Watercolor – Page 24 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Painting, Waiting

Watercolor is wet. It needs to dry. In a studio setting or classroom, a lot of people use hair dryers. You see it on videos all the time – brrrrrrr! But, outdoors, unless you have an outlet and a long extension cord, and want to annoy yourself, you just sit and wait for air and evaporation to get to work.

I opened up my big sketchbook – each page is about 9×12 inches – and it was a spread across the two sheets. Above, a more traditionally done sketchy watercolor. I did a basic pencil drawing and then applied color.

Last month we drove from north of Los Angeles out to Tucson for our Global Entry interviews. En route we drove through portions of the southwest I have not yet seen, driving east from San Diego along Hwy 8, at times just north of the Mexican border. The land was sparse and beautiful in a fierce way, and before we reached Tucson we drove through the Sonoran Desert, home of the mighty saguaro cactus.

What can I say? They are tall and strange, reaching upwards to 40 feet, with arms and branches against mountains and skies filled with drama. It was beautiful. As we were on a long drive – 8.5 hours – we didn’t stop. I took a bunch of lousy pictures out of the window, and these are the basis for the above painting. An impression, not a reality, although you know these are saguaro if you have ever seen one.

This painting had to be painted in stages, so my thoughts were what to do while waiting? I decided to do some direct watercolor and use a photo I had taken of the local landscape.

Direct watercolor has no lines, and I have found it a wonderfully fresh way to see the world and to paint. It is also a challenge not to make mud, not to get carried away, and to think strategically. For me, the real challenges are negative painting and values. Because I am making sketches in a sketchbook and not something “serious” on a sheet of expensive paper, the direct watercolor and the more traditional studies are gaining traction.

I am learning a thing or two in my old age, and there is something to be said for that. Today’s painting was very satisfying. I spent it outside at the picnic table, a few supplies, a dog at my feet, and a kicked-back-who-gives-a-damn approach. And, I don’t think either of these paintings is half bad.

Cosmos on a Summer Day

Yesterday I left a lot of the normal stuff undone, so this morning I had a bit to do! In between this and that, I looked out the studio window. My front garden is loaded with flowers – mostly yellow – but the pink cosmos are coming into their own.

I always enjoy their pink-to-red violet color, especially when silhouetted against a bright blue sky. Out came the watercolor sketchbook, a micron pen, and quick little sketch. Catching that pink is hard, and the shadows on the petals themselves even harder. Still, summer is here, the Solstice was here, and it is time to enjoy it all.

This afternoon it is off to the beach!

Out in the Back Yard: Dinghy, Trees, and Lilies

This past week has been spent sewing, learning software, socializing, keeping appointments, and going to Santa Monica via the canyons. Fun stuff. Today, though, the urge to paint came upon me – it really is part of my identity, for better or worse.

For some reason I am obsessed with boats of late – trying to get their shapes and such. I figured a dinghy on water, reflections and all, would be a good place to begin. Boat shapes are hard in some way, but if you create a series of rectangles, the curves and such are easy to create. I drew this one in my watercolor sketchbook, and there were a lot of pencil marks. In the end I needed a bit of definition, so added blackish paint lines here and there.

My sister asked me if I ever paint from real life or outdoors. Seldom will I do either, but I have been doing my garden plants, so I decided to do my podocarpus trees along the back wall, and added some imaginary grass to replace the dirt and roots. (I need to cut these all done, have the yard dug out, and then re-landscape. What’s a couple of million bucks?)

After these, drawn ahead with pencil on the paper, I decided to work on what is referred to as “direct watercolor” – a phrase invented by Marc Taro Holmes. This is when you paint directly on the paper – no prelim drawing, no pencil lines. You put pigment on paper and off you go.

The first subject is the large grouping of banana and palm trees across the street from me. I wanted to catch the light, so I began with the beige of the banana plants, and then began creating shapes with negative painting and then adding more colors and so on. The negative painting is easier to do with direct watercolor, I think.

And finally, more of the orange lilies I have. This time I included the pot! I began this painting with the pale beige of the wall, creating leaf shapes by negative painting. I wanted to catch the light and sparkle on these complex plants. They are lighter at the top, and get darker as you move down and to the left. The patio is covered with light and shadow from the sun through the leaves of the overhead trees.

Nothing spectacular, but a good way to spend some time outdoors, seated at the picnic table, and playing around.

Potted Flowers without the Pots

I wasn’t interested in the flower pots these potted flowers are in, so I left them out. Now they are unpotted for your perusal.

Above are what are supposed to be little daisies and some lobelia. More negative painting practice, which didn’t really work out, but I did try it, both around the daisies and then painting green onto green in the greenery.

Venery in the greenery anyone?

I am much happier with this painting than the first one. Some negative painting, such as in the leaves and in the lavenders of the sea lavenders. With both, but particularly the sea lavender, I also tried to merge colors in the wet washes. There was a cauliflower which occurred in the far right sea lavender, but too much working on it made it a bit more messy. My mind was on painting colors, not really on patience of waiting for things to dry a bit – hence the cauliflower.

I worked on these this morning, painting on the patio in a bit of a gloomy day, but it was certainly pleasant enough. Being outdoors while painting certainly is beginning to have its appeal; now I think I might take a handcrank sewing machine outside to enjoy more of this summery now sunny weather whilst I sew!

Boring Waterproof Ink

I had hoped to have a nice dark ink on this paper, using a fountain pen filled with waterproof ink. The ink is waterproof, but it is so pale I fell asleep. If you are going to do a line drawing and then color it in, you need to have a dark ink. The ink was definitely waterproof, but so what if I don’t like the result?

I also used my cellulose paper sketchbook for this, and once more I am not happy. All these blobs of unabsorbed color and a few more than many times using the hair dryer.

Maybe I am not being realistic about the paper, but I am realistic about the point of this study – is the ink waterproof? And that answer is yes. Goal met.