Cold Blue

It is has been just a little bit cold here in NJ this past week, just like these cold, blue mountains.  

                           Watercolor on 90 lbs paper 7x10

                                  Watercolor on 140 lbs paper 6x6 

Neighbor's Tree with Snow

The last (hopefully) snow storm of the winter provided the opportunity to paint my neighbor's tree covered in snow.  I tried something different and chose colored pastel paper, which strictly speaking, is not made for washes.  I taped it down (you can see the perfect straight lines at the top and bottom) and kept stretching it after each wash as the fibers in the paper swelled with water.  The painting was finished off using white gouache (which I recently found I had been mispronouncing all my life), using both sponge and brush.

                 Watercolor and gouache 9x12 on 75 lbs Canson Mi-Teintes pastel pater

Neighbor's Tree -- Winter

I have not had the opportunity to get out and sketch, so I have returned to a favorite subject, my neighbor's backyard tree. Even without the lush greenery of Spring/Summer it is still a majestic subject.

I think I might paint a picture of this tree every month as a season study.

                                     Watercolor on 140 lbs paper 7x10

The Road Less Traveled By

Outside my window, beyond the tree and stockade fence is a protected wooded area that will never be built on or developed.  It is a little piece of sylvan space in our urban sprawl, and I love to peer at it from my perch in the art room. It always inspires me and makes me smile.

In the course of the last few weeks, I have been going through the accumulated wealth of art supplies that I have purchased in the past decades, from as far back as high school to now.  One of the treasures that I found was my Ames Lettering Guide from back in the day when we did not have fancy-smancy computer fonts and I hand drew calligraphy.  And since the view outside my window always makes me think of Robert Frost's famous poem, I decided to add the first and last two lines of the poem to this sketch using the lettering guide.  It was much fun.

                                  Pen and Ink, Watercolor on paper 10x7

 

Idling Away in a Sail Boat

My first post in 2014 is actually a painting from New Year's Day, sitting on a swing looking out to the Atlantic Ocean.  Amidst the jet skiers and cruise ships plying their way around Key West, there were several sail boats, just idling their way in the winter sun.  This one in particular caught my interest as it seemed to merely be content to just be idling away the day on the water.  I thought this was a nice sentiment on the first day of the year.

Using a "wet on wet" outside on a windy day is a bit tricky as the paper; the water wants to evaporate and dry so it is very easy to over saturate the paper to compensate (I did that in another painting I will post this weekend).  That said, I am happy with the sky and I especially like the layers of color in the water.

                                       Watercolor on paper 9x7

A Sleigh Ride Together with You

It is a bit muddy in parts, but I finally achieved that "atmospheric" look I have been attempting to do.  Still need to work on a consistent and cohesive composition, but I like this quite a bit.

                            Watercolor on 140lbs watercolor block 9x12