cherry blossoms – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Lone Cherry Trees Along Figueroa Mountain Road

These two trees have long since vanished. I photographed them in 2012 in Santa Barbara County along Figueroa Mountain Road in the early spring. I thought they were a beautiful spot of color against the greens of the California hills, which in themselves, during a superbloom, can be covered in shades of lavender, orange, and gold.

I mixed together gouache paints – whites (zinc and titanium) and some ivory black with my watercolors. This allows for layers to be built and bits painted over, as in gouache, but allows for a bit of transparent and opaque. I’ve done this before and always find it is a lot of fun. Gouache, when thickish, is best with small paintings, but mixing whites with watercolor gets an effect like gouache but at a much lower price point.

The photo – linked from Flickr – is not an especially good photo, but I do feel it catches the beauty of these two trees. When I went back looking for them a few years ago I could not find them, so I am glad I have captured them!

Watercolor paint mixed with white and / or black artist’s gouache. 11×14 on Canson watercolor paper.

New Paths

I keep finding new adventures in the art world. For the past 6 or 7 weeks I have been taking a beginning colored pencil class. What fun! Here you can see what I have done from earliest to most recent. I’ll say more at a later date because I am doing 2-fingered typing while my splinted finger heals.

Harbinger

Cherry Blossoms, i

With unusual weather throughout the world, and a lot of rain, I was lucky to be in L.A. visiting a friend. We made a deliberate trip to Lake Balboa to walk around and check out the cherry blossoms. We were not disappointed. Some of the trees were just coming into bloom, others were in full glory.

Spring

Another panorama from the Huntington Gardens; this was taken from the Chinese Garden.