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A Process

Once in a while I take photos of a work in progress.  This is for me as well as others as the work moves from stage to stage.  And it is done in stages with defined processes for each step.  On this walkway overpass up in Spruce Pine, I've done both an ink / marker and an Ink / Wash on the same piece. This is the finished watercolor of the work.  To start the process I did an ink drawing of it and then took a tracing from that.  It's the tracing where I did another ink drawing but this time on watercolor paper. Tracings of a work is done with standard tracing paper.  I get mine from CheapJoes.com and use the 8x10 size as that covers most of my needs.  The tracing is done with a 0.3 ink pen (Winsor & Newton Fineliner).  Once I have the tracing I can then use it for other paper or to do another work of the same subject. The tracing is just a start as I still need to get it transferred onto other paper.  For that you need a very bright light...
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Still Life

 Life is never still, at least I don't think you would want it to be.  That's why so many of us (i.e., retired care free people) travel.  Keep seeing new things and places.   Well the Hurricane so far inland was a new thing and one I would have rather forgone but life is what happens.  Life keeps moving. Except a still life is forever and captures a slice of time frozen in a painting.  This is from a wooden bowl of pears onboard our ship during dinner one nice.  Again, just thought it looked nice. Enjoy.
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A Trip Abroad

 Just back from our trip abroad as Asheville continues to recover from the hurricane.  This trip has been planned for a long time and we almost didn't make it because our dog sitting business will be closed for a while. But make it we did and now we are back. We love Amsterdam.  What a fun place to visit.  So many things to too and do there.  The weather was not the best but it did not have an impact on our visit.  Just bundle up. Got some quick painting in while on the boat (i.e., Viking) as we moved from port to port.  This painting is of a garden at a heritage site of windmills.  I thought it looked nice. Nice time on the trip to de-stress from what was happing back home.  We were fine back home but not everything is well with many others.
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So THIS is My Style?

 If I play around long enough my style will appear.  I'm guessing that this is kind of it.  I'll keep working on other techniques in watercolor but for now this appears to be my style. I do like it and others appear (to my face) to also like this.  Not every one of my paintings is a success.  About 1/3 so far, but when they do I am rather pleased that anything good comes out of it at all. I do love color.  Color is happy and outdoors is full of color, be it the west or back east with the greens.  Color color color. Also doing some painting on hot press paper and see how that goes. Later......
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Well, Ya Always Gotta to Try

It's easy to paint something like you have done before, so once in a while I step out of my comfort box.  In this case it's a landscape but it's a busy landscape.  Lots going on and hard to do.   So it's back to basics.  Photo : check, drawing : check, Paint : check.... and it kinda works out.  Yeah it's more or less the same style but looks alright (at least me wife likes it). I remembered to take a couple of photos while I was working on it.  This photo shows my setup and process with my iPad and drawing from a photo.  Not working on an easel, just on my desk. One last thing.  I have a number of frames squired away for my work as framing a piece can really make a huge difference in how it looks.  I also have a mat cutter and some extra mat board so fitting my work to a frame is not too hard. Anyway, enjoy.
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Been a long time

 It's been quite a while.  Yup, I told some time off from art because of ..... pickle ball, summer, travel but more of all, I was very unsure that I could produce art that I myself liked.  Slowly I got back into it and started to "get" a style in my watercolor.   Ink I can do but I wanted to have COLOR.  Watercolor is tough and very tough for me as I was looking for a style to call my own.  I bought a small journal to take with me on hiking the CT / MA section and did some painting.  That was not the breakthrough though. For the first timeI painted with other non-painters in the same room!  Very scary!  It was on a trip down on Dewee's island off the coast of SC.  I had just gotten a new small W&N Cotman watercolor "landscape" set to use and took an afternoon off from fishing to do some work. The results where very pleasing to me.  It was the break through I was looking for.  Not every one was a winner but my style was comi...
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3rd Try is a Charm

I've been trying to draw / paint these barns for a couple of years but never felt or got them right.  This time I think they turned out right. So What went wrong before and what's right now with this drawing?  This time, the light was right.  It's coming from the upper right and the shadows just looked right.  The other thing is the corn field on the left had to "be in season", otherwise it's just a plowed field.  I had taken other photos from different angles but they never felt right.  This angle has the road, power lines, corn field, etc. all leading to the right.  The shadows on the lower right helps fill in that corner (don't forget about the corners!).  The last part is trying to draw (ink paint maybe) the trees in the background.  Not so easy when they are kind of a blob is green shades. So yeah, it's composition that is king.  Many times I just don't see it until the drawing / painting is finished and when it's right it feels goo...
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