Abstracting in Hacklebarney

I am not flexible; it is known.  So trying to sit and balance on river rocks in order to paint the Black River in Hacklebarney State Park and not fall in was quite the challenge (my foot did fall asleep though).  This picture is a bit more abstract than my last few pieces (no pen and ink).  Sometimes being more loose and trying to capture the energy of the moment is fun in and of itself.  

                                    Watercolor on paper 5.5x8.25

Sint Maarten -- Part II Sailing to Anguilla

Sailing to Anguilla was a great day.  When we signed up for the trip, we did not realize it was such a booze crews (but apparently they all are).  The rum started early (learned about a variant of a Dirty Shirley made with rum) and kept flowing all day.  But that was not the highlight of the day.  For me, painting while sailing (see below) was the true highlight (that and the after party).

Below is the picture of the catamaran I did after a lovely lunch of mahi mahi, jerk ribs, curried coleslaw and rice.  It is my favorite piece of the whole trip.  In fact, it might be my favorite piece I have done in the past year (this or the old stone bridge).

                  Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 5.5x8.25

Below is a series of three small (postcard size) pictures I did while sailing to Prickly Pear and Anguilla.  Despite all the rum, not many people were talkative.  However, after I pulled out my watercolors and began sketching that all changed.  It was a fun conversation starters.

These three sketches are rough and loose and just plain fun.

                      Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 3.5x5.5 
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                      Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 3.5x5.5 

                      Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 3.5x5.5

Sint Maarten -- Part I

Vacation was relaxing and awesome.  And incredibly productive.  I did 9 painting/sketches of various sizes, including 3 while sitting on a catamaran (coming soon). 

Instead of my normal Daniel Smith watercolors, I brought a new palette of colors by M Graham watercolors (Highland Green, Bismuth Yellow, Cobalt Teal, Permanent Green Pale, Scarlet Pyrrol, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Violet, Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Green, Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Gold and Burnt Sienna)  specifically because of the gorgeous cobalt teal, which was perfect for the clear Caribbean water. M Graham watercolors are made with natural blackberry honey to prevent them from drying out.  It was my first time really using these watercolors and they did really well, except for the Cobalt Green which never, ever dried in my palette and therefore leaked all over the place.  Good thing I kept them in a zip-loc baggie.

This was the view from my room, looking out to the far right.  I did have a view of Simpson Bay but could not see it sitting down.

                           Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 5.5x8.25

View of the Caribbean Sea

We spent most of the time hanging on the beach or floating in the Caribbean Sea.  I did a sketch of the view, sitting on a beach chair, looking to the right on the first day and the view to the left on the last day.  Connecting them would give a full view of the little horseshoe bay where we sat most days.

                       Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 5.5x8.25

                       Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 5.5x8.25

View of Simpson Bay and the "Hills"

The view of the "mountains" were a close second to the sea itself.  Not sure if these are Sint Peter Hill or Sentry Hill, but I enjoyed watching the clouds drift in the sky to make the shadows flows across these "hills".  

                       Watercolor and pen & ink on 180 lbs paper 9x12
 

                        Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 3.5x5.5

Old Stone Bridge -- Duke Farms

Typically, there is a rush and feeling of contentment when I finish a painting or drawing.  This feeling quickly diminishes and is replaced by the thoughts of my Inner Critic, whom always finds some fault or error to plague my peace of mind.  However, a full 24 hours later and I still really like this painting of the old stone bridge that leads into the Duke Farms.  This is my best effort at a robust use of light/dark contrast .

One of the nice things about painting on location is that you get to meet all kinds of interesting people who ask if they can watch you paint.  On Saturday, I felt like an exhibit at the zoo, with a parade of people coming by, to what I thought was a remote spot (the bridge may be the main entrance, but I had never saw anyone walk down its slopes before to sit where I did for the painting).  All in all, it was a fun day to paint.

                         Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 5.5x8.25

Drift Wood

The goal of this painting was to utilize the transparent nature of watercolors to do layers of color, one on top of the other.  For the most part, the goal was achieved. The yellows, raw sienna, quin orange and new gamboge all play nicely together, making the scene rather tranquil, despite the dark, stormy blue sky (in blue apatite genuine).  

But it is the foreground, with its wild grass and namesake drift wood, that gives this painting a greater degree of depth than I normally achieve.  It was also one of the most fun area to paint.

                                     Watercolor on 140 lbs paper 9x12

Neighbor's Backyard Tree

I love this tree.

I see it everyday outside my window.  It is so stately.  And since it just about due north of me, I love how the sun and light and shade play across it during the day, especially its signature right angle branch that throws interesting shadows.  I had been wanting to paint it for a while.  I do not think this will be the only time I paint this cool tree.

                                               Watercolor on 120 lbs paper

Little Bits of Practice

These are really small, 3.5x5.5 inches, even smaller than postcards (4x6) but make for good practice.  .  With these, I was trying a few things out.  I wanted to mix colors directly on the paper (wet on wet), glaze transparent washes over dried washes (wet on dry) and try out my new Lamy fountain pen.

This is my favorite one of the series below.  It is the only one using ink.  Unfortunately, the Lamy ink is not water proof, so the ink bled (which did create nice dark washes).  I mixed the sky and clouds directly on the paper and you can see more color transition and gradation than I am normally able to achieve.
 

                              Mosquito Creek, Olympic National Park, WA
                                 watercolor and ink on paper 3.5x5.5

I was a little impatient with this one and the color from the baby moose bled into the background, making it rather blurry.  I mixed the trees in the foreground on the paper and when I did let the water dry, did several glazes of greens and browns on top to try and create the illusion of more distance.  I think this one was semi-successful.
 

                             2 Moose, 1 Blurry, Isle Royale National Park, MI
                                 watercolor on paper 3.5x5.5 

The above two pictures used photo references while this one did not.  I was very heavy handed with the water and flooded the paper.  However, I really like the flows of color and the pigmentation that occurred organically as a result.  The sky, clouds and foreground colors were all mixed on the wet, wet paper.
 

                                     Golden Sunset (or Sunrise?)
                                 watercolor on paper 3.5x5.5

Coach Barn - Duke Farms

A few weekends back I had the opportunity to visit Duke Farms and see the Coach Barn, which was open to the public for the first time in a long while.  It is a rather impressive building, complete with stables and working clock tower.  Constructed in 1900, the Coach Barn is where J.B. Duke conducted his day to day business.  The clock is over 100 years old, and has never broken down or failed to tell the correct time.  

The painting started on location and finished in my studio (I just like writing that) since the day was getting late and the bugs were biting.  As you can see below, it was still a bit rough and unformed.  I used several different pens to vary the line weight, trying hard not to "over work" it with unnecessary detail.

                          Watercolor, Pen & Ink on 140 lbs block 12x16

I set up with the en plein air easel and my niece joined me, creating her own painting.  It was fun.  Several people stopped over to watch us paint and ask questions, which is certainly something that never happens when I sit on a bench with a pad in my lap and sketch.

Here is the un-inked version of the painting.  I had to leave it a little too rough to call it a finished work.  The ink adding just the right amount of detail and clarity.

Don't Get Cocky

Ahem. . .watercolors are tricky.  Every time I think I understand what I am doing, they bring me back down to earth.

There are certain technical points to this piece that I quite like, and of course, some that I do not.  The copper tea and stump pot came out as I hoped using a glazing technique to give more depth to the colors.  I mixed the greens of the grass instead of using pure tube sap green pigment.  There is a nice gradation to the greens, with spots of yellow, raw sienna and darker blue-greens flowing throughout the foreground.  I also drew a half inch border around the paper before starting because I have always liked how that looks in other artist's work. 

Compositionally, the rooster and the teapot/stump are too close together, I think there needed to be more space between them to draw the eye around the painting. And I definitely over worked the rooster too much, the details of his feathers are lost in the layers of dark colors.    

                                      Watercolor on 140 lbs block 9x12

Boat House by the Duck Pond

I often admire the legions of Urban Sketchers in their cool European cities as they dazzle with their eye popping work of old world buildings and parks.  One day I will join them on an urban sketch crawl.  But in the interim, I will contend myself with painting more locally.  I think that Central Jersey has its own charm and appeal.  That is why I am challenging myself to start my own Central Jersey Project to help me grow, but to also showcase the beauty of Central Jersey (and I will be taking a liberal view of where that actually is).  Plus, it forces me to use my en plein air easel and tripod set up.

This painting is of the boat house by the Duck Pond, which is a small park (less than 2 mile area) that meanders around the Ambrose Brook, complete with its own little waterfall.  This area is prone to flooding, especially after the last two big hurricanes.  And, as its name implies, is home to many ducks, though none were to be seen this weekend.  I think I was able to actually achieve a nice contrast between light and dark, especially in the bushes in the far ground.  

                        Watercolor on 140 lbs watercolor block 9x12

                            The view up from the docks to the boat house

Stan at the Beach

I doubt his name is Stan as I did not get the opportunity to ask him his name or what he thought of this painting.  He began to pack up his stuff the moment I finished inking the picture, so I had to work fast on the color and the shadows.  But judging from his Che Guevara bag and other accoutrements, I am guessing his name is not Stan.  But who knows, maybe it is.

                                  Watercolor and ink on paper 5.5x8.25

Idyllic

This will most likely be my last studio piece of 2013, and for the first time in a long time, I feel I am making progress and showing growth.  The sky turned out how I wanted.  The mountains, for the most part, as well.  I was able to layer colors down (successfully), one on top of the other, to give this painting a more complex  look and feel.

                        Watercolor on 140lbs watercolor block 9x12

Shade in the Valley

I probably should have used a bigger brush.  However, I wanted to be outside painting rather than in my studio, so I had my cotman travel set and the niji waterbrushes, not the larger flat brushes.  The cool shadows below the tree did not turn out the way I intended, but I think the final effect was quite pleasing.

                                      Watercolor on 120lbs paper 9x12


This is the first painting with my modified cotman set.  I finally, after much internal debating, swapped out some of the pan colors that came with set (that I do not use) for other student grade paints.  I say student grade because I have made the leap (finally) to more expensive artist grade watercolor paints.  They should arrive in a week.  I will use them both in the studio and as my new, customizable travel Pocket Palette.  I can hardly wait.

Sleepy Farm in the Waning Days of Summer

There is a special kind of light in the waning days of the summer that tantalizes us with whispers of longer days now past.  It can make us pause as the light captures our attention and freezes a sleepy image in our mind.  And there is something about farms and rolling hills that I associate with this summer light.  

                                          Watercolor on 140lbs paper 9x12