San Francisco in the morning haze

Well, it has been a while since I painted or posted (been doing mostly calligraphy and letter writing).  Here is another in the series, "view from my hotel room".  In this case, San Francisco (you can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the bottom left corner)..  The sky must have changed 20 times in the two days I was there, from clear, to raining to this cool atmospheric cloudy.  I did enjoy the clouds.  Too bad I over worked them to mud.  The cityscape did not turn out half bad. . .

Watercolor on 90 lbs paper 11x17

Details

Lopsided Sunflower

Sitting at breakfast I noticed out of all the single sunflowers adorning the tables at Perry's, only mine was lopsided.  But I thought, hey, it is a little beat up and missing some petals on the left side, but it has the most character. . .which was apropos. It demanded to be painted.  And so I did.

                               watercolor pen & ink on paper 5.5X8.5 

Golden Gate Bridge -- View from Hyde Park

It was a windy, misty afternoon in Hyde Park when I sat down to paint this.  You can clearly see the unpainted area where the clips kept the paper from flapping all around.  By the time I finished, most of the Golden Gate Bridge was lost to the mist and waning sun.

I like the little details on the dock in the foreground. They were almost an after thought as I finished up, but I think it gives the picture more scale.

                                      watercolor on paper 5.5 x 16.50

St Patrick's San Francisco

Work travel does not, as a rule, allow for much time for sketching.  So this time I had to improvise and make a quick sketch from my hotel room.  I had a nice view of St Patrick's on Mission St, which is currently undergoing renovations.

                                  Watercolor on paper 5.5x8.25 plus a bit more

Here is the actual view with the painting for comparison.