Looking Across Tomales Bay
I am with my cousin happily sketching for three days near Inverness California. We had a great start this morning along the edge of Tomales Bay with some fog and gorgeous vistas. There was a lot of movement in the sky, water, hills and meadows and I emphasized it even further by making sure the strokes of the paintbrush or pastels were strongly visible on my paper.
This is a pastel and gouache sketch in a 13 X 13 inch Derwent sketchbook with black sheets.
Balboa Park, on the Sixth Avenue Side
I did such a quick sketch and then told myself I would finish it at home. I had no time yesterday and this morning I found that I like it the way it is, especially the rough shapes and the large expanse of black paper.
This is a pastel and gouache sketch in a 5 X 8 inch black Moleskine sketchbook.
Agapanthus and Friends
I had more fun today painting in the back yard. This is a gouache sketch on black paper.
Along the Patio’s Edge
This is a sketch of the edging along our irregular back patio in San Diego. It is amazing what a difference the end of the drought makes to our flower bed. For the past few years this bed featured dirt and now it has nasturtiums, jasmine and alyssum- and the flowers are still in bloom on solstice.
This is a gouache sketch on black Derwent paper.
Thinking about the Shapes
I attended a one-day class today where we painted using a drawing supplied by the teacher. Although the teacher wanted us to use our time to apply paint, not draw, we did do a simple value sketch before beginning to paint. Our goal was to focus on the shapes in the space around the figure and then put the transparent watercolor paint into these spaces using a single stroke and a range of values. After painting he used soluble crayon to add line within the painting and along the border.
When I got home I tried the method with gouache on black paper. I used a drawing from July, 2015 as the basis for a quick sketch then tried to follow the plan we used in class. I will need to keep practicing!
This is a pastel and gouache sketch.
Discussion at the Fire Pit
This is the unfinished sketch from yesterday with gouache added today. By the time I finished today I had unintentionally changed the mood of the sketch from upbeat to tense. The figure on the right now has his lips pursed and is looking down a bit grimly at an equation, the other is listening for the solution, perhaps showing a bit of a tired worry across his face as he waits.
This is a pastel and gouache sketch with the colors lightened a bit with Snapsead.
An Unfinished Sketch
The day got away from me what with celebrating Father’s Day and obsessing over the details of a totally captivating book, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith. I need an early start tomorrow and so this sketch will have to be finished later without my models in front of me.
This sketch is a good example of the first stage of how I have been working lately. I start by drawing in pastel on black paper. The pastel is responsive to my thinking. It is easy to smudge away so I can make adjustments to the sketch as needed. The smudges do not matter much, for the most part they can be painted over or erased with a kneaded eraser. When I have the basics in place I begin to add the gouache. This sketch will be similar to yesterday’s but I plan to leave more of the black paper showing in the bodies and especially in the facial features.
