Value and Color study

Here are some quick sketches I did of value and color for the winter waltz final touches.  They are about 2x3 and done in 5 minutes.  They are just to help me visualize where the values are and how the colors will work. 

Winter Waltz 2013

A couple of weeks ago we attended the Garfield High School Orchestra's Winter Waltz at Benaroya Hall.  This is the third year I have gone.  It is always such a wonderful time, an opportunity to listen to great waltz music in an amazing venue and  have a glass of wine, dessert, dance and sketch.  This year we did not dance but I sketched.  I was able to do two sketches. This is the last sketch I did with the first pass of light washes.  I wasn't able to complete it on site but will show the final version tomorrow.

Final Stage: Darks

The final pass in this watercolor sketch was to hit the pendant light with a dark wash to separate it from the background.  I made a very dark wash and applied it to the bottom and left side of the light  to reinforce the direction of light and shade.
When it was still wet I dipped my brush directly in ultramarine blue and hit the left side of the base of the light...adding a very deep tone.

The contrast in value is what will create spatial depth in a fairly flat drawing.

Second Stage: Midtones

Yesterday I talked about the first stage which was to apply light washes and leave some white highlights. What I kept white were areas that received the most light or were giving off light, like that of the lamp's light source.
In this scan of the sketch, I have applied the midtone values.  The glass within the tracery was actually dark and the metal frame work around each glass pane appeared white.  To capture this, I prepared a wash that had a consistency of coffee rather than tea.  I applied this darker wash with a smaller brush so I could just paint in the areas of the glass and leave areas between each pane the background color  to suggest the framework around the glass.  In reality each pane had a slightly different appearance so some panes received an additional pass to darken the value. I then added the same wash to the bottom of the lamp and to the left side that was in shade. I then dipped my brush in water and to the wash to apply a lighter wash to the shaded side of the columns. Finally I prepared a light  red tone to the upper portion of the arch to imply the wall and ceiling color.

First Stage: Light washes

The first stage of this watercolor was applying very wet light washes.  I do it with a big brush that holds a lot of water.  I keep the pigment very light...like the value of light tea.  you can also apply a little more color in the wet areas while it is still wet to get interesting wet on wet effects. But what is also very important is to save those areas of white.  That will add sparkle to the watercolor later.
It is hard to truly regain white areas once it is painted.

Suzzallo Library January Sketch Outing

Last week we went to Suzzallo Library on the UW campus and sketched for our January sketch outing.  It is a beautiful Collegiate Gothic Library built in 1926 by architects Charles Bebb and Carl F. Gould.  The reading room is 250' long, 52' wide and a breathtaking 65' tall. 

I chose to sketch a detail from the library... the lights with the soaring walls behind it.  I finished sketching it but didn't have time to watercolor it on site.  This was an opportunity to show the stages of the inkline watercolor process.

Here is my first stage.  The inkline sketch.  ( I had already laid the first light washes over it, using photoshop I took out the color...this is close to what I originally started with.)  Second stage tomorrow.

Inkline Stage

Sketching at Volunteer Park Conservatory

Today I took a walk up the hill to Volunteer Park on a sunny crisp winter morning.  I went into the Conservatory at Volunteer Park to sketch the orchids on display.  Beautiful specimens.  It was hard to get the back and side lighting happening.  This may have been too small a sketch to accomplish that successfully.

Paperwhites Part 2

Here is the completed watercolor of the paperwhites.  I started by doing the bowl the paperwhites were sitting in but that really took away from the focus of the flowers so I ended up painting everything to pop out the white of the flowers. Ultimately I should have worked light to dark building up the watercolor altogether. Yarka Semi Moist Pan Paints.

Paper whites in Progress

I painted some Paper whites as a way of testing out the Yarka Paints I have.  This is an inprogress painting although I should have approached it in a totally different way.  Instead of painting the object I should have first painted the background light washes then get to the details.  The Yarka paints blend well and as you will see in the next drawing of this create nice mixes of colors.

Essential Bakery in Wallingford, Seattle, WA

Another Sketch using Yarka Semi Moist Paints.  This is really inexpensive but has wonderful mixing quality.  Paints are available at DickBlicks.com
http://www.dickblick.com/products/yarka-semi-moist-watercolor-pan-sets/

Sketches from 2012

I just finished putting watercolor over some sketches I did in 2012.  Didn't have a chance to add color on the ink line drawings earlier but found time recently.  I was using a new set of watercolors "Yarka"  a Set of 8 colors for only $6.00.  They mix well to interesting secondary and tertiary colors....but I was told from Frank B. that they are staining colors.  Nice to experiment with them.

Here is one sketch that I had done on a sketchcrawl day in November while waiting to join the group at the Seattle Art Museum.  I was parked in my car on Western This is the view from the car.

Second Sketch from Sorrento Hotel

Happy New Year!

Sorrento Hotel Lounge and Bar

Last week I went to the Sorrento Hotel with a friend for a drink and time to sketch.  I was told it was a great place to sketch.  What a wonderful cozy room with a fireplace and decked out in holiday greenery.  Here is the first sketch I did.

Christmas Eve Service at UPC

Our traditional Christmas Eve.  We get our cooking and wrapping done for Christmas day and then attend 11 p.m. Evening Service at University Presbyterian Church, Seattle, WA.  Great music and service. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year!

Sketchouting at EMP

Sunday a large group of us met at the EMP for our monthly Sketch Outing.  It was a challenge to sketch a space with very view orthogonal walls.  Here is what I was able to do.

EMP Lobby from 5th Ave South entrance.

City Cantabile Choir Celtic Christmas Concert

Saturday night we went to a concert put on by director Fred West and the City Cantabile Choir.  It was a Celtic Christmas Concert with a choir singing medieval and Irish songs, a pageantry of hand made lanterns,  Uillean pipes, fiddle and Celtic harp instrumentals and step dancing performed by two 11 year old children who were  Open Champion Level dancers.  What a wonderful and different Christmas Concert.  I was intrigued by the lighting and the lantern processional.  This is a sketch from it.

Sketch 3 Soulumination Courtyard scene

Sketch 3 from Soulumination Artist Sale.

Sketch 2 Soulumination Sale

View inside the Soulumination Court yard at the Artist sale. 

First Sketch from the Soulumination Sale

Waiting in Line for Soulumination Sale to open.

This was the scene at the Soulumination Sale.  Waiting for the doors to open.  They had plenty of stuff to sell, but people got there early to be able to get their first choice in wreaths and other items.
It was a cozy site inside compared to the rain outside.  I sketched on location but had to add color later because of the rain.

Scenes from Soulumination Artist Sale

Last chance to catch a great event.  12-5PM today.

Setting Up

I spent the morning setting up my table at the Soulumination Artist's Sale.  We look forward to having a lot of people show up.  Any one in Seattle is invited to come.  Here is a photo of my table set up. 

Final Touches

Soulumination volunteer putting the final touches to her wreath. 

HEART AND SOUL

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The heart and soul of Soulumination.org is founder Lynette Johnson seen in the middle of this sketch in the dotted jacket.  This was the scene of Volunteers making handmade wreaths for the upcoming event.  100 percent of the wreath sales goes to supporting Soulumination.

Getting ready for Soulumination Artist's Sale

Greens in the Courtyard ready to be made into wreaths

I love showing process.  The week before the Soulumination Sale, volunteers gather greens and have four days dedicated to making wreaths to sell at the Artist sale.  100 percent of the wreath profits goes to supporting the work of Soulumination.  These wreaths are not just typical Costco Wreaths but have a look a feel of being artistically crafted. Come on Saturday early to get a wreath.... they go quickly.
I will be posting different sketches of this event in the next few days.

Souluminations Artists Sale this Saturday and Sunday

I will have several series of notecards for sale and my 2013 calendar for sale here.  Look forward to seeing you there.

Seattle Art Museum South Lobby

A sketch from the mid landing at the Seattle Art Museum originally designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

Seattle Art Museum

Today was Seattle sketchers sketch outing.  We met at the Seattle Art Museum and sketch the lobbies which were open to using media other than pencil.  Here is my first sketch done at the north lobby.
Inopportune: Stage One, 2004
Cars and sequenced multi-channel light tubes
Cai Guo-Qiang

Rainier Ave South in Columbia City

Looking south down Rainier Ave. South in Columbia City, Seattle.  This was sketched in ink on watercolor paper on location and painted from a photo at home.  9x12 format.

Souluminations Artist Sale

Soulumination is a non-profit organization founded by Lynette Johnson a Seattle photographer. The work of Soulumination is to celebrate the lives of children and parents facing life threatening conditions by providing professional photographs  of these children and their families free of charge.

This year Soulumination will have their 7th Annual Artist sales Saturday- Sunday December 1 and 2nd.  A portion of the artist sales goes to supporting Soulumination's work.  I will have my notecards and my yearly calendar for sale.  Hope you can come! Soulumination had asked me to do a sketch of their artist sale.  This sketch was done on location, the people and decorations were from imagination to depict the sale. Click on the image to see the full version of the sketch.