Sometimes I get obsessed with certain things I want to paint. Palm trees always fascinate me. I wonder why they evolved in the first place. To a midwest gal, palm trees are always going to be strange and mysterious and weird even though they have been part of my daily life since I was in my early teens. I expect anyone raised in a desert without any hardwood trees probably feels the same about oak trees.
Canon G7X Mark II, palm tree.
The last few days have been the quintessential spring days in Southern California – and I have been outside, but never enough. I planted some tomatoes and cleaned up some plants in the patio garden, basked in the sun, and have done very little. Today, though, pen and watercolor beckoned with the morning coffee, and the colors of spring and the outdoors called.
Grape hyacinths are so odd to me! I am used to the big ones, in pinks and blues and flower petals which curl outward. Grape hyacinths make me think of little bells. This is the first year I have ever grown them, and short-lived as they were, they were so much fun to see. Bulbs always make me happy, and I have a variety of them, such as iris, ixia, daffodils. Bulbs need to be hybridized for our warm California winters, so they are not so rare as they used to be, but never seem as exciting as they do when they flower in a patch of snow.
I was poring over some photos I have, taken by me or collected through Pixabay and other free online royalty sources. Palm trees and banana plants. I did this to practice dry brush on a wedge brush – nothing great but it accomplished what I wanted – a soft bit of blending, such as in the foreground.
Once more lavender fields in Provence and other areas of southern France. In particular, mixing lavender that is bluish is a challenge; here, in watercolor, I diluted my purples with some blue and rose, as well as some greenish colors to suggest the lavender’s foliage. The scan didn’t do a great job. Additionally, I wanted to capture the texture in the rocky faces of the mountain, cracks vertically and horizontally in the bare stone.
Finally, a favorite place of mine – Figueroa Mountain in Santa Barbara County. In the spring, lupines and poppies bloom, and the view across the Santa Ynez Valley extends for miles. To me, this is the epitome of a wonderful time of year in California. It is when the rains turn the hills from brown and dull to an intense display of yellow, gold, and purple.
Drawing with ink and watercolor is pleasant and relaxing, and doing it in a sketchbook takes away the desire to create a masterpiece. Here, exploration, play, practice.
Carbon ink on watercolor paper; Rosa pan watercolors.
I really do like trees! I admit to a leaning toward deciduous hardwoods, but when I saw this shadow projected onto the building, I realized that one of the things I enjoy about palm trees is just their crazy (to me) appearance. This shadow looks like me on a bad hair day, but for the palm, it is nice and tidy.
Nikon FM3a, 50mm f1.2, and Tri-X. And more to come!
This is a tribute to the African-American painters of Florida known as The Highwaymen. Some of their numbers include Sam Newton, Alfred Hair, and so many others that I cannot name them all. In a time of racial unrest in the U.S., these painters somehow managed to thrive despite the Jim Crow laws of the South, and unfortunately, their work was not appreciated as it should be. However, today we know more about them, and can enjoy their work – the internet is so helpful in that regard.
I love bright colors and cheerful landscapes, and the tropics beckon. Palm trees are alluring and the brilliant light of these areas make colors more alive and intense. The Caribbean is filled with islands and azure seas, trade winds, towering clouds. States such as Florida, on both the Atlantic and Gulf sides, throughout the Gulf of Mexico and down along the coasts of Central and South America have such beauty in common.
The Highwaymen were not untalented amateurs. Some were self-taught, others learned from A.E. Backus. Each painter in this group sought an income otherwise denied them, as well as perhaps a way in which to express the beauty around them. Read up on them – they are a fascinating slice of art history.
As with the painting I last did, “Swamp,” this one is done with watercolors mixed with gouache on 16×20 inch 140# CP Arches paper. I used more gouache this time than I did with the last painting, and it was quite a challenge. I started out with bright colors and a totally different idea of a painting, but as I started blending the gouache with the watercolor, the gouache became a driving force. However, all color represented is simply toned with white or black gouache.
These artists worked in oil on masonite. Oils lend to blending colors more so than does acrylic paint, and I found that the gouache and watercolor worked similarly. I may try to do something similar in acrylic, and expect it will be a serious challenge as acrylics dry so quickly. Often The Highwaymen sold paintings still wet!
This is perhaps the most fun I ever had with a painting. I referred to paintings by some of the artists to see how they used color, photos from the internet of palm trees and Floridian sunsets. The composition is similar to a number of seaside ones, and I attempted to emulate the colors used by the painters for sand, sea, sky, and palms. I hope I caught some of the liveliness and spirit of The Highwaymen. I know I will be back to visit them, and Florida, again soon.
Another beach scene, and a building! Am I on a roll or what? Here, something very simple, but when you think about how the painting was made, perhaps not so simple.
The lone, cylindrical shape heeds shadow and sun, and standing against the sky, It needs to be obviously separate. I could have used masking fluid to create the hard edges, but I didn’t. Instead, I painted around the lighthouse, starting at an edge and then puling the colors out. I did okay on the left side, but the right side was more problematic. Oh, well. Still, I rather like the end result given the challenge of the multi-colored sky.
Fires, hurricanes, and now snow in the middle of the country. What’s going on!?
Ink, Yarn & Beer 