Moravian Star

Happy Holidays to all!

I have been busy and doing some different things with painting. I took an abstract watercolor workshop given by Tom Hoffman.  I really learned a lot during 3 full days of painting.

Yesterday while watching the Seahawks game I finished putting together this painted Moravian Star.
It is a complex geometry so I had my son take the challenge and create the template and do a sample to figure out how to put it together.  It probably took a total of 20 hours to paint, cut, fold and glue it all together.

All Set Up for the Soulumination Holiday Artists' Sale Tomorrow

Just finished setting up for the Soulumination Holiday Artists' Sale happening this weekend.
It will be Saturday from 10 am - 7 pm and Sunday from 12pm - 5 pm.
This will be the third time I have been involved with this Annual Event.  A portion of the proceeds go to the non profit www.soulumination.org. 
Go to their website to see what they are all about.  Come by and say hi.  It is well worth the visit. You will definitely leave with a lot of holiday gifts!

Getting ready for Soulumination Holiday Artist Sale this weekend

It's happening this weekend Dec 6 and 7! This is one of the best Holiday sales in the area. Come by I have some great cards, 2015 Calendar and Ornaments for sale. Hope to see you there!

Soulumination 9th Annual Artist Sale

It is that time of year again!  Getting ready for Soulumination's Annual Artists' Sale.  This is really a great event.  I have participated for three years now.  It is one of the best Holiday sales I know of and 25 percent goes to further a great cause.  Please put it on your calendars and come by and see us.
I will have a booth of art cards and 2015 calendars and more.

Sketch Images

 A couple of weeks ago I received my copy of Gabi Campanario's new book "The Urban Sketching Handbook".  On page 56 and 57 is a sketch I did of Sacromante in Granada, Spain both shown in the Black and white ink version and then the color version.  Thanks to Gabi for including my sketch in his book.  It is a great book to have if you are interested in sketching outdoors.

 

Today I also received a package in the mail sent to me from the University of Washington.  It was a nice gift box of a few of my watercolor sketches that they used as thank you gifts to some of their donors.  What a nice surprise package!

Mad Campus Art

I haven't been posting for because teaching is taking a bit of time this year. However I did get a chance to sketch on campus while the Mad Campus Art Exhibit was up.  This was an exhibit of exterior art pieces located in unexpected and unusual places. I was hoping I could sketch more of the art pieces but only had a chance to sketch this one piece the Lone Stranger which was an inflatable art piece locate in front of the Gates Law Building.  This piece was done by Artist Piper O'Neill.

The Sine Wave by W. Scott Trimble

Convocation at UW

Last weekend we attended the 2014 Convocation Ceremony at University of Washington where our youngest son is starting his college career.  I was able to sketch the events of the day. When I went to undergrad I don't remember an event like this.  Nor do I for graduate school.  So we encouraged our son to go to this.  We wanted him to get his and our money's worth...get the full experience of attending the University!

Line to Color Workshop this weekend in Tacoma

Getting packed up for the Line to Color Workshop in Tacoma.
Here is a photo of stuff that was given to us by our sponsor partners.
Fluid 100 6x8 watercolor pads from Global Art Materials. " 66 Try it Color sheets" and "Watercolor Sticks"  from Daniel Smith. 
We want to thank our sponsors and Tacoma Art Museum for supporting this workshop.

Ada's Technical Books and Cafe'

Last week I went to Ada's Technical Books for coffee and in particular to sketch the place.  I have visited this cafe several times but am usually there to do some thinking or prepping for a class.  This time I wanted to be sure to plan time to sketch there.  It is an old bungalow that has been converted to a bookstore and cafe'.  To see more about sketches on unusual coffee shops in Seattle check my blog on the USk International Blog .

El Cerrito Recycling and Environmental Resource Center

While visiting in California this summer I ended up going to the recycling center in El Cerrito.  This Platinum Leed Project has an interesting design and site plan.  It is a semi circle in plan with different stations where you can drop off items to be recycled.  They will take pharmaceuticals, motor oil, cfls, electronics  as well as typical paper, cardboard and plastics.  A book center is located at the entry and books can be dropped off but you will also find people hovering around the book bin like vultures ready to pick up some nice free books.  There is also Good Will bins for reusable goods.  It is a one stop recycling center.  We could use something like that here in Seattle.

Reflections at Center for Wooden Boats

Last Thursday was the last class for my architectural sketching class.  I started this sketch to demonstrate the process of doing reflections.

Center for Wooden Boats

Ashland Oregon Shakespeare Festival

On our recent road trip to California we made a stop in Ashland, Oregon.  Ashland is known for the Shakespeare Festivals it has held every year since 1935.  It has an outdoor Elizabethan theatre similar to the Globe theatre, the Allen Elizabethan Theatre named for its major contributor the Paul G. Allen Foundation.  I remember being there years ago on another road trip but at that time the surrounding seated area was a banked lawn. I was surprised to see a semi enclosed seated outdoor theatre on this trip and was intrigued by the space so I was able to convince my family to give me  enough time to sketch there.

Knowing when to stop!

Today a met with a couple of sketching students to sketch at the Panama Hotel Tea and Coffee House.
I got there early so I started a sketch of the storefront entry from inside the space.  I was able to add color to it while students were working on their own sketches.  I got to a point where I was happy with it but then decided to add more color to the background walls.  I should have stopped before "adding"...sometimes it is better to call it a day  and then look at it 24 hours later to see if you really need to add anything.  Adding the background took away focus to the sketch.  What I had to do is add value to other areas to make it read again.  It turned out okay but I should have stopped earlier and reassessed it the next day!

Flags at Shilshole

It took me a  long time to find a view I wanted to sketch.  Maybe there were just too many options or maybe it was the fact that when you sat down the guard rail aligned with  your eye level.  I ended up standing to sketch the view I liked.  What drew me to this view were the colorful big flags on a couple of sail boats and the fog that had settled in, creating interesting atmospheric perspective.  Of course by the time I finished the sketch the fog had lifted so when painting the sketch I could add the color of the sky and a lot more masts seem to fill the background.

Obliteride

A couple of Thursdays ago I taught my Architecture sketching class at Gas Works Park.  Little did I know that there would be people setting up tents and stations for the Obliteride  Event.  Obliteride raises funds for Cancer Research and is an event that happens once a year.  The sketch below was the  drawn while they were in the process of setting up for the Friday start of the bike rides and events happening on the next day. 

This is the first sketch in my new travelogue Handbook.  The size is about 8x8 which is a perfect size for broad loose washes.  The 5.5 x 8.5 watercolor sketch books were feeling a bit small... this sketch book works well and is giving me more freedom in my watercolors and sketch layouts.

Obliteride set up at Gasworks Park.

The Magnolia Big Band at Night Out

This year's sketch of the Magnolia Big Band. 
I love sketching these guys.  It is fun to sketch the instruments and musicians playing.  This time I tried to do simple almost blind contour drawings.  The first sketch was done in pencil and the second in pen.  It is amazing how little you have to sketch but it is enough to tell the story and give a sense of what is going on.

Crossing of the Eagles

Today my son Matthew and two other Scouts Malcolm and Tristan became Eagle Scouts. The Eagle classification is the culmination of many years of scouting and many kids drop out before getting there.   Besides completing merit badges, and consistently being involved in Boyscout events,  the boyscout gets involved in leadership, and heading up a final Eagle Project.   So here's to the new Eagle Scouts Matthew, Malcolm and Tristan ....congratulations and great job boys.

This was a sketch of the boys arriving via canoe  and landing at Montlake Community Center.

Eagles Crossing

Practicing washes and the idea of reflections

This is totally a made up watercolor of my imagination.  I was trying to prep for demonstrating how to do washes for the sky and atmospheric perspective.  So I came up with this watercolor.

I used a lot of soft edges,  the foreground land mass should have been hard edged.

Water color sketch at St. Ignatius Chapel

Today my UW class Architect 415 went to St. Ignatius chapel to sketch the chapel in watercolor.
We tried something different, working directly in watercolor no lines.  Just looking for big shapes and values. 
It created a more abstract image with some interesting results.

Here are two sketches I did.  One on the outside of the building which took about 15 min.  The other inside the chapel which took only 5 minutes.

Demo's at Olympic Sculpture Park

Meet with my sketching class at Olympic Sculpture Park.  What a beautiful and hot day. 
I did two demos one on creating atmospheric perspective in your sketches.  And the other demo was on selective watercolor.

Atmospheric Perspective

Selective watercolor

Construction on 8th and Lenora

 Process sketches of construction going on on 8th and Lenora.  Done on location over two Sundays.
The first Sunday started raining and cut short my work.

Value Study 2

Here is the second image we gave the students.  I have scanned my value study and the final in two stages.  The final as the first and second wet washes before I let the whole thing dry.  And the final stage where I put in the darks for detail.

Final Stage

Value Study and Stage 1

Photo

Value Studies

Today my friend Cindy Esselman was the guest instructor in my Architecture 415 class.  We introduced watercolor and focused on shape, values, soft and hard edges.  Here is a black and white photo of an alley that was passed to the class to study. The idea was to  paint values in a series of layers from the lightest value to the darkest. The  painted value study is a simplified version of the photo.  Can you reduce the image to a few major shapes first and then add detail?

Here is the value study I did tonight from the photo.

New Line to Color Workshop in September

Announcing Line to Color Workshop in Tacoma Washington this September. 
Registration deadline is August 15th, 2014.
See for more information see Workshop Details .

Painting outside the Lines

Tonight I was messing around with the Windsor Newton pocket palette just to familiarize my self with how the paints respond.  So I started this with light juicy washes very wet.  Then added midtone and darks all directly on the paper with no lines.  So I was working with shape and value very loosely.
It ended up looking like a muddled mess so I decided to get my Hero bent nib pen and do a semi blind contour sketch over the watercolor once it had dried.  Here is the outcome.  Kind of fun switching it out.

Sketching people in Urban Settings

Yesterday my UW Sketching class went to Westlake Park to sketch people and activities.  That was the perfect spot.  Gabi Campanario was the guest lecturer and demonstrated how he approaches sketching people in the environment.  One hint he gave in sketching moving people is to watch their movements for a while and you will be able to remember the pose to capture it in the drawing.  Also exaggerate the movement.  It makes for a more dynamic drawing.

I sketched the sketch below before I heard those words. I will have to try it again.

Water and Reflections

I was just reading about reflections in a Zoltan Szabo's book on 70 Watercolor Techniques.  This is my second try at it.  Trying to simplify the strokes and washes.   I used a 1" flat wash from Daniel Smith. The watercolor washes went down beautifully.  The brush held a lot of water and laid down some juicy paint.

The following is the first study I did from a photograph in a book.  It came out too busy.  Too many reflections and there was not focus to the image.   Too many things competing with each other.  I simplified it in the second sketch.  The watercolor brush in this was also a smaller brush probably a size 10 or 12 brush.  I like the second try better.

Sketching and Painting Every Day

Last night  my husband and I met up with Montreal Sketcher Shari Blaukoph and her husband Spiro for dinner.  This was their final evening in Seattle after Shari's world wind West Coast workshops.  She is very diligent in sketching and painting everyday and I enjoy checking out her blog each day to see what new sketch she has done.

I asked her how she can do it every day.  She says thanks to her husband who supports and encourages her in doing it she just finds time and makes it a priority.  Even if you do a little sketch of something at home  it is great practice to just keep you eyes and hands in it everyday.  Get those hourly reps of painting and sketching.

This morning I decided to take some time to sketch the blue house on the corner of 26th and Boyer.
Here are the two stages of painting.  The light and medium values and then the darks.  I tried to capture the dappled light but I think I should have simplified by strokes.
Will try this again some time.

2nd Stage Darks

First stage lights and mediums.