More California Auto Museum sketches

Here are the other sketches from the California Auto Museum Plein air Painting Meet-up. 

This top one is a quick pencil sketch of the car that you see when you first walk in.

 The second one is my "entrance fee", a 10 minute sketch on a note card (it was more like 25 minutes) that I donated to the museum.

 Here is a compilation of the other artists' note cards. I am not sure whose is who's, except for the bottom one. Martha Esch was working on the same 1935 Cadillac as I was sketching.

Watercolor Painting of Model T Ford at the California Auto Museum

Painting cars has never been something that I have done much of since my goal is to be out in nature as much as possible, but I was invited to a Plein Air meet-up at the California Auto Museum and decided it would be a good challenge. Martha Esch, the host of the event, had arranged for our "payment" into the museum to be a quick sketch on a note card to be donated to the museum. What an awesome idea! Of course my quick sketch ended up taking me almost 30 minutes.

It was quite an honor being able to go inside the museum to paint, as long as we didn't spill or clean our brushes like Bob Ross ( ha ha!) There are so many great cars there from a Delorean to a Dodge Pacer. The cars are placed close together though so it was hard to get a good spot to paint. I found a Model T that was in a nice quiet corner. The museum lighting was the hardest part to work with. The model T had a flat finish so reflection was minimal. But then determining how much detail to add or omit was challenging as well. Overall I think it turned out well.

Check out more sketches from this trip to the California Auto Museum here.

Plein air painting at the pond fountain at Land Park

So I finally get outside to do some plain air painting with our Plein Air Meetup group, and its 106 degrees out! I wonder why only a couple of us showed up? It actually didn't feel too bad in the shade next to the water. I was working with some new paints today that are much better quality than the $5 set of twelve tubes I was working with before. The tricky part is that there are only 5 colors...it just lends for more practice color-blending. They are made with a honey base so they have more brilliant color and don't dry as fast on the palette ( that was particularly important on a hot day like today).
I'm still trying to figure out the reflection and ripple effect that is created by water, so I keep challenging myself with it. My last attempt was at Hagan Park and today I'm at Land Park.  I started at the top with the sky and worked my way down with the trees and grass, and finishing with the pond.  I "cheated" a little bit because I used white paint to create the water spray (most watercolorists would say to use the white of the paper instead but without masking fluid, it just wasn't going to work). Although there were a couple other people painting, I was so totally focused, I probably wasn't very good company.

Bridge over the American River

Today was such a beautiful day in Sacramento, I just had to get outside.  I've been cooped up inside because of rain or just being to cold to go out. (Ha, ha! I know I'm talking low 50's here. I'm just spoiled with California weather)  I have just been trying to get over this creative block that prevents me from even getting started.  But the good part of this is that I'm actually caught up on my blogging and I actually did this TODAY! (Not last month or a couple of weeks ago like I normally start) 

 It has been a while since I was out painting along the American River, but I am drawn to this peaceful strip of land amidst the hustle and bustle of Sacramento.  The Watt Avenue Bridge is one of those spots that the two converge.  I particularly liked the pattern of light and dark created by the support beams, and especially the triangles of afternoon light formed by the sun peeking under the bridge.

I've been working on different techniques such as mixing the color directly on the paper and using a dry brush. I like the way the dry brush strokes on the bottom left created the appearance of the sun shimmering off the rapids in the water.  I'm still working on being patient enough to let areas of the painting dry before laying down the next layer. Sometimes the resulting "bleed" creates a nice effect, like the trunk of the tree on the left. Other times its not so good (under the middle of the bridge).  I also feel there are some perspective issues on the bridge...next time I will need to bring a ruler or straight edge to keep my lines and perspective straight!

Model painting January

Back to Patris Art Studio for more figure drawing opportunities!  I'm not much of a plein aire fan when its cold  or the weather is unpredictable so I've been working indoors. There was quite a crowd there, so I know I'm not the only one that feels that way! Plus I can't pass up  the chance to have a free model every second Saturday.  I find the challenge more in the clothing than the figure.  This particular time, the model is wearing a fur jacket and hat (faux fur, I hope). The sheen on the jacket is difficult to capture as well as the texture of the collar. I like the way I was able to capture the "letter" and the bench she was on through negative painting.

dry erase pen  vs. vis-a-vis pen

 
The second drawing was a detail of the face of the same pose (since it was a long pose). I tried the Expo pen again to continue experimenting with it.  I did a little test in the bottom right corner to check how much it would bleed when wet: first with the Expo dry erase pen and then with a Vis-a-vis pen (also by Expo by the way). The dry erase held up much better to the water. The picture turned out a little "cartoony" but I like it.  It is definitely a different style for me. I also felt more confident with my washes without worrying about losing detail.
 I noticed the I've been stuck on profiles so I'll have to get there early next month so I'm in front and not on the side of the model again! Can you tell it's the same model from my December sketches?

That's me on the FAR left! Photo by Patris

Model sketching December

I haven't done a drawing from a model for over 20 years, back when I was in college. So in the spirit of trying new things, I went to Patris Studio and Gallery (formerly Studio S12 but renamed due to moving to a new location on 26th St). The great thing is that every second Saturday of the month, they have a free model sitting from 3-6:00 pm. The host of the event is Patris, a very sweet and artistic lady, that makes you feel right at home.  She has a lot of her artwork displayed in her gallery as well as work from several other artists - quite impressive works!

The model was doing one long pose, but I decided to just do some pencil drawings to start. When I went to look for my watercolors, I had forgotten them, but I had some pastels instead. So I thought they worked well as just a background color. Since the model wasn't moving, I decided I needed to move to get some different perspective.  There were so many other artists at the studio taking advantage of this opportunity that the choices were limited, so I ended up all the way on the side where the model's profile had direct lighting.

I definitely had a good time at this studio. I'm going to put this on my calender for next month!  Patris offers classes, other model sessions, and more...check out her blog  at http://patrisstudiogallery.blogspot.com/

Wet on wet (on wet!)

On a cold winter Saturday morning, I went down to the American River to practice some wet-on-wet techniques. The sky was more of a dark grey, and the trees were probably not as green as the color I picked, but I was just laying some background color in to represent the far bank of the river. The near bank was just mud and grass so I started with laying down brown and some green highlights.

At this point, I've been wetting just the area of paper that I'm going to color and then laying in the color, moving it around to cover the space, tilting my pad slightly to allow gravity to help. I tried to keep a thin area of dry paper between each section to keep it all from bleeding together (had some trouble with that on the far left). 

And then it started to rain! So my very wet paper started to get even more wet, but each raindrop was creating a nice effect on my painting. (I wonder if I could recreate the effect in a controled environment?)  At some point though, I had to cover it for fear of complete destruction of the peice, but in the process of trying to protect it from the rain I touched the wet paper causing blemishes on the left side.

So the question that I have now: Where do I go from here? Add in details- trees, reeds -to cover the blemishes and finish the scene I started? Or, as I look at this scene now, I'm more reminded of a starry night on Lake Tahoe.  Or just paint the Golden Gate Bridge and make the foreground San Francisco and the background Marin County. What do you think?

Fishing at William B Pond

I went to William B Pond for the regular “1^st Sunday” meet-up of plein aire painters at 3:00 in the afternoon. There are tons on places to find inspiration here so it turns out I didn’t see any other artists, but sometimes that just takes the pressure off.  I found a spot on the hill above the fishing dock where a man was fishing with his young son (about 3 or 4 years old).  Now fishing is all a relative term because he was spending more time chasing after his son: keeping him from running off, keeping him from climbing the rail, keeping him out of his tackle box.  I kept thinking how he could expect a child sit for hours watching him fish?

I figured this man deserved a spot in my painting. Other than my self portrait, this was my first attempt at putting people into a painting. OK, well I cheated a little bit by sticking him in a chair and you only see his head, but it’s a start, right?

I  found the most challenging part of this was the railing on the dock. Do I paint the rail first and paint the background over it, between it? Or do I paint the rail in last over everything else? After experimenting a little, I figured out that painting it last was probably the best solution in this case. But being outside, it just wasn't drying and it got a little muddy.

By this point the dad had packed up, and the boy, barely being missed by a bike as he ran across the bike trail, was being yelled at as they headed out to the parking lot.

Artist's Way

The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron, is a book focused on the spiritual path to higher creativity.  It helps artists discover what is blocking their creativity and connect (or reconnect) to their art, and the process,  in a spiritual way. I took a 12 week class focused on this book and each of its 12 chapters from Vina Parmar of Awakening Creative Arts . At first, I wasn't sure if this was a class for me, but my wife convinced me that I should at least try it.  After being in the class for 10 minutes, I knew that this was going to be a wonderful experience. 

This was a piece I completed the first night of the class using colored pencils on black construction paper.  I used a layering effect that I had been working on with my watercolor to create texture in the trunk of the tree.  I am not sure where the idea of the eyes came from, but apparently I was thinking of a self-portrait. 

The great thing about this class was that each class exposed us to a new kind of creativity. Everything from colored pencil drawing to poetry writing, dance, vision board, and even sand art!  Each week was an adventure in creativity, and learning not to be afraid of something new. It was the inspiration behind this blog!

Check out upcoming classes in 2013!

http://www.awakeningcreativearts.com/artistsway.htm

Effie Yeaw Nature Area

June 9 - On a beautiful Saturday morning, I decided to go to Effie Yeaw Nature Area for a paint-out where artists were suppose to paint and then display their works for a nominal fee on the patio of the museum.  The museum was planning a fund raiser later that afternoon. I wasn't too sure about displaying my art, but I figured I would go and check out what other artists were doing, take a look around, and do a little painting myself, if I was so inspired.  It had been a while since I had been to Ancil Hoffman Park and Effie Yeaw Nature Area, so I took a stroll around. I was amazed at how much wildlife there was: deer, turkeys, egrets. 

Once I had walked around the nature area, I went to find a nice quiet spot (which is pretty easy since the whole place is quiet!) I set up alongside the path next to a large meadow with my chair (a permanent addition to my plein aire supplies) and my watercolors. My goal in this painting was to focus on not a lot of detail in the background trees, while incorporating as much detail as I could in the tree in the foreground.  I reworked the trunk of the tree several times to get a sense of the texture in the bark. After I was finished, I wished that the oak tree was not so “cut off” but more in the painting.

An additional side note: I had seen so much wildlife in the morning that I thought I should incorporate something into the painting. I decided to put a small deer under the background tree on the left. I did not like the way it was turning out so it quickly became a shadow under the tree instead.

Here's one of the creations of another artist that was at the paint-out.  I really liked the way this watercolor looks.  It actually has the effects that I was working on with the background trees and foreground trees, but I  like the way the bridge turned out!  I took a picture of it on the easel while being displayed for the fundraiser.

Acrylic Class

For my birthday, my wife had gifted me an acrylic painting class at Michael's.  I had been commenting that I had been seeing a lot of plein aire painters using acrylic and that was never a class that I had taken in college. I think one of the things that has held me back was the cost, but as I looked into it more, the paint can be about the same cost as watercolor paint.  Of course that doesn't say much because prices vary SO much depending on the brand and quality of paint.  I'm still in the "cheap as you can get" stage, but the class recommended a basic starter kit including a couple of canvas boards, a brush, a palette knife, and 4 tubes of paint for around $25 (I forget if that was the price before or after the 40% off coupon at Michael's).  

The class was was on a Saturday morning and focused on painting a landscape.  I wasn't sure what to expect, having never been to a Michael's class or any painting class. The teacher had a specific paintings that she had created for us to copy.  The students got to choose which one since some of the students had come before and had already painted some of them (returning students is a good sign she's a good teacher!).  Since there were only 4-5 students in the class, the teacher was able to give each of us individual instruction and steps to work on as she walked around to the others. She walked me through each layer of the painting starting with the evergreens in the back, through the details of shadows and even the cardinal.  Luckily, she shared her plethra of paint colors because it would have been quite the challenge matching her coloring with the primary colors I had!  

The interesting thing about acrylic painting is the layering of colors to create depth, and if there is too much of one color then you add more of another. The white trees in the foreground don't have to be planned out because the paint will go right over it. There is no fear of "mistakes" because you just paint over it! This is much more forgiving than watercolor, but it does have a different effect than the watercolor process.  I'll have to consider using this for plein aire painting, but copying someone's painting is a lot different than copying nature.  And having the artist right next to me giving me pointers is always nice, too!  God just isn't as good at giving pointer's when you're copying his artwork! 

Indian Museum Paint-Out

My first outing with the Plein Aire Meet-up group to Sutter-Jensen Community Park was interesting but also a little intimidating. Not that a little fear is a bad thing, just part of my learning process.  So I signed up for another! This time at the Indian Museum at Sutter's Fort. (and I remembered to bring a chair with me this time!) There are a lot of different scenes around the pond and several artists had already set up their easels, but I was focused on getting my own art started.  That seems to be my biggest challenge: putting that first mark on the page. I'll wander around trying to find something to inspire me, start up a conversation with another artist...procrastinate! But once I get settled in and actually put paint on the page, I can get tuned in.  Maybe that is why I always start with the sky...simple and non-threatening. 

The building I chose was particularly challenging. The first reason being that it was a building! I had always focused on landscape, and although I liked adding in architectural features, it was never the majority of the painting. Painting a building meant that I had  to use straight lines! Another challenge was the white building. The midday shadows made about 10 different shades of white.  Up to this point I had never really thought about how to paint something white with watercolors. It is what you don't paint that makes it white.  I started with a blue wash (as seen it the lower left) then realized I just needed to use black.  A very light wash to start with and then build from there.  The high sun left just a little direct sunlight just between the windows but it kind of got washed out. The lines to imply the bricks was an afterthought but I kind of like the texture it gives to the wall.  I just needed it to be a little more consistant in shape. 

The other challenge I had with this painting is having a light colored object (the Yucca flowers) in front of a dark object (the window frame). The brown color would overpower any other color on top of it so I had to plan the "gaps" where the stems would go while trying to keep a fluid line for the window. I did not plan for some of the lower leaves which seem to be behind the window. I still need to look into this "masking fluid" to keep areas of your painting white.

Overall, I like how my first "building painting" turned out, even with the challenges.  I actually liked the straight lines! And even my oak trees in the background have improved detail from my first trees.  One watercolor artist working nearby commented on how quickly I had finished, as I had started after her and finished before she was done (about an hour total), but art does not lend itself to a timeframe. The painting told me I was done.

Sutter-Jensen Community Park

March 17, 2012 - After meeting Rose and her husband at William B Pond, a couple of fellow plein aire painters, I went home and looked up the Plein Aire Meet-Up group on the internet. (No, I don’t have a smart phone. Otherwise I would have done it right there!) The next meet-up was David Peterson’s Third Saturday Paint Out at some place called Sutter-Jensen Community Park. I had never heard of it before, so the explorer in me found this to be a great new adventure.  

The weather was overcast and cold, and it was earlier in the morning than I usually paint. It was a beautiful undeveloped space with a community garden on one side.  There were several other artists already painting.  I tried not to be intimidated by what they were doing and focused on my own creativity.  I wandered out into a dew-covered grassy field, totally saturating my shoes, and realized I was NOT going to sit down in the grass to paint; otherwise my pants would suffer the same fate.  As I was standing out there getting an idea of what I was going to paint, so guy yells “Hey! You’re outstanding in your field!” As corny as it was, that gave me a boost of confidence!  Luckily, I spotted a chair over by the garden, and ran over and grabbed it and got to work.  

The idea with this painting was to see how many different shades of green I could produce to recreate the pastoral scene (it was St. Patrick's Day, after all!).  I keep saying that I need to develop a better style with trees, and what better place. As always, I started with my blue sky (a little artistic license, since I didn’t want the actual gray sky in my painting). I experimented with some paint-lifting with a towel to create a little texture to imply clouds.  Then, the mixing of color begins—blue-green, yellow-green, brown-green, and everything in between. It got a little muddy in the middle, mostly because I was too impatient to wait for the paint to dry before adding more layers. I do like some of the effects I got with the wet on wet, though.  The “pole” in the middle of the field becomes the focus of this painting because of the white space I left around it.  It was one of the first details that I painted in the foreground.  I think that it should have been added in at the end, after the grass had dried (the grass in the painting, that is). That is one of the challenges of watercolor though…trying to figure out what details need to be laid out first and what can wait to be added in at the end.  One of the other painters there was using “masking paint”, a wax that covers areas of the paper that you want to keep white. I’ll have to look into that.

 I’m also still trying to figure out my style with the edge of the painting: all the way to the edge like the top edge,  a distinctive edge of the painting away from the edge of the paper like the bottom, or somewhere in between like the sides. With this particular painting, I really like the way the bottom edge turned out.

As I wrapped up my first outing with the Plein Aire Meet-up group, I found that I did more observing the other artists than painting. But that is what this journey is all about: learning from like-minded artists with a passion for creativity!

William B Pond, again!

March 4, 2012 - I went back to William B Pond, with my family this time, on a lazy Sunday afternoon (the plus side of having a mild winter).  I found a nice quiet spot on the bank by the “Islands” just down river from the bike trail bridge.  I liked the contrast of nature and architecture in this view.

 I really did not spend a lot of time working on reflection on this painting.  One of the hardest parts of watercolor is having patience enough to wait for areas of the painting to dry enough so it doesn’t bleed when I add another layer. When I first started to add reflection, it bled into the water…not the effect I was going for but let’s make all the reflections blurred to match the first one!

I really played with adding an abstract background. I avoided drawing individual trees but put in clumps of color to imply groups of trees. The bridge was a challenge because I couldn’t figure out the color of concrete. In hind sight, I should have just left it a negative space with a few lines to show the shadows because the black is too dark. This will be a spot to return to later to try that!

The geese were all over the place this day and I almost painted one or two right into the foreground. There’s space in that large area of blue at the bottom.  But I had no idea how to draw geese so I did a little “study of a goose” painting.

After I had packed up my painting supplies (which takes about 2 minutes) my family wanted to walk around and see the other areas of the park.  We headed over to the fishing pier by the pond. There on the pier were two other painters doing the same thing I was doing – bringing their paints outside and painting in nature! I couldn’t believe their set up—chairs, easels on tripods, paints and paintbrushes galore. Although I had been working with a minimalist approach when it came to my supplies, I was quite impressed.  One was working with acrylic, which I had never ventured into trying, even back in college. The other artist, who was working in watercolor, was doing a study of the geese! They were quite inspiring on that day.  After talking to them a bit and watching over their shoulder as they painted (I appreciated this because I know having someone watch as I paint is quite nerve-racking), they told me that they were there because of a Meet-Up group called Plein Aire Painters.  I had never even heard of Meet-Up at this time, and up until this point I was just saying I was painting outside. Now I had a name for what I was doing and apparently there was a group of people in Sacramento that was doing the same thing!  So I was anxious to get home and check it out!

William B Pond

The Islands

My next artist excursion a couple of weeks later, was to William B. Pond at the end of Arden Way along the American River. There is just so much variety here, I could go here many more times and be painting totally different scenes (and you will see later that I have returned frequently). With my backpack of basic watercolor supplies, I hiked over to "The Islands" to be inspired. The first painting I was focused on the reflection again but took a much wetter and blurry approach to it instead of creating a mirror image. It worked out because the viewer gets the sense of moving water instead of the placid water that was at my last spot along the river.  Leaving the white between the bank and the water was emphasizing the shoreline, but is there too much of a gap?  The background is vague and the foreground more detailed, but even with the detail, something was missing. I added more color but what it needed was some shadowing. I tried adding a few shadows but the texture of the trees were still a little flat from my over generalization of the trees. I did get the texture in the water, but I felt my perspective was off a little and my horizon was slanting.

Tree at William B Pond

That gave me an idea, though.  I should be putting some pencil lines down first to keep my horizon level and I can see if my perspective is right before putting paint on the paper!  About a hundred yards down stream, a tree caught my fancy. I laid down a few pencil lines to identify the rivers edge and horizon and started again. Starting with the sky (as I always do) I thought I would try putting some clouds in by lifting paint off. There are three, but two got obscured by the tree. I actually spent quite a bit of time on the background, only to be hidden behind the tree! I did very little reflection work this time ( but I really like how the reflection of the grasses turned out). Interpreting the water movement onto paper was my challenge and then figuring out how to draw all of those cobble rocks on the bank.  So with a lot of "artistic license", I created my own bed of rocks, experimenting with shades of grey.  The tree still came across as flat, even with some shading. Over-generalizing the leaves again is my guess. I will have to work on that. I didn't have the courage to shade it almost black (as in the picture) but as the sun went down and the shadows grew, I knew it was time to pack up. My bottom was numb and I'd have to think about bringing a chair or something next time instead of having to make do with a log or rock.

As you can see, I started taking pictures of the scenes with my phone. Its nice to see the comparison but it makes it easier to be more self-critical. It never turns out exact, but that is not my goal.  My artistic interpretation of what I "see" will always be different than a photo. Knowing this, I think I will continue to take the pictures, but not with the intention of comparing, but to remember how and why I perceived it the way I did.

Sutter's Landing

 So I go to Michael's and pick up the bare essentials: a generic watercolor paint set with 12 colors, a generic set of brushes, a small palette, and a pad of watercolor paper. All for under $20, a small investment for unlimited creativity!  Add in a little applesauce cup and a piece of a car wash sponge and I was ready to go. The amount of supplies was key to be able to fit it all into my backpack and carry it where ever the whim took me.  I had a couple of hours of free time on a Saturday, I think it must have been sometime in February 2012 (that's the problem with going back and trying to remember! Ideally, I'll get caught up on this blog and be able to say "yesterday"). Anyways, the explorer in me decided to try a spot along the American River that I had not been to before - Sutter's Landing at the end of 28th Street. After checking out the area, including a dog park, picnic area, and skate park (can you tell I was procrastinating the art part of this excursion?) I finally settled down on a log along the bank, put my headphones on with some music, and started putting some paint on the paper. I don't know why I put music on, because I usually like working with just the quiet of nature around me, but it seemed to keep me focused on this particular day.

I started with the sky and worked my way down. No sketching out an outline. As I worked, I was particularly interested in capturing the reflection of the trees in the water, which meant I had to draw and exact replica of the tree I had just drawn upside-down (or at least that is what my mind told me). I tried to keep a space between the shore and the river to emphasize this reflection. There was not much color (It was March after all) other than the mistletoe bunches in the trees. The train trellis was way off in the distance (about 20th Street) but it challenged me and it became more of a focus point in the painting. The afterthought in the painting was the dead tree branch and the bank. The painting needed some balance.   It does help break up the vast sky I laid down at the beginning of my painting.

I was pleased with the first attempt of working with watercolors in 20 years. It was very relaxing and rejuvenating. I was already planning my next outing with my backpack full of painting supplies!

Introduction

Ceramic Cookie Jar -College Ceramics Class

 Welcome to my Art Blog.  I've been getting back into my art this year after setting it aside for 20 years. After leaving college, I went out into the real world where I had to get a paying job which left little time for much else!   As an art major, I had all of these resources available to me, whether it was sculpting, ceramics, painting, or figure drawing.  There was also a lot more time to dedicate to my art back then. 

Bronze Horse - College Sculpture Class

Now that I have a family and a full time job, the time and resources seem to not be as easy to come by.  With a new realization, I have found that I need to make time for both! When I first started back out to paint,  I began by being inspired by nature, specifically the American River Parkway right around the corner. All I had was a simple watercolor kit and some brushes to start "Plein aire" painting - which means outside on the spot. One day while seeking some inspiration, I happened across another couple of artist's painting along the river, and they told me about a Meet-Up group called Plein Aire Painters that met regularly and welcomed me to join them. 








This blog is my story of getting back to my passion and my art, working though my perfectionism and fear of failure (or maybe the fear of success?), and the story that goes behind every piece of art that I create.  My goal is to post a new entry several times per month, with the hope of becoming more prolific as I continue my process. Enjoy my creativity!

College Life Figure Drawing Class