Sitka Center For Art & Ecology...

...On the central Oregon coast. I'm here for a week taking two watercolor classes with Molly Hashimoto. . No, I'm not a beginner, but I wanted to stay here for a week and never hurts to review techniques, especially with this being Plein Air. The intermediate class starts tomorrow, and we will be visiting the same areas, so I will have an opportunity to reexperience painting the areas, maybe from a different perspective. Then we will return the class in the afternoons, to paint a studio picture using our plein air pieces for reference. This will be something new for me.

Here are the paintings I did in her beginner class:

 ...and here are the journal entries in my new watercolor journal book...

Arrowleaf Balsamroot...

...below is the first page in my new Arches Watercolor spiral bound field book.  I decided to to try painting from a photo I took of Arrowleaf Balsamroot flowers when we were in Idaho.  It's okay...I really want to loosen up but I seem to always paint so "tight" and am not sure how to loosen up.  I'm getting ready to head off to the Sitka Center for Ecology & Art on the Oregon coast for two watercolor classes by Molly Hashimoto.  There will be lots of Plein Air work and later in the week we will focus on translating field work to studio work.  When I took Molly's class last year I really liked the looseness of my work.  I'm hoping to reconnect with that feeling.

Here is the work I did in my Arches Watercolor Journal last year when I took Molly's class at the North Cascades Institute:

Idaho Vacation...

...We spent last week in the Sun Valley/Sawtooths region of Idaho - Spectacular country!!!!!  We stayed in Hailey, Idaho - 11 miles south of Sun Valley for a few nights and explored the area for a few days.  Then we headed north to Stanley, ID which is in the heart of the Sawtooths and stayed a night there before heading home the next day.  Lots of hiking and amazing scenery.  Next time we would like to base out of Stanley, a more rustic and real feeling town.

Joe and I on the trail to Baker Lake.

Sawtooths viewed from Stanley, Idaho

The motel view we plan to have on our next visit!

Below are the journal entries I did on the trip...

Taking time out to work on watercolor techniques...

...Another exercise from the "Ready to Paint Series - Watercolor Flowers" by Wendy Tait.  I loved the exercise in painting the negative spaces to carve out the flowers and leaves.  Very fun to do and I'm quite pleased with this!!!!

New Watercolor Journal - Page 2

Grapes are a wonderful source of shade and I have them planted in two spots in our yard - these are growing up a wire trellis next to our patio in order to provide shade to our patio dining table.

Let July Begin...

Here is the last page of the hand bound watercolor journal I made last Summer. Not too crazy about the painting...but it's all a learning process. I just finished making my new journal and this one is all hot press (Fabriano Artistico 140 lb.) and I'm not sure if I'll like only having hot press but it's easier to do ink drawings on and I may not always want to paint my drawings. It doesn't have as many pages as the book I just finished just in case I start to miss the cold press paper. My next journal may end up being a mix of hot and cold press papers.

And here is the first entry of my new hot press watercolor paper journal.  I just added flower boxes to the windows of my studio two weeks ago.  I love the brilliant red Mediterranean look of these geraniums!

June Work

I'm working through Jeanne Dobie's Making Watercolor Sing book and am in "Chapter 2 - Mouse Power:  Achieving Luminous Greys."  Instead of mimicking her work, I've decided in order to grow with my own style, I need to draw and paint my own pictures.  Below are two attempts from a photo I took while traveling in Ecuador a few years ago.

This one is my first attempt in my watercolor journal.  It was okay but I wanted to try again...

 ...so I did another attempt in my Arches Watercolor Field book and like it better.  The only thing is I labored over the drawing.  Now I want to try and do a quick sketch and painting to more imitate being out in the field painting.  I'll try that next.

Finally, here is a watercolor journal entry I did early in June of my backyard studio that Joe built for me last Summer.  I love my studio and the corner porch that comes off of it!  While I was pleased with my drawing, I'm not too crazy about my colors, but oh well...paint and learn!

Fanciful Flowers - Week 1

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm taking another online class through Joggles.com called "Fanciful Flowers" and below is this week's project (after drawing and painting different flowers).  First I painted my flower leaving the white background.  Then I painted a second sheet with the flower colors and added salt to get the white fleck texture.  Then I cut both up into strips and wove them together.  An interesting exercise.

Calendar Journal

Thought I'd give this a try...each day reflecting a little on what I did.  I'm taking a "Fanciful Flowers" class with Sondra Holtzman as an online Joggles class.  Our first week is to draw and paint different shaped flowers.  Those included on my calendar are the cup-shape (tulip) the wheel-shape (Coreopsis) the trumpet-shape (Red Penstemon) and I'm not sure what shape the Butterfly Pincushion qualifies as.

More Watercolor Painting...

This is the Hibiscus Flower we did in the watercolor class I'm taking with Joyce Anderson.  I found painting flowers very frustrating but something clicked this past week with the layering techniques. 

Size of the paper was a little too big for my scanner so the black background didn't scan consistent, hence the light and dark horizontal bands.  The darker bands are more true to the overall background color.

Focusing on Watercolor Techniques...

...This is the result of an exercise from the "Ready to Paint Series - Watercolor Flowers" by Wendy Tait.  It took me two days and overall I'm pleased with it!

4/30/11 - Spring in the Palouse

Eastern Washington is bursting with green this time of year. Vast wheat fields dominate the landscape.  Posting 2 days later.  I was inspired to do this after Joe and I drove an ~ 6 hour loop this past Saturday from Walla Walla (southeastern WA) north up through the coulees, east of Coulee Dam, then south on a 2 lane road for hours and few cars.  I love where I live!

A Drawing Every Day?

Losing my oomph for this endeavor...and this is okay!  I haven't lost my oomph for my creativity.  I'm taking my watercolor class once a week, I work on paintings on the weekend.  I've got a few art classes lined up for the Summer, and I've just decided to take the pressure off myself to draw and post something every day.  It was starting to feel like a chore and I found myself resenting "having to do a drawing" so I've decided to back off. 

Went to La Patisserie today to grade papers and took my watercolor journal with me.  I sketched/painted between classes of papers and enjoyed myself!

Days 26 & 27...

Day 26 - A pen and ink doing two quick gestures of Ollie sleeping on my sweater, then I got caught up in using squiggle lines to show the texture of my sweater.  That tube going over his head on the left cat drawing was the sweater sleeve I was sketching before he rolled over into another position.

Day 27 - Today I was playing with a painting I want to do larger.  It's of an old barn I took a photo of on a local back road.  This is just a practice piece to get a feel for the color combinations and values.  I don't even plan to finish this version.  I already started another practice piece on the next page that I will continue to work on this week.  But hey, I'm counting this as a daily picture!

Days 23, 24, and 25 - Tiny Every Day Objects...

I thought these would be easy quick sketches since I'm back into the busy schedule of teaching and taking an 8 week (once a week) evening watercolor class at the local community college.  I was quite surprised at the details of these small things! 

Day 22 - Discarded Kitchen Items...

As it says in the journal entry...these are items that Joe has wanted to get rid of for awhile now only I have a hard time to get rid of them even though we don't use them, both gifts...

Day 21 - Earrings, Peacocks, and Beer...

This is the watercolor journal version for my earrings.  Redrew it today and painted it on Fabriano 140# hotpress paper.  Below this is a watercolor journal sketch painting I did later for Jane's class when I re-read that the theme was "machine-made" objects... and below that is a quick sketch I did in pencil over at the aviary at Pioneer Park.

2nd Watercolor Journal Entry for Jane's Class

Quick Pencil Sketch at Pioneer Park Aviary of a Male Peacock

Days 17 - 20

Got back from Arizona Thursday night.  Drew every day but two days.  Another part of my keeping my challenge simple...I will not beat myself if I a miss a day here and there.

Day 20



Day 19 - In Moleskine Sketch Journal

Day 19 - In Moleskine Sketch Journal - with watercolor washes added

Day 18 - In Moleskine Sketch Journal; ink and watercolor pencils

Day 17 - In Moleskine Sketch Journal;  ink and Faber-Castell Brush Markers



Day 16 - Spring Break and on the way to Arizona...

After a 45 minute flight from Walla Walla to Seattle, I sketched this on our 2 hour layover.  I used my tombow pens (didn't apply water obviously) for color.  I felt the blackline drawing needed something to pop it.

Day 15...

...Spring is rampant here in Walla Walla...today was 73 degrees.  We are getting ready to head off to Arizona for my Spring Break to visit Dad and Carol where the high today was 99!!!!!!  Fortunately it is suppose to be back down into the 80's for our visit.