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.