Friday, June 28, 2013

Urban Plein Air
















    Urban Path - Watercolor = 11 x 14 in

2 Blocks North of the Broadway Bridge and dismantled water tank. 

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Wednesday Farmers Market

I was setting up easel and deciding on a composition when a group of street musicians set up right in front of my intended subject. Below is a portion of the finished painting.

Street Musicians - Bottom of the Barrel
14 x 18
Please contact artist if interested in purchase
look for "Bottom of the Barrel" on Facebook

There was so much activity; people, shoppers, dancers!   Oh did I mention it was full blow raining by the time I was forced to quit.   Here's a little tip for watercolor in high humidity (misting or heavy drizzle) select paper that is hot press or bristol and a smaller # like 80 or 90.  You will have a much better chance for saving a few hard edges.  I had a great but brief painting session.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Summer!

Bring on the Sun!
 
Watercolor sketch 8 x 8
Contact Artist for Purchase

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Converting a Camera Tripod to a Travel Easel

Of course I couldn't have done it without help from my brother in law who made the little 4 x 4 wood blocks and counter sunk the 1/2 inch 'T' nuts an eighth inch. Blocks are 3/4 inch deep.  This is how it will look on your tripod;


Last photo shows the bottom of the 'T' nut but when you glue on your painting board with Gorilla Glue  you will cover this up.  Follow directions on bottle and keep away from the screw threads that will mount to tri pod.  My tip here is to buy a ready made frame from a reputable dealer that comes with the 1/8 inch hard board backing and glue that to your adapter.  Those boards are too heavy for a 16 x 20 frame  and they are not archival.  You can put a piece of acid free FC in the frame later.  Now that you have glued on your painting support, clip on a piece of watercolor paper  and take it on for a test run!

I tried it out over the weekend and I am very pleased with  this light weight option over the heavy steel WC easel I usually carry; this one fits in the back pack and will be fine as long as there are no huge wind gusts.  Hope you can try this.
*Plein Air Painting is from below Sitka on the mouth of the Salmon River.