Canna Stop

 

4.5" x 7.5"
Watercolor, gouache, and tempera paint sticks

Sometimes life gets busy and diverts you away from your art practice (often for good reasons!), and then you find that you have an energy deficit re: starting it up again. 

What do you do?

Paint cannas. They're all around the Iowa City/Coralville area this summer. Inspiration at every turn.

Try it: I'll bet you can-na stop.

Color Makes the World Go Round

 

Out Back
7.5" x 7.5" Gouche on Stillman Birns Zeta Sketchbook

It really does. I never tire of gazing out my studio window. 

Dinnetime

 

Dinnertime
11" x 11" watercolor on Arches 100% cotton cold press paper

I've painted other versions of this scene, but I never tire of revisiting the reference photos I took that late sunny afternoon in northern California. We were staying in Dillon Beach but were on our way to dinner at Nick's Cove, and the way the light played on the back of the Highland cattle was just...exquisite.

As was the entire trip. Thank you, my mate. So many good memories of exploring California the years that we lived there.

Unexpected

 

Marty 
Gouache, 5" x 7"

Well, I never. 

Never expected to become a country music fan. But a friend gave us tickets to see Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives perform this week in Iowa City. 

So the night before, we watched the eighth episode of Ken Burns' documentary on country music, and the day of, I listened to as much of Marty and the Superlatives as I could, and by that evening, I was all smiles as they played. They are fabulous! 

And now I'm eager to listen to more of this genre. 

Who thought this learning curve would arise?  

And what could possibly be next? 

(Oh, and yes, I know it doesn't look like Marty Stuart. But people can be fun to paint in gouache if you don't worry about making it look like them. I'm beginning to feel freer about painting family members. Stay tuned.)

(Oh, and I have Gayle Kabaker to thank for inspiration for all things gouache. Took a Zoom workshop from her a while ago and I'm hooked.)

And Again

 

Old-Timers
11" x 15" on Arches 100% cotton cold press paper

Well, I had to try it again. This is maybe the 7th iteration? Call me obsessed, but it's just such a classic scene with those two old buildings. And I do like this one better. It's looser and slightly more transparent--more watercolor-y, a little less heavy-handed. And fairly large at 11" x 15".

But truly, it's time to move on. What's next? 

Try, Try Again

 

"Nebraska"
11" x 15" watercolor on Arches 100% cotton cold press 

You know the saying: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." So...I've tried this one maybe five or six times. This one comes the closest, so far. We'll see if it passes the tape-to-the-wall test.

I do like the value study I did for this painting (below). I used just grey tones at first to establish where to put the darks, mediums, and lights for the "real" painting, and then just for fun I added color here and there, to map out a few colors I might use for the painting. It's often the cast that the dashed-off study can be more charming than the final product. This one charms me.

When I saw these dilapidated buildings in Nebraska last fall while riding along I-80 (we were traveling from Iowa to Colorado), I was arrested by the beauty of the scene. And I thought about how so many of the old barns and outbuildings in Iowa are being replaced by shiny metal buildings. I've tried to paint a few of those metal buildings, but I have to say, it just isn't very aesthetically pleasing. 

So...here's to the beauty of old barns, even those that are crumbling. 

Makes Me Smile
9" x 12" watercolor
on Arches 100% cotton cold press

Yes, they make me smile--those California lives oaks that dot the hillsides. I'm loving the slow unfolding of spring in Iowa this year--first time in seven years due to our CA hiatus--but I do miss those live oaks. 

Welcome Home

 

Welcome Home
9" x 11" watercolor
on Arches 100% cotton cold press paper

Yes, it felt like a welcome-home, this view outside our sunroom window upon waking up Wednesday a.m. after a 9-day trip to CA. These flowering crabs were at their peak of color. Then two nights later, a storm took away their beautiful pink and fuchsia petals. Thanks for the welcome, crabbies. 

Not Sure Yet

 

Sedona
10" x 10" watercolor on 100% cotton Arches Cold Press paper

Not sure if this one will pass the tape-on-the-wall-for-a-while test but I sure like it today. Fresh off the press, it's more muted color-wise than my usual style, with fewer hard edges. 

Whether it stands the test of more time, it does bring back memories of being full of wonder at the reds and greens in the Sedona area when I visited a few years ago and snapped the reference photo. Wowie. Nature is such a great painter! 

I was actually quite pleased with the value study I did in preparation for the top painting as I was trying to find the lights and darks. Sometimes the value studies are better than the final paintings.

Yes!

 

Country Road
11" x 15" watercolor on 100% Arches cotton cold press paper

I am unequivocably happy with this one. It's been taped to the wall for weeks and it has definitely passed the tape-on-the-wall-for-a-while test. Sometimes a painting looks good briefly, but after a few days, doesn't any more. 

This one still lifts my heart. 

Or Maybe

 

"Say What?"
6" x 8" watercolor
Arches 100% cold press paper

This one isn't perfect, but I sure had fun doing it; it felt less laborious than the last few paintings. I asked permission from Iowa nature photographer Carl Kurtz to use his reference photo for this. Carl, thank you for your gracious permission! (And if you're not familiar with his work, click on the link and considering ordering one of his books)

Maybe Not

 

Mines of Spain, Dubuque
10" x 11" watercolor
Arches 100% cotton cold press paper

Did I say in September that I thought I was finding a groove? Well, that groove disappeared. But I'm clunking along. And maybe this one will warm up to me over time, even though right now it seems over-worked. I'll tape it to the studio wall for a while and see what happens. 

Yeah, lately it feels like I've completely back-slid as a painter. BUT...I am sure am enjoying fall in Iowa. Maybe it's more important to go out for hikes and watch the color symphony. Heading out as we speak. 

P.S. After some suggestions from Andy Evansen, my online w/c instructor, I did soften the details on the middle evergreens and darken the reddish grasses. I think it helped--see below. Thank you, Andy! (I do recommend his year-long online watercolor course offered by Tuscon Art Academy Online.)

 

Finding a Groove?

 

Prairie in the 'Hood
7" x 11" watercolor
Arches 100% cotton cold press paper

Finally felt like I found a groove today, on this loveliest of early fall days in Iowa. I actually have an official studio now, in our home, with good lighting and a nice breeze. No excuses now! Hoping to make some strides on that learning curve. 

New Chapter

 

Canna Party
5" x 7" watercolor 
Arches 100% cotton cold press paper

It's been a year of big changes, so far, with the loss of my mother and a move from CA to IA, which means no more easy access to our CA VIPs--our sons, daughters-in-law, and grandsons. 

We always knew this day would come--that we'd retire back in IA, where we lived before our 6.5 years in CA. While the political landscape here seems precarious, there are still good reasons to be back for close friendships, our sibs, the lower cost of living, the saner pace. The prairie, for goodness sakes--it's gorgeous right now and it smells divine. 

And as a recent visit from two of our CA family members illustrates, we'll still find ways to see our VIPs, here or there or in between, or who knows where? 

During my mother's decline and little-care and our preparation for the move and our settling in, I lost touch with any semblance of a regular painting practice. Now I feel like I'm starting over. Which I guess only makes sense--it is a new chapter, after all. 

I did eke out this painting after our quick trip to Chicago, which included a side trip to the Morton Arboretum. That's where I saw these lovely cannas backed by the purple somethings. Wow, did I feel rusty, painting it. I know the final product has issues, but it is growing on me, and it's a symbol of my intent to begin a very regular painting/learning process.  

Change is stressful but can be good. Here's to our New Chapter back in Iowa. 

Day at the Beach

 

Day at the Beach
8” x 10” watercolor
Arches 100% cotton hot press paper

The blue umbrellas, and the shadows below—that’s what caught my eye when I walked by. This is my fourth attempt at depicting this scene. For some reason that I don’t yet understand, it helped to switch to hot press paper, rather than the rougher cold press. Plus I slowed down. Plus I tried not to go over my strokes: with watercolor, the more you fuss, the worse it can get. Slowly, I add these new bits of knowledge to my repertoire. And then I forget them and have to relearn. So it goes with the watercolor learning curve. 

Painting into the Corner

 

By the Shore
Watercolor, 7.5" x 11" on Arches 100% cotton cold press paper

As a writer and artist, I often have the sensation of painting myself into a corner. Maybe I’ve finished an essay or painting, and no other ideas seem to be on the horizon. Or maybe the work is so awful that it seems like I’ll never write/paint anything good again.

That feeling is an illusion, of course, but it can be quite strong. 

With this painting (above), created from a reference photo given by my current instructor Andy Evansen, I was in love with it after the first two washes--the light wash and then the middle-value wash in which I tried to connect everything, a la Andy's technique. (See that middle stage just below.) 

But once I added the figures and boat and painted in a few darks, as the top painting—meh. Not so excited after that.

I’d painted myself into a corner.

So I did what I often do when I feel there’s no way out: I opened my sketchbook and popped out a very impressionistic version of a house in our neighborhood here in northern CA (see below). 

This sketch has its problems: The shadows on the bushes and ground just in front of the house are way too dark, plus I worsened that heavy darkness by adding an extra layer of cobalt blue to the sky, plus in general there are too many cool colors and not enough warm ones. 

But. I’m out of the corner because this little sketch inspires me to create a more deliberate, but still loose, painting in which I’ll keep a lighter sky and shadows.

Suddenly, a new idea—a new inspiration. A way out of the corner, or so I hope. Stay tuned.

Spring

 

Sausilito Scoma's 
11 x 15" watercolor
Arches 100% cotton cold press paper

A favorite seafood restaurant of ours is Scoma's in Sausilito. We took my husband's two sisters there recently, and I snapped this photo afterward, hoping it would be a good-enough reference photo to paint from. 

I'm not super satisfied with this painting, but we sure had a swell time with the sisters, and for that reason I may frame this one--never mind that it has a gash in the upper left quadrant that I didn't see until I started painting the sky. Did I graze it with a fingernail, maybe? Who knows? 

Iowa Skies

 

I’ve lingered in Iowa longer than intended this month, and I’m missing home, but gosh, these Midwestern skies are so darned pretty. I walked with a friend at Ada Hayden in Ames yesterday. We’d been look at at the lake, then turned around and wow, the clouds and blue sky against the grasses took my breath away. 

Arrested by Oranges

 

Ada Hayden Oranges 
10” x 14” watercolor on Arches 100% cotton cold press paper

I was walking a round a lake in northern Ames, Iowa, feeling badly for my elderly mother, 95, who lives in a nursing home and has developed a rough case of the respiratory flu. I was also feeling homesick for my husband and sons and daughters-in-law and 4 grandkids b/c I’ve been away from where we all live in the San Francisco/East Bay Area x 5 weeks, checking in on Mom while my sibs, who live near her, are out of state. (I thank the gods for her terrific aids and nurses!)

I rounded the bend and was struck by the beauty of the orange-ish prairie grasses and the light-colored trees against the beautiful blue sky. And suddenly all was well.