Alaska and More

My husband Tom and our good friends, Doug and Julie Ward, just returned from a wonderful Holland America cruise to Alaska via the inside passage. It was a wonderful trip out of Seattle with stops in Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan, and British Columbia, before returning to Seattle. We took Amtrack out of Portland and boarded the Rotterdam not far from the Space Needle. I did some sketching on board the ship - there were lots of beautiful pieces of sculpture and floral arrangements, and I also did a couple very quick paintings from our veranda, which looked pretty much like very quick paintings. I used my camera to capture some of the beauty of the ship, the scenery, the food, the adventures, and the Butchart Gardens, and wish to share a selection of those photos with you. There is no way to really convey the freshness of the air, the clearness of the water, the crackling sounds and thunder of the Hubbard Glacier calving, the aromas of the dining room, the musicality of The Neptune Trio each night in The Ocean Bar, the invigoration of our windy walks on Decks 3 and 9 each day, the trickiness of manuevering the ship when the seas became more turbulent - but perhaps these photos will give you some sense of why it was such a memorable trip. Hope to get a few good paintings from this batch.

I had a good day today - hope you did too. Donna

Well, I had high hopes to share a slide show of about 35 images, but the slideshow didn't transfer so you'll have to be content with just a hint of what we experienced. Sorry.

A Sketch Becomes A Painting

After Tuesday's breakfast at O'Connor's with artists from the Portland Plein Air & Studio Painters group, and after sketching with Celeste Bergin and Carrie Holst for the group's Behind the Scenes activity, I headed home. I made my usual right turn and the bridge carrying folks in and out of Multnomah Village lay before me. I have always thought the scene would make great subject material for a painting, so I pulled into a conveniently empty parking spot and did a quick sketch with an even quicker wash of color. I simplified the images and exaggerated the passageways and arches of the structure.

Thursday morning I decided to use the sketch as the basis for a painting; I enlarged the scene by redrawing it on tracing paper and transferring the larger image to my Arches block. I used to draw directly onto my watercolor paper, but ended up with too many unwanted pencil lines and too much erasing. Next I evaluated the composition and felt I needed more information to make the painting work. I drove back to the scene of the crime with my trusty digital camera to record the architectural elements of the bridge more accurately, but alas accuracy was not meant to be - the batteries in my camera were depleted. This was a sign - go with my gut - stay true to the original sketch and the great shapes created by the play of positive and negative shapes.

Once back in my studio, I laid in the basic design with light washes, waited for them to dry, and then began to build the painting. I returned to it on and off all afternoon and evening, added gouache and a few details here and there. As usual, I'm not quite satisfied and will probably make some more "adjustments," but I'm happy that I finally painted a scene that speaks to me every time I drive past.

It was a good day - hope you're having a great weekend.

More Colors, More Fun

Last Thursday, Bridget Weislouel - a new artist friend from Kitty Wallis' workshop - came over and we created handmade pastels from a kit we purchased from Kitty. What a fun day, and it took all day to use up all the materials and add over 5 dozen new hues each to our collection of beautiful pastels.

The same day, my neighbor delivered a bouquet of glorious spring tulips which I chose to display in my study on the same table as the drying pastels. What a sight - glorious tulips and lovely new hues. Too much inspiration to ignore!

I spent several hours last night painting the tulips with the challenge of using every one of the new 60+ colors. Not my usual approach to painting but a neat exercise nevertheless.

I had fun with pastels this week - hope you have fun in the week ahead.

Critique and Demo and Oregon Society of Artists

Friday, March 19, 2010
Last night I attended a demo by Paul Missal at Oregon Society of Artists. He did a pencil drawing of a nude model using two graphite pencils in both hands. It was magical to see how the drawing came together as he rapidly orchestrated the pencils over the paper. That's what his movements reminded me of - a conductor waving his "wands" and creating a tone, a tempo, a balance of lines from which to choose as he refined the drawing. At one point, he put his pencils down and picked up a simple Pink Pearl eraser and skillfully (but with some abandon) scrubbed in all directions over the pencil lines. I had never seen anyone work this way and I felt his sense of confidence and freedom as he created a rather traditional image, with a rather non-traditional approach. It was a great demo.

Earlier in the evening, Steve Keiser critiqued members' paintings that had been brought to the meeting for that purpose. I submitted the two plein air images above, which I did last year at a Cannon Beach workshop with Mitch Baird. Steve liked the composition of the bottom image and my use of cool blue hues in the shadows of the large rock formation. He suggested the composition in the top image created a problem because there was nothing on the left side to balance the imagery on the right. What do you think of these two paintings?

Tomorrow is our third Saturday morning "Breakfast in the Gallery" event. Brenda Boylan will be sharing her mastery of pastel painting and I will demo basic watercolor techniques. Free coffee and pastries from Beaverton Bakery will be on hand for you to enjoy as you browse the gallery and observe the demonstrations. This event takes place each Saturday during March from 9-11 a.m. at Amato's Fine Art Gallery, 12320 1st Street, Beaverton (503.601.3300).

Amato's is open weekdays from 9 to 5, and Saturdays 9 to 4. It exhibits artwork by sixteen award-winning local artists. Hope you can stop by.

The sun is shining - hope you have a great day!

Making Old Into New

Spent part of this evening cutting up old paintings and class demo exercises to create some one-of-a-kind bookmarks. I enjoy doing this on occasion - therapeutic to make something useful out of artwork that has served a purpose but is now clutter.
They usually end up as small collages and can actually take quite a bit of time. I start by finding some shape or piece of color that is pleasing; that becomes the base on which to build. I tear and cut and glue and weave and crop and end up with little pieces of art. The finished bookmarks easily slide into plastic sleeves designed for such a purpose and I top each one off with a sprout of satin ribbon. It's fun, relaxing, and a good way to recycle. The photo shows several bookmarks displayed on the next unsuccessful painting to hit the cutting board.

Despite the cold, rainy weather, and my list of errands, I managed to make some time today to do something creative. I had a good day - hope you did too.

Watercolor Painting from the Subject to Interpretation Series

I've posted a new watercolor - finished about a month ago actually. The reference was a photo taken by another artist and shared with the Portland Plein Air & Studio Painters Group as part of its "Subject to Interpretation" series. The idea for the series was the brainchild of Katherine van Schoonhoven, who offered it to the group to keep us inspired during the winter months. My thanks to Katherine.

I like this painting, and feel I was successful in capturing the warmth of the early morning light.

Although I didn't paint today, I did manage to take a walk in the morning before the clouds set in. There were lots of other folks taking advantage of the sunshine as well. Later in the day, we headed out to Al's Garden Center - a favorite nursery to shop for plants or just get inspiration for our yard. Today was a purple, lavender, and white day for the garden.

I had a good day - hope you did too!