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Saturday night I returned from 2 weeks in Mexico. When the Wednesday night painters met I was still mostly in Mexico and could only paint a Mexican scene. While I was in Mexico I sold all the paintings I had painted there during my last trip. Once again I paid for my trip in paintings! It must be that I am meant to be going there. I didn't have time to paint while there this time though. We were busy doing business about our house and hanging paintings, masks and other artwork. Our casa looks more cozy with each visit. The Ray for this Day is "Mexican Street Scene".
Okay, so yesterday I had a watercolor student here for a session. I made this little painting to demonstrate some of the techniques I was teaching her. I find this little painting quite enchanting. We all know how much I love old stuff, especially trucks. Sometimes when I'm not trying too hard I like what I get. The Ray for the Day is "Sweet Green Machine".
Not much painting going on around here lately. Traveling has been using my time lately. And I'm off to Mexico for another couple of weeks leaving Saturday. However, I did make it to Wednesday Night Group. We met at the Wooden Boat Center on Lake Union. It was sunny and fine for the first hour, and then started getting windy and cold. We were so eager to get outside to paint that we sort of jumped the gun. I threw this painting together so I could get back to where it was warm. I like the slap-dash of it and that it is kind of wacky-woo and fanciful. It was fun flinging paint. The Ray for the Day is "Big Red Ship" (on a cold Spring evening).
A few weeks ago a woman contacted me who had seen my work a couple of years ago and felt I might be able to help her further her painting goals. Yesterday we met to paint together, and I was gratified to realize how much I have learned and discovered during my 9 years doing watercolor painting. It was fun to pass it on. We talked about composition and how to use a view finder and a camera as tools for composing a painting. I also showed her how to use a grid to assist with drawing and composition. We painted wet on wet and talked about using warms and cools, varieties of brush strokes and other methods to enliven a painting. As I think of it now, we covered quite a bit in our 4 hours together. She had particularly liked a small painting I did of a pile of rolls of tape, so we decided to stack up some tape for a still life for our paintings. The Ray for the Day is "Stack o' Tape".
For the past couple of weeks I have been spending my time cleaning my studio, preparing my work, cleaning the yard, in preparation for the annual Artist Studio Tour. The last few days have been for recovery. No time for painting. The tour was a good success, many people turned out, lots of compliments on my work, and good enough sales (considering the state of the economy). Last night I went to the Wednesday Night Watercolor Group and, once again, used the Mike Svob method of laying in the darks with acrylic, throwing in the middle values and then re-finding the lights using thick white paint. I don't know how long I will use this method. for now it is a fun new way to approach a painting. The Ray for Today is "Wagon Tale".
Tuesday evening, at the NW Watercolor Society meeting, I saw Mike Svob demonstrate his method for acrylic painting. He laid in all his darks with black gesso. Then he threw on a riot of color in what seemed like a random way. In so doing he had established his darks and his mid-tones. Then we went into the painting with paint mixed with white to introduce the lights and high lights. It looked like fun, and seemed logical. He said he does this also with watercolor by laying in the darks with acrylics and then proceeding with watercolor. So last night I decided to use his method with watercolor. It was a really enjoyable process, and I am happy with the result. I think I will do some more paintings in this way. The Ray for the Day is "Can Cart".
So here's the famous sink, all hooked up. I really am so pleased. It is not only useful for cleaning up art tools, it is also useful for cleaning and preparing my studio for the Kirkland Artist Studio Tour which is happening 1 1/2 short weeks from now. And because I think a photo of a sink can't be too entertaining here is my Wednesday Night Watercolor, the Ray for the Day is "All Geared Up". (in more ways than one, I guess)
