The leaves are just beginning to turn color in Washington Valley Park and I decided to return to a spot I have painted before last April. The colors were not as spectacular as I hoped, but it was a nice hike and I am happy with the results.
Watercolor on 140 lbs block 9x12
Below is the view from the spot I painted, along with my portable easel set up. This beautiful view shows the East Branch Reservoir and the Middle Brook. It is a simple hike to reach. Directly behind me is the Buttermilk Falls.
I used this short hike as an opportunity to try out my new updated travel palette with some of the new colors I have been accumulating. Below is the mix of Daniel Smith and M Graham colors in my new Schmincke watercolor box. It holds both whole and half pans, so I can have lots of the colors I use most and try out other colors. I have extra empty pans and will be rotating other colors in and out of this box.
I did not get to do a sketch crawl like I initially planned but I did take time on Sunday to do some sketches around my neighborhood. There are several little parks where the Bound Brook meanders and I have been wanting to paint them before the color changes. This is the first sketch where I used both M Graham and Daniel Smith watercolors. No reason why I have not done this sooner other than I keep them in two separate kits.
Watercolor on paper 11.0x5.5
This started as me testing hematite genuine in the upper left hand corner of the paper and finished as a loose, warm up sketch. I have been wanting a darker brown and was not sure how much I would like its granulating properties. Turns out, it is quite wonderful. This is also the first watercolor I have done without any kind of under drawing of any kind.
Watercolor on 140 lbs paper 9x12
This is the second time I have painted this tree and enjoyed working on this abstract, loose rendition of it. The tree is the favorite haunt of some beautiful Red-bellied Woodpeckers who have thus far eluded my attempts to photograph them.
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
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
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
I finally feel like an urban sketcher. To my mind, rightly or wrongly, I feel that Barcelona is birth place of this little global movement (or at least one of them). If it is not, then it is certainly one of its centers. So to finally sit at a restaurant on top of Arenas de Barcelona and sketch the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya was a pretty cool experience.
Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 5.5x8.25
I had this ambitious idea of doing one small picture a day (3.5x5.5) but alas, I only had the time and energy to do two. Below is the view from my hotel room. On the left, barely visible, is Sagrada Familia.
Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 3.5x5.5
And here is where the magic happens. The mobile recording studio set up in our hotel.
Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 3.5x11.0
It is a small world. While getting ready to paint in Highland Lakes, Tina's uncle told me I needed to visit the Expeditionary Art website because the artist, Maria Coryell-Martin, does some cool nature watercolors. I already knew about the site because T had bought me my first (and second) Pocket Palette from Maria. In addition, Maria was very generous with her time and expertise. She provided her insights and advice to me while I was preparing to buy artist grade watercolors (Daniel Smith). Here is my first painting using the Pocket Palette and new paints on site.
Why is it a small world? Well, it turns out T's cousin went on the same expedition as Maria. In fact, Maria even did a watercolor portrait of her cousin in watercolors (it is a really cool and unique piece).
Here is my sketch of small lake where T's aunt and uncle live using, of course, my Pocket Palette and Daniel Smith watercolors!
Watercolor and pen & ink on paper 5.5x8.25
No TBT this week, just quick sketch. Snuggle Bear wanted a portrait done, so, of course, I obliged. He was a very patient subject.
Watercolor, pen and ink on paper 5.5x8.25
Here are some old sketches in pencil from 1987. I cannot remember who the girl in the middle was but major points to anyone who can name the political figure at the bottom.
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
I found some old sketch books going through some boxes. And since I am not on Facebook, I do not get the opportunity to participate in Throw Back Thursdays. So, for the month of August, I will be posting my version of TBT. Some of these might have been posting years ago while others will be posted for the first time.
Both of these pencils sketches are from the late 80's and early 90's, a time where my predominant medium, almost exclusively, was simple pencil. At this time I was highly influenced by Frank Miller's Ronin, and the highly stylized cross-hatching technique he employed. While the cross hatching in these are more mundane, they were a departure from what I had been doing: using the sides of a No. 2 pencil to shade and shadow. Later, in college when I began to experiment in color pencils and mix media, I would use a more minimalist and economical line work.
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
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
Because we all knew that eventually. . .I had to. . .
"From the Gecko" is another colorful bastardization of the English language. Roughly translated, it means "from the get go" or to do something at the start or beginning of a project. Yet somehow, it never sounds that way.
Watercolor, pen and ink
And here is the little doodle, starting out as a mess of squiggly lines to test a new pen out that eventually became a lil gecko. You can see the squiggles at the top. When I did an oval, it made me think of a gecko's head. From there is became a more focused doodle.
Watercolor, pen and ink
There are actually several waterfalls at Duke Farms that form an interconnected waterway system of lakes and waterfalls. It all starts with the "Great Waterfall" which was constructed to carry water from the reservoir to Vista Lake. Unfortunately, the Great Waterfall is not always "on" (I think it is on only for an hour a day now) and such was the case last weekend when I took the chance to sketch it. You can see the irregular man-placed stones peaking out between the foliage. It is supposed to be a spectacular view when the water cascades down. I plan to trek out and paint this again when the water is flowing.
Watercolor and ink on paper 5.5x8.25
I was reading a National Geographic article on reviving extint species (de-extinction). The article dealt with the science and of course the morality of the decision (would these reintroduced species become invasive and kill off other extant species?). The article described the work of a team of Spanish and French scientists who reversed time to rivive a wild goat known as a bucardo, or Phyrenean ibex. Unfortately, the one hybrid clone out of 57 that was born alive died within minutes of birth. The science of "how" is far from being completely elucidated.
One of the cooler parts of the article (as if de-extiction is not cool enough itself), was the various artist renditions and models of animals like the wooly mammoth, thylacine and of course, the saber-toothed tiger. Of all the species described, this one fires my imagination the most. And like the drawing of the rhinos, I again choose to make my own toned paper and drew with a dip nib and brown ink. Parts of the drawing does look faded as I tried out an newer brown ink (which I did not like) before finishing with the nut brown ink.
Nut brown ink on toned 140 lbs watercolor paper 9x12
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
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.
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
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
Despite teaching biology in college, I have been accused of a having a willful ignorance of local flora (there is a running joke that I call all small flowering trees dogwoods). While that may be true to an extent, I am not that bad. But here is where I fail to disprove that hypothesis. In our side yard, we have both rhododendrons and rose of sharon growing. And of course, I call them both rose of sharon because, well, it amuses me (sad but true).
Below is a painting of said rhododendron in said side yard. This painting is a rather large and has the distinction of being the first painting on my new en plein air easel and tripod set up (see below). I was very excited to finally get to use my new kit, it makes me feel like a real artist.
Watercolor on 140 lbs watercolor block 12x16
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
If asked, most comic nerds would say that either Barry Winsor-Smith or Big John Buscema are the definitive Conan comic book artists. And I would agree with that (especially when Buscema was inked by Ernie Chan) senitment but there is another, oft forgotten, yet incredibly innovative artist from back in the 70's. Alex Nino was an innovative artist who did some mind blowing things, from wild layouts to incredibly detailed line work.
Most of his work was in the black and white Savage Sword of Conan (SSC). In 1978, Marvel reprinted Savage Sword of Conan #6 (art by Nino) in color for the first time in Marvel Treasury Edition #19. At the time I had no idea who Alex Nino was, but I read and stared at that issue for hours on end. His work has continued to amaze and inspire me. Below is my adaption of one of the panels from that SSC story. As always, click to embiggen'.
Pen & Ink with watercolor on 200 lbs watercolor paper 14x10
Here is the picture before I painted it. As you can see, I only lightly inked it before adding watercolors. After the paint dried, I went back and add more detail in ink.
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
Barry Winsor-Smith may very well be my most favorite artist. His run on Conan in the early 70's was awesome. His subsequent return to Conan or a Conan inspired genre like Freebooters was nothing short of magnificent.
So when I wanted to practice using watercolor to do more comic book like art, it made since to use him as a guide. It took some research to figure out how to make decent skin tones (the key is to heavily dilute the reds and add a touch of burnt sienna). I also like how many artists (including BWS) include cool blues in the shadows. I might have over done it a bit with the blue but I think I better understand it now.
Overall, the results are not half bad, by Crom!
Watercolor and ink on 140 lbs watercolor paper 9x12
I did a simple hike in Washington Valley Park and for the first time brought tube paints along with my Pocket Palette (dried paints). It was crazy windy by the East Branch Reservoir where I set up but the sun was warm. With the wind whipping by, I had to work fast. The result was this groovy, abstract painting. I love the juicy washes in the sky and the evergreen trees using the tube paint. I can see why many Urban Sketchers bring tubes along with them on site.
Watercolor on 140 lbs watercolor board 9x12
Here is the actual photo. It was so windy that the clouds were constantly changing and moving by, altering the shadows they threw on the trees and water below. While I painted, several college-aged kids hop across the little rock bridge in the foreground that was partially submerged. None fell in.
Slowly, Spring is starting to return. The weather is trying to get warmer. More and more birds are showing up at our feeder. We see robins, cardinals, finches, chickadees, bluejays and a few others I have not yet identified. And they make great subject matter.
This painting is a departure from all the landscapes I have done recently. It is always good to try something new. Plus, it allowed me to do more drawing before the watercolors, which was fun.
Watercolor on 140 lbs watercolor paper 9x12
The name of this Triad is called Reflections (Blue Apatite Genuine, Deep Sap Green and Transparent Brown Oxide) and it is an apt name. What lovely granulating washes the blue apatite made for the distant mounts and the deep sap green is so lush I did use my favorite, verditer blue for the sky and water.
I like the haphazard washes and energy in the water and mountains. I also like how the sky and granulated blue mountains gives it a feel of a rainy day, which are perfect days for reflections.
Watercolor on 140 lbs watercolor block 9x12
And the title also follows the great tradition of similar titles and concepts.
