In the footsteps of Van Gogh - Goodbye 2010

"Self-Portrait"
8.5" x 11" Graphite

Light effects in Adobe Photoshop

While my housecleaners prepped the house for our major New Year's Day Open House, I sequestered myself in my art room. I had too much on my mind to start a serious project, so I decided to do a self-portrait in pencil. I quote Hallie Farber from a comment she left on an earlier post, " Self-portraits are easier; we don't need to please anyone else." I've only tried one other years ago when assigned to do one in colored pencil in a university class. I tried to be honest with my wrinkles, earned in a life well-lived.

As I tackled this project, I was thinking about good friends Myrna Wacknov ("Drawn to the Mirror") and Peggy Stermer Cox, both masters of self-portraits. I also recalled the Van Gogh self-portraits I've seen in museums in Europe and in our own DeYoung Museum's "Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay."

The second picture was created in Adobe Photoshop when I was poking around looking for a way to sharpen this image a bit for this post. I discovered Filter->Render>Lighting Effects. This one is the default, but there is much to play with here -- interesting.

Back to prep work for the Open House, usually attended by 70 to 100 people. We do lots of cooking. To all my blog friends, Happy New Year.

Retreating to the familiar

"Jamie in Sunshine"
14" x 12"
Watercolor

After a few paintings done with unfamiliar mediums, I retreated to watercolor. This is my granddaughter Jamie, 16, as she sat on the edge of the water at Capitola. I did an earlier version in acrylic. I find it much easier to mingle colors with watercolor and to obtain soft edges where I want them. I felt like I needed to do a watercolor to make sure I hadn't forgotten how! I will continue to work with both acrylic and the water miscible oils, though.

Adventures in 2011

"The Landscape of Georgia O'Keefe"
9" x 12" Oil

A friend has invited me to go with her to a Maggie Siner workshop in Provence in July. I was hesitant for several reasons -- Maggie is an oil painter as is my friend. Also, Bob and I will be riding our tandem bicycle from Florida to Maine to Vermont from April through June. I won't bore you with all the complications this presents. I was assured that Maggie's instruction is appropriate for any medium, so as my friend was heading off to New Zealand for three weeks, I said yes.

I found that I get allergic reactions when I am in close contact with someone painting in oils. I believe it is the Turpenoid that bothers me. Recently another friend offered me her water miscible oils so I could give them a try. Of course, I don't know how to paint in oils, but what the heck. I took a small canvas panel that had the beginning of an acrylic painting on it. I simply went over it with the oil paints, creating the shapes as I painted rather than drawing them onto the canvas. The shapes come from several snapshots I took while in New Mexico in October. This piece was certainly a challenge, but a pleasurable experience none-the-less. I seemed not to have any unpleasant health side effects. I'm hoping that I will fare okay in France as we will be painting plein air. I don't know if I will paint in these oils, acrylics, or my watercolors.

As far as this painting goes, I like the variety in the foreground, and would prefer more variation in the mountain. Being oils, I can easily make changes to my experimental piece.

Personalized Thank You Cards

Cards for my granddaughters
Left -- Kelly playing her flute at my home
Right - Jamie competing with Sky in a Vermont horse show

I always like to personalize my thank you cards. Last year I was really creative with my cards for my son's family. You can see the collaged cards here. This year, I printed cards with images I recently painted of the girls and shown earlier on this blog. I know they will appreciate receiving them. They are very thoughtful teenagers.

Happy Holidays 2010

"Delft Bowl and Fruit"
Pastel
12" x 16"

"A Light Repast"
Pastel
12 x 16

Always the pastels are not quite done. We draw from life and the setup is available for just 3 hours, which includes any instruction Bob gives us. I've done the delft bowl before. Both times I've found it a challenge to draw -- getting the ellipse and the depth of the bowl is a challenge. I use the dowel stick method of measurement to help me get proportions correct. Drawing a center line across the ellipse and vertically on the pitcher helps, too. I like the way I did the grapes. I don't have a pastel dark enough for the grapes, so I first used charcoal pencil and then came in with a red-purple and the cream highlights.

I did the second piece a couple weeks ago and had no way to bring it home on my bicycle and light rail. I usually take a large drawing pad and carry the art inside it, but I had a smaller pad that week. Bob took it home for me and returned it on Monday. The ceramic pitcher was turned so that I could not see the spout. It's a challenge to get the white in light and shadow to read correctly.

Good news for those of you who live in the valley -- I've signed a contract with Robert Semans for a three-day drawing workshop in August of 2011 for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society . He's such a marvelous artist and a very good instructor.

Wishing all of you a Happy Holiday and I look forward to seeing some wonderful art in 2011.

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.

Portrait in Acrylics

"Jamie"
Acrylics on gessoed paper
12"x 10"

This is a first for me - a portrait done in opaque acrylics, and truly I had quite a learning experience. Unfortunately, I can't get the colors true in this reproduction. I have not yet bought any Ampersand panels as suggested by Hallie, so I gessoed over a failed watercolor painting on Arches 300 pound paper. The support is quite rough and very rigid. I drew the figure on tracing paper to avoid erasures on my support. I transferred the drawing using a method I learned from Myrna Wacknov. I turned the tracing paper over and went over all my pencil lines with a blue watercolor crayon. Then I placed the tracing paper over my gessoed paper crayon side down and used a ballpoint pen to trace over the lines. A very thin line of watercolor crayon gets transferred to the support. The line disappears when painted over as it dissolves with water, more critical when using watercolors, but a great method.

I wanted the acrylics to remain open and blendable for a while, so as recommended in Barclay Sheaks classic book, I used an acrylic gloss medium over the surface and to mix, slightly diluted, with the paints as I applied them. At first I was like a young child trying something new. Then things began to come together for me as I found how much paint I needed to apply and how to blend the edges. I like the way I managed to keep the edge of Jamie's hair soft and to blend her left shoulder with the background. I am inspired to try more people paintings. The gesso over rough thick watercolor paper provides an interesting subtle surface that glows from the glossy gel medium.

The source was a photo of granddaughter Jamie at the beach in Capitola during their July visit. Like everyone who visits California, Jamie expected very warm days. This summer was about the coolest on record in recent years, but even in the warmest summers, the coast and San Francisco can experience fog and cold. Mark Twain once wrote "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." He was surely exaggerating as Vermont winters trump it every time. But you get the picture. So Jamie wore her sundress. She was able to shed layers briefly and enjoy the warm coastal sun about 2 p.m.

Using Photoshop, I isolated the portion of the snapshot I wanted to use and enlarged it a bit so I could see Jamie's features. For the background, I took inspiration from the colors of the beautiful beach houses reflected in the water where the San Lorenzo River meets the sea. Here is the source photo.


I had a lovely time with my latest adventure in art. I need lots more practice on how to apply thicker paint and paint skin.

Painting with Opaque Acrylics on Canvas

"Jamie and Sky Compete"

9" x 12" acrylic on canvas

This is a thick application of acrylic paint on canvas, like painting with oils, my third attempt at painting in this manner in the past couple years. To achieve the color of Sky, I mixed a magenta and orange as I had no burnt sienna. For the Vermont grasses, I put down a base coat of Permanent Green Light mixed with Hanza Yellow. I came in with a feather brush and Cad Yellow Light to make the tall Vermont grasses. I went back in with a green and magenta mixture to suggest variations in the grass. The same color creates the trees and I added some touches of orange and yellow with the bristly end of a stiff brush. To create dust clouds at Sky's feet, I scrumbled Hanza Yellow with a touch of Ultamarine Blue into the canvas. Next I need to work on blending edges. It's fun to tackle a new medium and painting with thick opaque paints is very different from working with my beloved watercolor. Hallie suggested painting on Ampersand panels, so I am going to get some. I also want to try mixing media, such as watercolor and acrylic, or acrylic and pastel.

Jamie is my older granddaughter, now 16. This photo appears on a family calendar that her Mom made and is likely more than a year old. A few years ago Jamie really wanted a horse because she loves to train animals. She saw a handwritten ad for Sky, an Arabian-Quarter Horse mix, in the local hardware store. Sky was just two and half, very young for an inexperienced trainer to take on. However, Jamie's instructor evaluated the horse and agreed that Jamie could probably succeed. Sky is a sweet horse, and she has come along nicely. I believe she was about four in this picture.

Jamie pooled her money with sister Kelly and bought the horse for a very modest price. Later, Kelly was able to purchase her own horse and in fact, now owns two. The girls are not from a family that has grooms and stable hands, so they do the heavy lifting. Jamie also works at her instructor's horse farm to help pay expenses. Both girls enjoy training their horses and competing in Vermont horse shows.

The Flute Player

"The Flute Player"
10" x 12" Acrylic

Yesterday, between making a few things for Thanksgiving with family, I started this painting in acrylic. Today we rode the tandem to pay for our gluttonous ways yesterday and then I finished this painting. I captured a reasonable likeness of granddaughter Kelly. This is acrylic done in watercolor style with impressionistic tendencies.

Wishing my blog friends a lovely Thanksgiving weekend doing your favorite forms of relaxation.

A Preliminary Sketch

A Kelly Sketch
8" x 10" Acrylic

Kelly and Grandpa Bob practice the flute

This summer we had a wonderful treat -- my son Jeff's family came from Vermont to stay with us in California for a week. Kelly is the youngest at 14 and has so many interests. She and sister Jamie spend a lot of time caring for and showing their horses, and they both play sports. Kelly's flute playing has been largely set aside. However, she enjoys playing with Bob who is a very accomplished woodwind musician and a patient teacher. She surprised all of us and brought along her flute. The final day, she and Bob spent an hour playing together. I took several pictures of this heart-warming scene.

There's a nice story behind the dress Kelly is wearing. Her mom had been looking for a clever dress made up of much two-sided gauzy material that supposedly can be tied into 99 different styles. On the Web the prices were too high, but of all places, a tourist shop on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey featured them for $12.99! The girls each bought one. Turns out that Jamie, the artist, is a pro at concocting outfits from this dress, and styled this one for Kelly. We were having an extended family barbecue that night and we women decided to wear summer dresses. Bob took time out from preparing the barbecue to play flute.

I've been wanting to paint more in acrylics, but I love my watercolors, so I seldom use them. I decided to begin experimenting with doing figures. I have a 1996 book by Barkley Sheaks, an early acrylic expert, in which he suggests painting on construction paper because it's very absorbent. Unable to locate my stash I decided to try pastel paper, which is obviously different and did not take the paint well. Good enough, though, for a first sketch. I concentrated on the figure, and now will work on an overall design. More shading is needed on the figure and the angle of Kelly's arms and the flute isn't quite right. After I complete one of Kelly by herself, I would like to do one that includes Bob, my favorite model. It will surely be titled "The Practice Session."

I have a great urge to abandon the acrylics and do a watercolor, but I intend to persevere and do an acrylic on watercolor paper. I may also do one in watercolor. Blog friend Hallie posted the most luscious acrylic on her blog. I want to do that!

Stormy Weather and a Successful Reception

"Les Trois Artistes"
Jeanne de Campos-Rousseau, Moi, Diana Henrichson

Bob awaits the crowd

The reception begins

Many people braved the stormy weather
and were blessed with rainbows

As we drove the winding highway over the coastal range to Santa Cruz, rain fell in buckets, making driving pretty unpleasant. I worried that not many people who planned to make the hour drive would brave the elements. Vino Primo is upstairs and you walk across an open, suspended walkway between the wine bar and a restaurant to enter. From my sailing days, I estimate about 40 knots of wind blasting us. So much for the careful hairdo! Later we lined the windows to view double rainbows.

Surprisingly, we had a wonderful turnout. People were treated to a glass of wine and appetizers as they browsed the art and chatted. I was delighted to sell three of my paintings during the reception. The first that sold was included in the official show:

"Franken Vine"
16" x 20"
Watercolor

I also sold two unframed pieces: "The Coast", which I've been asked to frame, and "Sunset Over Tuscany", along with a few cards.

One of my brothers lives on the coast, so he and his in-laws joined us, along with some friends, for dinner in Santa Cruz after the reception. We had torrential downpours and a lightening show, though its unusual here to experience electrical storms. Three gallant Bob's lined up on the windward side of the table near the entry door to protect us, where they managed to intercept most of the blown raindrops when people opened the door. We drove back home over storm-swept mountain roads.

Birthday Bouquet and Reception Coming Up

"Birthday Bouquet"
15" x 22"
Watercolor

Bob's daughter gave him a fascinating cut bouquet for his birthday on October 8. The twigs had small gourds in green and orange and looked so Fall festive. Jamie suggested that I might like to paint the bouquet. I started a few weeks ago, before heading off to Santa Fe and then leading a workshop. My Thursday night South Side Art Club was down to two of us painting at my home last night. I did quite a bit of work on this piece and then finished it up this afternoon (well, give me a few days of eyeballing it in passing and I will likely make adjustments). The setting is entirely imaginary, befitting a birthday boy.

If you are in the area, please join me for the reception on the Santa Cruz Wharf tomorrow between 2 and 6. There will be some nice art, three artists, good company, accompanied by appetizers and wine. You will be treated to million dollar views from Vino Prima.

"Les Trois Artistes" Reception on Saturday

"A Study in Black and White" (charcoal)
"Red Peppers and Pitcher" (pastel)
"Georgia O'Keefe's Mountain" (watercolor)
"Rain in the Fjords" (watercolor)

"The Coast" (watercolor)
"Memories of Ghost Ranch, NM" (watercolor)

"Matinee Memories" (watercolor)
"Villa Montalvo Gardens" (watercolor)

"Sunset over Tuscany" (acrylic)
"Dancing Poppies" (mixed media collage)

Some of the Matted Original Art for the Show

After coordinating the Frank Webb workshop, I immediately turned my attention to the ongoing "Les Trois Artistes" show on Santa Cruz Wharf. You can read about the show here. Because of a number of circumstances, we decided to have our reception on November 20. I've been organizing greeting cards, Bob cut mats, and I prepared the matted art in crystal bags for the canvas bin I will place there Saturday. I have a limited number of pieces hung, and I wanted additional recent art to display as many of my guests have attended previous shows. I selected a variety of pieces in different media. I even have one charcoal.

If you live in the area, please stop by our reception. You can make a day of it in Santa Cruz.

Vino Prima Wine Bar
Towards the far end of Santa Cruz Wharf
Saturday, November 20, 2 to 6

Back to Monday Drawing Class

"Persimmons Please"
14" x 12"
Pastel

A week in New Mexico followed by a week coordinating the Frank Webb workshop equals no drawing class. I like my drawing class with Bob Semans on Monday morning. I had an "I Love Lucy" kind of morning, if you get my drift. Out of my usual rhythm, I traveled to the class 16 miles away by bicycle and light rail. I leave myself time to have coffee at McDonalds. I ordered coffee and then I could not find my wallet. I was sure I had put it in the pannier on the bike and was afraid that it had somehow fallen from the bag, so I retraced my steps to the light rail station a couple miles away. No wallet. I had left my phone in my gym clothes and I had no money, so I couldn't call Bob to check for it at home. I decided to return home where I found the wallet on the kitchen shelf. Oh yes, now I remembered that I loaded it into the pannier then decided to take it out to put together my fare for light rail. The various scenarios of calling to cancel credit card and bank card companies faded.

It was now an hour after class had begun, and I was determined to go to class, so I transferred art supplies to the car and drove. Bob was real impressed that I made it in spite of myself. There was a table set up with 5 still life arrangements and people all around it, some that I had not previously met. I found a chair, which happened to be closest to this still life. Unfortunately, I had to mentally move the fruit in front of the porcelain pot. The still life would have been perfect from the other side of the table. When Bob came and sat in my place, he had me move the fruit as no one else was doing this setup. That helped me see that I had to rework shadows on the red persimmon just a bit. Bob liked what I had done (yippy!). After just an hour of work, I was satisfied that I had done some drawing. I had lunch with friend Susan from class and returned home, where I applied a bit more pastel.

Frank Webb Workshop: Day 5: The Calligraphic Mark

"Dining Italian Style"

11" x 14"
Watercolor

"Life above the Elevated"
11" x 14"
Watercolor

Calligraphic marks in watercolor was the painting approach of the day. I will probably use this approach rarely, but I have used it before on sketches. Here is Frank's demo. He first did wet-in-wet washes, leaving his white area alone. Of course the paint diffuses and mixes quickly, so he used a hair dryer to stop the flow and dry the paper for the next step. Using various flats and rounds he applied the calligraphic marks. He says it's important to leave open areas and not close off structures entirely. His finished painting is playful.

Frank Webb's harbor scene

I met with Frank and showed him the sketch I did from our room in Chicago looking down on a small section of the elevated train amidst the buildings in the area of the Loop. He liked the painting, made some suggestions on the design for varying the shapes and marks. I wasn't too happy with this painting. I felt I put in too many marks, and Frank suggested that fewer on the buildings would be better. He also noted that my design had more variation in the size of the buildings; my painting has buildings of similar widths.

I had about 40 minutes until until critique and I wasn't happy with my cityscape, so I grabbed a black and white printout of a street in Portovenere, Italy. Of course, after 5 days of learning how important design is, I skipped that step because painting is more fun, and besides everyone was going to see whatever I painted during critique. The upshot is I went oh oh, I almost forgot to preserve some whites and of course, the best place would have been on the awnings. Frank loved the calligraphic marks, but noted that my white "felony" could be reduced to the lesser degree of a misdemeanor by shading a bit of the right corner. Also, surrounding the right canopy with greenery (which it was in the photo) is bad design. I should have left a break in the greenery. Of course, nature doesn't make good designs, artists do.

I intend to make myself a little checklist for reviewing my designs -- variation and overlapping shapes are especially important for me to remember.

Also, I made notes of many art quotes that Frank gave us throughout the five days.
"Art is man-made order."
"We restore the disunity of nature to unity."
"Art is pleasure objectified." (George Santiano)
"We are shape improvers."
"Beauty is the quality that emerges from the deliberate relationship of the parts to the whole."

He shared much more wisdom with us that I didn't capture even though I am a prolific note-taker, as you can tell. I learn through writing, even if I never look at my notes again.

Frank again commented that this was the best organized workshop he has ever done. The Society has many years of workshop experience and those of us who worked on this one have inherited the wisdom and processes.