Day 1
We gathered at the C
arroll street site. It is my least favorite spot of all the ones we hit last year. I remember it as being hot, buggy, and sans bathroom. It is pretty, though, and the addition of hay bales and a veggie garden broke up all that green that I grew tired of last time. We did have some "distractions" wander through our first demo in the form of some escaped pigs, but we got to work after they left. I chose the view from up on the hill.
The Painting is 15" x 11", watercolor. And it looks just a little better than my first day out last year. I didn't really like this one. I didn't say it outright, but it was clear how I felt when I accidentally drove away without it at the end of the day. Luckily Nora grabbed it for me, but I don't think I would have lost sleep over it if it had disappeared.
Day 2
On the second day, the group went to
Carroll street again, but I just wanted to find some water. I went to Haserot Beach, near the top of the peninsula. It was a beach I liked last year, so I thought it might propel me forward. I think it did. The watercolor below is 15" x 8". It looks like what I was doing at the end of last years class. Improvement.
In the evening, I decided to pull over at the scenic overlook that we pass when we drive up and down the peninsula. I was really drawn to the horizon line, the atmospheric layering of hills, the crisp line where trees meet water, and water meets the distant land. The watercolor below is 15" x 5.5"
Day 3
On the third day we went to the lighthouse. It rained when we first got there, but the showers held off just long enough for me to get a few things done. We were asked to work wet on wet with our watercolor, so I did just that. The first painting is 3" x 6" and the second is 15" x 5'. I started working with multiple pieces at one time so that I could experiment on a smaller one, before I did something to the larger piece. It also gave me an opportunity to play a bit more. Working with multiples also takes the pressure off, because not all of our eggs are in one basket.
When it started to rain again, I moved to a site in front of Old Mission Inn, where I had heard there was something like a picnic shelter that I could sit in to keep dry. This was great because the hazy, rainy day was great for painting, and I didn't want to stop.The first piece below is 15" x 5.5". The second was an experiment, where I was really trying to isolate that line I liked so much. I found that if you painted a line and then dripped water on it, the paint would disperse like a landscape on top with it's reflection in the water below. This one is 6.5" x 3.75". The third piece is the same idea using violet, and is 3.5" x 6".
Day 4
The fourth day was spent at Chateau Chantal. It was cold. After two hot days and a rainy day, the chill in the air wasn't so bad. I did have to break out the sweatshirt and blanket. In this first piece I think I finally achieved what I was after. I wanted to simplify the landscape, have smooth gradation within the color blocks, and capture the lighting with my color palette. It reminds me a little of some contemporary pieces my parents found in Cape Dorset, Alaska.It is 15" x 6".
I also did some smaller pieces. The first was a practice for the large piece, and measures 6.5" x 4". The second is my only vertical composition, measuring 3" x 6". The third is 9" x 2", and is more energetic. I used watercolor, and water resistant pen, that bled a little on that. The fourth is the shape of a little line of trees I liked. It is 4" x 1.5".
Day 5
I started my last painting with a barn and a field right outside my cabin door. I had begun to sketch the composition the evening before, but the morning light was so much better. The first piece measures 6" x 3.5". It is bolder in color, like the scene itself. The second piece 7.5" x 4". Here, I started to bring in some pattern in the foreground, layered on top of the color blocks. I think I moved on from what I was doing in the previous few days to something new, which was cool.
When I finished there, I headed up to the Two Lads Winery on the peninsula. I checked it out the day before and thought the contemporary architecture, might lend itself to what I was doing with the landscape. These reminded me of something I had seen before and at our final critic, Nora said that the artist I was thinking of was Charles Demuth. His work with industrial architecture must have made a subconscious impression on me in an art history course at some point. The first painting is 4" x 4". I wanted that horizon line to be stopped in its tracks by the massive vertical of the building. I also wanted to see if I could get away with dividing the composition into quadrants with the most prominent vertical and horizontal lines. The second piece below is 10.25" x 3.5". In this one I focused on the big black windows and the graphic 2 from the Two Lads logo.
Now that the course is complete, I feel good about the work I created. I definitely have a better understanding of watercolor after this week. Also, I found a style of working with the material that is engaging enough that I want to keep painting. Overall, it was an excellent week!
We gathered at the C
arroll street site. It is my least favorite spot of all the ones we hit last year. I remember it as being hot, buggy, and sans bathroom. It is pretty, though, and the addition of hay bales and a veggie garden broke up all that green that I grew tired of last time. We did have some "distractions" wander through our first demo in the form of some escaped pigs, but we got to work after they left. I chose the view from up on the hill.
The Painting is 15" x 11", watercolor. And it looks just a little better than my first day out last year. I didn't really like this one. I didn't say it outright, but it was clear how I felt when I accidentally drove away without it at the end of the day. Luckily Nora grabbed it for me, but I don't think I would have lost sleep over it if it had disappeared.
Day 2
On the second day, the group went to
Carroll street again, but I just wanted to find some water. I went to Haserot Beach, near the top of the peninsula. It was a beach I liked last year, so I thought it might propel me forward. I think it did. The watercolor below is 15" x 8". It looks like what I was doing at the end of last years class. Improvement.
In the evening, I decided to pull over at the scenic overlook that we pass when we drive up and down the peninsula. I was really drawn to the horizon line, the atmospheric layering of hills, the crisp line where trees meet water, and water meets the distant land. The watercolor below is 15" x 5.5"
Day 3
On the third day we went to the lighthouse. It rained when we first got there, but the showers held off just long enough for me to get a few things done. We were asked to work wet on wet with our watercolor, so I did just that. The first painting is 3" x 6" and the second is 15" x 5'. I started working with multiple pieces at one time so that I could experiment on a smaller one, before I did something to the larger piece. It also gave me an opportunity to play a bit more. Working with multiples also takes the pressure off, because not all of our eggs are in one basket.
When it started to rain again, I moved to a site in front of Old Mission Inn, where I had heard there was something like a picnic shelter that I could sit in to keep dry. This was great because the hazy, rainy day was great for painting, and I didn't want to stop.The first piece below is 15" x 5.5". The second was an experiment, where I was really trying to isolate that line I liked so much. I found that if you painted a line and then dripped water on it, the paint would disperse like a landscape on top with it's reflection in the water below. This one is 6.5" x 3.75". The third piece is the same idea using violet, and is 3.5" x 6".
Day 4
The fourth day was spent at Chateau Chantal. It was cold. After two hot days and a rainy day, the chill in the air wasn't so bad. I did have to break out the sweatshirt and blanket. In this first piece I think I finally achieved what I was after. I wanted to simplify the landscape, have smooth gradation within the color blocks, and capture the lighting with my color palette. It reminds me a little of some contemporary pieces my parents found in Cape Dorset, Alaska.It is 15" x 6".
I also did some smaller pieces. The first was a practice for the large piece, and measures 6.5" x 4". The second is my only vertical composition, measuring 3" x 6". The third is 9" x 2", and is more energetic. I used watercolor, and water resistant pen, that bled a little on that. The fourth is the shape of a little line of trees I liked. It is 4" x 1.5".
Day 5
I started my last painting with a barn and a field right outside my cabin door. I had begun to sketch the composition the evening before, but the morning light was so much better. The first piece measures 6" x 3.5". It is bolder in color, like the scene itself. The second piece 7.5" x 4". Here, I started to bring in some pattern in the foreground, layered on top of the color blocks. I think I moved on from what I was doing in the previous few days to something new, which was cool.
When I finished there, I headed up to the Two Lads Winery on the peninsula. I checked it out the day before and thought the contemporary architecture, might lend itself to what I was doing with the landscape. These reminded me of something I had seen before and at our final critic, Nora said that the artist I was thinking of was Charles Demuth. His work with industrial architecture must have made a subconscious impression on me in an art history course at some point. The first painting is 4" x 4". I wanted that horizon line to be stopped in its tracks by the massive vertical of the building. I also wanted to see if I could get away with dividing the composition into quadrants with the most prominent vertical and horizontal lines. The second piece below is 10.25" x 3.5". In this one I focused on the big black windows and the graphic 2 from the Two Lads logo.
Now that the course is complete, I feel good about the work I created. I definitely have a better understanding of watercolor after this week. Also, I found a style of working with the material that is engaging enough that I want to keep painting. Overall, it was an excellent week!
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