The Sketch Crawl

It was a chilly Wed morning so we did a sketch crawl through South Davis. Each stop was 20 min. These are 3 of the 6 sketches I did. The others had no color so were not included. The few chickens in one painting represented probably 50-100 that thought we were going to feed them. The tractor was in a yard with a very angry dog that would not stop barking. (20 min. is a long time to bark.) The painting with 2 trucks was near a pasture with 20-30 cattle. The cattle quickly moved off to a very distant green field as soon as I started sketching. None the less, it was a good day. Quick sketching results in surprising things; quick decisions on colors, edits, composition and missing cattle. I need more workouts to pick up speed.

Birches and Snow

I attended a presentation by the Daniel Smith Watercolor representative and given the colors to test, I did a birch tree in snow. The Daniel Smith colors are very nice but I wondered how the colors on my palate would compare. One gets used to making colors by mixes so I tried a full scene.That is what you see here. Birches are like soccer balls in terms of contrasting values and easily become a focus. Snow is white paper where the sun hits and shades of blue where shadows or contours occur. I do see a difference in the water. This is a stream and should be very cold, hence, dark blue. I'm not sure that I captured that as well as the Daniel Smith color of Mayan Blue did. I can tweak it some more.

On the Beach

Went to Troncones Mexico for a week. What was different was my timing as I have gone to this area for the past 20 or more years. No-one was there. The beach was empty and we had it all. Oh, at 7-9AM a couple of surfers show up and do their thing. That is it. The restaurants are open and everyone is readying for the Christmas crowd. That used to be me and my family. The paintings were done plein air and it was hot. I even painted with salt water, as I carried everything out to my spot. The tree painting fascinated me with its tortuous 'trunk' that supplied a healthy canopy of leaves. It went down into the sand and split into many cords which twisted as it supported the leaves. It is a great time to be on the beach.

Before the Storm

There is a big storm brewing and whether it will land or go out to sea is a risk for this swimmer. The man in the water gives the painting an estimate of how big the storm clouds are. It also is a focal point because of the color.I had fun playing with lost edges and muted color. I couldn't decide whether to place a swimmer or boater to create the enormity of the clouds.

This is a farm scene which I witnessed many times. It is from my imagination. The weather this week in Northern California has been smoky from all the fires. We did take a chance on Wednesday and painted but it was tough going. It is the first time I am anxious to have some wind to blow this smoke away. The town is quiet with few people out and most wearing masks. The schools are closed. I am an out door person. Where I live I can be in shorts most of the year. We don't expect these setbacks. We are Californians and worry about the people suffering from fire. It was horrible to imagine being stuck in traffic trying to escape and the fire closing in as the traffic stalled. My painting is on a bright fall day and has all my favorite things like barns, broken down trucks and chickens. I would much prefer to be on the scene painting it.

Davis Farmers Market

You will find me here on Saturday morning. It can be a very busy place. I always wondered how to paint the scene, so I took a few pictures and put a composition together. It is difficult to keep to value changes with all of the whites and shadows. The background of trees is very dark. This was fun and I will try a different approach next time, maybe, even find a place to setup for plein air.

A Quiet Place

We have been here before but there is much to see and paint. This is the Old Sacramento Cemetery. The sun is out and the shadows abound. The challenge is in getting the lots correct in perspective. The place is well maintained and it seems that every variety of plant and tree that can be grown in Sacramento is here. Some of the gravestone inscriptions are very humorous.