Inspiring View

A quiet, little inspiring view to end the year.

                                              Watercolor on 140 lbs paper, 8x10

Through the Trees

Once upon I time I worked nearly exclusively in pastel (really. . .just look at the posts from 2004 and 2005; they cover a 15 year period).  Then for whatever reason, I stopped.  Now part of it is due to watercolor being more portable.  However, after playing around with my beloved Unison's this weekend, I caught the bug again.

Its a bit rough but it is a very good start.

                                      Pastel on Mi-Tientes paper 9x12

Doodling in Pastel

Just a quick doodle, in pastel no less.  After touching up the "Rocks at Dawn" in pastel, I could not stop.  Now I want to break out my pastels in 2016 and thought I would just play around (it completely busted out of its little box).  What was most fun was taking a wet paint brush to pull the pigment around in a rough wash and then going over it again with more pastel.  

                                                 Pastel on paper (sketch book)

Rocks at Dawn Revisited

I never really liked this painting when I finished it.  I was still using cotman watercolors and had not come close to understand how to use them.  The plan was always to either go back or try this picture again.  Well, I decided to touch up the painting with my beloved Unison pastels.  I did not do too much (further defined the rocks by adding yellow highlights and dark purple and brown shadows and making the clouds more wispy with a light blue plus the bit of angry clouds in the upper right).  

All in all, I like it better.

                      Watercolor & pastel on 200 lbs watercolor paper, 16x12

The Jolly Monk

I hear it is great place to grab a beer and some wings and some sliders. . .

                            Watercolor on 140lbs watercolor block, 9x12

Waiting for the Keys

It is that time of year again. . .thinking about family, Christmas and then the Keys.

Trying to work more and get better using the"wet-in-wet" technique.  The goal for this was to do a much more "atmospheric" and moody sky.  I am still have having issues controlling the water to pigment ratio.  I think the paper needs to be soaked more to really open up the fibers (which is tough to do with paper on block paper).  That being said, I do like how the sky turned out, it is a bit more organic and flowing then previous skies I have attempted.

                               Watercolor on 140lbs watercolor block, 9x12