Hat rack

Today was one of those days when painting was more about the process than about the results. These days I am finding the news from friends with family in Ukraine so upsetting that it’s hard to find joy in my usual subjects. That’s why I picked these hats. I see lots of people painting sunflowers but I have none on hand at the moment, so I chose the most colourful arrangement I could find in the house and focused on putting down shape next to shape and colour next to colour, with a special emphasis on yellow next to blue.

Indebted

Alice really wanted to go out to play but when she saw me pick up a sketchbook and a pencil, she gave up trying and plopped down on her bed. I tried to capture the shadows quickly, in pencil, but they changed faster than I could fill them in. I guess I owe her a good walk now.

Ice cliffs

On a long drive through Vermont the other day, these incredible ice formations caught my eye. Of course I couldn’t paint them on the spot, but I opened the window and snapped a few photos from the moving car. I often do that, and even though the photos are usually useless, there are occasionally one or two that are good enough to use as painting reference, and often the randomness of the composition is quite interesting.

I painted this one wet-in-wet, hoping that the dampness of the paper would allow both soft and hard edges of the ice to work together. Painted on a quarter sheet of Fabriano CP paper.

Crimson Lake

This amaryllis was a gift from a wonderful friend. I found it on my kitchen counter at the beginning of January — a big fat bulb buried in mulch, with two tiny green shoots protruding. I’ve watched the green shoots grow and grow for the past two months. Finally the flowers emerged, so big that it seemed the shoots might not be able to support their weight, but they have.

I brought the plant into my studio yesterday so I could draw it while on a Zoom sketching sessions with friends. I also took out two tubes of paint I don’t know that well: Crimson Lake and Quinacridone Red. I wanted a warmer red (Quin) for the newer blooms, and a deeper red (Crimson) for the fading blooms that darken as they wither. Painted on a block of Hahnemuhle Collection watercolour paper, 9″ x 12″.

Announcing “Behind the Palms” — a new online course

I sketched plenty of palms in last December’s trip to southwest Florida, and also did a fair bit of exploring in the area around Fort Myers. In the process, we came upon Dean Park, a really interesting old neighbourhood, developed in the 1920s, with about 80 small houses spread out over several streets with a small triangular park in the middle. I sketched a fair bit in the neighbourhood, including this yellow house, and this white house. I think there are even a few sketches in my book that I haven’t posted yet.

My newest online course “Behind the Palms: Sketching Historic Dean Park” is based on what I sketched there. What I loved best about the place was the warm light and how the houses are partially hidden, and in some cases framed, by the tall palms. If you’re interested in learning more about the course, have a look at the trailer. The course is available at a special rate of $30 US or $42 CDN for this week only, and after Sunday, it goes up to $35 and $47.

From my chair, more or less

I did a lot of painting from my beach chair on Grace Bay Beach in Turks & Caicos, mostly because I didn’t bring a big easel with me and a beach chair comes with an umbrella! From my chair, I could see sand and water of course, but the view was more interesting if I turned my back to the ocean. Looking up the beach, I found some interesting shapes — a white umbrella against the blue sky (it was more symmetrical than the way I drew it!), a yellow jug of water, some backlit signs and a few stacked chairs. I tried to lose the edges between the objects and their shadows, and just think of them as simple shapes.

We had a few days of turbulent weather. I went down to the beach and tried to paint the approaching storm. The high winds dried my paper before I get a big wash down, so I ended up with a blotchy mess.

I also tried to paint the dark clouds in the other direction, but it started to rain so I took a photo and painted it from my reference image. I didn’t quite capture the drama in the sky but at least there were no blotches when I painted indoors in a more controlled setting.

On our last day, the sun came out again but the winds were fierce. I think the palms say it all.

Blue planter

There is a blue planter here, filled with bougainvilleas. The flowers are nice but the planter is really special. It’s tall and ultra-shiny with a deep blue glaze. To emphasize its beauty, I added more detail on the pot and less on the background, and used a combo of Ultramarine, Turquoise and Prussian Blue, AND I painted a little more slowly than I usually do so that I could capture all of the surface details.