Studio Still Life Shelf

My husband is not only an extraordinary engineer, but a talented carpenter.  There is obvious overlap between the talents needed by the two vocations.    An engineer's primary responsibility is to analyze problems and design solutions.   Carpenters perform similar functions albeit in a much more tactile way.    So into one person, add expert problem analysis, elegant solution design and skilled wood working and then you have my husband.   (Did I mention that he is sweet, loving and kind as well?)

There are many features of my dream studio that I love, the marshview probably topping the list.   Other plusses include a slider to an open air deck, 12-14 inch reclaimed wood board flooring, separate warm and cool track lighting, and storage space for canvases, all thanks to my designer and carpenter extraordinaire.  

One very functional feature that stands out for me is my still life shelf.   The spotlight for this post is on this mini-innovation that my husband conceived and implemented.   Prior to this invention, my studio had shelves but they were not the optimal height for my still life set ups.   I had been stacking an old wooden box and/or books to build up a platform to the height I wanted for a still life.      I would then lean a piece of foamcore against a tall object to keep it upright.   To that I would clip fabric to the foamcore and drape it down onto the surface I had stacked up.

Still Life Shelf Stowed

This photo shows the addition of the still life shelf just under the long existing shelf in the stowed position, taking up very little space.    By pulling the black knob, the wood assembly slides out on heavy duty drawer tracks.

Still Life Shelf Pulled All the Way Out

 This photo shows the wood shelf assembly pulled all the way out.  I could use it just like this - a plain, flat surface, but that's not all.

Removing Horizonal Bar from Stowed Position

It may be difficult to see what is happening here, but this horizonal bracket comes off before the backdrop can be opened.

Fully Opened Still Life Shelf

The black knob is used to open up the backdrop which is hinged to the shelf bottom.   The horizonal bracket is then reinstalled across the front of the backdrop to keep it upright.

Since I am short, this is a good height for me.   I can drape fabric over the back and clip a spotlight to the front or sides.   It is handy to have a reserved spot in the studio that can stay set up for as long as needed.    When no still life is in progress, I can neatly fold the shelf away to save space.

If anyone has questions about it, let me know.

Thank you to my husband in helping me create my wonderful, dedicated, workspace - with the great shelf...

Vanity Choices

For this still life, I gathered a few objects around the theme of the "girly-girl" items that are part of my routine.   Lipstick is my prime vanity item.   I seldom don't have lipstick on, except for maybe when I go to bed.   So if I was going to make this painting an expression of the elements of my vanity, it had to have lipstick in it.

The perfume bottle in the still life is one of my favorites, Red Door.  I discovered the perfume Red Door back in the early 90's.   An engineer with whom I was working at the time wore it, telling me that her husband actually picked it out.   He had gone to the mall and spent a significant amount of time scoping out perfumes for her.   He finally narrowed it down to Red Door.   If you knew the lovely person this perfume was for,  you would know that it was totally in character for her to be fine with a perfume that she would wear because her husband liked it.   I liked it so much that I have been enjoying its floral fragrance ever since.


Vanity Choices Still Life Set-Up

To the assembly I added a gold bracelet, gold earrings, gifts from my husband.  (That makes me feel less vane!) And why not double the glitz with a vanity mirror?

(Speaking of my husband, I used the still life shelf that he customized in my studio.   This very clever marvel is deserving of its own post, so I will go into detail on it in a separate writing soon.)


Vanity Choices

The canvas was 11x14 so the items are "larger than life" in the painting.   In setting up the composition, the red perfume bottle cap grabbed the most attention, but by strategically positioning the bracelet, earrings and mirror, additional dabs of red was spread around the scene in their shiny reflections.     However, when I painted the pretty red reflections in the bracelet and earrings, it looked false and gaudy.   I had to tone down the red in those items even though I felt it no longer captured how bright they really were.   I still want to add them in somehow.

I really like the mirror images and it makes me want to experiment more with including this little mirror.

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Overlooking Daniel Webster's Pier

I like the notion of driving to new picturesque spots to paint and I romanticize in my head the experience of spotting just the right subject, setting up from exactly the right vantage point, using the perfect color harmony and executing a painting that I feel completely satistfied with.   Reality check ...  it never happens that way.  The pursuit of that ideal, however is what keeps me moving to the next painting and the next.

On this fine day, the reality unfolded far from the ideal above but entirely enjoyable.   I drove to an "old" picturesque spot less than a half a mile from my house.   I set up at the end of Marginal Street, at the top of the residential road (Careswell St) that descends to the Green Harbor Marina.  This vantage overlooked the Green Harbor River and a long narrow dock with moored boats.   On the other side of the river is the back side of Brant Rock. 


My color harmony consisted of the sky influenced cool greens and ultramarine blue water.   The pavement in the foreground was a cool, pale lavender gray.     The colors had the brightness of a perfectly clear and sunny May day.   I liked the way the tree beside me was casting shadows in the foreground of my scene.    I did a bad job capturing these foreground shadows, the color and the shapes.   The warmest color in the scene was in the marsh grasses between the closest shore and the dock.   They had a reddish tinge to them.  

A nice elderly woman who lives in the adjacent property visited me a couple of times as I painted.  She was very interested in the scene I was painting.   She pointed out a row of pilings in the water just off the edge of her property.   It was just past high tide so they were scarcely visible at first.   She said that those pilings had been the site of Daniel Webster's boathouse.   She also shared that one of the tiny houses up on Marginal Street was Daniel Webster's gun house.

Without too much effort, when I returned home, I searched for Daniel Webster's boathouse and located the following excerpt  from the Dec. 8, 1917 meeting of the Marshfield Historical Society.   The description of the path to my painting spot seems to be exactly the location where I was standing, and of course, validated by the woman who lives there.

"Elisha Kent House was the first building at Green Harbor. It was originally a boathouse built by Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster had a brand and with it he stamped on the house "D.W. 1835"; Later, Mr. Peterson put on his mark, "C.S.P. 1905."; Mr. _____ bought it and moved it. It was afterwards bought by Mrs. Kelley of Washington who fixed it over and sold it to Mrs. McCarthy. It is on Careswell Street next to Mrs. Joseph Thomas's. The parsonage was built sixty-seven years ago by Mr. Peterson for Mr. Webster's gardeners. It was moved to Green Harbor for a summerhouse for Mrs. Fletcher Webster, and Mrs. Webster gave it to the society for a parsonage.

An old road came up from Plymouth to the Winslow place. It crossed Cut Canal (Cut River) near Big Cut and Little Cut Islands; went along Beech Street across to Marshfield. It then crosses Wharf Creek by a bridge next to Juniper Island. You can still see the old piles in the mud. The road was near the Hayward House. Old. Dr. Winslow had a fine orchard near the head of Beech Street. In going from Green Harbor to Green Harbor Station, it is on the right before you come out to the Careswell house. Just beyond the orchard, the old road turned to the right above Beech St.   The land was once all marsh."


If you are interested, you can read more: The Dec. 8, 1917 meeting of the Marshfield Historical Society - Marshfield, MA - Marshfield Mariner http://www.wickedlocal.com/marshfield/news/opinions/x902721573#ixzz1vw6xUvnD

Aqua Lobster Boat

On the second day of my two-day paint out in Cohasset,    I jumped right into my painting in order to get this pretty aqua lobster boat captured fast.   I knew from watching the activity on the previous day that the lobstermen would likely be arriving any minute in order to load up the boats and head out for the day.   Once that happened, the subject of my painting would be gone.  

Block in of Lobsterboat "Goldeneye" (which is aqua)

It was rainy at first, but not too cold or windy. For me it really was very pleasant under the shelter.   I had brought a much larger canvas  than I would ordinarily use for painting outside, specifically 14x18 inches.   I pulled out some bigger brushes as well.

My underpainting was a greenish blue color - aqua really.   That used to be the word we used for greenish blue.   It is out of vogue - I think - and we use teal or turquoise to describe it instead.   I'm calling this aqua.   I first blocked in the darks, which made up the the major portion of the canvas leaving unpainted space for each boat.  

Sure enough, pickup trucks started arriving loaded with neon blue plastic barrels of bait and their bright yellow traps.    The lobsterman shown in the photo who is starting the skiff turned out to be the owner of my painting's center of interest, an aqua boat named "Goldeneye."   (There must be a story there somewhere - named after the seabird perhaps).   On the right side of the photo is my painting at that point.  Only one hour into my painting session and it was the beginning of the end, which is why I grabbed this quick photo.    The tide had turned and the current had reversed the direction of the boats. 

The skipper boarded the Goldeneye and brought it in along side the dock.  He apologized that he was blocking my view of the dock.    I chuckled and told him that the boat wasn't blocking my view, but that his boat was the subject.   He laughed and said that it would be back there again tomorrow.   He thought it was a good looking boat too and that it was actually 30 years old.

I packed up and headed back to finished the rest of the painting in the studio.   It is never as good as painting on site.  Painters always say that the light is never the same in the photo, and it is so true.

Aqua Lobster Boat

I tried to preserve the various greens and red maple colors I had matched on scene.  I put in a hint of the house doorway on the far shore.  I worked on making the boats accurate along with their reflections.    After I got the reflections painted in, I turn the canvas 90 degrees.   I made sure that the line where the rocks met the water was consistent from the top to the bottom of the canvas.   I then checked that there was some semblance of a mirror image on either side of the line.  

I turned the canvas right side up,  I made the water blurry by dragging a large house painting brush down over the water from my line down.   I then cleaned the house brush and dragged across.      My work on this is done for now.  The camera has picked up the shine of the wet paint, especially on the right side of the canvas.  I am thinking I will take it up to the mooring and do a final match of color and detail once it is dry. 

Cohasset Harbor Lobstermen

You will not find a more picturesque spot than Cohasset Harbor.   I spent two rainy days painting under a shelter right next to the lobster boat launch.   I produced the first painting on morning one, a cool, raw day, perfect for not having to worry about moving shadows.    In fact at first what changed most was the direction of the boats.  When I arrived the tide was coming in and by the time I left, the tide was going out.  As a result, boats moored in the harbor reversed direction from my initial block in.


Lobsterman at Dock On a Rainy Day

I sketched in the scene with raw sienna via "same sizing" the landscape behind my canvas.   That means I took steps back to the furthest spot where I could still reach the canvas with my brush.  By peaking around either side of my canvas, I could match up all my horizontal landmarks as if my canvas just filled in that square within my field of vision.

Once my elements were sketched in, I mixed up a dark green for the terrain of the estate across the water to the left.     I also blocked in the dark docks and rock pilings on the right.  The sky was overcast so I made a big pile of sky grey made with titanium white, alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue.   I used this for the water as well as they seemed almost identical. 

During the course of my painting session, one of the lobstermen put on orange rubber overalls.   He stood there staring at his partner so I took the chance and painted him in quickly.  Above to the left is what the painting looked like after the plein air session, including the dirt that stuck to the wet paint when it blew over onto the ground as I packed up to leave.

Back in the studio I decided that the lobsterman with the orange overalls standing on the dock looked too stilted.    I had taken photos that captured some better action shots of the dock activity so I chose a different figure in motion and replaced orange overall guy with white rubber boots guy.   He is leaning back for leverage while dragging columns of traps from the pickup truck to the end of the pier.

Since the lobster traps have straight rectangular edges, I planned to make these strokes with my palette knife.   I lined up a row of mixed golds and yellows along with some cadmium green.  I scrapped up the paint onto my knife such that it looked like the photo at the left.   I made a single straight palette knife stroke which dragged out the different yellows from one edge of the lobster trap to the other.

The other challenge was this lobsterman's white boots, since no part of them were really white.   In the photo I worked from, the sun had made an appearance and lit up the boots.   For these two reasons (at least), the boots are probably not quite right. 

Lobsterman Dragging Traps on a Rainy Day

I welcome feedback.  For such a small plein air painting, this took a considerable amount of time.  One of the things I do like about it is that the lobsterman with traps is clearly the center of interest.  

 The "final" result is to the right.

On the Beach

My inspiration for the painting I describe in this post was a video I viewed this week of a Dutch artist named Roos Schuring.   She paints outside year round and in this particular video she was set up on a cold rainy beach that looked identical to the beach I walk everyday.  Her interviewer was a painter as well, their side-by-side easels being spritzed by the moist wind.  Her result was amazing; the interviewer's result was nice too.  I thought if this woman can paint outside everyday in an exposed locale that looks just like my own geography, then I should be able to paint outside on this perfectly lovely 60 degree day - and what am I doing inside anyway?

I packed up my gear and walked across to the beach.    I took the liberty of descending the only set of beach steps that were installed to haul my equipment to the sand.   Right away I copied something that Roos did in her video.  I filled a plastic bag with wet sand and tied it to my tripod style easel to weigh it down against the wind.   It worked well and instead of having to keep one hand on my painting board, I could step back more freely.

I used a super smooth gesso board and frankly I struggled with it because the paint was just sliding around with each stroke.   My block in was thin and dripping but once the spirits had evaporated, the next layer of paint adhered better.   I also switched to my palette knife.  The beach was so bright that the colors looked spectacular. especially those applied thickly with palette knife strokes.   I remembered the color brightness issue I had with the Aruba paintings - the fact that the colors that looked so vibrant on the beach were washed out once viewed inside.   I strove for a true color match but brighter to alleviate this issue.


Bright Beach

As I painted, two women who were taking their beach walk had come up behind me to watch.  After a short discussion with them, they continued their walk to the jetty, and upon their return along the shore, I painted them in at a distance as they approached.
This 9 x 12 inch board is one of my recent favorites.   I like the texture and impressionistic feel of it.   Although I have been blogging lately about revisiting my initial paintings, I vow to resist touching this one to retain the fresh loose color.

Humarock Paint Out

Red Boathouse

In a recent class we painted at Humarock.   It was cool and very windy, so I set up beside a building and some shrubs which provided a wind block.   I used my viewfinder to frame a scene which was the view to the west, across the South River toward a red boathouse on the other side.   The foreground grass prevented me from seeing the water.   I'm calling this as a landscape with water, but there was no water in view.

Initially, the result was somewhat disappointing and I felt the composition was the problem.   I had decided to leave out the little white house on the right.   By omitting it I had unbalanced what I had seen as a pretty good composition in the viewfinder.    When I got the painting back into the studio, I added the white house.  Voila - better.  If you cover up the white house with something dark and look at the painting, you will see how the weighting was too much to the left, despite the heavy dark cedar to the right.  

I also did the following things in revisiting this piece in the studio.  These are the benefits of working on a semi-dry painting:
1) I scumbled a light blue over the roof planes that were on a flatter angle, lightening the value.
2) I dry-brushed some paler red over the sunny sides of the red boathouse.   

Dry Grass Bristles

3) I took an old ruined brush and I pulled a few bristles out sideways.   I then dragged those perpendicular bristles through some Naples Yellow.   On the canvas, I just barely let the bristles touch in the shadowed areas of the boathouse and dragged down to the grass level.   This represents the wild, strawlike grass that is still erect in Spring before the new growth overtakes it.

I wish I had a before and after to show these changes, but I forgot to take the earlier picture.

Comments welcome.

The Face a Mother Loves

From the time my children were small, I would insert the latest portrait or school picture in their dedicated frames in front of the previous photos.   By the time high school came, there were so many photos stacked, that I no longer needed the extra piece of cardboard that pushed the photos tight against the glass.  I would perform an annual perusal through all of the pictures whenever I added a new photo. With each passing year, my enjoyment of the youngest pictures would grow.   There were always certain photos that I loved best, specifically, the one that perfectly captured a familiar expression - a grin or twinkle that a mother knows and loves more than anyone in this world.  

The photo that I painted this portrait from is a favorite of mine.   I estimate that my son is about eight, dressed in a shirt and tie.  It is as if his reluctant smile is saying to me, "Mum - another picture?  Hurry up and take it already!"



Stephen Age Eight



I measured precisely from the photo, sketching in the outline with a raw sienna wash.   I used extra care in spacing out the features accurately, starting with the eyes.  I discovered after my first pass of paint that my sketch was not so perfect, despite carefully placing the features.    The image was distorted.  How did that happen? 



I repeated the measurements.    All of the features were okay except for the nose.  The rhinoplastic correction was a matter of shifting it up.    I find that most of my drawing errors in my paintings stem from my inadequate perception of space vertically.   It seems easier to measure horizontally, but up and down is more difficut for me.  I still struggle with portraits, so it will be a matter of continuing to practice.

I loved working on this painting.   This is no perfect portrait, but it was not the fault of the perfect photo of the perfect face.  As it became more refined, it was almost like staring face to face with my little boy again. 



Provincetown Watercolor

While I was away - and in watercolor mode, I worked on a painting that my brother and sister-in-law wanted to give to a friend.   Their friend is very fond of Provincetown and they had suggested that it would be the perfect subject for the painting.   Her love of art goes hand-in-hand with love of Provincetown, a place which has inspired some of the most influencial American artists and art educators in New England.

I searched through my photos taken during our many trips to Provincetown and found three pictures that had the elements I wanted to include.    The features in the painting are the Pilgrim Monument (the most recognizable landmark),  the Town Hall Steeple and a rainbow (which has personal meaning to their friend).  I packed these three photos with my watercolor supplies.   Despite living a ferry ride away from Provincetown, it was painted a long plane ride away.

No structure says "Provincetown" more obviously than The Pilgrim Monument.   This tall granite tower's purpose was to commemorate the Mayflower Pilgrims’ first landing in the New World in Provincetown - November 1620.  The tower is 252 feet, 7.5 inches (77 meters) tall and rises 350 feet above sea level.  It is in fact visible from Marshfield on a very clear day. The climb to the top is accomplished via 116 steps and 60 ramps, which I have done twice. It is the tallest all-granite structure in the United States. The granite came from Stonington, Maine, and each stone is the thickness of the wall. The design is patterned after the Torre Del Mangia in Siena, Italy. Many interior stones were donated by cities, towns and organizations from all of the United States.  We have photos of us standing in front of our hometown stones. The 360-degree view at the top is spectacular! 

Since the monument was the most recognizable feature, I was sure to draw it very carefully.  I have said this before, but there is no better way to learn the minute detail of something than to draw or paint it.  I picked the arched opening at the top to be my measuring unit.   In other words, the tower was measured and drawn in units of that top archway, both height and width.

Provincetown Town Hall was built in 1885 and is the seat of Provincetown's government.    Its steeple is the second tallest feature in the Provincetown skyline.   Not only is the exterior impressive and historic, but the interior houses many paintings from the large Town Art Collection, including artists such as Charles Hawthorne, founder of the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899.  A much needed renovation was recently completed and 75 of the 300 paintings owned by the Town of Provincetown are newly hung including one of the most famous, "Crew of the Philomena Manta" by Charles W. Hawthorne (1872-1930). 

Provincetown Verticals

The town hall steeple was also measured and drawn in units of the monument archway to ensure, so they would be in scale with one another.

3) Rainbow

Similar to the person for whom this watercolor was painted, I happen to be fascinated with rainbows and prisms.  In fact, a future blog entry is in progress on the subject.  I have never seen a rainbow depicted realistically in a painting that I liked.   There may be a painting out there with a believable rainbow, but I have not seen it.  For this painting, I decided to depict colorful vertical banners symbolic of rainbows for the watercolor's new owner.

The banner colors were done using a lighter shade and darker shade of each color to represent the wrinkles. 

I signed it over the lobster traps on the right

Tropical Watercolors

Our homebase in Aruba was beautiful with spectacular views of the ocean and the pool.  I probably spent more time on this painting than any of the others because of the architectural aspects of it.   The vantage point was across the pool area from the sixth floor.    I don't generally like a top down angle, but I really loved this view and was determined to try to capture it.   I liked the reflection of the middle palm trees in the pool and the thatched palm branch roofs.






Beach Walk to North

We usually walk every morning we can and it's no different on vacation.  Once away from the hotel area, the beaches become more deserted and natural.

We came across a group of bright colorful trailers and tents inhabited by Aruban vacationers who were celebrating the Queen's Birthday holiday.


Beach Shelter and Red Dory

Parasail

Water sports are practiced continuously.   Every so often along the walk there would be a small bunker type structure that provided windsurfing equipment and lessons.  There also were occasional boat rental and sun shelters.   The foundation of many structures were made of large hewn coral building blocks, like in this beach shelter above right.

Walking south from the hotels is less deserted but no less beautiful in its own way.  This blue marker is surrounded by a flat dock that swimmers can jump from or boaters can tie up to.  Two pirate ships are moored out in the distance.

 I think that's it for the vacation watercolors.   It took me a few days to get into the watercolor mode, the precise sketch, the masking fluid that keeps white highlights white, and then the whole sequence of working from light to dark.     I enjoyed all of them, but am excited to get back to my oils, equipped with some lessons learned by cross-training with seawater.

Tropical Sunsets

Couple Strolling at Sunset

I'm not sure if the sunsets were more beautiful in Aruba, or if we were just making more time to enjoy them.  As the sun got lower, gold atmospheric wisps of moisture would fill the sky every night. These low swift moving clouds obscured the sun dropping to the horizon line, and made beautiful patterns in the sky.

Sunset Moorings Near Piet's Pier

Long Sunset Shadows

Sunset Sailboat

I wanted to remember most the silhouettes of catamarans, couples strolling and the long palm tree shadows.   Taking photos into the sunset darkens the foreground objects and often there isn't any detail beyond the outline of the silhouettes.   With paintings that loss of detail can be eliminated because my eyes didn't black out the objects, but rather they can register the foreground information.   Here are some sunset paintings that really do not do justice to the real scene.

Touring



Alto Vista Chapel - Est. 1750

For the first couple of days on our Aruba trip we crisscrossed the island, exploring the less travelled areas.   There had been a mix up with the rental, so instead of the Jeep we expected, we were given a Lexus SUV.   That may sound like an upgrade but not quite.   Far from a luxury ride, the SUV was several years old, had high mileage, and felt like it needed brakes.     For our purposes, it was fine and we had a nice time touring on the backroads.   The following are a few paintings of the places we visited because we had the vehicle.




Aruba Wind Farm

The charming and historic Alto Vista Chapel above had a light yellow stucco exterior and a bright red roof.  The land around it, like most of the natural geography is dry, rocky and cactus covered.

There are ten massive wind turbines on the eastern side of the island.   The tradewinds not only provide the storm-free climate, but now, energy as well.  Nine of the ten turbines are shown in this painting.

Baby Beach Facilities

I liked this interesting composition.  The trash truck and tin roof were brilliantly lit by the sun while the attendant sat motionless in the shade of the overhang.  Looking in the opposite direction from this scene is the gorgeous Baby Beach.   We snorkelled and took underwater pictures of the amazing variety of tropical fish.  I am looking forward to getting the tropical fish pictures back.   For now I have this painting of  the restrooms.





Aruba Natural Bridge



Rock Cairn



A natural coral bridge that spanned a cove along Aruba's coast collapsed on September 2, 2005 destroying one of the island's biggest tourist attractions.   This painting shows a smaller natural bridge that still stands near the location of the collapsed bridge.   Many people walk across the bridge as shown in the painting.   The terrain was rough and boots would have been better than sneakers.  Waves tend to break just before the bridge and the white seafoam is the sharpest contrast against the dark underside of the bridge.  There were many rock cairns at the natural bridge, depicted in the painting on the right above.

Oranjestad, Aruba

During the day, downtown was bright and colorful.  The buildings were yellow and pink and bright blue.  The cruise ship is in the background at the end of this street.  This painting depicts a hot midday scene, with few people walking about. At night, downtown was cooler and more lively.


Finally, we pulled into a gas station in a non-tourist section and asked the attendant if he could fill the tank to half, since that was the level we needed in order to return the vehicle to the car rental.  He was very funny and leaned in the driver window to see the level.  Even after pumping a bit, he noted that the gas gauge did not seem to be  move up.  He smiled and started expertly rocking the vehicle, and sure enough, the dial inched up beyond the half tank we needed.   We paid and included a tip for this very helpful and efficient worker.

No painting of the gas station experience - just the story...

Tropical Bliss

Brother and Sister Digging in Sand

Some evenings we lingering at the beach, enjoying the colors of dusk after a long, hot day in the sun.  As the light waned adults and children continued to enjoy the warm water temperatures and sandy shore. 

This beach scene reminded me of beach vacations when my children were small.    With none of their own friends around, they played with one another.   This boy and his "older" sister worked at digging a hole that they hoped would fill with water as the tide came in.   It was a good size hole before the girl declared that the water didn't seem to be coming in or going out.  I just verified her statement.  Near the equator, the difference between high tide and low tide is small, compared to other latitudes.  Details of the shape of the beach, coastline, coastline depth and prevailing ocean currents can cause water level variation, but our location seemed immune to those factors.

This small watercolor now resides with a nice, young lady from Massachusetts who was watching it develop from the cabana behind us.  She said it reminded her of playing in the sand with her little brother on vacation.   I'm so glad it will provide a memory for her and her Mom.

Vacation Beachdays

For a color fanatic like myself, few visual experiences compare to the sight of turquoise water lit by a the brilliant sun at the equator. The ocean water and everything else - clothing, towels, beach umbrellas, float toys, flowering shrubs, macaws, parrots, even the fruit salads were undiluted color. This feast for the senses produced a strong urge to capture the sights and sounds in any way I could. Photos, sketches, watercolors, video and the most portable method of all - memory.   Although, as time goes by, memory is no longer so reliable.

Vacation Beachday

I have yet to step up to the challenge of air travel with all of my oil painting gear. I brought several watercolor blocks, a watercolor set and tubes of extra color, including pthallo blue. Everyday at the beach, I would keep several watercolors in progress. The heat allowed for a very fast drying time...sometimes that was a good thing and sometimes it was not - like when I wanted to work wet into wet.

To the right is a scene at the beach we frequented the most.  There were more painting potentials than I could imagine - perfect for practicing my drawing.

As I review these paintings at home, I realize that in the brilliant sun, the colors seemed bright enough, but back home, especially indoors, the colors look bland.     The horizon line was a sharp stripe of deep blue and the shallower waters were gradually lighter and greener, beautiful turquoise.   In this photo, the closer water actually looks white!    I will need to further saturate my colors in the studio - a good lesson that I hope I remember for next watercolor session at the beach this summer. 

Stay tuned, lots more tropical watercolors to come.