Category: Watercolor

At Ventura Harbor

A local group, Plein Air Ventura County, is having weekly meet-ups at the Buenaventura Art Association’s gallery during the month of August. Located in the local marina on the second floor, with galleries all around, there are views of the boats and the ocean and buildings. It’s a rather nice place to be and I have spent a lot of time there when I lived a few miles away. A friend and I packed up our supplies and trekked across the county. Traffic was a bit awful as everyone was leaving Los Angeles, but we drove on and arrived to a beautiful day at the beach.

This was my first sketch and it took the longest. Normally with ink pen I like to just get to work without an underlying pencil drawing. Here, I decided to just go ahead and do a pencil sketch as I am no expert at boats or proportions. I am glad I did as I spent a lot of time erasing before I was happy with the results to begin the inking. I spent about 90 minutes on this.

Next came this little weird succulent. It was on the gallery overlooking the marina, so I sat down and sketched it directly in ink. Plants don’t open you up to complaints about proportion (too often, anyway!), so off I went. I also wanted to see how the paper in this sketchbook would hold up to watercolor and I didn’t want to risk my boat to a poor water-paper combination. Luckily, it worked out quite well. I spent about 45 minutes on this drawing because I had to think about my colors and how thin I wanted the washes to be. In truth, this succulent was basically a silvery grey with a touch of subtle rust and green, but I needed to brighten it up.

This was my final drawing, done in about 15 minutes. It was getting into the third hour and I was getting pretty tired. So was my friend. Here, I focused on the cypress trees and a single palm, the dunes beyond the road, and the Pacific beyond the dunes. The little sail boat really was there – it was the boat or flying pelicans, and the boat was the easier choice!

It was a cool, breezy, bright day at the beach. Salty wind. I got sunburned, something I didn’t think about as I don’t hang out in the sun like I used to! It was worth it, though, as I had a good time and came home pleased with my forays, especially into the boat drawing. The succulent was easy and fun – nothing I took too seriously. On the other hand, the cypress trees always throw me a bit because of the way the foliage seems to lie flat across a tree with a few branches – simply put, a complicated flat texture is the only way to describe it.

In between each sketch, a bit of wandering around and socializing before getting back into the sketching.

Ink, watercolor, Pentalic 6×12 sketchbook.

Life on Wonky River

Scanning my watercolors shows me the flaws so readily – ones I don’t see when painting!

When I looked at this scan, the creek in the foreground looks definitely off! I went in and repainted it, and the second scan showed more wonkiness. Finally, just a heavy application of blue on the river / creek (whatever!) and some zinc white gouache in straight lines, and the geographical problems were somewhat solved.

Overall, not really thrilled with this painting. I like my sky and the spindly trees in the distance. The barn and house were one of my rare attempts at buildings. The barn seems really out of place for the environment – too big or something. The little house is okay. I tried to show the banks of the creek and the terrain leading down to it using color swaths in directional lines, horizontally and vertically. Meh.

Fabriano 140# CP paper; watercolors; 9×12.

Estuary

Estuaries are important connections between rivers and fresh water to the sea. The land may be marshy, the water brackish, and adapt to the influx of waves and sea water and the outward movement of fresh water. Consequently, the estuary provides high levels of nutrients in both the water and the sediment, creating highly productive habitats. Plants, animals, birds, fish, and all sorts of life thrive in the estuaries.

Additionally, the estuaries form a protective barrier between land and sea, but with the loss of estuaries, the damage from the sea increases. A good example of this is in areas where hurricanes and other fierce storms sweep inland, causing great damage – estuaries can survive such storms and recover, but further inland where the land and water are not adapted for saltwater, valuable land may be lost.

Estuaries are found worldwide. In northern California, the Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve is found near San Francisco, and offers a wonderful environment for hiking and observing birds and plants. Currently, many trails are closed, but the visit to Pescadero State Beach is beautiful, as are many of the beaches found the length of the coast of California.

And, if you didn’t know, all beaches are public in California, so even if someone’s house fronts the shoreline, the beach is there for all. There may be a couple of exceptions to this law, but by and large, no one can tell you that you cannot walk along the shore.

Watercolor, Arches Rough 140#, 12×16.

Deep in a Canyon

In the corners of southwestern canyons, near seeps, there is always something growing. These places are subject to harsh conditions, but somehow nature has evolved and beautiful trees and plants provide food and shade and protection for wildlife. And me.

I was really drawn to the contrast of the dark trees and shades of green against an ochre canyon wall. The shadows and the trees and brush create complex patterns in what is often a very barren landscape.

Watercolors, Arches 9×12 140# CP paper.

Beach Day at Low Tide

After a busy several days, including the winding down of my summer painting classes, I needed to do some watercolor and landscape painting! Oil painting and portraiture require a lot of focus, but it is so restful to just think about colors and shapes, as I do in watercolors.

This painting is inspired by travels along the Oregon coastline. I tried to capture both the color of the sea as well as the mistiness of the distant mountains. The little dots representing a beach filled with people was a bit inspired because I needed to do something with some empty space in the middle. Nothing like being the god of your landscape, eh?

Watercolor, St. Cuthbert’s Mill Bockingford paper, 140# CP, 12×16.