Striped Succulent in Watercolor

"Striped Succulent " Watercolor. 2015.

Getting my hands back into botanicals and wanted to include the latest painting. 

It started with a preliminary sketch, then onto the transfer of the image using my light table and then this final painting.  I hope you like it. It's especially important during this time of low water usage to find suitable plants for the garden. 

Yellow Lupine and Flying Finches.

Yellow Lupine and Flying Finches" 81/2" x 11".Watercolor. 2015.

After embracing the current drought situation in California, I decided to pull out a watercolor painting to finish when the gardens had water and the finches were flying carelessly about eating the seeds from these lovely yellow flowers. The yellow lupine appeared at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in which I snatched this scene in memory of when the flowers were in bloom.  I wanted to post it now to bring back that feeling of joy you get when taking in the color yellow.  A happy feeling.  I hope you embrace this sunny painting full of life and yellow.

Muddy Puddles at More Mesa.

"Muddy Puddles at More Mesa:, 81/2" x 11", Watercolor. 2015.

I painted this watercolor in honor of the rain that fell the morning I went out hiking at More Mesa and caught a view of the first muddy puddles that this town had seen in a year of heavy drought. This is a good beginning to the winter season in anticipation of the flowers soon to bloom!

Aloes Blooming with a View of Santa Cruz Island

"Aloes Blooming with a View of Santa Cruz Island", 8 1/2" x 11", Watercolor. Copyright 2014.

These orange and red colored aloes are found blooming along sunny slopes along the California coast.  You will see patches of this firecracker red scattered along the Santa Barbara bluffs. I spent a few weeks observing these aloe. I wanted to paint this piece required waiting for the aloe flowers to get to he right height and vibrancy before the painting was ready to start. If I were to wait to long the pollinators would have turned these flowers into seeds and then the colors would be lost.  The painting was started plein air but finished in my studio.  Enjoy!

"Love is the flower you've got to let grow."--- John Lennon

Sunset on Inspiration Point

"Sunset on Inspiration Point" 8 1/2" x 11". Watercolor. 2014.

"I dream of painting then I paint my dream."---Vincent Van Gogh

This painting was inspired by a hiking trip to the top of Inspiration Point in Santa Barbara. The sky turned a magnificent purple and pink as the sun sank into the ocean. I hope you are inspired as much as I was by this wonderful collection of colors.  

Sunrise in the Mesa

"Sunrise in the Mesa"8 1/2" x 11". Watercolor. 2014.

This is my first sunrise painting. I keep thinking about how many people (including myself) miss out on the west coast sunrise, only really admiring the sunset over the water. Here is a first of a series of landscapes I plan on doing in honor of this beauty of the golden light over the water.

Cupcake and Coffee.

"Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death and sweet as love"....turkish proverb

After spending some time over at my sister's house, I realized that her living room is practically its own boutique.  It inspired me to take one of the cupcakes that Pam made for her baby shower, and a cup and saucer from her cabinet, and a blue runner from her wedding table and put it all together to replicate what it would be like to paint this same scene in a cafe on location.

Here are you can see the line drawing to complete painting all in a row.  I enjoyed painting the cupcake and coffee and look forward to painting in a cafe again soon.

Coffe and Cupcakes, 7"x 9 3/4", Watercolor.

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Fall Colored Flowers in mixed media

  "Flowers are those little colorful beacons of the sun from which we get sunshine when dark, somber skies blanket our thoughts." ---Dodinsky

On my search for something to brighten up the house for the fall,   I stumbled upon this lively bouquet at Trader Joes. I was immediately drawn to the bright fall colored palette with the canary yellow center of the group.   I brought the flowers home, put them in a vase and realized was taller than my eyes could see.  So I put it on the floor at eye level, soaking up its beauty, while I  brainstormed how I wanted to paint this piece.  

The intensity of the color of the flowers reminded me of another piece I did of a cactus flower with a blue sky.  I started that piece on a white bristol board with a watercolor wash for the bottom layer of the sky and the blossoms, and then went over it with colored pencil which really made the color pop. 

For this piece I decided to try this same mixed media affect with my Canson drawing paper pad and began sketching the preliminary drawing directly on the paper. I have done watercolor mixed media with colored pencils before but never with this brand of paper. 

The first photo is the start of the watercolor done on the drawing paper.  I used bright colors to bottom paint under where I wanted the flowers to be extra vibrant. 

The second photo is the completion of the prismacolor colored pencils layer on top of the watercolor. Colored pencils on top of white paper can take a while to get the intensity of color I was looking for.  I like the effect of the intensity of the color, but the canson paper tended to buckle up and bubble so if I were to do this again I would be tempted to try a bristol board or a heavier paper.

The third and fourth images of this mixed media piece I decided to come back in with pen and ink line drawings on top of the last image.  I have a complete shot and a somewhat close-up of the center flowers.  I hope you like it and can't wait to hear any comments.  

Fall Colored Flowers. 9" x 12", Mixed Media.

Flowered Plate on Placemat

"Flowered Plate on Placemat" Watercolor. 2012.

Gulls at the beach.

I decided to try and paint one more landscape before the weather changed.  I packed up my paints and gear in my large REI backpack, put on my warm layers and hiked down the stairs to the beach.  The tide was low but the sand was all soaking wet and cold.  I headed out hoping for that trigger to make me sit and spend a few hours of my life painting.  Today I found my eyes wandering less to the view of the beautiful cliffs and ocean waves, but to the group of gulls playing on these rocks near the waters edge.  So I plopped myself down in my thermarest chair, and pulled out my sketchbook.  The gulls were all grouped together at the waters edge, about 30 of them or so, looking out to sea.  A few gulls were closer to me on boulders next to a mossy log that was half buried in the wet sand.

So I sketched these wonderful gulls playing in the water, staring out to sea, realizing that they were taking turns walking up the beach to a freshwater spring that was running off the hillside.  Two by two,  they would walk up to the spring, drink some water, and walk down with the rest of the flock. 

After completing some rough sketches of the gulls, my drawing came to a hault, when two youg girls came running by and decided to chase them away from the very spot I was about to paint them.  However due to my sketches and positioning of the gulls, I was able to finish my painting with no worries.  And here is my watercolor of the gulls at the beach.

Gulls at the Beach. 8 1/2 " x 11". Watercolor.

Cormorant on a Eucalyptus

Today I checked the tide and realized that the beach would be a great place to paint.  I packed up my watercolors, brushes, paper, pencils, water bottle, cup and granola bars and headed down the steps at Mesa Lane.  The tide was low and the sand was wet, but perfect colors for a painting.  I looked around to see which direction I would head and there bathing in the sun was this beautiful cormorant.  I couldn't take my eyes of this beautiful bird!  So I plopped down and started sketching...wings out, head down, look left look right...the cormorant was moving and drying in sun.

After I felt I got the best sketches of the flying birds, I began some other sketches of the fallen eucalyptus this cormorant was perched on, and the other fallen tree and rocks around it.

After sketching out the preliminary drawing on my watercolor paper, I began painting the sky and then worked on the farthest point of the horizon. Then I worked my way closer and closer until I was working on the fallen log in the lower right hand corner. All in a great day painting with a cormorant at the beach.

Cormorant on Eucalyptus. 8 1/2 x 11. Watercolor. 

Lake Los Carneros

Another day, another painting.  I woke up Saturday morning and drove myself over to Lake Los Carneros.  The air was very thin and when I arrived there was a beautiful reflection in the water.  Unfortunately by the time I got to painting the water the reflection had passed.  I definitely used alot of purple, which always makes me happy. Another beautiful day in Southern California.

Lake Los Carneros. 8 1/2" x 11". Watercolor.

East Beach Landscape

Here I am attempting a landscape at East Beach in Santa Barbara on September 24, 2011.  The weather was nice and I decided to attempt my first painting from this location.  I plopped myself down in my comfortable cray creek chair and sketched out the view onto my watercolor paper in my travel field journal.  I then spent the next 3 hours painting this view of the beach.
I hope you enjoy this landscape as much as i did painting it!

East Beach. 8" 1/2 x 11". Watercolor.

Freehand painting my Flowers in Vase...

"Flowers in a Vase" 11 x 15. Watercolor. 2011

Today I wanted to try my new Kolinsky Sable Size 9 paintbrush and try to freehand paint flowers in a vase with no  preliminary drawing...I really like the results.

Amazon Explorers and the purple phalaenopsis orchid for Pam

I am inspired by Margaret Mee, one of the great British explorers and botanical illustrators of our time. She painted orchids and wildlife in the jungles of Brazil.  Her beautiful paintings thrill me which is why I bought her book and decided to see what it takes to paint an orchid in my own studio to give as a gift to my sister Pam. 

I started the project with my mechanical pencil, a pad of tracing paper and a live orchid. The preliminary line drawing is always the most time consuming part of the project.  You want to get the basic shape right at stage in order to finish the painting.   I left the orchid in my studio and went to bed. 

In the morning I came out to find all of the flower heads had dropped onto the table in the middle of the night! I thought how often did this sort of thing happen to explorer's in the jungles surrounded by mosquitoes and everything else to think about. All I had to do was I ran out and bought the replacement orchid, a purple Phalaenopsis to finish the project.

While debating whether to paint the orchid in watercolor, gouache, or acrylic paints I did color swatch comparisons. My sister Pam likes the more opaque bright colors, so I decided to make test swatches of all my colors of paints to see how they would look. I also was trying a new Canson 140 lb watercolor paper that someone gave me as a gift to see how I like it.  It is a smooth surface that works nice for all three medium, except the watercolor which tends to feel a little dreary compared to using the Arches.  The paper tended to make the watercolor grit more obvious, but worked nicely for the gouache and the acrylic.

The final image is framed and matted and up on the wall for the family to enjoy!

Sunshine On My Shoulder...

"Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, sunshine in my eyes can make me cry, sunshine on the water looks so lovely, sunshine almost always makes me high." John Denver

Today I woke up feeling motivated to paint. After breakfast I took a trip to the art store to get 4 new tubes of watercolor paint, and to the farmers market for a bouquet of the most lovely sunflowers.  When I got back I plopped down in a bright sunny patch of grass, spread out my materials in the sun and started sketching.  After an hour this is what I had. A basic line drawing. I spent another several hours  painting each petal cadmium yellow, the sky a light lavender and the center shades of yellow ochres. By the time I was done, the sun decided to go away and I was left painting in the overcast fog again.  So with a wet paper in front of me and pale sunflowers sitting waiting to be finished, I decided I was done for the day.  Here is what it looks like.

Sunflowers.  7" x 9 3/4".  Watercolor.

Finding New Inspiration

Welcome to my blog!  After years of working as a teacher/naturalist in some form, I am determined to put all my energy into pursuing art full time!  In order for this to happen I am putting together a blog of the process as I figure out what it means to be an illustrator.  I hope to share in my newest passion for landscapes paintings of the California coast including several from Santa Cruz Island where I am an assistant kayak guide in the summer.  I hope to use this blog to push myself to doing a new piece of work everyday. Enjoy

This is the view looking east on Santa Cruz Island toward Anacapa Island.  8 1/2" x 11".  Watercolor.  I painted this on August 2, 2011 after spending the previous day kayaking.  This was my first attempt at using paynes gray gouache for the dark shadow of the islands.  Next time I want to try the watercolor paynes gray to see how it looks.

Santa Cruz Island looking towards Anacapa Island. 8 1/2" x 11".  Watercolor.