Burney Falls, plein air pencil sketch

I guess I have been a little obsessed with waterfalls, but spring time is the best time for it. I have had McArthur-Burney Falls on my bucket list since first moving to Northern California over 25 years ago, and finally last weekend, I was able to see them. It was worth the wait. It is quite a phenomenal waterfall with water not only coming over the top of the cliff, but from inside the cliff as well due to an underwater river within the volcanic rock surronding the area. Here is my attempt to sketch the falls from the vista point above the falls.

Yosemite Falls, watercolor

Here is another Yosemite inspired painting. I am still working from some photos that I took during my visit there last month. Yosemite Falls is always one of the most impressive year round, but with its spring flow, it is even more so.

The cliffs surrounding the falls are quite impressive too, but next time, I think I would crop it down so the focus is more on just the falls and not keep so much foliage or cliffs in the painting. I decided to not use the masking fluid to keep the falls white as I did with my Bridalveil Falls watercolor, but was mindful of where I was painting. These falls are so massive and thick, it just didn't seem necessary.

Bridalveil Falls and Leaning Tower, watercolor

Yosemite has always been one of my favorite places, although I have never used it for inspiration in my paintings. Luckily Sacramento is just close enough to make it a spur of the moment day trip ( a very long day!) I had actually packed all of my gear for plein air painting, but once I got to the valley floor, afternoon thundershowers were threatening, so I decided to just take some pictures and not risk getting soaked. So here is the first of several Yosemite inspired paintings.
Bridalveil Falls was flowing very strong, as to be expected in the spring. You could only get so close before getting wet from the spray. The lone outcropping next to it is called Leaning Tower. (Even having been to Yosemite many times, I did not know this.)

I used masking fluid on the falls and the spray to keep it white but then went back in and added some shadows and a few trees in front of the spray after it had been removed. The falls are so majestic in person, I hope I have done them justice.

Black Hole of Calcutta Falls, watercolor

This is a piece I have been meaning to do for a while but it it has just sat in the shelves of my brain waiting to be dusted off. I originally posted my plein air pencil drawing of the Black Hole of Calcutta Falls  about 3 years ago. When I finally decided to recreate it in watercolor, I decided not to just work directly from the pencil drawing, although I did do the preliminary sketches from it, so there are some similar shapes. But to accurately capture the colors and feel of the falls, I needed to make a day trip up to these falls, just off the confluence of the north and middle forks of the American River. Since my last visit 3 years ago, they have built a foot bridge over the creek, but the charm of the falls was the same, other than a lot of other people on the day I went. It even had close to the same average flow of water as it did the last time. I took some reference photos of the falls as well as some other pics for future projects before heading home.

This painting is the first time I used my masking fluid, which seemed necessary to depict the water splashing over the black rocks. I was worried it would never come off since it seemed to become part of the paper as I painted over it, but after the paint dried, it rubbed right off using a clean finger. Then I went back in to lessen the stark white that had been left with some light washes.

Iao Needle and stream

Iao Needle, located within the Iao Valley State Park is one of the most recognizeable landmarks in Maui, not only for its striking natural beauty, but also for its historical significance.  It was here in 1790, that King Kamehameha battled with Maui's army in his quest to unite the islands. Even with the Iao Needle serving as a lookout point, Kamehameha defeated Maui's army in a ferocious battle that ultimately changed the course of Hawaiian history.

OK, enough with the history lesson...there are so many shades of green in this valley, and trying to capture the beauty of this place is challenging. I used stippling, lots of dots, to represent the leaves of the trees and to give the painting some depth as well as texture. The bridge brings out a nice architectural contrast against all of the foliage. To the right of the needle, I was trying to capture the look of the clouds descending into the valley...was I successful?

Mountain landscape, watercolor

Originally, I had done this mountain landscape in pencil, inspired by a watercolor demonstration by Dale Laitinen.  It's fun to transform a pencil sketch into a colorful painting. There is no "wrong" color other than what is in my head saying trees should be green and sky should be blue. 

 

I think it needs a little more contrast on the mountain to show where the light source is coming from, as well as some more shadows in the trees, but I think it does a pretty go job transporting the viewer to a serene location in the mountains!

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Mountain landscape - pencil sketch

This sketch was inspired by a demonstration put on by WASH (Watercolor Art of Sacramento Horizons) at Sacramento Fine Arts Center.  The demo was done by Dale Laitinen.  I really enjoyed his style of watercolor, and even though he was painting a scene from memory, he really captured the essence of the Sierras.  
So here is my interpretation of his painting, but in pencil.

Untitled, by Dale Laitinen

Forest stream...photo progression

I've been a little slow creating this month, but here is a painting that was inspired by a demonstration by Juan Pena at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center. He makes it so easy, and although a lot of his work is plein air, he did this one from memory.  I love his bold colors and the loose, flowing style that he calls "representational watercolor". Here is my attempt at imitating his style.

Sunrise in the mountains, watercolor landscape

So after my last post, Forest at Dawn, I decided to try keeping the same color blend in the sky. This one though has a combination of detail, in the foreground, and fades to minimal detail as it goes into the background. This specific layout idea was actually given to me by a very creative friend of my daughter's.
I really struggled with the sun, working the watercolor paper too much, and it ended up looking like the sun on a child's drawing. The shadows are more like midday shadows, but other than that, I like the way that it turned out, especially the foreground-- I still love working the details!

Chinese style painting

I saw this art hanging on the wall at P F Changs and really liked the look of it so I thought I would recreate it myself.

So I used only black watercolor, instead of ink, to create the waterfall scene. As I painted, the scene developed into something quite different that the original picture. The original picture had more than just black ...but I decided to keep to just the monochromatic theme. I couldn't figure out how to put blossoms on the tree so it just looks like a dead tree.  The placement of the tree seemed so effortless in the original picture, but in mine it seems a little awkward. I added a mountain and a second waterfall to fill in the background.  And then trying to capture the movement of the water was a challenge, but overall I think it turned out well, but definitely with my own flare!

Old pencil drawings from my sketchbook

Here are some old drawings I had found in my sketchbook.  The first one is somewhere in the mountains above Los Angeles. I must have done it about 25 years ago! I think my original plan was to re-do it in pastel.

A little more recently, 2007, is a sketch of American Canyon Falls, outside of Cool, CA. I guess I was wrong in my Black Hole of Calcutta Falls blog entry when I said I had never drawn a waterfall before...

Black Hole of Calcutta Falls

Black Hole of Calcutta Falls:  Sounds like a crazy name for a waterfall, and it wasn't that spectacular, but it was a quiet shady spot with charm. I decided to just use pencil instead of using watercolors, but I might be inspired to do a watercolor later.  Pencil seemed easier when I started, but there are so many subtle shades and colors.  And the water cascading over black rocks...quite a challenge.

I love waterfalls but realized that I had never painted (or drawn) one before.  The water splashing over the rocks is unique compared to the slow moving river that I have been working with.