Walking West

 Daily walks during COVID-19 been a mainstay for my daughter and I to stay sane while social isolating. Walking west in the late afternoon to avoid the heat of the long August days we make friends with cats and neighbours. With the sun though in the sky the dappled sunlight on the road stretched towards us and I asked her to take this picture for me.

Recently I was at Harbour front with urban sketchers (2 others) and was inspired by David Chen and his approach to  watercolours. We talked about the struggle with overdrawing and the need for spontaneity. I’m looking for a method that will serve me and be enjoyable while I’m painting. I also like the urban watercolour landscapes by Alvaro Castagnet. Here is the start with light hues and washes on a card.

The Harbour front drawings were an opportunity to experiment with my homemade black walnut ink.

Old Quebec City, 1640

 Longing for normality and remembering this great summer getaway back in 2018. We stayed at this inn right in the heart of the old city.

Sketch with blocked in shading

Original Photo (Can you find Joe?)

Watercolour sketch and blocking, thumbnail

Finished Thumbnail (4x6 in)

I always fall in love with the unfinished sketch or the first wash! Maybe I find it hard to finish paintings in general. Maybe unfinished paintings just have more potential. Maybe it has to do with the struggle to let go of fussiness and detail and control, which seems to be unavoidable in finishing the pieces.

Working out the composition and a plan of attack for handling contrast of light and shadow should help a lot. Watercolour can be so spontaneous, but perversely, it also requires some forethought. Reserved whites, for example.

There were soooo many great artists there, right in that district. Quebecqois love their art and music.

Thumbnails

 So enjoying the immediacy of watercolours! Swatching and charts of my palettes are a current preoccupation, because I want to buy some new colours and recently discovered a maker of paint local to Toronto. Before I do I need to know what would augment my collection of colours, and it is instructive to do. Here is a link that got me swatching-  https://youtu.be/obiKf0QGfjo

Here are my swatches... 

Here is a link that inspired me to look again at the photos I take for painting. I wish for stronger lighting effects also in these urban landscapes.   https://youtu.be/ZKllFTjg7k4. 

Here are some just started... more photos to follow.

"Happies"

 Inspired by an Instagram post by CEECEEsCREATIONS, I gave this a try. These are liberating- a lot like decorating flat pottery bowls. without all the angst of ceramics. Little designs with no other purpose other than the doing of it. It provides more familiarity with my pigments and brushes also. Aside from being relaxing, I mean.

Queensville Flats

 Most summers my brother takes one passenger per trip on a sunset tour in his 1966 Alpine Sunbeam with the top down. Last July 1, we toured the old town of Newmarket, Holland Landing, and the Queensville Flats. Mom is from Queensville originally, and family is buried there on a ridge overlooking the flats with lake Simcoe far in the background. 

This last photo was a reference for a digital painting in which I exaggerate the cool lilac water in the distance. Sometimes art gives me a chance to show the way things impress me, weighing the parts differently from the photo and emulating more of my memory of that place and time.

Dinner

Inktober52 helps to keep me motivated, and now with social isolation, the likes are giving me predicable but addictive little dopamine rushes. This response to the promp “dinner” isn’t very quirky but it is exactly the sort of painting I find pleasurable.

The Fire King plates are really old but in mint condition, and get used every day. I love piecing in strokes of  different values. Particularly, at the finish, the teeny highlights are enjoyable- especially when I love the early blocking in part and consciously NOT giving in to those twinkly little buggers.

Digital Prep

Mandarins in simple lighting with glass... this value study was fun to do. Getting the values right is even more important than drawing accuracy!

Mandarin Bowl_Digital File_2020Feb