West Coast, East Coast - Landscapes Abound

"Sunny Nook"

Patterson Home at Ardenwood Farms

Fremont, CA

"Fountain at Ardenwood Farms"

"Fall on Lake Eden"

Yesterday, I did plein air painting with the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. We went to Ardenwood Farms, a wonderful gem of a park amidst the electronic-fueled growth in the East Bay. This is a working farm with live animals, old and newer machinery, and crops. At this time of year, the pumpkins are ready for harvest. I liked the old house, but found painting the entire structure too daunting, so I selected the top of the turret against a towering Eucalyptus tree. The original owners of the home and farm were the Pattersons.

The brochures tells us , "It was 1849 when George Patterson joined the stream of young men leaving the Midwest for California’s gold fields. His dreams left little room for failure, but after a year and a half of mining he was ill and broke, so he turned to work he knew well: farming. George gradually bought land with the money he earned by working for farmers near Mission San Jose. By the time he married Clara Hawley in 1877, he was on his way to acquiring nearly 6,000 acres of land and was one of the wealthiest and well-respected men in the area. At last he had struck “gold”—not in the hills, but through farming the fertile plains of the East Bay."

We had a lovely warm fall day and I painted this piece in about 2 hours with a few slight modifications after returning home. We ate lunch to the sounds of school children playing on the lawns. Then we had a half hour, so I quickly did a small, very traditional light watercolor of the fountain. I was channeling Bob Semans, my drawing teacher, as I did the cherub. Bob tells us to use values to describe form and little detail is needed.

After returning home, I repacked my art supplies and headed out to friend Penny's home for my South Side Art Club Thursday night painting session. The photo showed just one bright streak of Vermont fall color amidst darkened hills, sky and lake. Lake Eden is where Jeff's father, my late husband Gary, had attended Boy Scout camp, a defining moment in his young life. I was very tired and not motivated to paint, but I finally grabbed a brush and small watercolor block and without any drawing, did this small piece in 20 minutes. The painting is more vibrant than this photo and I liked the way the bright yellow and orange paint caused granulation into the darker color of the mountain. I waited until this layer dried and added the dark line of evergreens. I left a few imperfections because I didn't want to destroy the freshness and excitement.

A Room with a View: Down the Hill in Pacific Grove

"A Room with a View: Down the Hill"

7" x 10" Watercolor

Pacific Grove, CA

On Friday, we drove a little over an hour to the Monterey-Carmel area to spend the weekend celebrating Bob's birthday. I chose Pacific Grove Inn, a B&B made up of two lovely old homes about five blocks up from the bay. On Bob's Birthday on Saturday, I had time to paint another of my "Room with a View" series out our window while waiting for 8:00 breakfast.

We spent the day riding our small wheel bicycles. You see them here with Bob when we stopped in a park in Monterey near the rental paddle boats. We love our Bike Fridays, as small as our touring tandem is large. They are geared like big bikes, with 27 gears and also carry loads well on the racks. I use my "Merlot" (named for her color) to ride to the gym before dawn each morning and to run local errands. She travels nicely on Light Rail to my drawing class.

We had lunch on the Municipal Pier at Sandbar Restaurant, an old staple and away from the major hubbub of nearby Fisherman's Wharf. We leisurely rode 15 miles along the gorgeous coastline. Pacific Grove has fabulous rocks where the waves break and can be climbed at low tide. We went dancing at an Argentine Tango Milonga in the evening.

Bob celebrates being Medicare eligible

Sunday we returned home in time for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Annual Show Reception. What an event! We had more than 300 guests show up to view the art, watch the Awards Show, and enjoy beautiful nibbles, wine and sodas. Our Exhibit and Hospitality teams are top drawer.

Some of the more than 100 watermedia paintings on display

"Family Duet" (top, left) had a home next to an award-winning painting

I gave the welcome address and turned the ceremony over the Exhibits chair.

Welcoming more than 300 people to the awards ceremony

Monday Art Class: Challenged by a Cherub and the SCVWS Members Show

"The Apple of My Eye"

12" x 16" pastel

At my weekly drawing class for the last two Mondays, I have worked on a still life containing an 8-inch cherub and an apple on lace. Bob always reminds us that though we are working in pastels these days, our class is all about drawing. I was able to achieve a good likeness here of something known as a putto, though we were calling it a putti. According to Wikipedia:

A putto (plural putti) is a figure of a human baby or toddler, almost always male, often naked and having wings, found especially in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art

Bob makes the rounds and when he got to me, he saw problems with values, a drawing problem. The cloth behind the putto was a pale beige shiny fabric. However, the values of the cloth looked too similar to the values in the putto, so Bob went to town with green and grey. This is something I would have considered with my watercolors because I am in charge, but in Bob's class, I try to be fairly true to the still life. He also reemphasized getting the value patterns established first and then little detail is needed.

SCVWS Members Show, October 3 thru October 29, 2011:

Postcard Art: "Group Therapy" by Michael Rogan (c)

Our Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society 44th Annual Show opened today at the Sunnyvale Art Gallery. I entered "Family Duet" into the show. I recently got to paint at the Carmel Paintout with Michael Rogan who's art is featured on our promotional postcard, above. The shows and receptions are always so well done. If you live in the Bay Area, do come by to see all the wonderful art and enjoy some refreshments.

Sunnyvale Art Gallery

251 West el Camino Real, Sunnyale, CA

Sunday, October 9, 3:30 - 6:30 pm

An unhappy accident has made me the new leader of SCVWS a few month's early, so I am stepping into the position now, rather than in January. I will be kicking off the awards ceremony.

You are also invited to participate in or attend our Flower Painting Competition on Saturday October 22, 12:30 to 4:30 (all artists and mediums welcome). The Gallery is a combination floral shop, cafe, and art gallery, so the owner will be creating arrangements that the artists will paint. The competition includes awards.

A painting of landscape shrouded in fog at our Carmel Paintout

"Fog over Monterey Peninsula"

20" x 16" Watercolor

Here is the first piece I painted on the Carmel Paintout. I left sunny San Jose and travelled to cool and foggy Pacific Grove. I was one of the first artists to arrive. I looked across the water towards Monterey from Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. The trees were just muted shapes in the fog. I painted them wet-into-wet using Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber, and Magenta.

The sandstone cliffs were topped by the rusty color of the prolific ice plant. The rocks were awash in breaking waves. Below my perch, the surfers were already out and their voices drifted up from the water.

"Carmel Paintout" - a local art adventure

"Lover's Point Sentinel"

Pacific Grove, CA

16" x 20" Watercolor

For quite a number of years, the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society has hosted a three-day event, the Carmel Paintout, each September. My home is about a 1.5 hour drive to the area at most. Two years ago I actually stayed at Asilomar for two nights and had just a wonderful time painting plein air at different locations. This year, with a change in management, Asilomar priced itself out of artist range, so people signed up with the agreement they would find their own lodging. Sadly, you miss the comradery of staying in the same place, where I became fast friends with several artist I had not met.

This year we met to paint, do critique, and go to dinner at a local restaurant. I decided at the last minute I would attend just Thursday. Karen, friend and leader of this outing, invited me to stay overnight at her lovely second home in the area, along with four other artist guests. Thus I stayed on and painted a bit at Monterey Fisherman's Wharf. With commitments and family arriving from the East Coast, I missed the third day of painting at breathtaking Point Lobos.

We were roughly 18 artists gathered at Lover's Point on Thursday morning. I arrived about 10 a.m. and the fog was still thick. I have a bit more work to do on my first fog-bound painting and then will post it here. Later in the day, the fog cleared and I did the painting posted here. I set my easel next to a picnic table, so supplies were laid out conveniently. This view looks out over Lover's Point, though most of the amazing rocks were not visible in my limited landscape. This is the area where singer John Denver crashed his plane into Monterey Bay some years ago.

I had the perfect day -- doing art in one of the beauty spots of the world. I enjoyed mixing the colors in the tree foliage on the Arches 140 cold press block paper. Mostly I used Winsor Blue Green, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Scarlet, and Magenta, with a bit of French Ultramarine Blue. The graying effect comes from the mingling of the blue green and the scarlet. I started with a wash in the sky area, then I painted each of the foliage areas starting with a blue green/cadmium yellow mix, and charging in the other colors while the paper was damp. I had to use care in the amount of water to paint so as not to get mud. I mostly used my favorite squirrel mop brush by Isabey, very large (close to an inch in diameter) to the hold a lot of water and paint and shapeable to a lovely point for small areas.

I had grabbed my limited palette that I used in Provence with no Burnt Sienna which I often use with Ultramarine Blue to create darks. I mixed Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, and Ultramarine Blue to achieve the suggestion of the rocks. Lastly I created the sunlit foreground and painted in the blue of the ocean.

To get a sense for my use of artistic license, here is an image of my view in closeup. Notice I removed the low bushes and placed the rocks where they created the strongest design. The tree was one of a grove of three trees. The piece received a favorable critique with one suggestion, place a bit of the blue of the ocean into the foreground, which I did at home before creating this post.

A photograph of my view from the picnic table of Lover's Point

We gathered in a sheltered spot as the day was cool and damp (the coast micro climate is very different from warm, sunny San Jose). Two women from California Watercolor Association who joined the paintout did the critique. Susan and Ilona were gentle with their observations. At 5 p.m. we adjourned to The Fishwife Restaurant near Asilomar for a fish dinner. At Karen's home we six artists sat around the dining table with nibbles, talking art and life until bedtime.

If you are in the area, join our watercolor society with over 400 members and participate in the many great events, such as frequent plein air adventures, exhibitions, and workshops given by world class instructors. The membership fee of just $35 for 2012 is an exceptional value. I will be the leader in 2012 and look forward to meeting new members.

Live clothed model session

"Jane with Attitude"

Graphite and watercolor

15 minute pose

Three friends who are very successful artists now share a large studio in Sunnyvale. Today they hosted a two hour session with a live model. Jane Ferguson, one of the three artists, is one of my favorite models. I've posted other pieces with Jane on this blog. Jane changes several times and we have a new challenge with each outfit. Don't you love the bright pink hat -- it was covered with sequins.

We began with 2 minute poses and worked up to 5, 10, and finally 15. I always feel a bit intimidated surrounded by so many excellent artists, but I figure I have to learn. Doing these quick gesture drawings really helps warm us up for longer poses. I used vine charcoal so I smudge out lines as necessary. You can see my proportions are off.

Gestural drawing for 5 minute pose

Charcoal

We moved to two 10 minute poses and I challenged myself to use the broad Copic pen in sepia. It made me be more sure and deliberate with my marks. You can see that I tend to shorten the lower half of the body during these quick pieces. I corrected.

"Jane Relaxed"

Copic Pen and Watercolor

10 minute pose

The final two poses were 15 minutes each. On the last one, Jane posed as herself, an artist at her easel. What I show below is two pieces done in the last 15 minute pose. First I did the complete body, then I moved on to doing a portrait of the upper body. I received kudos from a couple fellow artists on this final piece; they commented that it really captured Jane.

"Jane Paints"

Graphite

Part of 15 minute pose

"Jane the Artist"

Cretacolor graphite

Part of 15 minute pose

Myrna Wacknov participated in the session using her I-Pad2 and an app that simulates watercolor painting. Myrna is always so experimental and she's won many awards internationally. She is also a terrific instructor who travels the world teaching art. Hopefully she will post some of her sketches from today, so check back on the link to her blog in the next few days. There is a sample of a sketch she did last night on the blog.

Shiny surfaces

Shiny Bottle

10" x 12" Pastel

I finally got to attend my regular Monday morning drawing class. Jury duty, art society meetings, and Labor Day have precluded attending class. We had a small group today and Bob took us back to basics of modeling forms and highlights on various surfaces. We had several choices and I took this bottle to challenge my ability to achieve transparency and specular highlights. I had some guidance from Bob on values (push it more in the shadow on the label) and adding more chroma to the bottle. There is quite a mixture of colors to achieve the shifting values on the glass. Bob was pleased with the results.

Tomorrow I go to The Forum Retirement Community to meet with the person in charge of art shows. I was invited by a friend who lives there to do a show early next year. I have the car loaded with a photo portolio of sample work of my various genres -- landscape, florals, people, still life, and experimental. I also have a large portfolio case with some matted originals and several framed plein air pieces. Most of the work is watercolor, but I have some collage, acrylic, pastel, and charcoal.

Walking Tampico Road

"Fall on Tampico Road"

North Danville, VT

12" x 18" Watercolor

I am on a roll with Vermont landscapes. Of course, this traditional look is not avante garde at all, but I enjoy recalling my visits to the small town of North Danville when the colors were emerging at the end of summer. I saw this scene last year when attending my high school reunion.

Walking is rewarding in my son Jeff''s small town. There are 5 dirt roads that take off within a few hundred feet of the driveway. I always venture out early in the morning to get my constitutional. Every road offers stunning views, this one down toward the village and across to Jamison Hill. Some roads have vistas of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, visible across the Connecticut River Valley just southwest of St. Johnsbury, VT.

Vermont on my mind

"Nightfall on Lake Champlain"

21" x 14" watercolor

A simple landscape as my thoughts turn to family in Vermont, where people continue to be affected by damage from widespread flooding from Hurricane Irene and promises of more flash flooding from Tropical Lulu. Today, my older son is picking corn for the farm stand at the Paquet Farm (take the link, below on the right, to see various paintings and musings about our heritage farm). He texted that a storm just passed through briefly. Most of our family made out fine, but one branch of the family has an unliveable home in Waterbury because the first floor flooded last weekend.

My son posted a few photos on Facebook of early evening over Lake Champlain looking toward the Adirondack Mountains of New York state. I believe the photos were taken near Burlington, VT. The painting above was inspired by the photos, with some artistic license taken, of course. (Ever since I received that license in an Arne Westerman workshop in 2004, I've been using it a lot.) Having just taken a landscape workshop in Provence from Maggie Siner, I was thinking simple with planes of recession.

Bob and I spent many days crossing the Adirondacks on our tandem bicycle in our cross country ride of 2008. We did a lot of climbing and descending, with a fair amount of rain falling on us. Lake Champlain is very special to our family. My Thibault grandparents built a two-story "camp" on Mallets Bay, near Burlington, in 1927. When I was growing up, each of their nine children were invited to select a week to bring the family and stay with them. With seven children, these almost free vacations were very precious to our family and are my fondest summer memories as a child and teen. Later, attending the University of Vermont, the lake was ever present in our daily life. Today, the waterfront has been redeveloped and is a great spot to hang out, ride bikes, walk, run, and be entertained. If you visit Burlington, be sure to hike yourself down to lakefront at the bottom of the hill for maximum enjoyment.

Another dancer

"Dancing on the Plaza"

Mixed Media

18" x 13.5"

Our neighbors went on a Mexican cruise a while back and shared this snapshot of a beautiful woman dancing at one of their ports of call. Jim gave me permission to use his photograph in my art. I tried a full sheet of this dancer once using acrylic paint and I wasn't happy with it. I began this and decided to rework the background. I am using Arches 300 lb hot press paper here, which can take a lot of abuse. I did some scrubbing out and used some gouche and gesso along with my watercolor .

I enjoy painting dancers, and you can take the dancer label on the lower right frame to find other paintings I've done related to tango and gaucho dancing inspired by our South American trip. Bob and I have taken ballroom dancing lessons for several years and we often dance as many as four times a week. It's great exercise, fun, and a nice shared activity, like our travel and bicycling.

Hurricane Irene and memories of our East Coast tour

"A Room with a View: The Boat in Our Backyard at the Otway House, NC"
From my bicycle touring sketchbook

On May 11th I created this small watercolor sketch while staying at the Otway House in North Carolina. The following day we rode our tandem bicycle to the Ocracoke Island Ferry in the Outer Banks. There are no bridges to Ocracoke. A few days ago I read that the island had been evacuated. Yesterday I learned that Hurricane Irene hit mainland at Morehead City, NC, a mere 10 miles from the Otway House where we stayed. I hope that beautiful B&B and this fishing boat parked behind it still exist after nature's fury. The news reports have Bob and I recalling the places we visited on our extended bike tour, documented daily if you take that link. It's difficult to reconcile the images of the hurricane hitting these areas with our memories of hot, mostly dry weather, all the way from Key West into New York State where we got rained on during the last days of our ride to Portland, ME.

I keep thinking about my sons; Jason lives north of NYC in the Hudson River Valley, and Jeff and family live in North Danville, VT. I am scouring news reports to see how they are faring. I see online that my Vermont family can use an emergency shelter at St. Johnsbury Academy, but they are situated on high ground and expect to weather the storm at home. I see my brother Dave's town, Brattleboro, is under water and residents are being advised to get to the highest point in their residence. I have a very large family in my home state of Vermont and New England.

The sketch was done using my tiny Koi field watercolor set of pan paints and brush with water in the handle as I sat on the wrap around porch that evening. I like the line work that seems to go so well with a fishing boat.

"Family Duet"
16" x 15"
Arches 300 lb. hot press

Kelly and Grandpa Bob play the flute

Finally, time to paint! I began this piece before I left in March for my long bicycle tour and trip to Europe. You can see the start here. As I described in that post, Bob played flute with granddaughter Kelly when my son's family visited us from Vermont in July 2010. When I took the photo, I grabbed it quickly and without their knowledge. I don't do my compositions with the camera, so I didn't mind that I did not have a real tight shot of Kelly and Bob. I had enough information to draw the figures. (This photo also served as source for a painting of Kelly that I did in acrylic. I created the background from imagination.)

I closely cropped the drawing so there is a sense of one, not two, subjects. I used Arches 300 lb. hot press, which I discovered I like for figure work when experimenting in Ted Nuttal's workshop. I layered the background, starting with a pale yellow/cadmium scarlet over which I put several thin washes of thalo blue/cadmium scarlet. I wanted a mottled finish, so I mixed the colors on the paper and finished with an extra caligraphic wash in the top third.

Kelly is not only a flutist, but a competitive horsewoman as well. I was so pleased to learn that yesterday Kelly did her first ever gymkhana on Spirit, her white horse. Kelly, 15, competes now in a class that can include adults and does not have the immensely expensive horse and tackle, nor a hired groomsmen. Kelly told her Mom she was just going to take it easy and get experience in the event. Apparently, Spirit has done this type of competition with her previous owner, and when she heard the starting whistle, she was off like a shot. Kelly always does well in horsemanship classes because she is an excellent rider. They took third place! I can see this pair doing more gymkhana.

SCVWS Drawing Workshop completed

Sketching exercise in sanguine Conte on white paper

Last night I completed coordination for a three-day workshop for Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. My Monday drawing instructor, Robert K. Semans, was the guest artist. Bob is an impressive and successful artist. Drawing seems like it should be simple to learn, but we participants can tell you otherwise. I overheard someone say at the end of the workshop, "I thought I knew how to draw."

The room was set up with four still lifes that would give us practice in the various principles of drawing and gave us ample opportunities to practice measuring using a dowel stick to check our accuracy. We rotated through the four tables during the first two days. We sketched in charcoal and conte. My conte drawing of the basket was my most complete and interesting piece. It was challenging to get different values using the Sanguine, which cannot provide a full range of values.

On the final day, Jane Ferguson, a fine artist herself (take that link to check our her website) and professional model, sat for us until mid-afternoon. I've sketched and painted Jane before and I did one large painting of her that is one of my favorites.

Bob had us do warmups with 5 minute sketches. that really forces you to go for the gesture. Bob demoed how to do that with quick fluid lines.

5 minute sketch

Later we got to do some 25 minute sketches. You can see that Jane is great about changing outfits. The two she selected for the longer poses enabled us to see the underlying body structure.

Jane posed

We sketched for 25 minutes

Our instructor, Bob Semans, demos how to approach a longer pose


Jane's final pose for 25 minutes

My final sketch

Bob did a critique of our last sketch and used the critique as a jumping off point to review some important concepts about drawing from life.

Drawing workshop coming up

"An Apple a Day"

12" x 16" pastel

You might ask what happened to Ireland. Joan and I loved our visit from July 9 to 14. We were so busy having fun that I did not paint or sketch at all. Joan actually did a small watercolor of the lighthouse at Howth to give to the woman who took care of us while staying at the guesthouse. I'm afraid I didn't get a photo. In our short time there we attended Riverdance, the National Symphony, and Evensong service at St. Patrick's National Cathedral sung by Trinity College and St. Patrick's choral. We took a bus tour across the country, and a city tour, visited the National Museum to see a Carravagio, and spent a day in Howth on the coast. I expect I will eventually do some Ireland-inspired art, but many events are taking precedence.

On Friday I begin coordinating a three-day drawing workshop for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. The workshop committee was asked numerous times for a drawing workshop, so I arranged for Robert K. Semans, the instructor of my weekly drawing class, to teach a workshop. Bob is a very accomplished artist and you can read a bit about him in the SCVWS newsletter.

I started the pastel shown at the top of the page the single Monday I attended class after my lengthy trip. Progress was stalled by jury duty. Thus I added a bit of color at home without benefit of the still life setup to complete the piece to this point. I don't consider this one finished. Sorry, the colors are not very accurate in this photo.

Below is a piece in progress, but I will not get to complete this one because the group finished their two-week session this past Monday, my first day back in class, and are moving on to other subjects. I decided it's a good example of how we approach drawing this type of subject. Bob and our group sets up the still life on a table under a natural skylight. If we can do without artificial light, this setup provides the best highlights and shadows for creating the three dimensional form.

Bowl of fruit in progress

Selecting a toned paper, I first look at size, shape, and placement on the paper. Using a dowel stick, I measure the relationship of height to width and determine how large I want to make the subject. I use vine charcoal to do the drawing, checking my accuracy with the dowel stick. Bob prefers charcoal over graphite because it provides a broader range of values. Vine charcoal is great for laying down the drawing because it easily erases with your finger.

Next, using vine charcoal, I separate the values, ensuring I identify where the highlights occur and keeping them clean of pigment. Thus, you can see the bowl and the shadows remain in charcoal at this stage. I also had indicated very dark values for the plums and lighter values on the colorful fruit and gourd. I then took the piece outside and put a light spray of Workable Fixative over the charcoal.

For those of us who have taken multiple years of drawing in this class, Bob allows the use of pastel on our drawings. Newer students continue to develop work in charcoal and later in conte. To achieve some of the richest colors, I have to mix charcoal or black pastel with a color (I prefer to use a charcoal pencil). Here I used a magenta pastel with charcoal to obtain the deep, rich color of the plums. Highlights are indicated on these colorful fruits with a cream charcoal. White would be too severe and unnatural. I would continue to develop the painting by carefully comparing relationships of value and color. This process reminds me of my workshop in France where we were constantly comparing relationships. Art is art, no matter what medium you use.

Either during or after the weekend, I will show you art from the workshop.

Our art show in Provence and heading to Ireland

Some of my paintings on display at our "Vernissage"

Our instructor, Maggie Siner, met personally with each of us for 15 minutes on Friday afternoon. We discussed what we had accomplished and Maggie selected works to hang for our evening art show. At 7 we gathered in the studio and invited guests joined us, people from the village that know Maggie, David, and Elizabeth. We had a lovely selection of appetizers and wines. Joan and I were asked to make thank you cards for Maggie, David and Liz, and Trish.

Instructor Maggie Siner stands near the refreshment table

The show was truly a powerful ending to the workshop. We were gratified to see our works on display and had a sense of accomplishment. I was humbled by Maggie's personal thanks for being an enthusiastic participant and her comment that my work stood up well against strong oil paintings. One of the visitors was immediately drawn to my painting of the olive grove.

This small display included one of my pieces on the lower right


Joan Kendall, my artist friend from Connecticut, beside her works on display

Marie from Paris stands between her paintings and mine

Leslie Powell from North Carolina next to her beautiful work

Sally Levie, a Washington, DC, area artist presents our gift and card to Trish Adams, our coordinator

The following morning, Joan and I arose very early to await our private taxi to Marseille Airport. We went into the kitchen hoping that we might find something light to eat before our long ride. David and Liz had thoughtfully placed croissants on the table for us, and we heated some tea water. We sat on the patio savoring our final view from Les Bassacs in Provence. Several hours later we landed in Dublin.

Breakfast on the patio

Early morning by the pool

Dublin awaits

And Connamara