Two for the Road

My touring art kit

My personal items for 3 months
with pannier to carry them

The adventure draws near. The house sitter moves in tomorrow. After a family wedding in Hilton Head, we will make our way to Key West and begin riding the Atlantic Coast for South to North. Check our progress here.

In the top photo you see my sketch pad, my Koi paint set with waterbrush, my Moleskein watercolor sketch journal, my micron pens and brush, pencil and eraser. The mesh bag will carry them. In the bottom photo you see all my clothing for on and off the bike plus toiletries and the black pannier that will carry them. Bob has his own pannier, then we have two more with camping gear (for necessity only), bike tools and repair items. There will be a stuff sack on top of the rack for the tent, Bob's big shoes, and miscellaneous items. A handlebar bag carries small items, a bento box houses my camera, and a small triangle bag carries snacks. Life is simple on a tandem bicycle.

My art will be small, but very fun.

Monday Drawing Class: Spring Calla Lilies

"Spring Callas"
Pastel, 12" x 14"

You may have wondered if I continue to attend drawing class, and I do. I never seem to be able to finish anything in the few hours we have to draw and apply pastels. This is by no means finished, though I took some time tonight to apply more pastel. We've been working on florals the past few weeks. These two large Calla Lillies were a much easier subject to tackle than a large bouquet of Daffodils, and I love the shapes.

Bob did a demo showing that everything is made up of core forms: cylinders, spheres, cubes, and triangles. He reminded us that the shapes are modified by perspective. Here you see the Callas are an inverted cone with a shallow sphere on top. If you think of the basic core forms, it's much easier to draw the subject and refine the core forms into the specific object.

If you enjoy Calla Lilies, you might enjoy revisiting this piece that I did in watercolor. The subject was Bob's daughter's unique wedding bouquet. She liked the painting and I gifted it to the happy couple when they bought their home last spring.

This is my final drawing class until summer when I return from my major adventures. In August, Robert Semans, my instructor, will be teaching a drawing workshop for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. The class runs August 12 to 14, so people who work could attend by just taking a Friday vacation day. I will be coordinating the class. See SCVWS workshops for information.

Another painting in progress and a demo

"Flute Practice"

16" x 15" watercolor
Arches 300 lb. hot press

Dick Cole demonstrates his approach to art
Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society

This piece is granddaughter Kelly and Grandpa Bob playing the flute last summer when my son's family visited from Vermont. I've done a few other pieces of Kelly alone from the photo, but I really like this picture of the two of them. I took my drawing to Ted Nuttall's workshop and Ted suggested very tight cropping with Bob's flute and Kelly's dress sash being cut off by the frame. He said when you have two people, it's difficult not to have them pulled to either side of the page, weakening the composition. He noted that he really liked the connections I had with various shapes overlapping the music stand. He even suggested putting in a dining chair back visible in front of the players in the photo. A little daring and I'm not sure I am that daring -- we'll see.

I spent a lot of time on my freehand drawing. I had struggled so with Jamie's piece because the initial drawing was flawed that I knew I must get this right before putting brush to paper. I really worked to get the appropriate gesture for Bob -- I love the way he is standing with his right shoulder lower than the left and his left leg canted out a bit. Also, his head was thrust forward and slightly down.

Tuesday night I painted with my art group, so I got to finish the drawing and put the first transparent layers of paint on the piece. As you can guess, Bob and I have been very busy prepping for our East Coast tour on our tandem bicycle. I hope to do more on this painting in the next few days.

Sunday afternoon I took time to attend the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor demo given by Dick Cole who is teaching a workshop for us this week. Here you see Dick working on initial layers of his landscape. I had to leave before he worked his final magic. He brought many samples of work and they are just gorgeous -- he uses a full range of values and the results are fabulous. I noticed him featured in a photo along with Betsy Dillard Stroud, and other well-known artists in one of my art magazines, when they were all teaching at Yosemite. Like many artists, including Frank Webb, Dick made his living as an illustrator. The training produces some very good fine artists.

If you live in the San Jose, CA, area, remember that all the SCVWS demos are free and open to the public. You will find a list of events on the website. I will be leading this fine organization in 2012, and I hope to meet some of the people in my blog neighborhood at our many events.

A long time in finishing

"Thoughtful"
14" x 18"
Watercolor on Arches 300# hot press

Not much art happening here since attending the Ted Nuttal workshop, and that's been tough because I am all fired up to do figures. We are in the final preparation stage for our East Coast tandem bike tour. You can read about this pre-tour work in our journal. If you care to keep up with our tour, we update the journal daily, unless wifi or a hotel/library computer is unavailable. In a future post, I will show you my little art supply bag for the trip. I hope to capture local color, landscapes, and people along our route in small sketches or watercolors.

I finally finished a piece I started of granddaughter Jamie towards the end of the workshop. Part of the challenge was correcting errors in my hasty drawing. (Ted emphasized the importance of a very accurate drawing and boy, is he right). I put the lovely Arches 300 pound hot press paper to the test. Using the original Mr. Clean Magic Erase, I was able to relocate almost all the features on Jamie's face. You can check out the before correction piece here. I felt much better about making the change after reading Myrna Wacknov's recent post. Ah, if I could create art like she does!

The source photo goes back to a July visit by my son Jeff's family from their Vermont home. Jamie and her mom were sitting on the cement patio using their laptops amidst the laundry we had hung on the pullout clothesline. Jamie was obviously deep in thought and did not attempt to look like a model in this shot. Because Ted focused mainly on faces, I decided to crop the piece, but sometime I want to do a "Social Networking" piece, and perhaps include the laundry. I think of friend Hallie who would surely give the piece an unusual twist.

I used Ted's approach with multiple layers of very thin transparent color that is not necessarily the expected color. I worked from a black and white copy of the photo, and the colors of Jamie's clothes are different than the original . I included some of Ted's "sloppy dots" in the hair and clothing. I mainly worked on this piece the last two Thursday night gatherings of our South Side Art Club (all 5 of us!). My fellow artists were a great help with their critiques. I almost gave up on the piece, but they encouraged me to push on. I always learn so much when I see something through to the finish. I am debating whether I want to add more alternating layers of transparent warm and cool colors in the background, alla Ted Nuttal.

My next piece, on the dawing board now, is a revisit of Kelly playing the flute with Grandpa Bob. You can see a couple earlier pieces I did here, where you can see a preliminary sketch and my reference phot, and here, where you can see my transparent acrylic. This time I am painting both Kelly and Bob and I consulted with Ted Nuttal on how to crop. He explained that with two people you have be careful they don't separate into two individual pieces. He was pleased that I had overlapping shapes. He suggested cropping Bob's flute on the right, and Kelly's sash on her dress on the left. He made one other suggestion that at this time I don't dare try -- including a part of a dining chair in front. Hallie would surely have thought of it and that never occured to me. One of my fellow artists likes the various rectangular shapes of art on the wall and the patio door, but at this time I don't plan to include them.

Day 5 of Ted Nutall Workshop

"The Egg Lady"
11" x 14" Watercolor on Arches 300 lb. coldpress paper

The first layers of "Thoughtful"

Ted Nuttal, Artist and Musician

Our final workshop day was very special. Not only did we learn more, paint a bit, and have a critique session, but Ted also sang and played his guitar for us as we painted. Two for the price of one!

I loved some of the quotes that Ted provided in his slide shows. I especially relate to these:
Lucien Freud: "My work is purely autobiographical -- it is about myself and my surroundings."
Harold Osborne: "The real subject of every work of art is the artist himself."
Charles Reid: "Spontaneity is an illusion."

"The Egg Lady" at a farmer's market in the Perigord region in the Dordogne, France is from a photo I took of an elderly woman selling eggs and chickens in a farmer's market in 2007. I asked if I could photograph her -- somehow I am not a very good stealth photographer. She was lovely, said yes, and did not get stiff and pose. I added a few more layers to this painting, especially in the dress and the background. I want to work a bit more on the background, keeping it high key. I did that instinctively and Ted thought it suited the subject. I will also likely paint her again with greater patience and care.

The second piece has a first layer of paint and requires much more work. This is Photoshopped from a snapshot I took of Jamie and her mom sitting on my patio in July when they visited us from Vermont. There is even the clothesline with the wash we had hung out on a gorgeous sunny day.

The final photo shows Ted playing his guitar. It's fun though not real clear.

My takeaways for creating a transparent and glowing watercolor, especially suited for painting people:
Exercise patience
Create a strong design by cropping and removing some elements
Take time to make an accurate drawing
Stay transparent and use lots of water
Build the values in layers
Let the layers dry before painting over them
Develop very small areas and soften the edges
Use unexpected color
Develop the whole painting
Paint the skin into the hair
Pull the paint into the background
Pull the background into the shadow side of the hair

Day 4 of Ted Nuttal Workshop

In process - "Baby Bob"

Another great day at the workshop. Ted talked about design and we dissected what works in some paintings by accomplished artists. Ted likes to float his art on mat board, so he showed us how to tear the paper to achieve a deckle edge similar to the one that results from the manufacturing process when the painting will be less than a full sheet.

In the afternoon, we continued to paint. I was waiting to consult with Ted on my paintings, so I continued work on "The Egg Lady." I am finally beginning to be a bit more comfortable with Ted's layered approach and am learning to keep things light. I also began work on "Thoughtful," a painting of granddaughter Jamie.

This weekend I will do a final post after completing the workshop tomorrow. Ted leaves us to fly to NYC to judge the American Watercolor Society show. This evening, about half the class and a few guests hosted Ted for dinner at an Italian restaurant. We had a lovely time. Ted told us he will do 21 workshops this year, quite a gruelling schedule.

This piece actually looks better than the photo with its harsh transitions. Ted suggested one more layer of transparent paint on the background. So far, the first layer was a pale peach mixed from cad red light and raw sienna, and the second layer raw sienna. Ted wants me to try layering a light wash of cad yellow -- he likes the contrasting light colors. He likes the shadows on Baby Bob's romper (how old fashioned is that term?) I actually got to see this very romper the only time I got to meet Bob's parents shortly before they passed away. His Mom had kept it all these years.

Day 3 of Ted Nuttal Workshop

"Bertina on Her Wedding Day"
11" x 14" transparent watercolor

I'm thoroughly enjoying Ted's approach to teaching the workshop. We begin the day at 9 a.m. with Ted setting the tone for the day and giving a slide show. This morning he talked about several artists. Ted's approach to shadows is to darken them with the same color, and he uses warm colors in the shadows. He does, however, tone the darks down at a certain point. He does that using a very thin layer of ultramarine blue. The result is a very lively painting.

I continued to work on my two pieces. I added soft colors into Bertina's cream dress and tried to use "sloppy dots" as Ted describes the bits of broken color he uses in his paintings. I also did a variegated background layer. Ted suggested I finish by enhancing her nose and mouth and adding a thin layer of ultramarine blue over the background and the shadow side of her hair. I was not happy with my application of the final layer of paint, but I am calling this done. I kept fighting with the 140 lb. Fabriano Hot Press. I do like the 300 lb. Arches better. Sometime I would like to paint Bertina again, after I have had time to become more comfortable with the new techniques.

Baby Bob needs a bit more work, but I want to consult the master. I also started painting an old woman who sold eggs and chickens at an open air market in the Dordogne section of France. Tonight I drew my granddaughter Jamie in preparation for another piece.

Day 2 of Ted Nutttal Workshop

Day 2 of "Bertina on Her Wedding Day"

Today Ted did a great slide show to discuss ways to paint features and body part -- eyes, noses, mouths, and hands. Then he demoed how to begin doing the background. He does many transparent layers.

When I left off on Bertina, I had knocked back the white background with watered down ivory. Today I added some detail on the dress, and did two layers in the background -- first I laid in a thin layer of Cerulean Blue. Later Ted suggested that I do the next layer in it's complement, orange, that had been grayed down a bit. There will be at least one more layer of cerulean blue, and perhaps more. I also need to darken her hair on the left side. Some of you commented on Bertina as a free spirit. She truly was. Bob always says his grandmother stopped hitchhiking in her 70's when she got in a car and the driver with long hair had a deep male voice. I never had the pleasure of knowing her.

Ted keeps advising patience and not putting paint on the paper unless we know what we want to do. Seems simple, and it's not. With layers, you need to allow each layer to dry thoroughly. So I decided to start my second piece, Baby Bob, so I could await my turn for feedback from Ted. I've done this family photo before in Myrna Wacknov's workshop. This one is different and I made a lot of progress.

Jeannie and I were surprised and pleased when Ted told us to pick out a giclee print as a thank you for coordinating the workshop. Go here to see the painting I selected. I was surprised when I got to the workshop and saw that Ted had painted a woman from the same era as Bertina. The artists are always very nice to us and some are downright generous. This is the second painting I've received. The first was a full-sheet demo painting that Gerald Brommer did on a piece of paper I had provided. It was complete with the exception of adding a few darks -- Gerry jokingly suggested I finish it, but I treasure it as is.

Ted Nuttal Workshop

Day 1: I begin "Bertina on Her Wedding Day"

Ted demos his approach to painting people.

Family photo source for Bertina

Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society sponsors some of the best and least expensive workshops in the country. We are an all vounteer group, so we deliver workshops for the price of covering the cost of the workshop with a minimum enrollment of 15. This week we are featuring Ted Nuttal, a well-known figure artist. I am assisting the coordinator, which means I am pretty busy opening and closing the facility, keeping the hospitality table going, fetching the instructor's lunch, and caring for participants.

Ted does some beautiful work and looking at it, you see what we often describe as looseness, so we all assume that Ted dashes off these pieces in short order. Not true at all. Ted paints in thin transparent layers, building his final piece slowly. Each stroke is carefully placed with a single touch of the brush. His work is known for what he lovingly calls "sloppy dots." Check out Ted's gallery to become familiar with his work. The class has people from as far away as Michigan and Massachusetts. At least three of our SCVWS attendees are award-winning artists, and Chris Beck has been frequently featured in art magazines. I always enjoy working with such good artists and seeing how they approach the workshop.

I am using a family portrait from about a hundred years ago when Bob's father's parents were married. Bertina left her husband 10 years later at a time when divorce was uncommon, saying if she didn't find anyone better, she might be back. Her husband went on to find a lovely woman whom he married and they celebrated their 60th anniversary before she passed away. Bertina never remarried. Bob's dad and his brother spent time with each of their parents and Bertina was involved with the grandchildren. I find it difficult to fathom Bertina's thoughts in the picture. In those days, people did not say "Cheese."

This afternoon I began the painting and Ted was happy with my progress. He especially liked what I did on her neck. This is the first layer. There will be many more. I laid in a colorful wash, then I began to focus on parts of the picture. Ted worked on eyes, then he might move to the base of the nose, followed by work on the mouth. At the end of the day he demoed how he builds layers. Ted works on small sections using high water to pigment ratio and softening edges. It's important to let each layer dry thoroughly before applying the next. The results are wonderful.

We had a little excitement when the school to which our facility is attached announced a lockdown because a man with a gun had reportedly been seen in the general area. Later we were given the all clear. I heard second hand that the police determined the report was erroneous. At the Salminen demo a few weeks ago an attendee passed out and we had to call emergency. Being on the workshop committee provides some interesting moments. We are up to it!

Visiting the City by the Bay and Preping for a Workshop

"The City by the Bay"
Micron Pen on paper

"Beach Blanket Babylon Hat"
Micron Pen on Paper

"A Room with a View: From Parc 55 Hotel"
Watercolor and ink on sketch paper

For Christmas, Bob gave me a trip to the city to see Beach Blanket Babylon, a unique San Francisco experience. This hilarious musical revue is known for it's big hair and hats and political spoofs. The grand finale always includes the hat with San Francisco landmarks, including a cable car that runs up the hill and a TransAmerica Building that lifts to reveal "World Series Champions". We went to city Wednesday by Caltrain and used public transit as we always do. We had a lovely dinner in Italian North Beach. To return to our hotel we hoofed it up a major hill on Green Street to Powell and rode the cable car to the terminus near our hotel. It was about 10:00 in evening and here we were sitting on the open bench along the front right side with the warm evening air blowing in our hair. I had all I could do not to slide down the seat on the steep descents. The city is magical.

Now I am getting ready to assist in coordinating the Ted Nuttal figure workshop beginning tomorrow with a demo and 5 days of painting with a master. He told us to have all our pieces drawn ahead of time so we can spend our time painting. He prefers Arches 300 lb. hot press, and the closest I can come is some Fabriano 140 lb. hot press. None of the art stores in town have any. I will buy a piece from a friend and order online. I had a hard time finding subject matter as I don't create ideal photographs of people. I came up with an ancient wedding photo of Bob's grandmother from the early 1900s, a wonderful picture of granddaughter Jamie "social networking" on my patio, Bob and granddaughter Kelly playing the flute, and an old women in a market in France from my 2007 visit. Still trying to come up with few more. I managed to get 4 drawn on tracing paper and 2 transferred. I'm waiting to get my 300 lb. paper from Jeanne for a few of them.

More Winter on the California Coast

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

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

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

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

"Photo by Jeff Paquet"

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

If it's Good Enough for Kandinsky....

"Let's Do Lunch"
30" x 22" watercolor, 2006

"Sea Battle"
Wassily Kandinsky

Kathy Cartwright, author of one of Donna Zagotta's blogs to watch this year, has an interesting discussion of Kandinsky's book, "Concerning the Spiritual in Art." So I thought it would be fun to resurrect an old painting from 2006 when I took Mike Bailey's class "Watercolor Beyond the Obvious" for the first time. In the course of the class on design, we used the same subject matter to explore the various elements of design in 20 full-sheet paintings. Midway through the course, Mike made an assignment of viewing the works by famous artists. I found that I especially liked Matisse, but I liked this painting by Kandinsky. Somehow I am missing the point, because I find the painting joyful, and let's face it, there is nothing joyful about war. That didn't stop me from doing my own joyful version on a more mundane topic. The still life elements are in there, including a bowl, a spatula, and others. Mike was tickled pink with this one and said, frame it!

This painting sold in 2009 at my Open Studio.

Winter at Casa Grande

"Casa Grande"
New Almaden
14" x 11" Watercolor

Here is a really different view of January. Today the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society held their plein air session at Casa Grande in the old mercury mining area of New Almaden, Quicksilver Park, within the San Jose city limits but it is country. In marked contrast to the winter in the Northeastern US, we are having a mild, dry stretch, with temps about 40 at night and 72 during the day. I sat in shirtsleeves as I painted this piece.

At first I was a bit overwhelmed by the grandeur and my desire to include the stately palm trees. Of course, simplicity is the answer. Also, I artistically relocated some trees and elevated the mountain behind the house (It was there, but my vantage point did not make it visible above the roofline.

From the website: "Mining operations in New Almaden first began in 1845 under the claim of Mexican Cavalry Officer Captain Andres Castillero. Castillero discovered that the red rock used by the local Ohlone Indians to paint them and the walls of the Santa Clara Mission was cinnabar, an ore containing mercury. The valuable mercury was needed to process silver in Mexican silver mines. American companies eventually acquired ownership of the mines." Casa Grande was the 27-room home of the superintendent. Today it serves as the New Almaden Quicksilver Museum. Fishing, catch and release, is allowed in the park, which now consists of some tailings and old equipment, and lots of wonderful trails for biking, hiking, and horse back riding.. Of course, people are cautioned not to the eat the fish from the area.

Wallace Stegner wrote a terrific book about this area, "Angle of Repose." Stegner was longtime head of creative writing at Stanford University. He divided his time between California and Vermont, so I can really relate to his background.

Winter in the Garden

"Winter in the Garden"
North Danville, Vermont
14" x 11" Watercolor

A few days ago my son Jeff sent me a picture of his garden. They were experiencing subzero weather. When I was there last summer, they had just put up their scarecrow. At the time she was wearing a large hat with Beth's dress and looked quite stylish as she protected the prolific plants from pesky birds. The crops have been harvested and eaten, canned, or frozen. The garden was put to bed a few months ago. Ms. Scarecrow continues her cheerful watch in the Northeast Kingdom.

John Salminen Demo and Monday Drawing Class

John Salminen demo

The start of another pastel still life

Yesterday I attended John Salminen's demo for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. Some lucky artists are attending his workshop this week. Our demo's are open to the public at no charge, so anyone in the area can learn from the masters we engage for workshops.

John has wonderful teaching skills and imparted a lot of wisdom during the 2.5 hour demo. John is known for his magnificent urban landscapes, which you can check out here. He has received many awards, including a recent first place in the international competition in Shanghai. Those large paintings take 40 to 60 hours each, so obviously he did not have time to do an urban landscape. John created a scene inspired by photos he took in the Gloucester, MA, harbor. I recalled it fondly from my stay in September. He basically chose some great shapes and totally rearranged them into a strong design.

Like some of the most respected watercolor painters of our time, he has been greatly infuenced by Ed Whitney through classes taught by Cheng-Khee Chee in his home town of Duluth, Minnesota. He begins his paintings by creating a good white shape, defined as irregular, unpredictable and a bit oblique. The white shape covers about 1/3 of the surface and goes off the page at least three times. This shape will get modified in places with some color as he progresses. He emphasized the importance of good values. He surrounds his shape with a mid-tone value wash. Next he adds the very darkest darks, which he says will look garish until they get surrounded by shapes that step down gradually to the mid-tone value. In other words, using the 9 value system, put value 8 next to 9, value 7 next to 8, etc., until you are close to the mid-tone value.

At a certain point John turns his painting upside down to see if it is working as an abstract . Then he begins what he calls his integration phase, where he starts modifying edges and areas of dark and light shapes. He showed us several handy techniques as he worked to achieve a certain lighting effect:

1) Use a mouth atomizer to add value and texture - he recommends the Pat Dews atomizer
2) Use Paynes Grey to put some of the painting in shadow
3) Use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to lift color (there are no chemicals in the ORIGINAL eraser)
4) Use masking tape to create a stencil to allow you to remove color; you can even cut out shapes in the masking tape using a Snap Cutter from the hardware store to create a stencil.

Don't overdo any of your special techniques.

Then John used a #4 brush to add calligraphy. Finally, to enhance his focal point, he added a tiny figure on the deck of the largest boat. His advice includes starting with a blob for the torso, paint a head down into the figure, not on a neck, and make the legs disproportionately long.

John prefers Stephen Quiller paints, made by Richeson to the very expensive Blockx formula at a more reasonable price. He uses Arches 140 pound watercolor paper. Though he used larger brushes for this demo, his urban landscapes are done mostly with a #4 brush.

This morning I attended my drawing class. You can see I didn't get as much done as I did last week. There is no background yet and no part of the painting is finished. Also, I cropped the photo a bit as the paper got wrinkled on the way home.