques I practiced in Annelein Beukekamp's workshop in June. The picture says "contented" to me. I had Bob cut a soft mint green mat for the piece and plan to hang it in my home.

Florals sold at Open Studios

"California Poppies"

5" x 7"

"Judith's Flowers"
5" x 7"

These two pieces sold at my recent Open Studios. Both were matted and nicely framed in classic dark wood frames. They were purchased by two cycling instructors who frequently teach with me. When we cycle, we get to admire the beautiful wild flowers and people's gardens as we pass at bike speed. "California Poppies" was done from photos I took while cycling just south of my home in Coyote Valley. Every spring there is a beautiful display for my personal pleasure. The second was inspired by flowers grown by a friend in her garden in the nearby Santa Cruz mountains.

Yesterday we were on the coast shepherding our cycling academy through a 63-mile graduation ride. We do this ride on the coast to avoid heat, but unfortunately, that plan didn't work this time. Part of the ride is one ridge from the coast, a ridge we have to climb, and the heat in the interior valley was brutal. Once we crossed the ridge, the temps dropped a bit. With stops at Gizdich Ranch for their famous pie and other rest stops for food along the way, we were on the road 8 hours. Today I have some barbecue fund-raising duties at church, so I have another busy day.

Painting from the Maine Coast

"Breakfast at Five Gables Inn"

I've been super busy teaching cycling and ballroom dancing, having so much fun that I haven't had time to paint. I had hoped to feature the results of my first try at pastels in our drawing class this morning, which was coming along nicely until I applied fixative (apparently incorrectly) and it just melted the lovely color. Back to the drawing board really applies here. I will rework it next week in class. I haven't invested in any pastels yet, but there is something very satisfying about working with them. It takes me back to my childhood love of coloring, though doing pastels is quite a bit more demanding!

This is one my favorite oldies from a few years back. Five Gables Inn is a charming spot on the coast of Maine in East Boothbay. I went several years ago without Bob, so this time Bob and I checked in for four days after crossing the USA on our tandem bicycle. It's truly the most pleasant B&B I've stayed in. I love the porch where people spend hours reading and relaxing, and you can take your breakfast there if you want. This picture shows a somewhat foggy, yet mild, morning on the coast in late September, and my friend and I enjoyed our breakfast at the table in the foreground. Bob got to have this same pleasant experience last summer. They are getting a free ad here -- check it out: http://fivegablesinn.rtrk.com/

Two artists that I admire

" Leo and His Ladies"

What does a flock of chickens have to do with the title of this blog entry? Let me explain the convoluted connection. This feisty, handsome, blond rooster lives in North Danville, Vermont, in a coop on my son Jeff's family property. I will never forget the day he attacked me as I went unsuspectingly down the steps from the porch and landed his spur in the front of my shin. Jeff had to rescue a screaming and bleeding mom from Leo. He does protect his flock and he is gorgeous. When there are extra eggs in the summer, granddaughter Kelly sets up the honor stand with it's bright sign, "Leo's Ladies Eggs." Some devoted patrons make their trek up the back roads to buy all they can get. I painted this picture one year for Beth's birthday and it hangs on a kitchen wall. Today I want to talk about two great artists, and one of whom paints handsome Vermont roosters.

Check out the work of two artists that I greatly admire: Jean Pederson and Annelein Beukenkamp. I'm hoping to get them onto the West Coast for workshops.

Jean is a wonderful artist from Calgary, Canada, who paints in various watermedia. Her book "Expressive Portraits" is a terrific resource, especially if you like to paint people. I first learned of Jean through articles in art magazines. When she published her book, it went right on my Christmas list. Jean not only paints people, but she also does gorgeous still lifes and landscapes. You can check out her website here:

http://www.jeanpederson.com/

A link to Jean's blog is on my list of blogs to the right so you can keep up with her latest works.

Annelein I found through Myrna Wacknov's blog. Myrna loves her work and so do I. Annelein paints in transparent layers. You have the sensation of seeing through objects. She often paints from the perspective of looking down on the objects. Recently she began experimenting in oils, though she hasn't posted any yet. The fact that Annelein lives in the state of Vermont where I grew up and where my sons and much family live just makes her ever more special to me. Annelein does lots of florals, roosters, and landscapes. She is very accomplished and has licensed her work to some prominent businesses and organizations. You will find her website here:

http://www.abwatercolors.com/

You can link to Annelein's blog from my list of blogs to the right.

I head to Washington, DC, tonight for the League of American Bicyclists Bike Summit 2009. Bob and I are instructors and coaches for the League, and in the time of diminishing resources, we are big believers in bicycles for transportation. (We practice our beliefs - we carried home a $130 worth of groceries with our bikes the other day.) We will be meeting with members of Congress to focus on transportation accommodations. I will likely not post anything until my return the following week.

Fun with public art

"Public art and friend"

Morgan Hill Library

I just returned from church services in Morgan Hill, about 10 miles south of where I live. We are next door to the open spaces here, so it's a nice drive. I'm featuring a piece I painted a couple months ago after a tandem bicycle ride one Saturday to the very lovely new library in Morgan Hill. The library grounds feature several pieces of public art done in bronze. When we drove up on the bike, the bronze mother reading a book to her son was enjoying the company of a gentleman on his red cell phone. The scene tickled my fancy and I took a picture from the back as we parked the tandem. Because the person remains anonymous, I was comfortable including the man in a painting. I am hoping that derivitive works that include the public art are not a copyright infringement.

There are some other wonderful bronze pieces around Morgan Hill, which is quite a charming small town. I've taken some photographs of one at the train station that features the Morgan Hill family (father, wife, and small child) with their luggage circa 1900. There are small children climbing on the statues, something that small children can't seem to resist as I've seen the same scene many times.

An art party

Yesterday I attended the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society annual party. What a great time. The plein air folks were asked to display a few pieces and sketchbooks. My first piece is Villa Montalvo, an historic public venue for arts and performances in Saratoga. The day we painted in November it was pretty cold and we even had some rain, but we persevered. The second picture was done on a warm and sunny day in November at the preserved Jose Higuera adobe in a small park in Fremont. That day truly was the ultimate plein air experience. I also brought along my watercolor sketch book from my bicycle tour of the US, my tiny watercolor set, the newspaper feature, and a picture of the finish with explanation at the request of one of the organizers. Excuse the blurry photo.

The party was awesome with an appearance by Paul Cezanne, aka Ken Young doing living art history. What a delight to learn about his life, work, and contemporaries. We enjoyed a delicious potluck luncheon. There was a painting exchange, but I ended up deciding to hold off until next year after I have had a chance to see one in action. This society has an amazing group of accomplished artists and people went home with some wonderful art. Another year I will bring a painting.

We also created two group paintings by everyone adding some paint to the paper and two people assigned to pull the creations together. The results were raffled off and the winners went home with a matted and framed masterpiece. I wanted to reproduce them here but am afraid of violating the copyrights of others. I really loved the first one, which makes me think of a vibrant city reflected in water. Myrna Wacknov had done a quick pen sketch of me on the top portion. After much painting over by the group, it’s a rather faint impression. My friend from plein air, Wendy, was the lucky winner.

If you want to link to Myrna’s blog from the list on the right, you can view her description of the event and see a nice slideshow of pictures. The buffet line picture includes Bob in the middle, between Paul Cezanne and another attendee.

Plein air painting and experiments

Here you can see an experimental piece of Bob from a photo taken by a friend as we passed through Portland on our return train trip across Canada and down the West Coast after our bicycle tour. I had never painted on a gesso surface so this is totally an experiment inspired by Myrna Wacknov’s blog. I applied gesso over a failed watercolor. I loved the way the gesso resisted the watercolor and the fact that I could wipe away the watercolor if I wanted. I realized that I should not have used an eraser on the gesso as that left a residue and I had a real tough time in those spots getting the paint to adhere. The next time I will use a small paintbrush to draw the image. Another time I would take more care creating a nice texture in the gesso. This one pretty much has horizontal brush strokes. As always, I have a hard time getting the image I upload to the blog to match the original piece in terms of light and color. People tell me they recognize Bob.

Yesterday morning I joined a half dozen people from the Santa Clara WatercoloSociety to paint plein air at Las Palma Park in Sunnyvale, CA। This small park has tennis courts, a dog park, and two play areas for children. The day was cool, damp, and overcast much of the time we were there. Though possible rain was forecast, we had none. I decided to paint the sculptures and palms. I understand that in the summer, water flows from the three blue "pipes" and the decorative enclosure has a small pond, but I guess that goes away for the winter. We live in a very multicultural area, so I listened to people chat in more than one language, watched moms walking babies and an older man doing tai chi, to the sounds of happy dogs, one unhappy baby, and the kathunk of tennis balls on the courts. When finished, we enjoyed our picnic lunch together and I headed for home to warm up. I can see that the colors, were influenced by the grey atmosphere.

The art of cycling

After a long day of working on things like Open Studios registration for my group, I really wanted to do some art. I finished the painting I will take to the art exchange at the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society New Year’s Party on Saturday. After dinner, Bob and I had a really relaxing time sitting by the fire sipping camomile tea. Bob read a book and I sketched some eyes from Vanderpoel’s book on the human figure. I learned a lot about the bone and muscle structure that explains why the eye has its unique shape. I should be able to apply this when drawing the eye in different perspectives. There are more pages on the eye, so I will work through the entire section before moving on to the nose.

The painting shown is an example of the intersection of two of my passions: art and cycling. I took an Arne Westerman workshop a few years ago, and he emphasized doing 8 x 10 sketches to work out design, color, and value (it always pays to plan, doesn’t it!). I was intrigued by this picture of Bob, so I did the design sketch in the workshop, and Arne gave it a positive review. Some weeks later I painted "Repairing a Flat" of Bob as he was teaching a class about tire changing and repairing flats for the Almaden Cycle Touring Club Academy. Bob likes the picture so well that he has framed a print and hung it in his repair shop in the garage. Bob, a retired software engineer, works part-time at a job he loves, repairing and selling bicycles and related equipment for a local bike shop. He also maintains his personal, well-stocked repair shop at our home. I have not yet framed this painting, but I will soon, and plan to hang it on one of our walls.

Life drawing and some of my summer bicycle tour sketches

Today I went to my drawing class and we had a model. The woman was a very lovely person who agreed to sit for us. She will be sitting for us again next week, so I just might improve on my rather sad first attempt. You can see where the instructor gave me some suggestions on the side of the paper. I still haven’t nailed perspective in the eyes, nose and mouth in a three-quarter view. This week, I plan to consult my trusty Vanderpoel, “The Human Fugure,” first published in 1935, and practice these elements of the face. That will be my daily drawing assignment this week. As Myrna Wacknov said in her encouraging comment, it takes 10,000 hours to reach perfection (about 10 years of hard work daily), and I have not come near reaching that goal. However, making art is a wonderful way to spend 10,000 hours.

I am very fortunate to have a very talented portrait artist, Robert K. Semans, as my instructor. He has made his living doing portraits for many years. Bob is a classically trained artist, having spent time studying in Florence, Italy. He is extremely knowledgeable about drawing and the human figure. A few years ago he was commissioned to do the official portrait of California Governor Gray Davis.

A little tidbit from my bicycling side of life. My partner, Bob Eltgroth, and I were featured in the "Wish You Were Here" column of Travel in the Sunday Mercury News. The picture shows us with our loaded tandem bicycle on the Canadian side of the Peace Bridge that connects Buffalo, NY, with Fort Erie, Ontario, about 20 miles from Niagara Falls. We pedaled 3200 miles between San Jose and Portland, ME, this past summer. We had to carry all we needed for 88 days on the bike, so I took a tiny Moleskine pad and an Idori pan watercolor set with brush that could be assembled with the handle holding the water. I painted at least one sketch in every state, most from memory after getting off the bike for the day. The first picture is of Corral Hollow Road that parallels Altamont Pass--our passage into the San Joaquin Valley. The second picture is of the wine country in the little piece of Pennsylvania that borders Lake Erie. The third picture is a sketch of Long Lake, NY, at sunset. We were treated to a wonderful evening by people we met on the street. They invited us to dinner, provided transportation, and gave us a boatride on the lake. You can read about our cycling tour and see tour watercolor sketches at www.crazyguyonabike.com/bobandmary