Autumn Harvest

My painting, Autumn Harvest, was chosen by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society for postcard front and advertising for the Members Show to be held in Morgan Hill CA
June 29-July27
This is a watercolor with some added collage

I did it!

I have been fulfilling one of my items on my Bucket List. That is to publish a book of my sketches. This will hopefully be the first of several. "North to Alaska" is a collection of ink and watercolor sketches from my sketchbooks following the West Coast from Northern California to Alaska.
Having travelled this route By RV, plane and cruise ship I have had to search for pages in several sketchbooks and then scan them.
My childhood was partly lived in the Queen Charlotte Islands just south of Alaska, off the BC coast.
So the area has a special joy for me. The Islands also known as the Misty Isles are now officially called Haida Gwai, the Haida Indian name.
The book is now being published and will soon be available.
I will be teaching once more on Celebrity ship in August leaving Vancouver BC on the 4th for one week.
This is the cover painting.

The Best Laid Plans "Oft gang amuck", Scots saying.

My good intentions keep getting side tracked. Guess I should be happy to be so busy.
I had a painting juried into the Arizona Aqueous Annual exhibit in the arty town of Tubac AZ.
"Horns Aplenty", watercolor. had hoped it might sell but I got it back.
Fun painting from real skulls.
Have taught some classes, done some demos, Had a visit from Brother ,Jim and Barbie, his fun wife.
Celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary. Boy does that wake a person up!. Thats a lifetime. A good one.Went to half Moon Bay for walk and lunch at Sam's Chowder House, a popular restaurant. I had their specialty, Lobster Roll, Maine style.
Have played with various painting ideas. Few have been really been standouts. My favorite is from our trip to China last year. "Fishing on Li River" It will be in a show in June. More on that later.
Today was Flower, quilt and fiber show in Niles. I painted in a neighborhood garden for 3 hours.

"Charlie" to be published!

Another exciting email this morning.
My collage "Charlie" will be published by North Light books in their upcoming book "INCITE:Dreams Realized. This is  to be a book of  mixed media work so should be really interesting.
Another first for me and I am delighted.
Now to get my watercolor "Horns Aplenty" off to Arizona and send in info for this new   venture. 2013 is off and running.

A NEW YEAR COMING

It is time to start planning for 2012.
Some things already underway are: January 4th I will do a demo for the Fremont Art Association on Painting Watercolor on YUPO, an exciting , scary and unpredictable surface.
This will be followed on Jan 21 and 22 by a two day workshop .
Then right after that I have enrolled in a 10 week watecolor class with the exciting painter, Mike (M E Bailey). This will be a challenging and exciting class and highly recommended.

"Merry Chris-me-one"

This is how my Mom's parakeet said Merry Christmas everyone. I always think of it at this time of year.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas with this small painting of my granddaughter on Christmas morning when she was younger .

"A Capital Stroll"

This has been waiting for a few last brushstrokes for awhile.
It is watercolor on Masa (rice) paper crumpled, flattened, painted and then mounted on museum board.

Have you found a story in it?

"Marty"

You saw this awhile back. I have finally decided it is done.
Things learned from this portrait painting.
--It is much more difficult to paint someone you know.
--Pencil under watercolor is impossible to erase. Live with it.
--Values are very important, as, of course, in all paintings.

Dont give up.

From my sketchbook

France, of course. hope you enjoy them,

Black ink pen and watercolor.

Bon Voyage

Tomorrow I leave for Paris, France. By the time I get there it will be Wed morning.
I will be staying at the Villa Beaumarchais in the Marais area of Paris. This area has a history of being very old, The Jewish quarter and a bohemian area. Lots of things to see.
Not doing the Museums this time. maybe the Monet . We have had  great Impressionist exhibits in SF from the Orsay. And now Picasso. I saw two Picasso musums in Spain a few years ago.
On July 2nd eight of us will be picked up for a bus trip to Giverny where we will stay at
 La Pluie de Roses, a delightful B&B, formerly the home of the  caretaker of Monet's Gardens. There is a museum here with a Bonnard show which I plan to see. Of course we will spend time in Monet's gardens and see his home.
Then on the 5th of July we return to Paris and take the train to Bordeaux, then bus to Le Petit Rousset in the Dordogne area for a week. Some days we will walk to nearby town of Eymet and a little church up the hill. We will also have two outings by bus to small towns. chateaus and more.
We will sketch and paint with pencil, ink and watercolor, both on site and in the studio.
Of course you are envious, yes?
Will fill you in on my return as I dont expect to do much computer.
Au Revoir mes amis

Portrait class

Mondays watercolor portrait class went very well.

Here are a couple of photos. Most had not done this before so I am happy.

watercolor update

These two small pieces were done last week;
First is the texture demo from Mondays class. Salt and aquapasto used.

The other is a watercolor done on aquaboard surface in the garden . The jury is still out on this surface . Colors seem to stay bright and I think it can be varnished and framed sans glass.

A good day

This is the second painting I did on YUPO during my workshop. The question is...Am I finished? Every time I look at it I want to change something. Is the water flowing too fast?
Does it need more yellow/orange on right ? Should I crop it?
So many decisons. The great thing is the paint can be removed easily and repainted. No it will not just fall off the slick surface. I used to dream about selling one of these pieces and then the unsuspecting client wakes up to a blank page. LOL

YUPO class

This weekend I taught a class in painting watercolor on YUPO. This is a synthetic surface(plastic) and is a challenge to work on. i am proud to show you some student pieces from the class.

First time batik

Not having time in the 60s(due to kids and a job) to try tie dye this was a first for me.
This introductory class was presented by the Olive Hyde Guild on Thursday.
Used hot wax resist and then dipping into our choice of primary colors on silk.
The second piece was on cotton. I was short of time so rushed to block out large white flowers with wax and then used a brush to paint areas. Havent managed to get the wax out yet.
Theses photos actually have me in them

On far left in one and in center of the other. Isn't it a kick?

Pudge

This painting is a gift to my long time friend Howard aka "Pudge". This is him as a child in Canada.

Giverny to the Dordogne/Le Petit Rousset

This is an invitation to join me on a 11 day trip to France in 2011. 
Travel by air, train and bus from Monet's Gardens to to Southwest of France.
We will sketch with pen and watercolor (or your choice) outdoors and paint in the studio at Le Petit Rousset. The restored farm setting is just the place to relax , enjoy and have a great time.rousset-perigord.org

Back on Terra Firma

 A successful two weeks on the "Infinity" cruising the Northwest Coast. One  week with sister Barb and one with Good friend, Donna. We all had a good time and classes went very well.
Thank you, Celebrity.

Class size varied from 15 to 50 participants, mostly first time watercolorists.

Seattle Space Needle

Here are images we painted using ink and watercolor.

New and old

The top image is called Downstream, a watercolor pointillist style.

"A Rocky Experience" was done, I thought , a couple years ago. After looking at it awhile I made some changes. Happier with it now.

Two more finished pieces

I have had this stack of paintings for several weeks and am determined to get them finished by September.
"Moonlit Melons" is a watercolor done in a pointalist manner. I think I could keep going on it for the rest of my life but will stop now.
"For Sale" is another watercolor /collage of an old building I spotted in the Dordogne area of France in 2008.

Hope you like them.