The Tuesday night Zoom group had a challenging set-up this evening, full of lovely darks and interesting shapes. I was happy to get out my paints and join the fun.
A few weeks ago, when the San Diego Watercolor Society’s monthly paintout group met at the Trevi Hills Winery, I completed a Plein air piece which I blogged about on April 14.
I also started a second piece that day at Trevi Hills, finally finishing it yesterday. I began with a discarded painting that I had prepared by reactivating the paint and then giving it a good coat of gesso. It had lovely yellow-green areas with strong brush marks curved around the paper. I used the marks and color to guide the placement of the vineyards and fields. It was an interesting process, and I plan to do more of this soon.
Yesterday, the Thursday painters met at Tecolote Shores along Mission Bay. The morning was overcast with lots of rich, muted grays. From the moment I walked down to the water, I had my eye on the trees across the bay, they were the most substantial feature in all the fog. Later, towards noon, we got a bit of light on the trees, and I was glad to add that to this little painting.
The Thursday painters met at the Maritime Museum along the San Diego Harbor, where I tried yet again to paint the historic ships. I did not have much luck with that, but I do like this gestural sketch of someone rowing ashore from a yacht.
Tonight, our Tuesday night Zoom group painted a still-life composition where white was the dominant color. Because there was little to distract from the white, it was interesting to see how the shadows added variation in the whites and how the white dishes and surfaces picked up reflected color from the orange slices and room environment.
The San Diego Watercolor Society’s monthly paintout group met yesterday at the Trevi Hills Winery in the hills above Lakeside. After a terrific demo by Drew Bandish, we each painted our own piece. I was intrigued by the designs the vines and boulders made against the chaparral and exaggerated them for this sketch.
The tide pools along the La Jolla Shores are really special, especially in the late afternoon light. I liked how this young couple leaned toward each other as they looked closely into the small pools, and wanted to capture that sense of intimacy in this little sketch.
Deliberate Sketching 