I’ve been scanning a box of photos so I can throw out the originals and declutter my space. Recently, I found this small seascape, painted in 1994. Back then, I usually copied from photos in magazines, but I made up this scene in my head.
At the time, I remember being so proud of myself because this was the first watercolor that turned out the way I wanted. I’ve kept it around all these years as a memento of that feeling. Now I’ve thrown out the original, but I still have the memory.
I hope everybody has a prosperous and productive New Year. Because 2011 was so crazy for me and I have no idea what will happen in 2012, I’ve decided not to declare any set goals. I did write a list of things that I would like to accomplish, but I have no idea if any of those things will happen the way I would like them. I feel under so much pressure to make every spare moment count for something, so I should be able to make some sketches to post here in any case. I think that will be good enough for now!
This is my submission for this month’s Virtual Paintout, located on the island of Sardinia. Looking around on Google Street View, I thought that this would be the perfect vacation spot for me. I love the dramatic landscape, and the sea is so beautiful. I would love to go there for a week or two and paint lots of watercolors.
This is my submission for the July VPO which is on the Island of Jersey. I usually don’t wait so long before submitting my painting, and I finished just in time. I started this picture earlier on in the month, but didn’t get around to finishing it until yesterday. I painted in watercolor first, and then went over it with the colored pencils. Finally, I used the colorless blender to brighten up the colors and smooth them out a bit. Since I was working on watercolor paper, I couldn’t hide the tooth of the paper, but I’ve always liked this effect because it allows me to get really bright colors. I wasn’t trying to be especially realistic with the colors and was going for something happy and sunny instead.
This scene is based on a photo I took on a small private beach in Maine that I found while taking a walk along the coast. I made one sketch beforehand, rearranged the rocks just a bit, and changed the colors. Blue is my favorite color, can you tell?
I was doing some sketching earlier from some photos I took in Maine last summer. It was a mental escape from my actual environment right now, as seen over at Sketching in Nature.
I hope everyone has a peaceful and relaxing Christmas with your families. I am planning on having a nice one myself. I will be back next week with my review of 2010 and my 2011 Art Goals.
I did a lot of artwork, but nothing really turned out well and I ended up wasting a lot of paper. It’s probably because I am preoccupied about the election. I distracted myself by watching the documentary Helvetica (see below clip). I never really liked the font because it always reminded me of big cities. After watching this, I realize why I think of the city, but the font itself seems more neutral to me.
After that I did a few sketches of the ocean, and tried to stay off the news. Until tonight of course, and then I won’t be able to unglue myself from the radio and the internet.
This is a sketch I made of the ocean at low tide when I was visiting Ogunquit, Maine a few weeks ago. It was a nice mid week mini-trip and I took lots of reference photos. I will most likely start working from these when I finish the big drawing that I am working on (more on that later this week) and get everything else settled down.
I am very busy these days, but also very excited. In a few weeks, I will have a new studio to show you all! The walls are purple, which is not my first choice, but I am still very excited. I never had a separate space all to myself for my artwork so this is an excellent development for me. Right now everything is all a shambles and I don’t have my supplies organized yet, so I will be making sketches with ball point pens for the next few days.
This month I’m posting my Virtual Paintout submission a bit later than I normally do. In fact, I almost skipped participating altogether because of a lot of other things I had going on this particular month with various classes and commitments. I’m glad I did it though, and I had fun making this drawing.
It was pouring rain last weekend and I made this drawing while listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio. I missed doing something in colored pencil, so I decided to change it up a bit this time around. My elbow was killing me the next day though. Next time I decide to do anything in colored pencil, I am going to pace myself and spend a few days working on it.
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