Looking at Del Cerro from SDSU

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

Sometimes we walk over to the mesa on the north edge of the college. It is inconceivable that our San Diego freeways are empty during rush hour, and we check our understanding by seeing it again for ourselves. We stand looking down at the highway and across it to Del Cerro on the other side. The sky at dusk is beautiful, the hills are green, and the freeways are empty. That is how it is now on a weekday in May of 2020.

This is a 7 by 7-inch print made with several pieces of linoleum. Each piece is carved separately, painted individually with gouache, and then stamped on a piece of black Bristol board.

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Roses and Placemats

Posted on May 11, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

We had a very quiet Mother’s Day with an incredible bouquet of red roses, which demanded to be painted. I am still going strong with combining printmaking and gouache painting, and this was the perfect subject. I am beginning to figure out that by painting directly on the blocks, you can get some interesting color combinations. My favorite part of this is the tangle of green that represents the leaves of the roses.

This is a 12 by 14-inch gouache painting.

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Plants in a Yard

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

Like yesterday, I carved stamps and printed them on black Bristol board, using gouache as my ink. Then I went back and over-painted portions of the sketch with gouache. When a stamp is printed, the image is reversed and today it was easier to visualize what I wanted and then to carve it backwards.

This is a 9 x9-inch gouache painting.

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Gate on Adams Avenue

Posted on May 7, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

Last August, I took a workshop on making hand-carved stamps to use in watercolor paintings. It was a wonderful workshop, and I told myself that I would use this new technique soon. Well, thanks to sheltering-in-place, soon is finally here.

Today I carved several small stamps from a soft linoleum. Each stamp has a type of shape that repeats itself, ovals, lines, or rectangles. I blocked in my sketch on black Bristol board with gouache, using a photo of a gate from one of my walks as a reference. Then I overprinted it with the stamps, using gouache as the ink. Finally, I came back in with more gouache for some finishing touches.

This is a 9 x 9-inch gouache painting.

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Dusk on Baja Drive

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

The light at dusk on Baja Drive is something else. I took a photo looking to the southeast, away from the setting sun. Behind me was an impressive sunset and its orange light was cast on the trees along the south side of the hills.

This is a 9 x 9- inch gouache and pastel sketch.

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Sidewalk Garden on Collier Avenue

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

Walking around my neighborhood, I saw a sidewalk garden with a grassy plant spilling off of the hillside onto the sidewalk. That plant’s swoop was so graceful, I had to paint it. I took a photo, came home, and made a few attempts until I was OK with it.

Sheltering in place has been about learning to use my photos as references. I know my downfall is trying to copy what I see in the photo, as though the photo is the authority and my job is to attempt to match it, pixel for pixel. I have been placing the photo far enough away from me that I can’t make out the detail, and this seems to help.

This is a small 9 x 9-inch gouache sketch on black Bristol paper.

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Zooming Through the Weekend

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

Over the weekend we Zoomed several times. Sometimes there were quite a few people in a session and I fell back into my doodling ways from my student days.

I sketched on my iPad and used the Procreate app, which is a wonderful and forgiving tool for fast work. Here are two more that I liked.

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