Celebrating Chinese Culture

"Stately Lion"

7" x 12" watercolor

Overfelt Park, San Jose, CA

Sketch of  elements of the park

 Sun Yet Sen Memorial Hall

View from the Hall

There is a lovely modest-sized park a dozen miles from my home known as Overfelt Gardens. There is a section memorializing Chinese leaders. Our Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society plein air group met there Thursday morning. There were about nine of us gathered on a crisp morning that soon warmed in the sun and then turned a bit windy.

A year ago we painted in this park and at that time I did part of the Sun Yet Sen Memorial Hall. You can see my post here. What to paint? So many choices. I settled on one of  the stately lions in front of the hall. Though I included some greenery with the lion, I channeled Chinese New Year and created a background of red with a bit of blue. Because these very same paints made up my "gray" on the lion, I was hoping for some harmony. When I got home, I added the character for Good Fortune, "fu" in Chinese.

As the other artists continued to paint before lunch, I decided to do a quick sketch using elements of the scene in front of me. That green hill? That was definitely not in the real scene - we've had almost no rain for months. I had fun with the tree using purple, magenta, and blue.

Another Vermont winter scene

"Silent World"

North Danville, VT

14" x 20" Watercolor

Last week son Jeff put some photos on Facebook of Bailey tagging along with Beth as they went cross country skiing on new-fallen snow in their small rural Vermont town. They exit their kitchen door and ski up the hills -- no flat lands here.

The quiet scenes bring back memories of growing up in Barre, VT, and skiing on the hillside across the road from our home. In later years, Mom took the younger of her seven children to Mount Mansfield ski resort, but we older children had rubber boots, cheap skis held on with straps, and lots of fun for no admission. We would ski every day after school. I can see the row of skis lined up against the house next to the back door where we left them to have "supper" (a Vermont term for the evening meal).

In this piece I hoped to evoke the feeling of a crisp sunny day. It's obviously mid-afternoon as the shadows are getting longer. The mountains in the distance recede against a clear cobalt sky. The world is silent except for shushing of skis and deep breathing of people climbing hills. Bailey follows along, quietly sinking her paws into the snow. 

A Quiet Scene

January on McReynolds Road

14" x 20" Watercolor

My son Jeff has been sharing pictures of his village, North Danville, VT. I know the area intimately as I walk the dirt roads every morning during visits to his family. There are five dirt roads, all steep hills, that take off from Bruce Badger Memorial Highway that is the main road through the village. The main part of town is 12 houses and a church. The hills are dotted with farms and homes. I always ask permission to paint from photos of others, so I don't violate copyrights. Jeff tells me he is honored. I started this piece Wednesday evening and it was one that painted itself. I did the sky and mountains very wet and let them run together. The remainder was wet onto dry. I added the finishing touches in the morning. I enjoyed mixing the gray tones in the lower left corner on the paper.

I love the shape element and simplicity. This is both. The only real addition to the scene are the weeds in the foreground which was a huge white field in the photo. The critique group yesterday gave me a thumbs up on the piece and made one suggestion to soften the diagonal line of weeds on the left and right edges. I may yet, but I am reluctant to touch the piece, which I have already finished in a nice wood frame, and I fear disturbing the freshness.

Below are my smallest framed pieces for the show, done on 7" x 10" Arches watercolor block, and framed in 11" x 14" metal frames. The top four are parts of my Room with a View series from my travels using a tiny Koi pan paint set. The left bottom piece was from another Jeff photo. The bottom right piece was en plein air with the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society paint sites group. We roam the Santa Clara Valley, painting, hiking, and sketching.

From left to right, top to bottom, 

"The Launderette," Aeroskubing, Denmark,

"Down the Hill," Pacific Grove, CA; 

"The Cathedral," Tallin, Estonia; 

"Driving the Rio Grande," near Taos, NM; 

"Fall on Lake Eden," Vermont;

"Fall Colors in San Jose," California

"Fall Colors in San Jose" is featured near the bottom of the paint sites page of the society. I just discovered that the other day. I know that it simply means the plein air chairs are happy to have the leader among their faithful plein air painters. Of our 400+ members, their group numbers over 60, and on a given day, there are usually 8 to 20 artists painting on location.

I'm now up to 44 pieces for the show, a few of which remain to be framed. A few additional pieces still exist in my mind and may yet get painted!

Painting Complete and A Whole Lot of Framing Going On

"I am Africa"

Senegal, Africa

14" x 20"

Framed "Sunset in North Danville, VT and

Winter in the Garden

Framed "Ochre Quarry at Rest," Provence

and

"Fall on Tampico Road," Vermont

Framed "Lover's Point Sentinel," Pacific Grove,

"Olive Trees at the Winery," Morgan Hill, and

"Sunny Nook," Ardenwood Farms, Fremont

First I am showing you the finished piece, "I am Africa." You saw my preliminary piece here.  I decided to add some modern touches with the red stamping on the upper left.  Though I like the piece, I have decided to hang a different painting more characteristic of my art in the "Red or Read" exhibit.  I will be showing "Rockport Headlands." I will include the Africa portrait in my personal shows.

Bob and I will be hanging my show, "Art and Place," at The Forum on February 15 with a reception on the 17th for the Forum community, so Bob is cutting mats and I am framing my work. The gallery at the Forum is huge, so I have selected over 40 pieces, most of which have never been shown, so lots of work to prepare them. I generally stockpile wood frames when they go on sale, but they do take a lot of storage space. No matter that we have lots of space, we prefer a more open look. So this time I bought Nielson sectional frames from Cheap Joe's and plexiglass from Tap Plastics. I am liking these frames a lot. I've gotten pretty handy with my power drill and screwdriver that Bob bought for my very own last year.  I so appreciate the considerable amount of time Bob devotes to the matting and helping with shows.

The is the first time I've had a solo show so it will be awesome to see it hung in a lovely space. For the most part, the pieces are on this blog as I've as I have use my blog to chronicle my art adventures, and I show you my victories and defeats. It's been a great way for me to catalogue what works and what doesn't. Each painting has special meaning to me -- a place I've been inspires the landscape, people, or architecture that I paint. Even my more experimental pieces reflect my personal sense of place.  Hence, the name of the show. 

The show at the Forum closes on March 20. I will move the show to my home "gallery" late in March and will host an Art Open House for friends, family, and collectors on April 28 and 29. 

Last Thursday's SCVWS Plein Air

 "Mystical Waters"

Rosicrucian Museum, San Jose, CA

13" x 19" watermedia

The weather predictions were not good -- rain by noon or shortly after. About ten of us hardy souls decided to brave the elements, art as an Extreme Sport. If you look closely at Sylvia who grew up in cool and wet England, you will see that she is wearing her long wool coat and hand-knit cap.  Fortunately, the rain held off til almost 1 pm as we arrived at the Triton Museum to view their exhibition.

The Museum has the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in the Western United States and has beautiful buildings and grounds. They are truly much more picturesque during the warmer parts of the year. Though the scene looks very peaceful, we were surrounded most of the time by about 200 schoolchildren. This is a popular destination for educational groups. They were running, yelling, laughing, and watching - being kids and having lots of fun. Some were in town from Sacramento on an overnight visit.

 I decided to do a fairly large and ambitious piece of the side of the museum where there is a lovely courtyard and fountain. What was I thinking?! (Well, needing more pieces for my Forum show came to mind.) I soon had to discard my new warm gloves with the lower fingers cropped because they were shedding bits of yarn onto the painting. After about an hour and a half, I was so chilled that I packed up my things and walked to Starbucks to buy hot coffee and a sandwich, having forgotten my picnic lunch. We munched and chatted next to the museum and admired the nice work everyone did. Others chose to do smaller sketches and they were lovely. My piece was half completed.

Thursday night I met with my South Side Art Club members and continued to work on this piece. I still had about an hour's worth of work to do today to bring this to completion. I hadn't planned well for the water flowing from various parts of the fountain, and considered just lifting some paint. I discarded that notion and grabbed some gesso to add those details. Thus my watercolor piece became a watermedia piece.

What attracted me to this view? The architecture of the white building, and the repetition of shapes, especially the Ankh on the building mirrored in the woman on top of the fountain. I like the layers of the building and the way the shapes overlap. I was woefully ignorant about the ankh, so I looked it up. The ankh is also known as the key of life, the key of the Nile, or crux ansata and was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life." (Wikipedia) I was pleased that I managed to  bring out the layers of the  building while continuing to have it read as off-white.

Next we headed to the Triton Museum in Santa Clara, a few miles away. They were displaying their 2011 Statewide Painting Competition/Exhibition that includes all mediums. A half a dozen of our members had pieces selected and Nina Uppaluru in my critique group received an honorable mention. Do check out her beautiful art.

SCVWS plein air blog will soon have post for this outing.

Report on the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Holiday Party

 Community Painting 1 -- "Circles"

20" x 30" Watercolor

Photo by Jane Ferguson

Community Painting 2 -- "Rectangles"

20" x 30" Watercolor

Artists at work

Brad Santos oversees as Lena Bogart adds her rectangle;

Cleo Couch adds his circle, 

Photo by Jane Ferguson

Time to report on the wonderful Holiday Party last Sunday. We had a beautiful time with lovely appetizers, wine, and Italian sodas followed by a potluck. There were over 100 people attending, including some guests of members. This year the sketch books from plein air drew lots of attention, probably due to better presentation on a long table. We also had plein air artworks displayed. A number of people opted for the painting exchange, and they went home with some lovely art for their collections. Our Hospitality Chair, Janice Faulstich, created a game that really got the group talking with people they didn't know.

I was so busy being the MC that I didn't even take any photos. Luckily there were a few posted on our SCVWS Facebook page. The biggest change to a very long tradition was the way we did joint paintings. In the past, there were two easels set up and people applied their mark. Two experienced artists pulled together the final product. These two "Progressive" paintings become part of our raffle to raise money for a charity art program for disadvantaged youth. Some people always complained that what they had painted got covered over. So we decided instead to do what Jane Ferguson titled a "community painting." Two full sheets were prepared, one with circles and one with rectangles. Throughout the party artists gathered and painted their circle and rectangle as people gathered round. Next year we want to make sure that everyone signs their masterpieces.

Aren't the results awesome? I actually have in Rectangles in my possession at the moment until I deliver it at my next critique group to the winner. People familiar with the work of Myrna Wacknov  will enjoy her self-portrait on Rectangles, in the fifth row, fifth from left. We are very excited about our new approach.

The raffle was a huge success -- we raised more money than ever before raffling original art by three celebrity artist members (Chris Beck, Ron Andrews, and Ferenc Bezse, our community paintings, and a free workshop of choice (a value up to $900 depending on the one selected). That last prize was a new decision by the Board and really pumped up sales of tickets.

As society pages used to say, "A good time was had by all"!

Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Holiday Party

Plein air paintings ready for display at the SCVWS Holiday Party

I am getting ready for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Holiday Party today, a great event. As leader I will make some remarks. We expect over 100 of our 400+ members. I prepared some plein air work for display and will bring my little travel sketch book. I selected three pieces to display from the Castillo Winery in Morgan Hill, the Casa Grande in New Almaden, and the Carmel Paintout foggy morning. I had to improvise because my professional mat cutter (Bob) is under the weather. I used some existing mats and unframed a few older pieces as my frames on order had not yet arrived. I like the interesting pattern formed on my entry wall with shadows cast through the pleated sliding door covers. That little patch of light on the floor isn't bad either. 

The party features many activities and wonderful food, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages. We will be raffling original paintings by some of our very generous celebrity artists, Chris Beck, Ferenc Bescze, and Ron Andrews. Check out their work. We will have a painting exchange, a progressive painting project, and will also give away one of our workshops. This is one of the many free perks of joining SCVWS for a mere $30 annual fee. Here is a link to our latest newsletter.

Unfortunately, Bob won't be able to join the fun. I look forward to seeing many artist friends and making some new ones.

Another Experiment

Soccer Player, Senegal, Africa

14" x 18" on Tyvek

This past summer, my teenage granddaughter spent a month in Senegal teaching English to young school children and coaching boys soccer. As Jamie says, "Girls do not play soccer in Senegal" (except for her, of course).  Jamie lives in a small town in Northeastern Vermont, so this was a growth experience for her. She wanted to volunteer where the primary language is French. She learned a lot where she lived with an upper class family with electrical power just certain hours of the day, dinner was 11 p.m. when the day temperatures cooled,  and she became good friends with the maid while washing her limited modest wardrobe in the backyard by hand. The deal was that Jamie would raise the money for the trip.

Jamie took some fabulous photos and one of them was of a young man. He looked like teens everywhere, and I found that so interesting. I need a good title to suggest that similarity and I am drawing a blank. I also would love to use "red" in the title, because this is a piece I am considering entering in the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society "Red or Read" exhibit. (You know I have also worked on another.) If you have any thoughts, let me know.

In 2010, I took a portrait class from Myrna Wacknov who does very experimental work. If you haven't seen her blog, do check it out. In fact, she is currently featured in "Watercolor Artist Magazine" and the April issue that comes out in March will carry her article on creativity.  One day we painted on Tyvek, a material often used for packaging and graphics and very resistant to watercolor. It's just filled with wonderful fibers so you are guaranteed great texture. As she recommended, I used Dr. Ph Martin's liquid watercolors. I want to paint this one again, because I see some things I want to do differently (more light on the lit side of his face, more variation of color in his skin, better drawing, to name a few.There is also one fiber bisecting his chin that won't take the paint.)  I hadn't painted on the surface for over a year, so I was working at getting the hang of it again.

Downtown San Jose

"High Tech Low Tech"

San Jose, CA

18" x 24" Watercolor

I'm continuing to fill those large frames for my show.  Back in March 2010, Bob and I took our bikes on light rail and went to downtown San Jose. This scene is on San Fernando Street at the corner of Delmas Avenue. There is an old neighborhood market backed by the modern high rises. Adobe Software, creator of  the ever popular PDF formatter, is just down the street.The juxtaposition of the old market that sells beer and groceries and offers money wire transfers with one of our many Silicon Valley technology companies offers a visual statement about our past and our future. They coexist. Surrounding the market are some streets with charming small  homes built in the 20s and 30s. Bob did his photographic art while I sat on a bench in a tiny park and painted this scene with my little Koi travel kit.

You can check out my original entry and the 7" x 9" sketch I did. You will note that I changed the direction of the sun for this painting from what was naturally occurring. I wanted to bring the light into the center of interest, the front of the market. However, I find the original small sketch to be very fresh and fun, as sketches are when I quickly capture the scene in just 20 or 30 minutes.

First Painting in 2012

"Sunset in North Danville, Vermont"

Watercolor, 21" x 29"

Finally I've emerged from the busy holidays that included our annual New Year's Day Open House where we host about 100 people from our dancing, church, bicycling, art, music, neighborhood, and friends. I immediately came down with my annual respiratory thing that always hits about this time of year. So I've been pretty under the weather.

I managed to get started with frame inventory and art selection for my upcoming show at The Forum at Rancho San Antonio, a lovely upscale retirement community. That takes place mid-February. I've ordered some frames and have my art lined up for "Art and Place." Each piece has special meaning to me -- a place, the people, the landscape, and the architecture. I sketch and paint wherever I go and use the sketches and my photos to create larger pieces in my studio.

Today I decided to tackle a full sheet painting after realizing I have a couple very large frames I could put to good use. My son Jeff posted a photo he took one evening in North Danville, VT, a few months ago. I knew immediately that I would like to paint the scene where I have spent many happy times visiting family, and I have done numerous paintings of this rural town of 12 houses and a church. Jeff is kind enough to let me paint from his photos.  I like the angle of perspective, and the power lines and pole. 

I got out my Stephen Quiller pallette which is all set up for landscape painting with perfect complements that make wonderful grays.  There would be almost no pure color in this piece. I clipped a full sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold press to a support and wet the entire sheet except the streetlight. Then I used Ultramarine with some Permanent Orange, Quinacridone Rose, and some New Gamboge to get a variety of grays. I went over the whole sheet with the basic colors and then went back to enhance them as needed on the house, power pole, and landscape. I added the power lines and the street light, and made some adjustments of values. I will need to leave this a bit and go back and study it occasionally to see if there is anything else needed.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Finally -- Time to Paint

"The Travelers"

12" x 14" Watercolor

In New York City we saw a large flight crew for Singapore Airlines. The women were so elegant in their beautiful traditional uniforms. I removed them from the lobby of my hotel to a more abstracted background. The woman in red really stood out, and that is the way I wanted to paint her. Therefore I placed the two women in blue in shadow. I also wanted their traveling obvious, thus I added the "NYC."  I was also mindful of a statement made by portrait artist Ted Nuttal that one must use care with multiple figures so they don't seem to slide off opposite sides of the page. I used a wall to the right of the central figure to anchor her in the picture and a baseboard to connect the figures.

I am experimenting with an idea for a new painting to place in a Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Exhibit at the Los Altos Library in February, called "Red or Read." Artists can paint something with a red dominance or a reading theme and place a 30-word quote with it. Should I decide to use this painting, my quote is from St. Augustine. "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."  I already have a framed painting I did a year ago as backup if I decide not to continue with this piece.

A Room with A View: Christmas at Big Sur, 2011

"Christmas at Big Sur, 2011"
6" x 4" watercolor sketch

 The Nepenthe Restaurant has a fabulous view of "Big Sur with it's awesome scenery

 Enjoying beautiful weather on the deck of the Nepenthe Restaurant

Christmas morning 2011

With family scattered, we often celebrate Christmas in Big Sur, staying at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in the Big Sur Lodge. This year we had lunch in Monterey and continued on to Big Sur the day before Christmas. Christmas Day we always have lunch at the famous Nepenthe Restaurant. Check out the view from their Weather cam in the upper right. This area is very remote and I always feel a special connection with nature. We got to rest, read, enjoy picture-perfect weather, and ride our folding bikes.

Another still life at Monday Drawing class

"Christmas Lemons"

14" x 12" Pastel

Our instructor was not well today, so Rea brought a still life and we did our best to carry on. The still life used holiday colors and her lemons. Here the lemon trees seem to be very happy in December, even with a mild frost. About two thirds of the way through the session, we all put our pieces up and critiqued our work. That's when I discovered that the bowl of the colander was too deep, so I adjusted it a bit. It's amazing how important it is to step back occasionally.  We will be off for a few weeks and then resume in 2012. We plan to bring our work for Bob's critique on the first meeting of the new year.

Last Wednesday, my critique group met for its final session. We had a lovely potluck and were reminded how much we enjoy meeting to help each other strengthen our work. Becoming friends with a large group of really good artists is one of the benefits of being in the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. Artists from this critique group have won a number of awards and participate in galleries. I am learning so much from seeing the art and hearing the helpful comments of the other artists. 

Monday morning drawing class: It's the beer

"It's the Beer"

14" x 12" Pastel

Finally I made it back to drawing class after missing several Mondays for travel and meetings. We did a still life setup with a German beer stein and a fresh persimmon. The stein was challenging, full of ellipses and decorated with a lively scene. I felt pretty good that Bob didn't say, "Let me sit down a minute....," a sure signal that I need help. I began  with size, shape and placement, Bob's mantra. I carefully measured using my dowel stick.  I began by applying the background colors so I would have a reference. Next I did the darkest darks on the stein. I saved the persimmon for last. I found the drawing challenging and half the three-hour class time elapsed before I started selecting my pastels. It felt good to be "back in the saddle again." One more class scheduled this year, then a two-week vacation over the holidays,

Here is my favorite model dressed in his Anderson Clan formal attire for a holiday party, backed by my art. I will add that similar to the animal kingdom, I was much less fancy than my partner in my mundane red holiday dress.

Model Bob dressed in his formal Anderson kilt

A Room with a View: New York City for my Birthday

"A Room with a View: Morning on 47th Street"

6" x 9 " Watercolor Sketch

New York City, NY

New York City glows with Christmas lights on my birthday

Bob and I at Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes Christmas Show

Bob planned a whirlwind long weekend trip to New York City for my birthday. I must say he is a most competent travel planner and outdid himself with his generosity. While there we stayed at the Lexington Radisson on the corner of 48th and Lexington, just a few blocks from Grand Central Station. Of course, I had to add to my "Room with a View" sketch series. Our room was on the 19th floor overlooking 47th Street. I was intrigued by the angles of the heating and air conditioning system backed by a small patio with some flowers (artificial perhaps) and sky scrapers. I took my usual art bag with tiny sketch pad, pens and pencils, Koi pan paints with water brush, and a bound Moleskein watercolor journal.

While there we had family time with one of my sons from Vermont, Bob's daughter Deborah and boyfriend Ryan living and working as lawyers in the city, and Ryan's parents who live in New Jersey. My special gift was seeing the Broadway play, "The Book of Mormon." It is hilarious and irreverent, with great musical numbers. I was certain I would be struck dead on the spot because I enjoyed it. The play won many Tony awards and is authored by the South Park guys. Need I say more?

We also got tickets to the Rockettes on Monday morning. They've been doing a Christmas show for 79 years and they have updated it with the times. There were many wonderful effects, including lots of views of New York lit up for the season. There were many children in attendance and they loved the show.

New York City is magical during the holiday season. I've been there the other three seasons, but not winter. We marveled at the tree in Rockefeller Plaza and decorations on the high end shops. We did lots of walking and in some places, the crowds were so thick that it was difficult to get through. People were kind and I was offered seats on the subway by two different young people (I think this might indicate that I look like a senior!).

We took the red eye home on Jet Blue. San Jose is the tenth largest city in the country, but our busy airport has very few direct flights to the East Coast. There are more from San Francisco and Oakland, but Bob and I like to take public transit to our airport, which is much closer. Jet Blue is our favorite run from the "left" to the "right" coast where we have a lot of family.