Trumpet Season

Trumpet season 8
watercolor
9" x 9" Arches 100% hot press paper

The trumpets are sounding again, all over Alameda. The vines get so large here. With no frost to kill back the bushes as in the Midwest, NorCal trumpets take over fences and sides of houses. 

I wanted to see if I could paint last year's composition any better this year. I see improvement here, but it's still not as splashy and spontaneous as I would like. And yet the study I did beforehand (see below), directly painting without drawing first and using wet-on-wet paint, doesn't quite do it, either. Though maybe it's closer. Maybe.

Or maybe next year, eh? 

Trumpet season 7
watercolor
in 7.5" x 7.5" Stillman & Birns Zeta Sketchbook