Author: -N-

North Coast

Once more – should I put something in or take it out!?!? The original of this painting, along the northern coast of California, is originally painted with a small island offshore. Looking at it I didn’t like it – perhaps too close to the tree on the left overhanging the beach. Thanks to Photoshop, I removed it.

The above painting is the one that exists in the real world. The one below is the one edited with Photoshop’s “generative fill” – poof! No island.

Because I am feeling kind of spartan these days, sometimes I think I have too much in a painting. Maybe it goes along with limiting my palette of colors?

And my palette? A bit more expansive than the previous, but the subject matter seemed to need a bit. I used umbers, sienna, ochre, Indian yellow, phthalo blue, a touch of ultramarine, a bit of dioxazine purple, and Hooker’s green.

My technique was to use oodles of water as I wanted to see how well the Bockingford non-cotton paper would hold up. It did quite well! Every large area – sky, ocean, land above the cliff – was wet with clean water, and then painted with the colors. The sky had one wash, but the ocean had multiple wet washes. The land in foreground and distance had a big wash later accented with dry on wet.

I am also pleased with this painting, even with my thoughts about the island.

St. Cuthberts Mill, Bockingford 140# CP, 12×16.

And what are your thoughts – island or no island?

Snow in the Sonoran Desert

It seems appropriate to do a version of a western snow scene, and what better place than the Sonoran Desert? It is a bit closer to home than New York. I always find snow in the desert or places I don’t think of getting snow to be absolutely fascinating.

Once more, I am using a limited palette. Here, umber, ultramarine, Payne’s grey, and Hooker’s green for the landscape. The sky is ochre with some Indian yellow, quinacridone rose, and cerulean. Some of the Indian yellow is also present in the landscape, partly to lighten things up and to make some variations. Titanium white gouache is used here and there as well.

I am beginning to find limited palettes of color a lot of fun! When I am painting with them, I have not set out to use a triad of colors (such as a red, yellow, and blue), but picked the colors based on my need to succeed, at least in my head, in creating the painting I want. At some point, I will try primary triads, but that may be for warmer weather. Right now it is winter, and winter I shall paint!

In addition to a limited palette, I am also using larger brushes overall and abstracting details into shapes. Pale, pale washes, as for the sky, are also some of my goals. The scan, once more, is not as good as it could be, but in general the stronger colors are well portrayed.

My paintings are getting better, I think. At least I like them better than many others I have done. Yesterday’s painting was meh, but if I consider that 3 out of 4 have pleased me so far, I must be winning. 🙂

Watercolor, limited palette, St. Cuthberts Mill, Bockingford 140# CP, 12×16.

Winter Hill

I am working really hard to simplify my paintings. Winter scenes are perfect for this as I have to keep large swaths of paper white and untouched. Contours of the land are suggested by some blues and such for shadows. Additionally, I am trying to keep my brushwork fairly direct and using the brush’s qualities to dictate the result. A bit of a challenge!

This scan seems to be decent, too, as far as matching the painting’s colors.

I added some new colors to my palette for this painting. In addition to ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and Payne’s grey, I added some Winsor Newton brown madder and olive green, and McCracken black by Daniel Smith. I also used some white gouache for the snow on the right hand tree and in the viney-like things in the foreground along the fence. Altogether I am working toward getting comfortable with a limited palette. Winter lends itself well to this.

The wire fence was drawn in with colored pencil – a warm and cool grey.

St. Cuthberts Mill, Bockingford paper, 140# CP, watercolor.

A Bit Later

Now, a bit later, I wondered if that tree on the right was okay. I wondered if it was needed. I don’t think so. Here is the painting without the tree!

Thoughts?

Grand Finale: Christmas Stocking, 4

Overall, I am pleased with the final iteration of my SIL’s Christmas stocking. A lot of work in some ways, just because I didn’t think about what I was doing. I ripped it a few times and had to learn how to knit an “after thought” heel. Watching videos for that really helped a lot.

The pattern this stocking is based upon is from Yarnspirations Festive Fair Isle Stocking. I won’t say it is a difficult pattern if you are used to stranded knitting, but because on a number of occasions there are more than 5 stitches between different colored stitches, the floats can get long and the tension can get messy. As well, if you reach into the stocking with rings with things that stick out, you can catch a float, before, after, or during its making. I will putting a note about this into the package when I send it off to Wisconsin in the next few days.

If you recall in my last post about the stocking, I had knit the foot pattern twice. It was way too long. I cut it off, and then moved into picking up the green stitches to make the toe itself, which is green. I used a circular toe decrease just because I was lazy and using circular needles, first 16 inch, and then 11 inch. You can see the decreases in the image below. I have not yet pulled in the open stitches to cinch the toe closed.

After this, it was time to clean up the mess inside the stocking itself. With all the color changes and dropped stitches here and there, I did not tie off the floats like I usually do. See how messy?

It looks pretty bad, but in reality, it was pretty easy to clean up. I tugged together the loose ends, knotting them (which I would not do if this were a sock to be worn on my foot!) for security. All the long ends were trimmed, and I worked from the top of the sock to the bottom. In the end, it worked out pretty well.

The corners of the after thought heel also needed to be cleaned up and pulled in so there were not any holes. The directions for the stocking do not give you notes that beginners (and non-attentive knitters like me) may need. Having never done this sort of heel, I was confused, but some good YouTube videos proved helpful.

If you are interested, I used size 8 US knitting needles for this project and changed some of the pattern colors and so on. The top of the stocking used a “fur” yarn which is not longer manufactured, so I made an i-cord. The i-cord was made so I could have a loop for hanging the stocking as well as picking up the 60 stitches needed for the pattern itself. The yarn is an acrylic yarn, and may colors were white, warm light grey, green and red. If I were to do this over, I would probably drop down to a 7 US needle. Because I could, I used a 16 inch circular needle, and dropped to an 11 inch needle for the toe.

I did not enjoy the after thought heel. It had me using 4 needles, which I do not like at all. The needles were aluminum and kept sliding out the of the stitches. When I knit socks, I use 3 needles, and ones made of wood or bamboo. I plan to try this heel again, but use a different methodology.

After cleaning up the inside of the sock, securing the heel and toe, and making sure I didn’t have any dropped stitches, it was time to iron the stocking to make it presentable. I sprayed it with water and then pressed it – pushing the iron down on it – between to rather heavy dish towels placed on the ironing board. I had my iron set to linen so the heat could penetrate the towels and set the stitches and shape of the stocking. This was done to both sides. I let it set overnight, to cool and give it some memory.

Years ago, when I was a kid, my mother made Christmas stockings for the four of us. I hung mine in front of the fire and it melted. I will send my SIL a note to that effect! This is also why I misted the stocking and pressed it between heavy towels – I have no desire to peel melted acrylic yarn from my very good iron.

Would I recommend doing this stocking? Yes, I would, but with caveats: know how to do stranded knitting, learn about after thought heels if they are new territory, and either find a fur yarn or make a ribbing or i-cord beginning. And then, enjoy the result.