shoreline – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Transition

Even though seasonal changes in SoCal are subtle, elsewhere in the state, further north or at higher elevations, shifts in color and temperature are more apparent. The tilt of the earth changes the light, winter pushes trees to change colors and lose their leaves. Temperatures drop. While today is about 73F, two weeks ago it was in the 50s (no snow, yay!) and nights are chilly. So, let’s celebrate the shift of summer to fall, and now fall to winter.

For me, this is a rather complex painting. Rocks and sandy shore, trees and brush, water, sky and reflections in the creek. Remembering the “rule” – simple big shapes, moderate shapes, details last, I worked by creating the most noticeable areas – or certainly the ones I felt could be the most challenging. This meant the creek in particular – keeping the water marked out. As well as that, the shoreline in the foreground coupled with bits of sandy shore on the right. After that, the rocks on the left and foliage of trees. I was all over the place working larger to smaller, light or dark, and then on to light or dark details.

Overall, I think this painting worked out. Analyzing its complexity and then breaking it into its larger components and areas of color helped. It is still not quite what I would have liked to produce, but much of it did succeed.

Watercolor, Hahnemuhle paper, about 10×12.

Along the Riverbank

When we lived alongside the Rancocas Creek in New Jersey, the shores of the creek were slick and muddy and the underbrush along the edges of the creek were thick and tangled and nearly impossible to get through. Of course, kids worked their way in – as did I – and paths led to some wonderful places. We had a tree house in a huge willow tree and a rope swing over the creek. If you were brave enough, or foolish enough, you could jump into the creek from the rope. I never did that! Instead, I traipsed around in the mud, pushing my way through stink weed and elephant ears (our names), losing my shoes in the mud (and getting spanked for that!), and getting bitten by mosquitos.

Such memories are the inspiration for this watercolor. I wanted to show the crowded growth along the banks, the greenish water, et cetera, et cetera. I also wanted to make it a simpler painting, trying to do masses of color without all these details. I don’t know if that would have been possible but I think I will try this painting again, but I need to think about it and play a bit to get it. As well, the whitish bark of the trees, living and dead, were hard to paint – decisions to paint around, then tint, or tint and then paint around them drove me a bit to the frantic side of my personality, which already tends towards hysteria.

Anyway!

I also used a new-to-me watercolor paper, made by St. Cuthbert’s Mill in England. I am not sure as to its fiber content, but it is archival. The texture is nice, size is good at 11×15 inches, and worked really well with the paints and water. Color could be lifted, as in the reflections of the trees on the left in the creek. So far I am pleased with this paper and definitely plan more paintings using it.

Colors were, again, of a more limited and older tradition: Hookers, ultramarine and cobalt blues, yellow ochre, siennas. A bit of alizarin and both cad red and yellows were thrown in for mixing.

While this painting is busy, it works okay for me. I think the challenge to simplify it will be worth the time and energy I spend to do it.

More Rocks – A Rocky Shore

It is always good to break up your routine. I have been sewing a lot over the last few days, and I am now ready for a change. I am also contemplating modifications to what I was making, namely pockets for a kit car. While I contemplate that, other things prevail! Today, I did all those fun things you have to do – specifically, clean house. A friend is coming in from overseas tomorrow, and I have no idea if he will be coming to visit, so I figured I better get it done. Who wants to welcome a guest to a dusty, dirty mess?

But messes are not really interesting to me. Color is.

So, back to the rocks in a quick sketchbook painting. In the US and elsewhere, some lake shores are not covered with soft sand, but are home to boulders and rocks at the edge of a forest. Trees fall and die, water freezes and thaws, snow and ice and heat and sun all wreak havoc as storms of all sorts come and go. I love the wildness of these places and their lack of order and tidiness imposed by civilization.

Today I wanted to express rocks in a more abstract manner – suggesting boulders and rocks. Fallen trees, too, and the edge of the summer as it moves into autumn. I splashed on some light washes in the trees and on the shoreline after doing the sky, and from there worked with negative painting to create the rocks and boulders.

I rather like the rocks, but in general, the painting is nothing much – I just like to paint some sort of picture when I am practicing things.

Shorelines

This morning I saw a photo of a shoreline at dawn. A lake. A sunrise. Twigs. Grasses. Mountains.

I have spent the last two weeks making Christmas presents, sewing mostly, but also baking fruit cakes (brandied and bourboned), and shopping for this or that. Today I have more sewing scheduled, and a few “must do” things.

The fact is, while I love sewing, I love other things as well. I have done little if any drawing or painting.

Why do we get caught up in the “must do” so easily, so easily that the simple pleasure of an hour spent with paper, pen, and ink becomes something of a crime, one so self-indulgent that our Puritan ancestors shake their fingers at us? Pleasure? Nay!

But, I gave in! I’m happier for it!