Lavender Fields

A group of Portland Plein Air Painters traveled  to Washington County landmark, Helvetia Lavender Farm and Gardens above the Helvetia Tavern. We all had a great day of painting and breathing the scent of freshly cut lavender.For a change the weather cooperated all day with well timed sun breaks which meant moderate temps and no need for sunscreen.Owner Nancy escorted us on a personal garden tour and invited us to paint on their private deck. We were entrtained by the two family St. Bernards; Mudly (shown below) and Penny.  Enjoy some of the bird house collection in the garden! To see more paintings from todays outing check out our group blog, Behind The Scenes!

 Celeste and Mudly

Penny could be lady-like if she thought you would scratch her ear too.

 Alpacas across the road

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I Never Know What to Expect

This started out as an experiment to work out a color palette.  I should know better than try to go with yellow.  It is just too light and I never get the mood I expect so I obliterate the light with a complement. What I like about this is using a broad flat dry stroke that introduced a bit of broken color.  I seldom use dry brush but I'm going to bring that into some more work in the future.  

A Daily Pencil Portrait

 

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On-Line for the I-Phone

I really wanted to sketch on the sidewalk downtown but didn't want to look so conspicuous out there on my own.  When my niece started making noise last week about spending the night in line for an i-phone I thought I could inconspicuously sketch in line.  I need more practice or I just had way to much time to get bogged down with detail.  It was fun listening to all the tech talk among  these 20 somethings and realize they have no memory of those old computer punch cards you used to get from the airlines as  a boarding pass or college registration packets.  One of these guys looked at me quizzically and asked if I was going to actually get an i-phone. When I asked why he wanted to know he said he thought it was mostly the younger generation that was interested in the new gadgets. Well, I guess he is a little right - I mainly talk on the phone, but I do send a few texts a month and take advantage of the camera.

Below are some other sketchs from the week , various times and locations. It's almost the weekend!

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30 minute Color Sketch

 

From a live costume model (very competent) at the Monday night sketching evening at Canvas Art Bar on NW 18th and Upshur.  More of other artists work can be seen on the Behind The Scenes Blog.

Happy Hour Waiting for our model to set up

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Art Meets Subject

I was checking out the prospectus for the Fall WSO transparent watercolor show and just did a little doodle of the juror, Karen Vernon. I had an idea last week for an abstract on a whole sheet but I looked on her website and she has no abstracts. In fact she a large concentration of floral paintings and I'm not a big flower painter. Change gears - landscape painting and possibly an abstract as the 2nd entry; As per Robert Burridge,"If it costs the same to enter two as it does one, enter two!". .....

I always loved this photo from a show when Lisa came to pose by her portrait. I was so surprised by the great likeness hence  title of post, Art Meets Subject.  Had a very busy fun week that I need to get pictures processed to show.  I gessoed a few pages in my sketch book in anticipation of Art Canvas Bar tomorrow night.  Later! How was your weekend?

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20 Minute Color Sketch

The Canvas Art Bar and Bistro located in NW Portland hosts a live model sketching session every Monday night. If you are interested look for them on Face Book for events like Over Head Pictionary and monthly Etsy user Meet-up. We showed up for happy hour and sketched till the model left; wish there was more time; wish they could have First Monday as leotard night. All in all it was an enjoyable experience for me and friends.  Look for more of our sketches on the Behind The Scenes Blog.

Another 20 minute pencil sketch

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Just A Sketch

Just something in my head....

Have a good wekend.

Plein Air Painting Today!

We really got out there to paint today and it was great! We went to Camp 18 for Carolyn Rondthaler's birthday just like the last couple years.

 This was the last watercolor of the day and I had to hurry because the sky got dark and a few big drops fell on my foreground. I made an effort to just put up some big simple shapes and be really careful laying in the correct values. The most detail  I permitted myself was a few blades of grass.

I think this is a success since the first two were way too fussy. My other friends have posted their pieces on Behind the Scenes Blog (no longer exists). Go over and take a look for more nice work.

I want to thank all of those who comment on my little Paintings, the feedback is very nice to receive and keeps me going.  If there is anything you might be dieing to take home send a message and we can make a deal. Thanks again.

WIP Part II ~ Combo of Techniques & Media

This finished much different than I expected.  I may do more of add some acrylic.  It was a good experience to try imitating someones style in a different medium.

I didn't much like looking at it when I removed the tape.......Blah , very bizarre; even more of a scarecrow

WIP ~ Combo of Techniques & Media

A Crazy Experiment . . . for me anyway!

I know it already looks half finished but it is a work in progress. In a second I will retrace my first steps with photos.I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. I first saw the use of masking tape on Sandy Maudlin's blog a couple years ago and last year John Salminen demonstrated his technique in the WSO workshop.  I didn't follow directions as usual so the tape may not completely adhere to this surface; it has a thin layer of gesso over an old unfinished painting.

 The drawing was done and I started tearing off little bits of masking tape where I wanted to reserve whites or light shapes. I started out  carefully, with more exacting edges and burnishing down the tape but this is very time consuming. Speeding up I probably got to sloppy layering tape sections and didn't make sure the tape was really stuck down. Next-Paint!...

This is how far I went with just watercolor. I mentioned last week I was going to try for a different style so I'm thinking it's time for a little opacity and break out the gouache! She is looking a little like a clown. The first shot on top  was letting it dry and then take off the tape.  I'm really waiting to be suprised! (I hope in a good way) Stay tuned.