The Rio Chama is a branch of the Rio Grande River in New Mexico. It flows through the Chama River Canyon Wilderness and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Country like this is public land, subject to the rules and regulations to help preserve it, but also vulnerable to the whims and politics of the times. It is host to a variety of wild life and the beauty of the American Southwest.
Oil, 11×14, cotton canvas panel.
Late afternoon I met up with a friend at a nexus for a series of hiking trails to do some afternoon plein aire sketching. She brought a paper and pencil, I brought ink and watercolor. We walked about 30 yards down a flat trail and settled in what could appear to be an isolated area as the trail curved into an oak woodland at the lower edge of a hill. The later afternoon sun gave lovely shadows, areas of light and dark, and the oak trees were especially beautiful in that light.
This is my “warm up” sketch. I always like to play around with what I am working with to see how ink and watercolor and paper all interact. Most importantly is how the watercolor and paper work together. This sketchbook is designed for watercolor sketching, and it worked well. Here I started out with the ink and then worked with the paint. After all was dry, I went back in for some touch-up with the pen.
For this one, I painted the tree shapes with light washes. Then came the leaves. After that, some ink, back to paint, then finally ink.
The second painting is my “serious” one whereas the “play” painting was testing my tools. We spent two hours sitting in the woods, yakking and drawing, taking a few photos, chatting with passersby on bike and foot. At 5 pm the sun was going down, so pack it in, hike that long distance out, and say our good-byes.
Ink, watercolor, 5×7 on watercolor paper.
I love loquats! They are an odd fruit to most Americans, but they have a mild taste, beautiful seeds, and are borne on bushes or trees with glossy leaves. Over time, I have taken many photos of them and painted or drawn them.
I don’t remember where or when I took this photo, but it really shows the loquat in its full beauty. The fruits are pale yellow to a more deeper orangish color.
This is my most recent rendition of loquats, done in oil on a 12×12 canvas panel.
Above is one done in pen, ink, and watercolors.
And the above is done in gouache.
The round shapes against pointy, glossy leaves is always a pleasure for the eye.
Gouache, oils, watercolor, pen and ink on various surfaces.
Ballads and folk songs are some of my favorite bits of music, whether sad and melancholy, or the ones that make you want to get up to laugh and dance. Of the latter, I present you:
In my last post, I looked at both portraits and brushwork. Doing both is sort of a new adventure for me – portraits, certainly, but brushwork is something I play with periodically. Two artists I admire for both their subject matter and brushwork are Maggie Siner and Hashim Akib. Both have very clear brush marks as well as a strong sense of graphics and color. Siner’s work often displays wide swaths of color and Akib’s often does the same, as well as creates movement and light with brush strokes. Their portraits are striking.
That said, I am a dabber and a rather haphazard (okay, very haphazard) painter in my approach. I paint and putz, sometimes getting it right, sometimes getting it wrong. I will draw in a general idea, but don’t do much more. In particular, I don’t do value studies as I want to look and decide on the scene. I want to train my eye to see them in the picture or landscape or person. It is far more difficult than I think it will be. Slowing down helps, looking and then going into the painting process.
I did the painting below vaguely based off a paining by Siner called “Golden Cumulus”. You can find it on her website. Siner’s brushwork is deliberate, and she says she scrapes her oils off until her brushstroke is as she wants it. She doesn’t paint over things.
What I was looking at in her painting were her brushstrokes. They are directional, sometimes heavy with paint, sometimes not. At times she smudges and edge into another to break things up. For my variant, a wide brush, a square canvas, and either oils or acrylics using the colors found in Siner’s palette, which is very limited.
A lot was learned here: A limited palette makes color choices easy and harder – gotta mix those colors! A big brush – here a flat – allows far more mark making than I thought possible. And a big brush forces me away from my dab-dab-dab with a pointed round.
I don’t remember when I did this painting nor what media I used, or even if I published it here before. I found it the other day and remembered what my goals were. Brushwork then, brushwork now. I’m trying to clean up my oils / acrylic painting skills like I worked on with (and sort of succeeded with ) watercolors.
Oil or acrylic on cotton canvas board, 12 x 12, sort of a master copy of Maggie Siner’s “Golden Cumulus” ca. 2018.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 