Pastels from Monday Morning Drawing Cl

"Pitcher and Floribunda Roses"
12" x 16" Pastel

Since 2007,  every Monday when I am not traveling, I attend a three hour drawing class by Robert Semans, a master artist for the past 40 years. This particular piece was a setup I brought to class, using a pitcher I bought in England and Floribunda Roses blooming in my back yard. Bob says we paint the light, and I believe I managed that with the dark shadows, reflected light, and highlights.

"Tis Fall"
12" by 16" Pastel

In the fall, some of our favorite still life subjects include the pumpkins, gourds, and corn available at our farm stands. The pumpkin on the left was very interesting with its imperfections. I like that I introduce a touch of green into the dark drape.

"Cabbage, Anyone?
12" x 16" Pastel

When Bob wants us to really focus on creating three-dimensional objects, he will have us do just one. Cabbages and onions are particularly popular with their layers, odd shapes, and the subtle way they pick up the light and shadow.

"In the Kitchen"
12" x 16" Pastel

Friend Susan brought this setup from her kitchen. We enjoy doing glass and it is always a challenge. Here we had transparent, opaque, and a jelly jar with contents. The orange of the Mandarins nicely balance the neutral shades and the colors in the jelly jar. As Bob will tell us, light is everything. Note the various highlights that help suggest the shape of the objects.

Now, sadly, we are losing our class venue. University Arts  store is closing it's San Jose store in early May after 70 years in business. The company owns the building and can make more from leasing the space to the motorcycle dealers that rent a portion of the building, than from selling art. As they explained, even the vendors are now competing with them online. Privately we heard that Corporate dismissed the idea of selling online early in the internet revolution. a bad decision.  Thus, the employees who don't want to move to a store an hour away are without jobs. This leaves us with just two Aaron Brothers Art stores as the only brick and dedicated motor art stores  in Santa Clara Valley, home to abut 2 million people. University Arts was superior to anything that remains. Our instructor is looking for a new venue for our group. We old faithfuls are so bonded with each other and want to continue improving our drawing skills. No other class has helped me as much with my art in all mediums.

Monday Morning Drawing: Turkish Treasures and Colandars

"Turkish Treasures"

14" x 12" Pastel

 

 

"Fall Cooking

14"" x 12" Pastel

Bob brought in this wonderful Turkish pitcher, the colendar, and fruit. This was something of a challenge to do. I had to put a few finishing touches on it at home with soft pastels. 

My Sennelier pastels arrived so I used them to finish "Fall Cooking" which I had started in the previous week's class. I won't be taking this 120 piece set of pastels to class because I have a tendency to fumble them and they land on the floor. That is never a happy experience. Bob tells me that I am turning out some nice pastels. I have finally learned that I do best if I use a dark pastel paper and immediately put in my background and the highlights. Then my values work better for me. One of my biggest challenges in pastels is getting enough chroma. I pick up what looks like the right color and it often lacks enough saturation strength. I'm learning, though.

 

We have had a cold streak here. I know that most of you live in colder areas than I and will have no sympathy! I would not either if I was in my native Vermont. I am debating my usual bike to gym and have talked myself out of it because it is 32 degrees. Below 32 I definitely drive the car, and its been in the twenties each morning when I leave the house before 6 a.m. We can get ice because the thermometer probably dipped lower.

Time to dig out the Christmas decorations as we have the Southbay Recorder Society, one of Bob's music groups, coming for their holiday party on Friday night. I get to be an audience and a host and look forward to enjoying the music.

Monday Morning Drawing Class with Buckeyes

"Pitcher and Buckeyes"

12' X 15" Pastel

 

 

A brief intermission from our travels to show you my Monday Morning drawing. I played with all the adjustment options, but the chroma is just not like the painting. Sorry about that as our instructor told me the pitcher is one of the best pastel objects I've done. I love the clay fired pitcher, a real beauty with natural burnt sienna and hints of green.

Wikipedia has some neat information on Buckeyes. The native Americans used the poisonous nut to stun fish. They also found a way to leach the toxin and use the nuts for making flour. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_californica



 

The tree should not be planted near aviaries as the toxin will kill the bees. 

Monday Morning Drawing Class: Glass and Reflections

"Reflections"

14" x 12" Pastel

Bob brought a beautiful old bottle in a lovely golden glass. The reflections were muted and transparent  (my picture is not true to the saturation of the original). I enjoyed this challenge.

Pushing the Darks in Pastel and Room with a View: Glasgow, Scotland

"Time for Pears"

"Room with a View: Glasgow"

Glasgow's classy shopping street

 

Monday drawing class and some new challenges. We worked two days on the piece shown. Bob wanted us to get over being timid about darks. The still life was backed with dark fabric. Bob first had us use charcoal to take the tone of the paper to the proper value, like an underpainting in oils. Then we applied charcoal. He also challenged us not to rub the pastel into the surface, especially in the last layers. I am addicted to rubbing, so this is a good challenge. If you love that left pear, I can't take full credit. Bob sat down to add a few finishing touches to show me how to achieve that wonderful texture and light without rubbing!

 

Back to our September travels in Europe. Glasgow was our first resting place in Scotland. We took the train from Belfast to Larne, then a large ferry across the Irish Sea to Troone Scotland. It was raining en route, so the views were muted as we approached the shores of Scotland. It was also late and as we searched for the train station, we watched the train head off to Glasgow. Fortunately, another would be along in an hour. Our chipless US credit card was pesky and the machine would not take it. A fine young man bought tickets for us and Bob gave him a generous couple extra pounds.

 

By the time we arrived in Glasgow and walked to the hotel, it was approaching 10 p.m. Rick Steve's, the travel writer, says it's a gritty city, but we loved it. Really pretty, a practical working city, and lots of culture. We got a smoking deal at a 4-star Carlton hotel because I couldn't find a  B&B to my liking. We got a complimentary bar in a handsome room, and breakfast at the beautiful rooftop restaurant.

 

 

Glasgow from the balcony of the rooftop restaurant

compliments of the waiter

 

 

However, the room viewed an inner air shaft, so not much going on. We were charmed by the Scottish plaid in the bathroom, and my sketch is just that. We stayed until late in the day, taking a Hop-On, Hop-Off Bus and enjoying a lovely lunch at a pub in our hotel. The misty rains continued.  Bob tried the Hagis stuffed chicken, but I don't do Haggis (it's a mental thing).

 

One final note on my previous post of the collage. My granddaughter was so amazed that she asked to use the painting as her Facebook profile pictue. It was fun reading the comments of her friends who were trying to figure out if it was a painting or something else.





If It's Monday, It's Time to Draw

" Pears in Glass"

12" x 14" Pastel

"Broken Beauty"

12" x 14" Pastel

Here is work from the last three Monday drawing sessions. The lovely glass bowl was a challenge and came together when I pushed the highlights in the last few minutes. I also find pears to be a lovely subject. The broken pottery pitcher just doesn't quite capture the glow I wanted, but after two sessions, I am ready to surrender. As always, Bob Semans taught us a lot about modelling form. 

To see the work of each artist is so interesting. I wish I had photos of all the work. Each piece is unique to the artist, even though we have the same subject. Not only are we seated with different perspectives, but the personal approach to the art is so individual. If the art was placed in front of me without names and not having seen them being produced, I could match the art to the artist.

Bob has spent a lot of time personally studying color, so next week he will focus on that topic. This will be a nice followon to Mike Bailey's Color Workshop that I am taking over the weekend. We are also going to draw from life by taking turns as model.

Peonies in Monday Morning Drawing Class

"Showy Peonies"

12" x 14" Pastel

Instructor Bob Semans brought in a lovely bouquet of Peonies which we divided out into three bouquets. This was my first time at class in about a month with our travels. I find florals quite a challenge in pastel. Bob emphasizes the impressionistic approach. My pieces are never really finished after a few hours work, but I post them because they are part of my art journey, and I find the work very satisfying.

Spring Roses at Drawing Class

"Spring Roses"

12" x 15" Pastel

Though I've been going to drawing classes at least 2 to3 times a month, I have not been able to finish a piece enough to post. Yesterday we tackled a floral bouquet, which we have not done in a long time. Bob's recommended approach is somewhat impressionistic. Get down the drape and background. Mass in the colors in solid tones, dividing the values. Add minimal detail along the edges of the bouquet. Midway he had to come by and show me that I really needed to push the dark values much more. Once he suggested that, I was more successful. We hope that he remembers to bring another floral next week, as I would like to try again.

Another still life at Monday Drawing class

"Christmas Lemons"

14" x 12" Pastel

Our instructor was not well today, so Rea brought a still life and we did our best to carry on. The still life used holiday colors and her lemons. Here the lemon trees seem to be very happy in December, even with a mild frost. About two thirds of the way through the session, we all put our pieces up and critiqued our work. That's when I discovered that the bowl of the colander was too deep, so I adjusted it a bit. It's amazing how important it is to step back occasionally.  We will be off for a few weeks and then resume in 2012. We plan to bring our work for Bob's critique on the first meeting of the new year.

Last Wednesday, my critique group met for its final session. We had a lovely potluck and were reminded how much we enjoy meeting to help each other strengthen our work. Becoming friends with a large group of really good artists is one of the benefits of being in the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. Artists from this critique group have won a number of awards and participate in galleries. I am learning so much from seeing the art and hearing the helpful comments of the other artists. 

Monday morning veggies and a Sunday demo

"Fall Vegetables"

12" x 16" Pastel

I originally was scheduled to help coordinate a workshop, but someone nicely stepped in to substitute. Lots going on these days so I needed a break. I went to my drawing class this morning. We had a bit of fun with a misunderstanding of who was supplying the setup. Folks scrounged among their farmers market goodies and instructor Bob produced the faithful old white porcelain pitcher. Some of you may recall that pitcher from past pieces. Bob early on advised me to push the values, so I went for it. This is the first time I've attempted corn, and the whole piece was not quite done when I left class. I did my best to bring it to completion when I got home.

On Sunday, I assisted the workshop coordinator with the demo. That means I did some food shopping, set up some of the refreshment table, and drove instructor Frank Francese to the demo and back to his hotel. As Leader of the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society, I also made some announcements about coming events. I enjoyed getting to know Frank on our round trip drive. He is an exciting and much awarded watercolor painter. I am sorry I did not have the time to take the workshop, as I could have learned a lot. He is all about values, exciting design, and eye-popping color that he paints directly.

Frank does lots of drawing and sketching daily. From his sketch book he develops value studies on letter-sized sheets. He paints without putting any lines on his watercolor paper to keep the painting fresh, referring to his value sketch. Though he does not pre-wet the paper, he paints wet-into-wet and uses his sponge liberally to remove excess water from his brush. He also clips his paper to his support, so he frequently lifts the edges of his paper to wipe the support and the back of the edges so he does not get blooms from back runs. At points he dried the paper with a hairdryer before continuing. His final steps are to develop the light pattern with shadows to direct the eye to the center of interest and to make any small adjustments. We were awed by his speedy creation of a full-sheet painting filled with exciting color and light. Here are a few snapshots I took during the demo.

Frank Francese talks about his art career.

Frank begins the painting of the Colorado Rockies

using a Frank Web pallette with open wells.

Frank is half done about 20 minutes later.

The painting is complete, except for a few small adjustments,

30 minutes after Frank put brush to paper.

If you live in the Santa Clara Valley area, these demos are free and open to the public, a terrific service of our society. Information is available at http://scvws.org/ .

Fall Persimmons on Monday Morning

"Fall Persimmons and Crystal"

12" x 15" Pastel

Monday I had to leave the drawing class early to help with takedown on the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Annual Show, which was a huge success. Instructor Bob Semans lamented that I had to leave as he considered what I had done so far very successful. I was pleased that he made no corrections. Today I spent a little time bringing this to a finish from a snapshot I took of the setup. I like to think that if I had the crystal bowl in front of me, it would be better!

SCVWS Flower Painting Competition

"Competitive Lilies"

14" x 20" Watercolor

"Peaches and Pears"

12" x 16" Pastel

I had several very busy days in the art world. You may have seen my previous post of my rewarding plein air outing on Thursday. Friday I went with friends to two art galleries on the North Coast and Duncan Mills on the Russian River. Drawing instructor Bob Semans has a wonderful show at the Christopher Queen Gallery in Duncan Mills on the Russian River. I highly recommend stopping in at this gallery in the postage-stamp sized town. They have superb art for sale.

We also stopped at the Ren Brown Gallery in Bodega Bay , specializing in Japanese art plus contemporary California artists. My friend and her late husband have a fine collections of art from the Gallery and she found another piece to add to her collection. It was a picture perfect day on the coast. This is quite a trek from the South Bay, more than three hours of driving one way from my home. We made it back by 9 p.m. and then I quickly changed into my ballroom dancing duds and joined Bob at a studio dance.

Saturday the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society sponsored a Flower Painting Competition at the Sunnyvale Art Gallery that is hosting our Annual Show. The owner of the art gallery has a floral business and she set out many bouquets. At least 20 or more artists participated. We checked in, our paper was stamped for use, we set up and promptly at 1 we were told to begin painting. We continued until 3:30 and then set up our paintings around the room. Artists voted for the first, second, and third places with cash awards. Guests voted for "People's Choice." My friend Kaaren Marquez got both First and People's Choice. I totally had a wonderful time. I brought my plein air easel and the experience of painting outdoors in a limited amount of time was helpful. Though not a winner, I was satisfied that I completed a respectable piece in the time allotted. I made use of some negative painting and I liked the way the upper left and lower right is suggested, while the lilies are the center of interest in my closely cropped design.

Monday morning I went to my weekly drawing class. We had a choice of doing a bowl of fruit or a small statue. If Bob brings the statue again, I will try that next. Bob gave me some personal attention. He liked the drawing and the way I used some straight edges along the rounded curves. However, he said I was making my pastel task too difficult. He grabbed a few pastels and showed how he would block in color and value very quickly using the side of a small piece of pastel, then work from there. I had blocked in values with vine charcoal, but had not used the pastel. Indeed, the remainder of the painting went much more quickly, and now I know a little more about this medium that is a recent addition to my repertoire.

Monday Drawing Class: Variations in Chroma on Spherical Shapes

"Fall Gourds"

12" x 15" pastel

Today's exercise at Monday drawing class was a collection of fall gourds. I see that I caused a bit of a line on the right gourd when transporting the piece home by bicycle and light rail. The challenge was to get the mottled texture and the gradations in value and color on the three gourds. I believe the left gourd was my most successful, and I modified it when instructor Bob Semans came by and noted that I needed a change in chroma as the gourd rounded into the shadows. I liked the slight modification; this is the final result.

Monday Art Class: Challenged by a Cherub and the SCVWS Members Show

"The Apple of My Eye"

12" x 16" pastel

At my weekly drawing class for the last two Mondays, I have worked on a still life containing an 8-inch cherub and an apple on lace. Bob always reminds us that though we are working in pastels these days, our class is all about drawing. I was able to achieve a good likeness here of something known as a putto, though we were calling it a putti. According to Wikipedia:

A putto (plural putti) is a figure of a human baby or toddler, almost always male, often naked and having wings, found especially in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art

Bob makes the rounds and when he got to me, he saw problems with values, a drawing problem. The cloth behind the putto was a pale beige shiny fabric. However, the values of the cloth looked too similar to the values in the putto, so Bob went to town with green and grey. This is something I would have considered with my watercolors because I am in charge, but in Bob's class, I try to be fairly true to the still life. He also reemphasized getting the value patterns established first and then little detail is needed.

SCVWS Members Show, October 3 thru October 29, 2011:

Postcard Art: "Group Therapy" by Michael Rogan (c)

Our Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society 44th Annual Show opened today at the Sunnyvale Art Gallery. I entered "Family Duet" into the show. I recently got to paint at the Carmel Paintout with Michael Rogan who's art is featured on our promotional postcard, above. The shows and receptions are always so well done. If you live in the Bay Area, do come by to see all the wonderful art and enjoy some refreshments.

Sunnyvale Art Gallery

251 West el Camino Real, Sunnyale, CA

Sunday, October 9, 3:30 - 6:30 pm

An unhappy accident has made me the new leader of SCVWS a few month's early, so I am stepping into the position now, rather than in January. I will be kicking off the awards ceremony.

You are also invited to participate in or attend our Flower Painting Competition on Saturday October 22, 12:30 to 4:30 (all artists and mediums welcome). The Gallery is a combination floral shop, cafe, and art gallery, so the owner will be creating arrangements that the artists will paint. The competition includes awards.

Shiny surfaces

Shiny Bottle

10" x 12" Pastel

I finally got to attend my regular Monday morning drawing class. Jury duty, art society meetings, and Labor Day have precluded attending class. We had a small group today and Bob took us back to basics of modeling forms and highlights on various surfaces. We had several choices and I took this bottle to challenge my ability to achieve transparency and specular highlights. I had some guidance from Bob on values (push it more in the shadow on the label) and adding more chroma to the bottle. There is quite a mixture of colors to achieve the shifting values on the glass. Bob was pleased with the results.

Tomorrow I go to The Forum Retirement Community to meet with the person in charge of art shows. I was invited by a friend who lives there to do a show early next year. I have the car loaded with a photo portolio of sample work of my various genres -- landscape, florals, people, still life, and experimental. I also have a large portfolio case with some matted originals and several framed plein air pieces. Most of the work is watercolor, but I have some collage, acrylic, pastel, and charcoal.

Drawing workshop coming up

"An Apple a Day"

12" x 16" pastel

You might ask what happened to Ireland. Joan and I loved our visit from July 9 to 14. We were so busy having fun that I did not paint or sketch at all. Joan actually did a small watercolor of the lighthouse at Howth to give to the woman who took care of us while staying at the guesthouse. I'm afraid I didn't get a photo. In our short time there we attended Riverdance, the National Symphony, and Evensong service at St. Patrick's National Cathedral sung by Trinity College and St. Patrick's choral. We took a bus tour across the country, and a city tour, visited the National Museum to see a Carravagio, and spent a day in Howth on the coast. I expect I will eventually do some Ireland-inspired art, but many events are taking precedence.

On Friday I begin coordinating a three-day drawing workshop for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. The workshop committee was asked numerous times for a drawing workshop, so I arranged for Robert K. Semans, the instructor of my weekly drawing class, to teach a workshop. Bob is a very accomplished artist and you can read a bit about him in the SCVWS newsletter.

I started the pastel shown at the top of the page the single Monday I attended class after my lengthy trip. Progress was stalled by jury duty. Thus I added a bit of color at home without benefit of the still life setup to complete the piece to this point. I don't consider this one finished. Sorry, the colors are not very accurate in this photo.

Below is a piece in progress, but I will not get to complete this one because the group finished their two-week session this past Monday, my first day back in class, and are moving on to other subjects. I decided it's a good example of how we approach drawing this type of subject. Bob and our group sets up the still life on a table under a natural skylight. If we can do without artificial light, this setup provides the best highlights and shadows for creating the three dimensional form.

Bowl of fruit in progress

Selecting a toned paper, I first look at size, shape, and placement on the paper. Using a dowel stick, I measure the relationship of height to width and determine how large I want to make the subject. I use vine charcoal to do the drawing, checking my accuracy with the dowel stick. Bob prefers charcoal over graphite because it provides a broader range of values. Vine charcoal is great for laying down the drawing because it easily erases with your finger.

Next, using vine charcoal, I separate the values, ensuring I identify where the highlights occur and keeping them clean of pigment. Thus, you can see the bowl and the shadows remain in charcoal at this stage. I also had indicated very dark values for the plums and lighter values on the colorful fruit and gourd. I then took the piece outside and put a light spray of Workable Fixative over the charcoal.

For those of us who have taken multiple years of drawing in this class, Bob allows the use of pastel on our drawings. Newer students continue to develop work in charcoal and later in conte. To achieve some of the richest colors, I have to mix charcoal or black pastel with a color (I prefer to use a charcoal pencil). Here I used a magenta pastel with charcoal to obtain the deep, rich color of the plums. Highlights are indicated on these colorful fruits with a cream charcoal. White would be too severe and unnatural. I would continue to develop the painting by carefully comparing relationships of value and color. This process reminds me of my workshop in France where we were constantly comparing relationships. Art is art, no matter what medium you use.

Either during or after the weekend, I will show you art from the workshop.

John Salminen Demo and Monday Drawing Class

John Salminen demo

The start of another pastel still life

Yesterday I attended John Salminen's demo for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. Some lucky artists are attending his workshop this week. Our demo's are open to the public at no charge, so anyone in the area can learn from the masters we engage for workshops.

John has wonderful teaching skills and imparted a lot of wisdom during the 2.5 hour demo. John is known for his magnificent urban landscapes, which you can check out here. He has received many awards, including a recent first place in the international competition in Shanghai. Those large paintings take 40 to 60 hours each, so obviously he did not have time to do an urban landscape. John created a scene inspired by photos he took in the Gloucester, MA, harbor. I recalled it fondly from my stay in September. He basically chose some great shapes and totally rearranged them into a strong design.

Like some of the most respected watercolor painters of our time, he has been greatly infuenced by Ed Whitney through classes taught by Cheng-Khee Chee in his home town of Duluth, Minnesota. He begins his paintings by creating a good white shape, defined as irregular, unpredictable and a bit oblique. The white shape covers about 1/3 of the surface and goes off the page at least three times. This shape will get modified in places with some color as he progresses. He emphasized the importance of good values. He surrounds his shape with a mid-tone value wash. Next he adds the very darkest darks, which he says will look garish until they get surrounded by shapes that step down gradually to the mid-tone value. In other words, using the 9 value system, put value 8 next to 9, value 7 next to 8, etc., until you are close to the mid-tone value.

At a certain point John turns his painting upside down to see if it is working as an abstract . Then he begins what he calls his integration phase, where he starts modifying edges and areas of dark and light shapes. He showed us several handy techniques as he worked to achieve a certain lighting effect:

1) Use a mouth atomizer to add value and texture - he recommends the Pat Dews atomizer
2) Use Paynes Grey to put some of the painting in shadow
3) Use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to lift color (there are no chemicals in the ORIGINAL eraser)
4) Use masking tape to create a stencil to allow you to remove color; you can even cut out shapes in the masking tape using a Snap Cutter from the hardware store to create a stencil.

Don't overdo any of your special techniques.

Then John used a #4 brush to add calligraphy. Finally, to enhance his focal point, he added a tiny figure on the deck of the largest boat. His advice includes starting with a blob for the torso, paint a head down into the figure, not on a neck, and make the legs disproportionately long.

John prefers Stephen Quiller paints, made by Richeson to the very expensive Blockx formula at a more reasonable price. He uses Arches 140 pound watercolor paper. Though he used larger brushes for this demo, his urban landscapes are done mostly with a #4 brush.

This morning I attended my drawing class. You can see I didn't get as much done as I did last week. There is no background yet and no part of the painting is finished. Also, I cropped the photo a bit as the paper got wrinkled on the way home.

Monday Drawing Class and Some News

"Lemons in Clay"
14" x 12" Pastel

Here is the piece I worked on today. As usual, it was half-done when I left class and I applied a bit more pastel tonight from memory. Not a "finished" work, and it will join the stack of other almost complete pastels.

Yesterday I attended the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Holiday Party. My job this year was easy -- buy and deliver the ice. The party was great fun. I showed a couple plein air pieces and enjoyed seeing the work of others. The entertainment was a creative group competition. Each table was given a bag of goodies to create a Ms. or Mr. Neptune (the theme of the party was New Year's on Neptune). We had great fun costuming one of our good-natured table mates.

Our current leader, Karen Wong, announced that I had agreed to become leader of the 400-member society in 2012. When the nominating committee asked, I told them that I am unable to do the leader position in 2011 (I should be starting in July) because Bob and I will be touring the East Coast on our tandem bicycle. Immediately following the tour I travel to France with a girlfriend for an masters art workshop. So they've agreed to let me begin a year's term January 2012. SCVWS is a great organization and I am honored to be asked to lead.

About the bike tour: We leave San Jose on March 30 for Hilton Head, SC, to attend a family wedding, then proceed to Key West to begin our ride north to Bar Harbor, ME, and then to Vermont to visit family. We expect to finish by the end of June. I've hired a house sitter who will move in and live here during our tour. I don't like leaving the house empty. Bob's daughter and her husband (then almost fiance) lived here the summer of 2008 while we crossed the USA on the tandem, but they've since married and bought their own home.

In case you are curious, we documented our 2008 USA tandem tour here: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/bobandmary
You can get a flavor of this adventure by checking out days 28, 42, 43, 71, 79, and 82.

We will be setting up a journal to post daily reports as we travel. I will take a brand new Koi pan paint set with watercolor brush and small Moleskine watercolor journal and a sketch pad. I plan to do small paintings and sketches along the way. When we get the new touring journal set up, I will post a link.

Happy Holidays 2010

"Delft Bowl and Fruit"
Pastel
12" x 16"

"A Light Repast"
Pastel
12 x 16

Always the pastels are not quite done. We draw from life and the setup is available for just 3 hours, which includes any instruction Bob gives us. I've done the delft bowl before. Both times I've found it a challenge to draw -- getting the ellipse and the depth of the bowl is a challenge. I use the dowel stick method of measurement to help me get proportions correct. Drawing a center line across the ellipse and vertically on the pitcher helps, too. I like the way I did the grapes. I don't have a pastel dark enough for the grapes, so I first used charcoal pencil and then came in with a red-purple and the cream highlights.

I did the second piece a couple weeks ago and had no way to bring it home on my bicycle and light rail. I usually take a large drawing pad and carry the art inside it, but I had a smaller pad that week. Bob took it home for me and returned it on Monday. The ceramic pitcher was turned so that I could not see the spout. It's a challenge to get the white in light and shadow to read correctly.

Good news for those of you who live in the valley -- I've signed a contract with Robert Semans for a three-day drawing workshop in August of 2011 for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society . He's such a marvelous artist and a very good instructor.

Wishing all of you a Happy Holiday and I look forward to seeing some wonderful art in 2011.

Back to Monday Drawing Class

"Persimmons Please"
14" x 12"
Pastel

A week in New Mexico followed by a week coordinating the Frank Webb workshop equals no drawing class. I like my drawing class with Bob Semans on Monday morning. I had an "I Love Lucy" kind of morning, if you get my drift. Out of my usual rhythm, I traveled to the class 16 miles away by bicycle and light rail. I leave myself time to have coffee at McDonalds. I ordered coffee and then I could not find my wallet. I was sure I had put it in the pannier on the bike and was afraid that it had somehow fallen from the bag, so I retraced my steps to the light rail station a couple miles away. No wallet. I had left my phone in my gym clothes and I had no money, so I couldn't call Bob to check for it at home. I decided to return home where I found the wallet on the kitchen shelf. Oh yes, now I remembered that I loaded it into the pannier then decided to take it out to put together my fare for light rail. The various scenarios of calling to cancel credit card and bank card companies faded.

It was now an hour after class had begun, and I was determined to go to class, so I transferred art supplies to the car and drove. Bob was real impressed that I made it in spite of myself. There was a table set up with 5 still life arrangements and people all around it, some that I had not previously met. I found a chair, which happened to be closest to this still life. Unfortunately, I had to mentally move the fruit in front of the porcelain pot. The still life would have been perfect from the other side of the table. When Bob came and sat in my place, he had me move the fruit as no one else was doing this setup. That helped me see that I had to rework shadows on the red persimmon just a bit. Bob liked what I had done (yippy!). After just an hour of work, I was satisfied that I had done some drawing. I had lunch with friend Susan from class and returned home, where I applied a bit more pastel.