BLUEBIRDS AND BOTTLES

watercolor, about 6 x 6 inches

This is part of a painting I worked on for several days last week.  It was a dud.   Today, I cut it in two pieces.  I tilted it some to try to make the perspective right.  That helped a little bit  What helped more than anything was to outline the bottles with ink.  I'm thinking now that I might lighten up the birds in the tablecloth which are competing a lot with the rest.  

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

 

watercolor 6 x 9 inches

I spent longer than usual on this painting than I do on most of what I post here.  This is where I've posted my small pieces and sketches.  Any thing that take more than about an hour, I put on my other blog.  

For the first time in a while I've been posting here everyday and to  give myself some help in  continuing, I signed up for a challenge to do 30 paintings in January on Leslie Saeta's blog, joining what is now over a hundred other painters, to do the same.  These are mostly oil painters that are doing more than sketches.  What one calls a painting might not be what I've been doing here.

So today, I decided to do something more than a sketch or small study.

A friend gave me the bamboo box for Christmas and the pears came from another friend in the mail yesterday from Eastern Washington.  I took the pears to the studio in the box to set up a still life and they looked pretty cool in the box, so tried something a little different.

ANOTHER ONE

ink drawing

Yes, another view from the studio window this morning. 

HORSE CONCH

watercolor about 4 x 2.5 inches

I've found several of these on Florida beaches.  This one is painted close to its actual size, but most are much larger.  It is Florida's state shell and can be up to 24 inches long.

TULIP SHELL

 watercolor,  about 4 x 2.5 inches

This is another shell I found in Florida.  I decided to put a shadow on all the shells.

CONE SHELL

 watercolor, about 4 x 2.5 inches

I found this shell at Little Gasparilla Island Florida a few years ago.  I'm painting the shells on a printing paper that is very absorbent and not at all forgiving.  I messed up on the left edge and added a shadow to fix it. 

YESTERDAY'S SUNSET

  watercolor 3 x 5 inches

At about 2 yesterday afternoon, the sky looked like it might produce a colorful sunset and I walked to my friend Kim and Wayne's house witch has a great view of the southern sky.  A big cloud obscureD most of the light, but I did a couple of little paintings anyway and enjoyed a nice short visit and asparagus fritters that Wayne had just made.

MUREX

  

watercolor,  about 4 x 2.5 inches

Another shell from my collection. 

MITER SHELL

watercolor 4 x 2.5 inches

I have hundreds of shells, some that I collected when I was growing up and Florida.  Every time I walk on a beach, I fill my hands, pockets are whatever container I have with them.  This one I bought in a shell shop in Florida.

MOUNT FAIRWEATHER

 

 watercolor 3x5 inches

I drove down to the beach this afternoon to watch the sunset, which happened about 3; and while there painted three little paintings from the car.  It was way to cold to do anything outside.  I like this one of Mt. Fairweather best though its not much the way the mountain looked. 

WINDOW VIEW, AGAIN

watercolor 5.5 x 5 inches

Well, everyday its different out there.  I painted this about 11 am as the sun was passing by, low in the sky.  

VIEW FROM A NORTH FACING WINDOW

watercolor painting  6x6 inches

VIEW FROM THE LIBRARY WINDOW

 ink drawing 7 x 4.5 inches

It was a slow day working at the library this afternoon and I had time to do this little drawing in my sketchbook.  I used one of my Lamy fountain pens and washed over with water. 

WHITE CHRISTMAS CACTUS

watercolor 6 x 4.5 inches

I finished a larger painting with the cactus and now am wishing I'd thought to put the swan in it.    Well, maybe next year a larger painting with the swan, but now just this little one.  There are only two blossoms left on the plant and I had to prop one up to separate them. 

FROM THE KITCHEN

ink drawing 5 x 3.25 inches

I started drawing this at about 3 in the afternoon, yesterday,  and it was dark before I finished.  Everything was pretty much just a silhouette.  I drew with a fountain pen with bleeding ink which I washed water over and blotted some. I sketch the trees south of the house a lot from my studio which is at ground level.  There's more interest with the perspective from the upstairs kitchen window.

BULBS IN BEACHGLASS

                                                           watercolor, 6x4.5 inches

Two days in a row!... not quite a record, but this constitutes a roll for my posting here.  So to keep it going, last night, I went back to the studio, which I'd been cleaning up most of the day, and found the pot of narcissus, not blooming yet, in my window and drew them with a red Micron pen before painting them. 

GERANIUMS

These two pots sit in the window above my kitchen sink bringing some welcome color.  I painted them yesterday afternoon, about 4 as it was getting dark outside.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

Yesterday the sun was gone, back to normal..  This is what it looks like out my window most of the winter.  I drew with a pen and ink before painting, using a fountain pen with Sailor Ink which  only bleeds a little.... just enough to give some gray in the sky.  This was done on a high plate illustration paper.

A RARE SUNNY DAY

 

 This was the first day in a while that I've seen the sun come up, as we've had lots of snow for the last couple of weeks.  Smoke from the neighbors wood fire added some interesting effects.  I did these from the studio, quite quickly, and not keeping up with the change, but I captured  some of the color. 

PAINTINGS OF SPAIN

I returned from my trip to Spain last week.    Most of the time was spent with friends from Alaska at Las Orchideas , a lovely villa (read about it  by clicking here)  near Valencia in the small town of Beniganim.   Loli and her husband Harold were gracious hosts.   Also, I spent a few days in Barcelona and Arenys de Munt where I made new friends  through the Servas organization which you can read about here.

Here are some of the paintings and drawings I did while at Las Orchideas.  They were all done on folded pages which I have sewn into a book

I drew these glimpses  in pencil on the train ride from Barcelona and painted from memory later...

 

This is the outdoor kitchen where many delicious meals were prepared.

This view from Loli's studio...

a bowl of figs......

These were growing in great number over the gazebo along with grapes,....

The first of 3 paintings of this monastery, perched on a hillside....

This view from the villa.....

and this view from closer....

This is the doghouse and carob tree....

A view from the bungalow porch....

A house on the hill above the villa....
  

in Beniganim.....

  The gardens were full of flowers .  The datura and jasmine filled the nights with delightful smells.






Some morning light


The window in my room....

 

and a table under the carob tree.

 

SUMMER POSTCARDS

Considering how many days without rain this summer, I don't feel bad about not getting out and painting much.   Here are a few things I've done.

                                    

On one of my trips to Juneau on the ferry this summer,  I painted this while waiting for departure from Juneau Juneau.

I've stayed a few times on my Juneau visits  with my artist friend Sharron Lobaugh  and this is the view from her front porch in Auk Bay.  Sharron and I will be traveling to Spain next month and it will be inspiring to be painting with her there.

  In July, a Fairbanks artist, Vladimir Zhikhartsev, showed up at my doorsteps looking for another painter and really gave me a shot of inspiration.  He is an excellent plein aire painter and fun and congenial person to be around..  I took him to two of my favorite places to paint.  He painted beautiful half sheet watercolors both times while I painted 2 or 3 little ones each time.

This one was at the beach.....

and this another at Good River where I also painted some in June.

                                          
This I did in June on a rainy day from the car with the windshield wipers going on and off.  The sun had come out for awhile and off I went with my paints and stool, but then the clouds came.  This tree is next to out airport.  It is a freak of nature with part of the tree having no chlorophyll.  It was saved when the runway was extended a few years ago, but had in the last month had its lower branches trimmed.

 

 Out my back door is a trail to the beach where I use to walk a lot, usually about an hour round trip.  I kind of stopped going the last few years, leery of bear  but have walked out with friends a couple of times in the last few month (bear spray hanging on my pack) and sworn to go more.  This was done quickly, but a nice reminder of how beautiful it is there.

F/V KITTEN

I finally finished the gouache painting I've been working on for weeks.   And the sun came out and it was over 50 degrees so I went out on my bike with my paints.  It was still quite cold with wind, but I found some shelter in the slough at the boat harbor and did this of the F/V Kitten, an old troller that has been beached for years.

My month of drawing almost every day ended yesterday.   I missed a couple of days, but feel good that I did as well as I did.   My drawing  ability was getting pretty rusty.  At the beginning of the month, I was using my eraser a lot.  I'm much more confident in my lines now. 

LUPINE

After working on a painting for several hours that I've been working on for several weeks, it was enjoyable doing this much faster, in less than a half hour.   I drew it first with a red micron pen and then painted with watercolor.

The lupines are late this year.... most everything is. 

MAY FLOWERS

All the sketches and little paintings (5 in all) that I've done to put here in the last few days aren't fit to be seen.  It goes like that some times. This is part of a project I've been working on that is more presentable.  I drew and painted 5 of these 9 in the last couple of days.  All the flowers seem late this year with our cooler than average temperature and rain almost everyday this month... but there is something new outside everyday if I keep looking.

FUSCHIA AGAIN

Here's the same branch of the fuschia as yesterday done a lot faster, in about 10 minutes; this time with my Lamy Safari pen and a wet brush.

FUSCHIA

I got this fuschia from the local nursery this week.  It is hugh and just starting to bloom.   I drew with pencil, and then decided to paint with watercolor. 

TULIPS AGAIN

 

The tulips, still on my kitchen table this morning.  I decided to paint them without first drawing in.pencil. I added the pen lines later.

TWO TUPLIPS

I was going to paint these, but got carried away with the pencil.    

BERRY PLANTS

This will be a little accordion book someday.  I drew and painted the first three plants while at the retreat in Juneau weekend before last.  They are all wild berry plants in bloom.   Today I added the 4th and 5th.....strawberry and kinnikinick, both from my yard.