I started out thinking that I was going to do this light and loose; almost an abstract style but changed it as I went along. I am using that for my excuse for the crooked benches with the unevenly spaced legs. I suppose the real reason is, trying to paint in a recliner. It was late and I was tired but I put paint on paper so here we are.

I am still working in my sketch book. I received my paints (well, most of them anyway). Now I need to purchase some sketch paper that will handle the water better.

I realized tonight that I am putting off painting at night, I used to love it. This left me pondering what was up, the problem became clear when I was trying to paint and the shadow of my hand was across the page. At that point, of course, the light was no where near my onion because I was trying to get it over my paper! Before I moved my chair the primary light was over my left shoulder ( I am right handed) and the secondary light was on the subject, now I am using one overhead light and, well, my shadow on the page...Think I need to move the lights again!

I was very excited when I came home from work yesterday and saw this box sitting on the counter. The senders address was what I was hoping for, the size of the box was a little large, that was okay, probably extra packing to protect my paints. Then I opened it... no packing slip! This drawing is pretty much to scale on a 6' counter. That is why the tiles are all crooked, I was standing with sketch book in one hand drawing with the other so I could get the scale correct. The one little tiny tube of WN Antwerp Blue almost got thrown away it was so lost in all of that tissue paper. AAARRRUGH! I have been waiting for these paints for a week now and this set back irks me. Yes, I have e-mailed and yes, I have called and they are looking into what was shipped and will let me know, very pleasant Folks at Art Supply.com, I might add. The one paint tube I did receive was the same color as D.S Prussian Blue, which I ordered and already received, it is so hard to really tell color on line and that was a recommended color (chuckle), so I ordered it to make sure I had it. That little tube was the same price as the D.S tube that is 3 times the size! The color is delightful and will definitely get used so no worries there. It is all a learning experience.

I'm calling this "Picture of Defeat" because that is how these dogs feel sometimes at the end of the day. I drew my feet in desperation for something to draw. My big toe came out just a little long but not bad over all. One of the things that I realized when I did this is, this same drawing would have taken me at least an hour 4 months ago, last night it took maybe 15 minutes. That is progress!

Took the dogs for a hike in Benicia State Park on Friday. This was the view from the picnic table where we ate lunch. Well, it is sort of the view, minus 3/4 of the buildings, and the smoke stacks from the refinery that stick up in that blank hole between the foot hills and Mt. Diablo, but they just had no place in the view.

The trip was made more interesting by my forgetting my sketch pad. What ensued was about 45 minutes looking for a store that would have plain blank paper. I ended up with some very thin paper and an interesting set of pencils. I did notice a that there was a mechanical pencil included but didn't have my glasses on to really read what it said, besides the day was getting away from us. When I got to the car and started opening the pencils, I discovered that the mechanical pencil had multi-colored lead! Kind of a nice surprise when I had left home with nothing. This was not done with the pencil, this was done in ink and redrawn tonight on paper that would take a little water and then painted. I am still waiting on the rest of my watercolors...

Well, I know this is very boring for you, however, for me it is most exciting! First off, I can see the real colors on my watercolor paper. I can see that the scanner does not pick up the clear yellow, that is a bit frustrating as it wasn't a cheap scanner. It may just need adjustments... What I am excited about since you can not tell it from this scan, is how many different greens I came up with just using 1 yellow (pure and clear), 2 golds and 2 shades of blue. Green has been one of the hardest colors for me to come up with. The greens that were in the travel set that I bought just weren't good for much, every time I tried mixing my own, it came out muddy. The copy of this chart is so far off, you can't tell anything from it, so you will just have to take my word for it. These Daniel Smith paints are wonderful! A tiny drop goes along way and the colors are deliciously clear.

Trying my hand at painting a sunset, not too disappointed for a first try. This can also qualify for "something that I love", challenge as I do love this time of day, just as the day quiets, I also love the crack of dawn. I love the colors that show in the sky when it is too dark to see much on the ground. I can see some lines where the colors aren't quite blended but not bad. The original isn't quite this blue but I wanted to keep the yellow in the sunset, as it is in the original and I didn't like the grey that the scan pulled, so I went with the least of evils and took the extra blue. I must say with Karen W's help, I have sorted out most of the scan problems that I was having. I have some artist quality paints on order (thanks to all of the group for your suggestions), I can't wait until they get here!

Yesterday we had a memorial to attend fairly close to the City. As we were coming home the fog had started to roll in, making the City appear to float above the foreground. In the actual view there are over passes and "stuff" obscuring the view. I was so taken with the way that it looked, I tried painting it, HUMMM, well, I certainly have a lot to learn about that whole concept. But at least I tried it! I removed the "stuff" in the foreground, but then had a rough time getting that strip of land to recede. Any suggestions will be gratefully accepted.

Illo Friday's "Play"

I did the piano sketch last year when I first started drawing. I liked it but it was just the piano idea in rough pencil. Tonight when I saw the topic for IF, I decided to see if I could use the idea for the piano and add a rabbit playing with everything he's got. Here is the end result!

I took my painting and sketching supplies along with the dogs, out by the marsh yesterday morning, with the intent of doing a plein air painting. I kept finding interesting little things along the way that I did small sketches of planning on painting the "real picture" when I arrived at what ever spot struck my fancy. I came upon a spot over looking the slough, pulled out paints and pad at about the same time the dogs were coming back up from their swim. By the time they were done shaking off all over my paper, I remembered why I didn't want to take them and my paint supplies in the same trip! I packed up and came back home with the only thing to show for the day, my small sketches, which I worked into a page this morning.

Here are two drawings Illo Fridays "Captured". While I was trying to figure out how to draw the second one I reaized that the wall had captured a beam of sunlight. My kitchen is not empty like this, I wanted to keep it simple. The second one is of my dog Bridget when she was about 8 months old. She loved snooping around the dishwasher while I was loading it, hoping for some lost scraps. The last time she did it the loop on her collar droped over one of the posts in the rack so when she backed up it started to rattle and follow. That scared her so she pulled quicker and harder which sent dishes flying, the dishwasher "beast" was still attached! She was yelping and jumping and dishes were bouncing around, I know in her doggie mind, the thing, grabbed her and was following her. Needless to say, that ended that bad habit!

I have finally graduated! For the last 4 months I have done all my water colors in my sketch book , part of the reason for that was because I didn't feel like I knew enough about water color and blending it to waste W.C paper. Well, I have figured out that I do know enough and that the paper makes all the difference in the world!!!
No "playing" for me tonight, this time I wanted to paint from real life and make this peach as close to real looking as I could. I like the way it came out!

This is a view (sort of) off the bridge I cross on my way home. It kinds of reminds me of one of those distorted maps that you can pick up as a tourist promo in funky little towns. The top of the bait shop is accurate but you can't see the slough any more because the City decided to build a huge office building that completely blocks the view. Things are out of proportion but I liked it just the same, I wanted to "play" a bit on the page!

Two pictures to post tonight, the first one is of a grape vine that I drew yesterday, but couldn't post. The grapes are just starting to turn some clusters fully purple, some still fully green and some a blend of the two. It looks like it will be a bumper crop this year!

The second drawing is of my Rebbecca statue, she stands with her water jug in my garden. The first summer my Grandmother stayed with us she suggested that I go buy some cloth so she could make her a dress. Explaining, that she didn't need one and that I liked her that way, was interesting

For anyone that is interested, this is much closer to the image in my sketch book. Thanks to all of you that commented back on digital vs. scanning. Karen sent me some tips, so I went in and re adjusted it. Thought I would re post so you can see the difference.

Water color paper makes such an amazing difference! No, I still haven't made my own sketch book, just using a w.c. pad. I have been trying for three days to draw or paint something that looked decent, too no avail! Somehow, the brush and I could not come to an agreement. Even with this, it has it's over worked areas *huff* but , at least it is posted.

I am going to use this as my souvenir painting. When I was a child living on my Grandparents farm, my brother and I would ride on the front fenders, straddling the lights, of a truck just like this, while my Gramps drove out to do the chores. I have a lot of fond memories of those rides.