Plein Air Muse: April 2013

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Fabers Cyclery Building Damaged by Fire

Sadly, early this week the old Faber's Cyclery building was engulfed in fire and severely damaged. I painted this historic building back in 2009. It was being debated back then as to whether it would be preserved. Now it seems to be too late...

Linda Vista Park, Cupertino

I enjoy encouraging people to paint and so yesterday's "Intro to Plein Air" was a great opportunity for me to meet some new faces and help them feel more comfortable painting outdoors. It was a lively group and I think everyone enjoyed getting to know other SCVWS artists and share experiences.

Every white sheet of paper is a new challenge. Caroline made a good subject out there on the grass. For some strange reason my scanner has intensified the colors and made the darks almost black - the original is not so contrasty. I'm painting redwood trees over the next few days so I hope to improve!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Kotani-En Japanese Garden

Gateway (studio painting from my sketch)

Many thanks to the owner of Kotani-En for allowing us to visit this wonderful treasure up in the hills. There was much to see and paint so I tried to sketch quickly. I was very taken with the view through the gate into the garden and did a painting from my quick sketch. I wanted to show the peace and calmness of the garden.

Gateway sketch

Brad and Jesslyn painting

Saturday, April 13, 2013

More Thiebaud inspired work

Valley View #1

Despite traveling a lot lately, I've been busy in my studio. After my Thiebaud inspired pen sketches the other week, I decided to work with that image and try painting it. Originally I was going to do a full sheet watercolor, but as I'm not working from life I pretty soon realized that I didn't know what the heck colors to use! So I started some color studies. Its such a lot of fun to do a series like this! Each time I do one I find some areas I like and others I don't, and new ideas keep popping up to try. The images are 9 3/4 x 9 1/4. Why that particular size you might ask - well, I have some frames and mats that fit watercolors that size so I was hopeful that maybe one or two might turn out well enough to frame! Plus they're small enough that they don't take all day to paint. Ha, why not be optimistic and creative with this painting lark!!