Tag: oregano

Too Much Work

“For every 100 photos, 1 is a keeper.”

“Two steps forward, one step back.”

Well, that is true for me in the world of trying to make my watercolor paintings more simple in painting style though not necessarily in content. Of late, rocks and plants.

Let’s start with my painting of Greek oregano, growing like a weed in a pot on the patio. The leaves are simple enough, shaped somewhat like an egg (but flatter 🙂 ) on long, straggly stems. The color is sort of that dull, sagey-olive green that plants in the Mediterranean climate often have. In sunlight, a bit of warm yellow shows up. In shade, the greens are darker. Pretty logical, right?

And then there are the rocks I have been thinking about since I did the much more successful cliffs of the other day. The rocks in the fort in the VI was okay as a rock building study, but not so hot as a painting. The beach scene below is of a rocky beach of lava stones – many black ones in particular, but with softer sandy rose colored stones in between. And a few palm trees. And an ocean. And a spit of land sticking out. The rocks were the primary focus as that is the rocky subject I am approaching. Simplification of shape and shadow – some successful, some not.

I sat outside yesterday, using reference photos of lava rock beaches around the world, and then using the oregano plant a few feet away on the concrete. Good to be outside. Good to work on two opposing pages of the sketchbook, waiting for one to dry and working on the other. Back and forth. I was amazed I was out there for at least two hours, with more indoors. I am spending more time on painting a picture than I have before . . .

Success? It comes in steps. A lot of crap with a few successes.

I think it is time to go hem some pants.

Garden Sketches

Mad Hatter chili and Young Lemon Grass Leaves on Rhodia Tablet

I’ve been rather busy of late – running here and there, sewing, hanging out with friends, and so on.  As a result, I have not been able to sit down to paint for the past few days.  Today I made the determined effort to do so, and am glad I did.  Instead of working in the studio, I went outside onto my rather warm and sunny patio – 95F / 35C – and moved what I could into the shade of the canopy.  A small table, a chair, some water and paints, my home made iron gall ink and my dip pen all accompanied me.  Pandora and Donna Summer, too!

I pulled out a watercolor sketchbook, and immediately found that the paper has a sizing issue, as well as cannot handle water in any amount.  Wah!  However, for pen and a small amount of color, it will do.  I also used a Rhodia tablet, very smooth and polished, and works very well with a sharp pen nib.  The results are straight above – and captioned!  It worked out quite nicely.

Watercolor sketchbook. Iron gall ink applied first, then watercolor paint. Milkweed in bloom.The watercolor sketchbook, as I said, was disappointing for wet work.  However, for ink and color, it is not too bad.  Here, I did the ink drawing first and then applied the color.  The color rather overwhelmed the lines at time, so I went back and added more ink after the paint dried.  In 95F weather, it dries pretty quickly.

A flowerpot with a dead sunflower (left), oregano in bloom (middle), and the stalk and leaves of milkweed plant. Color applied first, dried, and then iron gall ink drawing.This last picture was an afterthought.  The first drawing found the color overwhelming the ink at times, so I decided to paint first, and then draw.  Artistic experiment!

Anyway, the art bug has been temporarily allayed.  More tomorrow I hope!