Morning, rising mist, looking north.
Month: November 2020
This painting is derived from some take-aways from yesterday’s study based on Charlie Evan’s video. I left white for the tree trunks, painting around them carefully. I also painted more slowly and less splashily than my usual mess. The result is more controlled and perhaps a bit more structured. While the painting itself is not what I would consider a real hit, it does have a decent bit of light and dark, sun and shadow, which is what I was striving for.
Watercolor is a tradition in which the English have excelled. So many excellent watercolorists have created a style, or school, or whatever you want to call it, that delights in the countryside. There are so many – too many – to name, both living and gone – who are such a pleasure to behold.
You don’t find such farmhouses and lanes in the US! Our old buildings are seldom stone, usually clapboard houses and red barns of a certain style. Stone walls exist, it seems, only in rural New England or in modern day housing tracts. Because things are old I love looking at pictures of the English countryside or coastal villages. And really, this is for the entire British Isles, not just England, though it seems most are in it.
That said, there is also a time to practice with a master. The above painting was done following a very nice lesson taught by Charles Evans, a painter I just came upon this morning.
I rather enjoyed myself this morning’s project! My painting is not his painting. While I use to weep and wail about not doing exactly what someone did as a demo, I’ve grown past that. It is a lot more fun to do it, follow the general lesson, compromise where necessary, focus on the important points, note what works and doesn’t, and just get on with it.
Gouache, palm trees, ocean, beach, coast. California!
I love aspens – the way their leaves quiver, the fact that a grove could be one ginormous plant, the colors they add to the mountains as the seasons change.
‘Nuff said.
Monterey Pines are some truly elegant trees. If you have never seen one, but you like trees, you will enjoy these. They have a totally non-pine-tree shape, and grow in odd directions, often pushed by the wind you experience on the Monterey Peninsula. These are trees I photographed along our walk while visiting Monterey and Pacific Grove last week.
More paint slapping!
Here, the depth of field doesn’t match the photo I took at all! Still, it does work, sort of.
Pacific Grove and the surrounding shore.
This is quick study of a tree I pass by on many of my hikes into the local open space. It stands against the sky, silhouetted, as the sun goes down.
I’ve decided to be just rather messy with gouache – slapping it onto the paper. I think I feel more at one with it (paint and painting). As well, I am using a big brush that is angled at the tip, rather a wedge shape. As a result, it is somewhat predictable, somewhat controllable. And not at all. Part of it depends on how dry or wet the paint and brush are. We’ll see how this goes over the next several days. Being away from home for several days, I haven’t painted at all. Slapping paint around is a good way to be come reacquainted with it!
Journey by Paper 