New sketch book time!

The first of the year is a great time to open a new sketch book and dedicate some time each day to the practice of art. This year I am doing something a little different. I have salvaged all those one or two unused pages at the end of my almost full sketch books and there is a pile of paper at least the equivalent of a new book. My first "book" of the year has all different sized pages and I am eager to get started but first here are a few pages from 2014.

Have a happy and creative 2015

and here are three more that I missed in the first batch

Fall classes 2014

It is that time of year again.
Give me a call or send an email if you would like to register.

Yupo!

If you have never tried painting on Yupo (a synthnetic paper), you should give it a go. The paint dries on top of the paper and is not absorbed. One of the advantages is that you can wash it off! It has a very slick surface and is fun to paint on.

 These are both 10 x 13 inches

Chicken one day, feathers the next.

Here are two successful chicken paintings. The really foul ones stay in the drawer.

More puppies

I have been working on a looser method of painting. It is fun and fast and I like the freedom it gives me with the subject. Here are 3 more of my doggy friends. Here are Bear, Elvis and Briar. All are on 10 x 14 inch sheets.

Workshop Demos

I promised to post pics of the demonstrations that I did at my workshop on Landscape textures. The goal of the workshop was to imply texture without painting every blade of grass. I am a big fan  of random marks made with brushwork or with spatter and quite literally throwing the paint at the paper. With practice, you can usually get the paint in the general area that you wanted.
The class called this the "splash, splat and thump technique."
Here are 4 of my demonstration pieces. I think it makes more sense to see the techniques demonstrated within the context of a painting rather than in isolation as "this is grass or this is distant trees" so started 4 separate compositions. I might continue working on these today. 

These are all painted  on 10 x 14 inch sheets

Landscape Textures

I gave a workshop to the art group, The Artist's Circle this past weekend. I promised to do some work on creating the illusion of textures in the landscape using watercolor.  I  love winter paintings but I think that most people have had enough of winter in this part of the world so I wanted to do a summer painting. I chose a subject that has lots of opportunity for implying texture and while I might not use this much texture in most of my work, it was a good sample for the class.

 Allyson's Lavender Garden 14 x 21 inches

Here is the process.

It starts with the drawing to clarify the value pattern and placement of elements withing the picture plane.

Next is a colour study (little sketch beside the drawing). It is very helpful have a colour pallet in mind before you start on the painting.

Most of the background is in place at this stage.
Sorry I did not take more photos as the painting progressed but sometimes you just need to keep going.








I did 4 demonstrations of texture techniques and will show photos of these in another post.

Thanks to the members of the Artist's Circle for having me back. I always love to spend time with  old friends and meet some new ones.