july highlights

It’s the end of July already! Where does the time go?

You know, if I were younger, I would be freaking out about now. School will be starting again in a few weeks. I remember vividly how excited I always got for school to start again. And then by Day 2 wanting it to be summer vacation again.

Here are some highlights from July as part of my sketch diary. Have a great weekend!

garden

This is a picture of the garden in my backyard. Well, sort of. I have shrubs and a fence. I have more herbs than flowers. But the yard is flat. And everything is now brown and dry. Even the weeds.

Ok, so it’s not really my backyard.

The big round pot is actually in the front garden. So far, it’s still green. Slightly wilted, but green.

workshop

I just got back from a really great vacation.

My husband and I went to Boone, North Carolina…I went to a watercolor workshop, my husband got to hike in the mountains. Our idea of the perfect vacation!

The workshop instructor was Joe Miller (Cheap Joe of CheapJoes.com!!) He’s such a wonderful artist and storyteller. The best!!

Day 1, we studied value and composition. He’s a big proponent of doing value studies/sketches before laying down the paint. This is something I used to do but sort of got out of the habit. It really does make the difference.

Here is one of my value studies. I based it on sketches I had in my sketchbook. We were only allowed to use ONE color to paint our value studies. I chose Quinacridone Gold.

I’m not much of a “rural” sort of painter but it’s a good subject when you are studying light direction (left, right, or backlit) and where your shadows should be.

Day 2, we worked on composition again. Today we got to use TWO colors. I chose Quinacridone Gold and Ultramarine Blue. It’s amazing the range you can get from just two colors!! This is my “birdman” from an earlier post. Only now he’s out in the country!!

lunch in paris

Ok, so I gave up on birdman version #2, #3 and #4. Sometimes that happens…or in this case, it doesn’t. I’ll revisit it later and start fresh.

I did this painting over the weekend. Again, I was working from a photo I took a few years ago on vacation. My vacations tend to be about food. And coffee. And seeing great works of art.

But mostly about food.

So I’m always on the lookout for others who enjoy eating as much as I do. Hence the pigeons having lunch.

birdman

Hello?? I’m back. Work project is under control. Chores are caught up. Now I can once again relax and spend some time in the studio. Ahhh.

I’ve been working on a painting. Below is draft number 1. It still doesn’t feel quite right.

I think the problem is that I’m trying to work larger (9x12). For the past few months, I’ve been doing sketches and paintings the size of postcards. So I’m just out of practice!

I took this photo about 10 years ago when I was in Paris. I have always wanted to paint this fellow. He literally had the birds eating out of his hand. You could tell they met up for “lunch” quite a bit.

Normally, I work with ink drawings and then add paint. For this drawing, since I was working BIG, I grabbed a Sharpie to do the drawing. I wanted something big and bold in the background.

I changed the perspective a bit. I wanted the man and his “friends” to be off alone from the rest of the drawing. 

Anyway, I’m working on version number 2. Hopefully it will turn out to my liking. I’m open to suggestions.