Tag: ink

Fremontia

I am trying to do something every morning, a quick sketch from a photo I took, or something that catches my fancy.  It’s not easy and most of the time I am disappointed by what occurs.  The reason?  It seems that often the only way to save something is to add lines!  I wonder if I will ever produce a “real” painting that is more than just sketch . . . Ah, well.  The point is to do something as often as possible.

Thus, a sketch of a Fremontia, a yellow-flowered bush found here in California.  It’s a woody shrub that splotches bright flowers against dark leaves.  I look forward to them every spring.

Hummingbird Sage

I went out looking for spring wildflowers this weekend and took a number of photographs.  Everywhere were blooms – wildflowers and domestic ones, all in the local botanical garden.  Hummingbird sage is one of my favorites.  I didn’t catch the fuschia-pink of the flower, nor the softness, but the shape worked out fairly well.

Hidden

This may be the last post for a few days as our house is torn apart and put together.  The bathrooms, closets, laundry room, hallway, and bedrooms are getting new floors on Tuesday.  The studio is bare.  I have a small box filled with a few brushes, some paper, some paint, but who knows if I’ll be able to touch it for several days!

Because of this, I decided to end my weekend with a small ink and watercolor painting, derived from a photo I took last year of a barn in the hills nearby.  I started by laying in pencil, then color, knowing I planned to deliberately finish with ink.  I’m rather torn about the bright white of the roof – but it was in brilliant sunshine the day I took the photo.  The windows are rather awful – looks like the barn has an eye infection!

Maybe I will tone the roof down later and fix the windows, but for now, it will remain as is.  After I post this, it’s time to finish clearing out the studio, the closet, and put together little boxes so things like soap and toothpaste are available for kitchen use – we will have no bathroom sinks for a few weeks!

In Betwixt and In Between

The house is torn up.  The studio is empty.  The living room is filled with boxes, one corner for Josh, the other for me.  The shower stall will be done Monday.  The shower door will be measured and ordered on Monday, too.  The dogs will be boarded out Monday through Tuesday night because of the fact the flooring is going in on Tuesday day, starting at 730 a.m.  Thursday the painter starts.  Saturday the vanities arrive.  Wednesday next the painter finishes and the new toilets are installed.  Then the vanities are installed and the template made for the counter tops.  We will have a shower that works – finally!  hooray! – but we will not be able to use it until the door is installed.  We will be brushing our teeth in the kitchen sink (ewwwww!).  I go back to the doc on Tuesday to have my wrist and finger checked 3 weeks after my fall.

And . . . we have been packing, eating junk food, brewing beer, trying to have a life, and painting in between – pictures and samples of paint on the wall.

I will post photos of the new house stuff sometime later, but today, here are the things – little things, no bigger than 7×10 at the most – I’ve been painting and drawing, just to stay sane.  The painting of the barn needs a bit of help – the roof is too white, and it looks like the windows are some strange eye infection.  The meadowlark needs more contrast.  I could go on, but I need to go to work on my other stuff.

Click on a picture to start a slide show, and to see them larger.