Another Monday Drawing Class

 

"Copper Canister"

15" x 12" Pastel

 

 

The pastel color is off in this photo. The canister looks pretty reflective in the original. This was a fun challenge - values, reflective parts - we worked hard. I liked the way the peach was reflected in the cannister, the plum had reflected light from the lid and diffused the reflected light from the upper right. 

Monday Morning Drawing Class

 

"Mary's Green Vase"

 12" x 14" Pastel

 

I have not posted work for a long time from my weekly drawing class because I seldom have time to finish a piece, and I have missed quite a few Mondays with travel, visitors, and duties with the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society.

 

I actually finished this piece. We had several choices and I was attracted to Mary' small green vase with gardenias on a purple velvet cloth -- lovely contrasting colors. The most challenging part was the mass of blooms. I can get lost in the detail. Instructor Bob Semans always reminds us to squint and see the large shapes. There will be masses of light and shadow. Pay attention to the outer edges which will tell the viewer the mass is flowers. Not much detail is required in the individual blooms. Color temperature is important.

 

Bob will come by and say, "Can I sit down a minute?" That's a sign I need help. He did that near the end of this piece. He added a bit of warm color on the right, and more clearly defined a few of the petals on the edge. Bob is a wonderful artist and it's amazing how a few strokes of pastel by the master pops the entire painting.

 

The owner of the vase is expecting the birth of a grandchild in the midwest within a few weeks. She created a lovely small piece, matted it, and sent it to her daughter and son-in-law for the baby's room.



The Scotsman

 

"The Scotsman"

15" x 16.5" Watercolor

 

 

Just finished the portrait of Bob in his Balmoral hat that goes with his Anderson Clan kilt. Oh yes, I did leave the undershirt, which I am sure early in the morning Bob was not thinking would actually be in the portrait. Somehow the juxtaposition fits his fun personality.

 

 

My early morning photo of Bob

 

I cropped the photo and David Lobenberg, our instructor, really like the shot and the lighting. As we we were taught, I made a Paynes Grey study of the photo. I was rather pleased with the results. The only thing David had to do was help me recapture some of the white fringe of his beard. He did that with a white conte crayon, a wonderful suggestion that I will no doubt use in the future.

 



 

The study

Now it was time to tackle the painting in color. I failed to photograph the important stages, I was so into painting. First I did the "tea" stage, lightly carving out the features in very watery color. I used an orange mixed from Cad Yellow and Permanent Rose, the Rose, some Ultramarine Blue. and Alizarin Crimson, some straight, some mixed. Next I went in with thicker consistencies until I reached a point where I thought I was done. David suggested a light green/yellow as the background, the compliment of the reds. I was overly cautious and the result is a little washed out. Still I was thinking, not bad.

 

Almost done, though not really

 

I had set the painting on my easel and opened my eyes Saturday morning to go, heck no, I'm not so pleased. The colors looked washed out and I had homogenized some of it too much. I didn't have time to work on the piece, though. So finally, Sunday afternoon I hit the paints again. Let's darken that background and get a little more color into the hat. Though the pom pom is bright red, I felt that it would catch the eye too much. Better, but Bob has lot's of Scottish coloring in his complexion.

 

 

Better, but still not done

 

 I bravely went where I had feared to go. If you look at the final piece at the top of this post, you will see I added orange into his cheeks, color into his beard (his grey facial hair still has reds in the mustache and the chin areas). I defined the eye sockets near the nose with more crimson and blue, and put more blue on his right temple. I added those errant hairs to his thick eyebrows. I added a little roundness to his left check.

On Friday, David did a quick final demo and I watched the way he carefully puts down his strokes and does not always blend. He leaves lots of variations and some hard edges. I love his results. Check out his watercolor portraits.

I will save enhancements for my next shot at a portrait.

 

The No Color and Color Workshop

Payne's Grey Study # 2

8" x 6" watercolor

 

This week I am taking "No Color Water Color Portrait Painting - Taking Advantage of Paynes Gray," Sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society (SCVWS).  David Lobenberg is an adjunct professor at Sacramento City College and a wonderful painter of expressive portraits. Here is David doing his demo on Sunday. For three and a half days, we worked just with Payne's Grey to learn value without the distraction of color. David uses unexpected vivid color and the paintings are very "loose" As I found out with Ted Nuttal, "loose" is not the result of flinging paint. David is very deliberate with his strokes and puts much thought into each one. I admire the way he moves the brush around in all directions to achieve variations in his marks.







 

David Lobenberg demo

 

 

A Lobenberg painting

 



Though David, a master at drawing, usually traces his subjects to save time, he wanted us to be able to draw and understand the underlying features of the human face.

 

 

When we did our studies, he had us use photos he supplied -- he uses students and friends as subjects. An important part of the process is understanding the consistency of your paint, which he likens to tea, milk, cream and butter. We would begin by creating the structure of the head with "tea." You are careful to leave the white of the paper and define the shadows. It's a little like Michelangelo's statement "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." He stressed the importance of letting that layers dry, otherwise you end up with a mess.

 

 

Payne's Grey Study

Layer 1 done in "tea"

8" x11" watercolor

 

Next we went in and used the other consistencies of paint to finish the painting. Again, patience to let the paint layers dry is key.

 

 



 

Paynes Grey Study #1

8" x 6" watercolor

 

On the afternoon of Day 4 David had us do a Payne's Grey study of our own photographed subject.  You can, of course, guess that Bob is my subject. Here is the photo I am working from.

 

 

 

David says to photograph your subject outdoors in strong light, but Bob had to squint so much that I didn't like the photo. In the morning, I asked him to throw on a shirt and his Balmoral hat that goes with his kilt and posed him in next to our diningroom sliding doors. I didn't expect him to wear an undershirt, but found it rather charmingly quirky, so I am including it in my portrait. I have now done the tea stage, but I will save the studies and stages to show you when I complete the portrait.

 



Rengstorf House Art Exhibit

 

 

"City Girl" on display at the

Rengstorff House Art Exhibit

 

Rengstorff House

Part of the history of Santa Clara Valley

 

 

The Artist Reception for the Art Exhibit at Rengstorff House in Mountain View was very well attended. Several of my friends that paint with me on Thursday evenings were there sharing the fun. Several artists from Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society also had work on display.

 

 



Flying High Again

 

Champlain Island Flowers

3" x 5" watercolor sketch

 

 

I like to visit family in Vermont at least once a year, so off we went for eight days. We managed to see lots of relatives, including most importantly my two sons. I planned a little getaway for us in the Champlain Islands, so close to Canada that at times the phone company sent messages about international charges.

 

Jeff, Mom, and Jason 

 

 

I've always loved wild flowers and they are at their peak in July in Vermont, so on my early morning walk, I created a little bouquet for our room. Later I did a tiny sketch in my Moleskine watercolor journal with my Koi pan paints.



 

"Moonlight in Vermont"

3" x 5" watercolor sketch

 

 

A full moon and balmy night combined for a lovely scene. I couldn't do it justice in the few minutes I could spare to paint, but I will try it now that I am home.

 

"Bob Flying High"

IPad on American Airlines

 

To pass some time while flying, I sketched Bob using a free Sketchbook app. I'm not very good at this yet.

 

 

"Waiting"

IPad in Bradley International Airport 

 

A woman waiting for our plane to Dallas was passing the time texting, like almost everyone in the airport.

We arrived home Friday evening  and I delivered my "South County Wine on the Vine" painting to it's new owner at the end of the "California Harvest" exhibit today. Tomorrow I take two collages to the Rengstorff House in Mountain View for their Arts Festival. We have the artist reception on Thursday evening, 5 to 7. Do come if you are in the area.

Good news. On the art front

The book with my art on the cover is available at Lulu.com.

Yesterday I sold the art I have on display at the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society exhibit in Morgan Hill to a man who happened to see it and called me.

I just sent out invitations for an exhibit at the Rengstorff House. As a result of  another SCVWS show, I am invited to show two pieces of my torn magazine on canvas collages, a new medium for me. I will show City Girl and The Graduate shown earlier on this blog.


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Cycling, Painting, and Flutes by the Sea

 

"Green Houses, Half Moon Bay"

14" x 10" watercolor

Bob and I just returned from five days on the San Mateo Coast in Half Moon Bay while Bob attended a master flute class, "Flutes by the Sea," sponsored by the San Francisco Flute Society. While he spent the day with several flute masters, most Julliard trained, and world class performers, I was free to do whatever I wanted. I brought my folding bicycle and my art supplies. There is a trail that runs along the Coast that provided nice views and benches to sit on.

 

The area is notorious for summer fog, and I saw sun only for an hour or two on a couple days. Temps were in the high 50s and very low 60s. Needless to say, this was quite a change from San Jose were the previous week we had a triple digit heat wave. On the first day I set out in the morning and completed two paintings. The top one was my second piece and my favorite, capturing the shapes and variety of the vegetation, the fog over the mountains, and the agriculture that is a big part of the economy along this coast. Half Moon Bay is known for it's production of pumpkins and has a big festival in the fall. I imagined that the green houses were there to start pumpkin plants.

 

 

"Summer Camp"

11" x 5" watercolor

 

The second piece I actually painted first to get myself warmed up, much like a musician. Several people where setting up an area on the beach that soon was being used by many children. I speculated this is summer camp. With the gloom of the fog, I got a bit heavy handed on this little piece. After my painting session, I rode to Pillar Point Harbor and treated myself to lunch at busy Barbara's Fishtrap, all cash, fresh fish. Some folks took my photo as I left. My art supplies are in the panniers on the back of my little folding bike.

 

 

 

I read in the paper about Sunset Pianos, a venture by a local musician to place a dozen pianos along the coast. I had seen one on my way to the harbor. The following day I headed south along the trail and located two of them. I sat down near this one and did a painting.  Notice the plastic. There is a weighted cover to place over the piano and signs encouraging you -- "Play the piano. Play for the Whales." Instructions tell you to leave a note in the log in the piano seat.

 

 

As I was painting, three women and a dog arrived and I asked if anyone could play. One recalled a simple tune from her childhood.  I was delighted with the unusual experience.

 



 

Opus II Sunset Piano

 

I'm not super happy with this piece, but it's given me some ideas.

 

"Play for the Whales"

14" x 10"watercolor

 

On Thursday evening, Viviana Guzman, master flutist and organizer of Flutes by the Sea, arranged for the group to perform around the piano for a documentary film being done on the pianos. Here you see the flutists in action. Bob is easy to spot, being the only male who chose to participate.

 

 

You can watch and listen to the video. It was fun to mingle with people who gathered impromptu wondering what was happening. I talked with Mauro who instigated Sunset Pianos, and he told me that the parks folks gave him back some of the pianos, but they allowed 7 to remain. When art meets government, interesting things happen.

 

On Wednesday, I sat in the fog and painted a few of the beautiful trees along the coast. I was not happy with my first attempt, so the next morning I painted this one in my room, away from the gloomy fog, so I could more easily imagine some color. I like to mix it on the paper for landscapes.



 

 



 

"Coastal Sentinels"

11" x 5" watercolor

 



SCVWS "California Harvest" exhibit

"South Valley Wine on the Vine"

20" x 18" Watercolor

 

 

Every since I saw David Lobenberg's wonderful grape paintings, I've wanted to tackle the subject myself. David is an art professor and will be offering a workshop through our society. I have signed up for it.

 

While attending an event at Guglielmo Winery in Morgan Hill, I took some photos of trellised grapes. I used the reference photos to create a composition of leaves, grapes, and vines. I wanted a somewhat playful version of grapes, enhancing colors of the ripening bunch and suggesting more grapes in the background.

 

The Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society (SCVWS) is sponsoring an exhibit entitled "California Harvest" at Harvest Coffee House in Morgan Hill (at Dunne and Murphy), so I delivered the art yesterday. The show has a wide range of harvest-related subjects and the work is excellent. I chose wine grapes because there are about 60 small wineries within 20 miles of Morgan Hill, with several being right in the town. The show continues until July 27th, so visit the show if you get a chance. I will be at the reception on July 6, from 4 to 6 pm, when Guglielmo Winery will be pouring wine and there will be appetizers at this free event open to the public.

 

I am especially pleased at the location. Most of our shows are done in venues north of my home. Morgan Hill is south by 10 miles. Our Publicity Chair who lives there found the location, and we hope to broaden our opportunities to show and sell art.  I look forward to seeing how the location works for SCVWS.

 

 

The Art Roll Continues

 

"In the City by the Bay"

18" x18" magazine collage on canvas

Expect a few more refinements 

 

Seems that I get a lot of art energy from being around other artists. Between my trip to Murphy's for the Artist Getaway and my all-day plein air session with the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society (SCVWS), I can't  stop creating art. Friend Joan had been fascinated by my magazine collage work, done after taking a wonderful workshop from Derek Gores. After Joan left for home, I cropped an image of my granddaughter hanging off a parked cable car in San Francisco on a family visit to California in 2010 when Kelly was 14. Her hair was flying in the strong summer wind and I liked the angle of her head and shoulders.

 

I have been wanting to create this piece for a while. I spent several hours playing with the image and free-hand drawing it on tissue paper. Then I transferred the image to a canvas, using a broad Sharpie to go over the lines that would guide the collage work. You can see it does not require much detail. 

 

The drawing on canvas

 

 

I set myself up in the garage. This work is too messy for my upstairs studio that is just a side extension of my bedroom. Basically I tear lots of magazine pages into bits and apply pieces of them to the canvas with glossy acrylic liquid gel medium. 

 

The first day's work

 

 

I settled on a color scheme of fuschia, white and black, with some related colors for the hair. After a few hours, I had a good beginning. I knew that I wanted the hair to be ambiguous on the right, and darker to indicate some shadow there. Where does the hair end? That's part of the mystery.

 

 

The second day's work

 

I spent the afternoon in the garage tackling the face, always the biggest challenge for me. I know at this point that I will likely eliminate the watch face on her cheek and the lines of her neck are too defined and straight. The beauty of collage is it's easy to change my mind. Gerald Brommer, a famous artist who first taught me to use collage said, "Just keep adding paper until it's so heavy the painting will fall off the wall." I like the ambiguity that's developing. Is that the back of a woman forming some of her hair. Oh, I see a high heel and some flowers in her clothing. There is the San Francisco skyline.... (rescued from the newspaper a month ago as I thought about this collage).

 

 

The third day's work

 

Now that the canvas is covered, I can begin to refine the image. I eliminate the watch face, modify the neck, and put some white flowers on either side of her. Nope -- don't like those gardenias - too regular and fussy for suggesting a sophisticated city.

 

The fourth day's work

 

Gotta get rid of the white flowers. How about a cable car image? Try some black under the city. I don't like the long diagonal that the black creates. 

 

Final day's work

 

Will it help to break up the black a bit? Better, but I still don't like it. Time to revert back to white.

 

 

 

A repeated photo of the finished (?) piece

 

I kept the text, added some white with text, broke the long line at the top of her head, created some ambiguity in her hair on the lighted side, both on the outer and inner edges. Derek Gores would probably tell me that I need to vary the edges more, so this piece will likely change a bit yet as I contemplate how to make this piece more interesting.

 

Meanwhile, I was able to show one collage piece, at an SCVWS exhibit in the spring. The committee was pretty open-minded to include an all-collage piece as the society focuses on watermedia. My watermedia is the acrylic for the glue.  That event got me an invitation to show that piece and one other at the Rengstorf House in Mountain View during the month of August.









Long-Distance Plein Air All Day Event

 

"Heaven's Gate 2"

20" x 14" watercolor

 

"Mission San Juan Bautista"

9" x 5" watercolor

 

 

Once a year the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society makes a longer trek to paint all day on location.  This year's choice was the small Spanish town of San Juan Bautista. If you haven't been there, it should make your bucket list. We had around 15 artists show up, very good considering the distance for some. I live more south than many, so it's not a bad drive, The mission is the first I every visited, way back in 1976, and remains my favorite. San Juan Bautista has the only original Spanish Plaza remaining in California. I've painted here more than once and sold both paintings. I wrote of one such experience on my blog here.

 

We were treated to a beautiful day with comfortable temperatures. I stood at my easel under a tree and painted from a new perspective. After a few hours, I stopped and vowed to reconsider the work after I got home. We had a picnic lunch, viewed all the work people cared to share, and then selected a new spot to paint. The mission has a long low building with arches attached to the church. When we first arrived, I was taken by the view down the long outdoor hallway. So this afternoon, somewhat fatigued, we settled across the street at shaded picnic tables. I didn't have a great view of  the hallway, but I could see a nice vista. I settled on small and used my new Arches block that is perfect for small sweeping landscapes. I've seen other artists use that block and had to have one.  I removed some distant trees to add the expansiveness that I felt when sitting there.

 

The wind began to really blow, as it can in this area close to the Pacific Ocean. That's why San Francisco Bay is a great venue for the America's Cup. Friend Janice and I left about 3 p.m., having completed a couple paintings each, and Janice had done a wonderful ink drawing of an old adobe to which she will add color.

 

For a fun read, check out the paintsites blog: http://scvwspaintsites.blogspot.com/ , Brad is a very charming writer and he keeps the blog updated. He always asks for people to send in their work, but only a few do. So this time he told us he was taking photos for the blog. We can tell him if we want to be named with our work. There were many nice pieces.

A Book Cover

 

"King of the Batchelor Herd"

8.5" x 7"

 

 A friend from the gym where I work out asked me to take a commission for the cover of a book about working in Silicon Valley. She is in a field that is largely dominated by males and has many interesting experiences to tell. I won't say more as it's really Vicky's story to tell. Suffice it say, I never expected to paint a water buffalo and he was a challenge. I liked the results.

 

 

Artist Retreat in Gold Country Continued

 

"Morning on Lake Alpine"

14" x 16" Watercolor

 

The view.

 

Our foursome ventured to Angel's Camp looking for acrylics for Jeannie, but alas, the Mercantile did not open until 11 am. Coming from busy Silicon Valley we were constantly stymied by the very limited hours of businesses. Most restaurants closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Those that didn't. closed Wednesday and Thursdays. Most shops open at 11 or noon and close by 5. Now I understand why people have multiple jobs to survive in such beautiful, remote mountains.

 

I then drove us to Lake Alpine at 7303 feet of elevation. It was quiet there with just a few people kayaking, canoeing, or fishing. We settled in to paint the scenery. Mandatory was some shade, so I found a lovely place under the trees with a view across the lake. After a few hours, we enjoyed lunch and then visited Calavaras Big Trees State Park to show the giant Sierra Redwoods to my East Coast friend Joan (not to be confused with the Coastal Redwoods near my home).  She was appropriately in awe.

 

We were too late to attend the joint critique session, so we went straight to dinner. The following morning we painted at a gorgeous property just a few miles from the center of Murphys, Ironstone Winery. There were beautiful grounds, a huge outdoor amphitheater for performances by major entertainers, and a nice tasting room/cafe. We skipped the wine and went straight to painting. I did two pieces -- one a display of flower-filled wine barrels and the other a vineyard view. I framed the florals for the art show.

 

Wednesday afternoon was a wrap-up with an art show at Hovey Winery in town. We set up on the large lawn. We could show three pieces each, one that we brought with us and two from our getaway. I had Bob cut mats, I prepared frames, I picked out one landscape to bring with me, and in the haste of leaving home left all behind. Someone loaned me frames and I bought one. I showed "Morning at Lake Alpine" and these two.



 

My "Ironstone Winery" and "Mike's Barn"

on display at the final art show at

Hovey's Winery

 

Joan brought a lovely oil painting of two lambs.

 

 

Jeannie displayed a gorgeous texture-filled watercolor of the coast.

 

Janice showed a piece from her colorful crab series and a painting of rocks and water done at Ironstone Winery.

 

 

The following morning we wandered the town and had breakfast at the old Murphys Hotel, a place with lots of history since opened in 1856. Jeannie and I were armed with cameras for capturing our final reference photos to use in our home studios. We packed out belongings and hit the road back to San Jose.