Tag: trees

Another Bit of Snow

Today I played around with the same subject of the other day – a covered bridge with a bit of snow. The goal for today was a much more direct use of the colors, with very little returning to fix this or that with a glaze. Consequently, it is more casual and not especially refined – such as the bridge itself – but I like its simplicity and clarity of color. I met my goal in this painting. Below is the original from the other day.

I may choose to do this same picture a few more times – pen and color as well as another one more direct but done more carefully. It’s a good subject overall.

Watercolor, 10×14 Arches 140# CP.

A Bit of Snow

It is this time of year, the end of October, when I dream of autumn fading away and the first snows of winter arriving. I was born in mid-October, and my mother says she went into labor with me on a warm, sunny autumnal day and came home in a blizzard. I always remember this story, and as a kid loved seeing bright autumn leaves and berries still on the trees and bushes breaking through a fresh layer of snow. Weather like this was always a birthday present from Mother Nature!

Covered bridges spanning creeks are still in existence in various bits of the east coast. I imagine they were welcome resting spots for those on horseback or in open carts or wagons, out of the wind and snow or rain. For me, they are part of my own nostalgia for “the good old days” – and really lovely bits of historical architecture.

It has been a long time since I have witnessed the autumns and winters of hardwood woodlands. They always linger as some of the most beautiful memories. The mid-west and eastern states of New York north are where I want to be this time of year. But, where I live, in sunny SoCal, this is not the case, even though the Sierras have much to offer this time of year. And, admittedly, I am glad I don’t have to deal with chains and mukluks and woolies and long johns. I will admire the change of seasons from afar, more so in my dotage.

Watercolor, unknown watercolor paper with poor sizing, 11×14.

Trees in the Back Yard

For the past few weeks it is as if I fell down the rabbit hole – nothing made too much sense! The main thing was getting the walking boot off and getting used to being a bipedal organism after weeks of sitting around, walking here and there in the house or at the market, only taking minimal steps. It may sound weird, but for me, actually walking became an almost surreal experience. I am doing fine, too, but my mind and body had to coordinate it all once again. Jumping away from a moving car to save my skin was great, but spending 2 months recovering, and then some, from a badly bruised and messed up ankle is something else.

Doing nothing much sort of leads to a torpor and little desire to do much. I admit, I watched a ton of TV and movies, and played bits and pieces of music, but the motivation to do much of anything was very much missing. But now autumn is in the air, cooler days and cooler nights, light shifts and just that wonderful sense of change that comes with seasons – and being able to gad about – have me emerging.

Classes also help! A couple of painting classes, a ukulele class, and digging out my pen and watercolors have got me moving. Today, my ukulele class is at 5, so I decided to just sit out in the back of the house with pen and ink and pan paints and a waterbrush and sketchbook. As the season changes, leaves change color and drop.

This is my first sketch. We have a beautiful crepe myrtle tree with a rather vase-like base. Large branches spread out from the trunk like a V. It’s the prettiest of the local crepe myrtles, I think, because of this shape. Its flowers, too, are not the usual bright pink but a deep red violet. I decided to sketch with its flowers even though they are mostly gone. The leaves turn an orangish green with the end of summer. I made them greener. At the base of the tree is a small bush that has pink flowers in the spring.

These are podocarpus trees which line the back fence. They are ridiculously fat and poorly spaced – I am innocent! I didn’t do this! – and way too tall. I need to get them removed. They are really rather messy trees, and drop leaves year round as they are not deciduous. Despite these drawbacks, I really rather like drawing them as their trunks have an abundance of texture and the leaves seem to appear in clumps so that colors vary in shades of green depending on the light.

And there we are! I think I am beginning to feel like my life is returning to normal, and for the past year it really has been odd. Breaking and injuring my bones seems to be this year’s theme, so let’s hope it is not going to become a tradition. I would rather spend my time rambling around outdoors, enjoying what there is!

Later . . .

Playtime

For some reason I remembered the fun I have had with pastels – soft, hard, pencil. I dug them out yesterday afternoon to play with, not to do anything great. I have not used them in a year or two, and with that comes the need to re-learn what to do with them. I figured an imaginary landscape somewhere would be good territory for exploration, so in the Land of Something, I began.

The first thing I did was to used Golden Pastel Ground which I mixed with some fluid yellow ochre acrylic paint and water, thinning it to the consistency of cream. I applied 3 thin layers onto Canson XL oil / acrylic painting paper, letting it dry in between each layer. This give a sanded surface with a bit of grit, and it held up really well.

After the paper and ground were dried, I pulled out all my pastels. I have soft pastels by Rembrandt and Terry Ludwig; harder pastels called Nupastel, and some reputable pastel pencils by Derwent and Faber-Castell. The first layers were done with soft pastels to lay in the values. I used rubbing alcohol and a paint brush to establish values. The alcohol seals the pastel pigment and once dried the colors do not flake off.

I applied layer after layer after layer of soft pastels, blending as needed, and using a very fine mist spray bottle with alcohol in it to settle each layer. In the end, I used the Nupastels and the pastel pencils to see what they can and cannot do. When finished, I sealed the painting with more alcohol and used a hair dryer to hasten the drying.

Last time I did pastels I got frustrated, and it seemed everything I did got worse and worse! My own thoughts are I am more accomplished or skilled with colors and such now than I was a few years ago, so this may be why I feel this is a successful foray into a forgotten medium. I expect I will be carrying on with pastels as they are a lot like drawing and painting, messy and bright. I think I may attempt a building with the next painting.

Working with pastels produces a lot of dust. I wore a face mask and damp wiped my work area after I finished. If I continue to paint in pastels, I plan to get a good air purifier with a HEPA filter to keep the potential dust hazard to a minimum.

9 x 12 Canson XL oil / acrylic paper; Golden pastel ground with yellow ochre and water; Terry Ludwig and Rembrandt soft pastels with pastel pencils and Nupastel. Rubbing alcohol used to seal dust. (Now let’s see how it works as a final fixative!)

In Acadia

Acadia National Park is one of the most incredible parks – wild, rugged, beautiful.

Another painting with watercolor on Vision paper; again more direct approach. Not sure how good this looks online as the scan was not especially good.

This was a challenge altogether. Goal was simply to simplify. The rocks were not so easy to do as they are complicated in a lot of ways, at least here. They are very rectangular and sharp. I used broad strokes – and then some more – and then some more, each getting smaller. The trees, foreground, lighting were difficult as it was sunset or sunrise and catching the colors felt elusive. It feels overworked to me, but this is practice with both the paper and subject.

Vision watercolor paper, 140# CP, watercolor, 9 x 12.