Comfort Cottage

Dreaming of Paradise

It reached 78 degrees here in Pennsylvania today.  I pulled up the shades, threw open the windows, and dreamed of faraway places again.  My art reflected my mind's wanderings.  I pulled a photo of Lake Erie from my archives and was instantly transported to sandy beaches and churning surf.

 

 

I could almost feel the sun and the sea spray on my face!

 

A few notes on today's painting:

 

 

As you can see from the shiny areas, I used a masquepen to block out areas I wanted to remain white: seafoam and spray, and beach grasses and shell fragments on the beach.  I washed in the sky with a pale wash of Cobalt Blue mixed with a touch of Pthalo Blue (green shade).  I painted around the cloud areas and then wet the inside edges of the clouds to allow the sky mix to bleed into them a bit.  I used varying mixes of chromium oxide green and Pthalo Blue on the lake.

 

 

The fence posts we're added with a mixed of raw umber and payne's gray.

 

 

For the sand, I used a variety of techniques to produce the texture: splattering, stippling, varied washes of burnt umber and french ultramarine with burnt sienna.  After removing the masking from the grasses, I stroked them in with a 10/0 liner using a variety of mixes of sap green, raw sienna, cadmium red and burnt sienna.  I left some of the tips white to suggest sun sparkle.  The cast shadows from the grass were applied with weak payne's gray.   I used sepia acrylic ink and a fine nib dip pen to add details on the fence and sand.  The grasses were detailed with sap green acrylic ink.

 

 

 

For the rocks of the breakwater, I applied a wash of payne's gray.  While it was still damp, I placed crinkled plastic wrap over it and left it in place until it was almost dry.  This gave me a rock-like pattern.  I then added washes of raw umber and payne's grey and burnt umber.

 

 

At the base of the breakwater, I had forgotten to mask in areas for sea foam.  It can still be created after the fact.  I used a sharp razor and gently scraped the areas that I wanted to be white.  It makes a fairly convincing seafoam.  I did the same where the water meets the beach.  On the edges of the grasses on the far left, I wanted to suggest sun sparkle, so I used the razor to gently scrap away a little of the color.

 

 

We're still two months away from kayak season, so I'll just have to settle for painting the water!  I know many of you are taking the Strathmore Online Workshop with Cathy Johnson too.  How's it going for you?  I'd love to hear from you. 

 

Until next time,

 

 

 

 

Painting The Barn

Yesterday's post about the barn got me  to thinking.  What a great page for Strathmore's art journal workshop! 

 

 

Pennsylvania Barn

8" x 10"

Watercolor and Pen and Ink on 140lb. cold pressed paper

 

I took a few photos for you as I worked.

 

 

I began with a light pencil sketch.  I washed in the first layer on the barn with a mix of alizarin crimson and burnt sienna.  Using a crumpled tissue I blotted to create some underlying texture.

 

 

I deepened the wash on the window side and under the eaves.  I mixed in a little raw umber and paynes grey to suggest shadowing.  Using a  masque pen, I masked out some blades of dead grass and then washed the ground in raw sienna plus DaVinci Mauve (a deep purple).  I deepened the wash in places and placed touches of burnt sienna, raw umber and burnt umber.  I also splattered some of the ground mixes and also did some stippling with a dip pen and sepia ink.  I mixed darker washes for the ground below at the level of the foundation.  The evergreens were tapped in with hookers green and sap green.  I mixed a bit of burnt sienna in with the greens to tone them down a bit.  It was overcast that day, so I used a weak wash of Idanthrene Blue and Davinci Orange to get the muddy gray color of the sky.  I further deepened the area to the left by adding a bit more blue and some burnt sienna to the sky mix to add a little bit of drama.

 

 

I wanted to show you a close up of the grass before I removed the masking fluid.

 

 

The masquepen is a great way to block out fine lines for things like grass.  It preserves the lightest tones and whites while you complete the details, such as repeated washes, splattering and deeper strokes for the blades of grass.  When you're finished with those, a clean white eraser rubbed over the dried masking fluid will remove it easily.  Just don't leave it on for more than a day or so.  It might be tough to remove.

 

I did the roof in Paynes gray, bruised the paper with the end of the brush to simulate the grooves in the metal and then deepened parts of the wash further.  For the wood siding at the top of the barn, I washed in a mix of sepia and payne's gray.  I followed with varying mixes of burnt umber, burnt sienna, paynes gray, raw umber and raw sienna, stroked in with a size 2 round brush.  I inked in the details with a fine nib and sepia acrylic ink.  The dead tree branches are a weak mix of raw sienna and paynes gray.  I did some inking with sepia ink.

 

 

I love this old barn.  I hope it's around for another one hundred years.  If you would like to see the original photos and read about it's history, you can click here.  That's all for now!

 

Until next time,

 

 

 

 

 

Harbor Cottage

I've been busy working on another painting for Strathmore's online workshop with Cathy Johnson.  This is one of my favorite scenes in Bass Harbor, Maine.

 

Harbor Cottage

8" x 10"

Watercolor and Pen and Ink on 140lb. cold pressed paper

 

I worked from my original photograph.  I could move right in there.  This was a really fun scene to paint.  I did a fairly detailed drawing to start.  I know it's a bit difficult to make out, but it gives the general idea.  I used a 4H pencil.  It's a hard drawing pencil that doesn't smear like a regular no. 2 pencil.

 

I took some photos of the process of working the wood shakes.  The extra steps to create texture make all the difference.  I penciled in my guide lines:  without them, they would end up quite crooked!

 

 

Next, I mixed a pale wash of Payne's Gray and Burnt Umber and layed it in over the guides.

 

 

This was leaning toward the brown side.  If you'd like a grayer wash, add a little more Payne's gray.

 

 

Using a fine nib and FW sepia acrylic ink, I loosely worked in the shingles over the dried wash.

 

To give the shakes a more random and authentic appearance, I drew in cracks and deeped some of the linework with the ink.

 

 

I deepened the Payne's Gray/Burnt Umber wash under the shakes with a 3/8" angle shader.  This is not actually a brush that is meant for watercolor, but it helps to acurately place your shading.

 

 

I loaded some of the same mix onto a flat brush and splattered it for texture.  My splattering technique varies.  For this application, I held the brush close to the surface and tapped it on my finger.  You can leave the splatters full strength, or blot them to mute them.

 

 

Finally, I took a small sponge dipped in the same mix and lightly tapped it over the shakes.

 

This is the original photo I worked from:

 

 

I warmed up the colors for my painting and left out a few things that I thought were distracting.  There was a beautiful apple tree on the left of the house, but I didn't include the detail, as it would have pulled the attention away from the porch scene.  I also kept the texturing to a minimum on the cement (just a little sponging to give it a mottled appearance).  The cast shadows were done with Payne's gray.

 If you click on this link, you can check out the blog that Cathy has on watercolor journaling.  It's colorful and informative and it will inspire you to start your own watercolor journal.

 

Until next time,

 

 

 

 

 

Maine From My Brush Tip

Strathmore's second online workshop began yesterday.  Our workshop leader is Cathy Johnson.  Cathy has published a number of books over the years about painting in watercolor.  Her book Creating Textures In Watercolor was the very first book I purchased  on this wonderful medium.  I decided to make my trip to Maine last summer the subject for my art journal for the workshop.   I wanted to express my emotion for this amazing place in a more visceral way than I could with the camera alone.

 

 

Cathy is encouraging us to paint from life, but unfortunately, a congenital abnormality in my vision prevents this.  I don't see with both eyes simultaneously-my vision continually switches between the right and left eye.  My brain can't fuse the two.  Consequently,  when I try to draw from life without surrounding visual cues, such as the edge of a photograph, I end up drawing from two different perspectives.  Alas, I must take plenty of accurate photographs and paint in the studio :)

I'll share a little of my process with you, so you can follow how I arrived at the finished product.

 

 

I began with a very light pencil drawing and then started laying in color.  I did a gradated wash of cobalt blue, and then blotted out some of the cloud areas.  I used payne's gray for the dark areas at the top of the lighthouse, and cadmium red medium for the small roof peak.  I mixed the red with payne's gray for the lamp.  I mixed cad red, cobalt blue and raw sienna for a muddy gray to shade under the eaves.  It initially looked too red, so I glazed a bit of payne's gray over the shadows.

 

 

I worked the branches with raw sienna and raw umber.  I tapped in the foliage with hookers green and leaf green.  I toned down both greens with a bit of burnt sienna mixed in.

 

 

I splattered in more color for texture in the foliage.  I laid in a wash of raw sienna for the ground, and then splattered and blotted to give texture.  I used the same green mixes for the ground.  Very pale dry brushing and washing was added to the walls of the building with raw sienna and burnt sienna.

 

 

I deepened my colors and then began inking in the details.  I used a black Sakura Pigma Micron 02 pen to add a bit of line work around the windows, walls, and roof.  I used a dip pen with a fine nib for the rest of the line work.  I worked the details in FW acrylic inks:  sap green for trees and grass, sepia for branches and ground texture and cool grey for hints of brick work and siding on the building.

 

Bass Harbor Head Light

8" x 10"

Watercolor and Pen and Ink on 140lb. cold pressed paper

 

I'm looking forward to sharing more of my watercolor interpretation of the Maine coast as the workshop progresses.  I hope you'll join me for the adventure!

Until next time,

 

 

 

Summer Rental

It's that time of year when one's thoughts turn to spring, and the longing to be in some distant paradise grows strong.  It's all my hubby's fault :)  A few weeks ago, I came downstairs, groggily wiping the sleep out of my eyes.  Hubby had gone shopping, presumably for food. He called up the stairs to me that he had gotten me a treat.  I arrived in the kitchen expecting chocolate muffins, and didn't notice the very large box on the island.  As I searched the bags for those elusive muffins, he finally pointed at the box rather gleefully and said, "Didn't you see what I got for you?"  I nearly fell over as a bright and shiny new Epson Artisan printer stared back at me.  I wanted to tell you about it, but after my son was injured, everything else was pushed to the back burner.  But the plot thickens...

Last weekend, again, first thing in the morning, he went "food" shopping.   Now, let me explain that my printer wasn't the only piece of equipment that was standing on it's last leg.  My computer had begun to sound like a jet taking off, it didn't like to boot, and after my last experience with another of these infernal machines burning up, I had the feeling that I should have a fire extinguisher handy before I turned it on!  Unbeknownst to me, the tax return had shown up the day before.  My darling hubby presented me with a new computer, courtesy of our little windfall.  I need to start getting up earlier on the weekends to keep an eye on him :)

 

So what, you ask, does this have to do with longing to be in a distant paradise?  I began printing out photos from my trip to Maine yesterday!  Also, I finished a new piece of art - a mixed media collage based on one of my photos.

 

Summer Rental

16" x 20"

Mixed media on canvas board

 

I never thought that wall joint compound and plaster bandaging could be so exciting.  I used them to create a textured surface before painting.  After I did the inital laying in of color, I used some of the fire-trap-of-a-magazine-collection in my studio to add more color and texture.  Tearing paper is very satisfying :)  I adhered the paper with Liquitex Matte Medium.  I did the final acrylic glazes and enhanced some of the edges with a General's Carbon pencil.  It's not as soft and crumbly as a charcoal pencil, but it gives a good dark line over the paint and plaster.

I start Workshop 2 at Strathmore Online Workshops on Wednesday.  Watercolorist Cathy Johnson will be leading the workshop.  I had purchased her first book, Creating Textures In Watercolor in 1992.   She has a wonderful blog, Artist's Journal Workshop where you can find all sorts of ideas, inspiration, and other artists.

Her new book, Artist's Journal Workshop:  Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures, was released this year.

That's all for now.  Tomorrow, it's off to New Jersey to see my sister.

Until next time,

 

Feloons

This one was inspired by my sister's cat, Gus. He's a huge orange tabby that looks like a balloon with four paws. I just couldn't help myself :)

 

Feloons

18 x 24

Mixed media on 140lb Cold Pressed Paper

Materials: DaVinci watercolors, Caran D'Ache Neocolor IIs, Portfolio Oil Pastels; Decoart Americana Acrylics, Speedball Super-Pigmented Black Ink, Bic Wite-Out Correction Pen, Watercolor brushes round, size 8 and flat size 10, liner size 2, bubble wrap, hand-carved rubber stamps

 

Until next time,

 

Paint Out Loud

I worked on another spontaneous water-media painting today.  Come on in to the studio and I'll share the process!

 

 

Initially, it looked rather ugly, but I'm learning to roll with the process.  If I let that pesky inner critic of mine get the upper hand, I'd never get past the first step!  I sprayed some watered down watercolor over some stencils.  Then, I remembered Traci, our wonderful workshop teacher suggesting that we find different ways to make marks with common objects.  I took a bamboo skewer (the kind that normal people would make shish-kabob with), dipped it into acrylic ink, and dragged it across the paper to make star shapes.

 

 

Using Davinci watercolor in Indian Yellow, I painted some shapes with a size 8 round brush.

 

 

I chose three of my hand-carved rubber stamps, and stamped patterns using Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons to apply color.

 

 

As I developed this painting, I started thinking about what I'm about as an artist and a person.  Mostly, what you see is what you get with me.  I'm excited about making art, enthusiastic, and I believe in letting it show.  I'm not afraid of color (can't you tell?) and I want people to be excited when they look at my art.  No snoring allowed!  I want my art to exude joy.  Life has enough of its own troubles with adding somber, sad art to the mix.  I want to lift others out of that sadness, and make their hearts skip a beat!  The affirmations I've included in this piece reflect this philosophy.  I penned them with a Sakura Brush marker.  I love the Sakura pigma pens.  Once they dry, you can get them wet or paint over them, and they absolutely will not smear or bleed!

 

 

At this point, the piece needed something to help tie it together.  Since I've used so many warm colors in it, I decided to spray a watered-down wash of DaVinci Lemon Yellow over it.  It is the cooler of the yellows, and it served to make the other elements pop out more.  I then used a Bic Wite-Out Correction pen to "find the doodle in the doodle" as Traci says.  As I stepped back, I realized that it needed some cooler dark accents.  I used a Cobalt Blue Neocolor II crayon for this.

 

 

The last step was to use a red Sharpie pen to add more linework to the red flowers.  The best, however was yet to come.  Traci told us to take close-ups of selected pieces of the finished work.  As I looked at these photos, I began seeing all sorts of possibilities.

 

 

Some of them would make fabulous original note cards.

 

 

This would make a great framed print for the studio.

 

 

This would be great printed on a coffee mug for a favorite artist friend.

 

 

And wouldn't this make a cool cover for an art journal, or sketchbook journal?

 

Well my friends, it is 11 p.m. in Morgantown, and I'm about to turn into a pumpkin!  I'll be back soon with more fun in the studio.  If you haven't checked out Traci Bautista's fabulous online workshop, Doodles Unleashed yet, please do.  And while you're at it, why not visit Traci's blog, Creativity Unleashed?  It is an artist's garden of inspiration.  I promise you, you'll have a fantastic time and you will come away on fire for making art.  God bless you all, and I'll see you again soon!

 

Until next time,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making My Mark

Today I'm sharing my first piece of art for Week 2 of Traci Bautista's online workshop, Doodles Unleashed.  This week we're working BIG.  The idea is to explore making marks with different water media and stamps.  The finished piece will be cut apart later in the workshop, and used for other art.  I worked it on Strathmore 400 series 140lb cold pressed watercolor paper.  I photographed my process in order to give you a closer look at how my work evolves.

I'll begin with the scene of the crime:

 

For this project, I'll be using two brushes:  a one-inch flat, and a size 8 round.  I worked at my easel so the paint could roll freely down the paper.  Watercolor paper has two sides to it-a smooth side, and a more textured side.  To enhance and speed the dripping, I used the smooth side.  I kept a spray bottle filled with water handy in case the drips didn't roll far enough down the page. 

 

 

Using my flat brush, I loosely painted lines and squiggles.  I mostly use DaVinci Tube Watercolors.  They are a professional grade product, which means that they have a very high concentration of pigment and very little filler.

 

 

Next, I added thinner lines with the round brush and some affirmation words.  I used a limited color palette.  It's important not to mix colors with their complements (Complementary colors are those that are positioned opposite one another on the color wheel).  If you do, you'll get mud!

This project gave me the chance to use my own hand-carved rubber stamps.

 

 

A few were derived from Dover images, but most are my own hand-drawn designs.  I chose two of my own designs to use for my painting.

 

At this point, I switched to using Caran D'Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayons.  I experimented with getting a good coating of color onto the stamp.  I found that the strongest images were produced when I swiped the stamp with a damp flat brush, and then rubbed the crayon over the stamp until there was a generous coating of color on it. 

 

 

After stamping, I used Derwent watercolor pencils to enhance the images.  I kept a small cup of water close, and dipped the pencils directly into the water as I worked.

 

 

It's time to step back and assess my progress!

 

 

Now, it's time to pull it all together.  I used Portfolio Water-Soluble Oil Pastels and Caran D'ache Neocolor II crayons to add in blocks of color and accents.

 

 

 

 

After I shot this photo, I noticed the curious effect of the light filtering through the blinds.  I think that it would be interesting when printed out and incorporated into a collage.

 

 

My Neocolor IIs are my favorite art supplies!

 

 

I decided to use my alphabet stencils at the end so I could choose small parts of them and place them where they would be visible.  I sprayed watered down watercolor paint over them.  I love the look of splattered paint.  I had a Neocolor II crayon in my hand, so I tried dipping it in the water and flinging it over the paper.  It worked great!  A word of caution if you have bad aim:  cover the wall behind your easel.  Fortunately, I painted my walls with scrubbable paint.  Dark blue splatters were not what I had in mind when I decorated the room!

 

 

 

 

I hope you've enjoyed this time in my studio.  Let me know what you think of the post.  If the response is positive, I'll plan more posts like it in the future.  Happy painting!

 

Until next time,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discover

Over this weekend I painted the third in my series for Traci Bautista's online workshop, Doodles Unleased.   To see all of my work for this workshop, you can click here.

 

 

Materials:  Jo-Sonya's Artist's Gouache, Portfolio Water-Soluble Oil Pastels, Bic Wite-Out Correction Pen, Speedball Super-Pigmented Acrylic Black Ink, 140lb cold pressed watercolor paper, Sharpie markers

 

I hope your weekend was a restful one.  Blessings to you.

 

Doodles Unleashed!

Hi there!  Sorry I've been away for a few days.  I've been busy working on art for Tracy Bautista's online workshop, Doodles Unleashed.  It's one of three, free workshops being offered at Strathmore Artist Studio.  Tracy is the author of Collage Unleashed, and her new book, Doodles Unleashed is due to be released in February.

I have two paintings to share with you.  It was so much fun to work without any preconceived plan. 

 

 

I've tried lots of "opaque" white pens, but Bic's Wite-Out correction pen is by far the best!  It really pops against a colored background.  I did the black line-work with a script liner brush and Speedball's Super-Pigmented Acrylic Ink.  It flows beautifully off of the brush.  I used Jo-Sonya's Artist's Gouache, diluted it with water for the first layer and sprayed it over plastic canvas and stencils.  You can find the spray bottles at your local discount store or dollar store.  I used the paint full strength to paint in shapes.  I enhanced the color a little with Portfolio water-soluble oil pastels.  The piece was worked on Strathmore's Windpower 140lb cold-pressed watercolor paper.

 

 

On this one I printed the texture with bubble wrap (can you tell?).  I also sprayed diluted artist's gouache over plastic canvas and torn masking tape.

 

Stay tuned for more Doodles Unleashed through January.  Also, on the horizon, I will be participating Brave Girls' new online workshop, Body Restoration.  Yes, I've decided that it's time to do something about my health.  Brave Girls' workshops are both fun and supportive.  You can check out the new workshop here.

That's all for now.  I hope your New Year is full with life and love.  God bless you all!