Day 31 Grand Tetons

Grand Tetons (watercolor, 3 x 7") is a sample painting for my Wednesday night Lutheran watercolor class. It fits into a cute little mat that Duane and Heddy Wright sold me from Evelyn's estate. I have a dozen or so of these mats that I will give my students, and we'll paint miniatures to fit the mats.

The picture from which I painted was from an old calendar that Evelyn had ripped out and stuck in an old watercolor magazine, also from her estate. Her entire house/studio was stuffed with treasures such as these.

Days completed: 31

Days to go: 334

Day 30 Red Mushroom (oil)

Fascinated with this Amanita muscaria, I painted it in oil, 8 x 10".

Days completed: 30

Days to go: 335

Day 29 Rocky Splash

Rocky Splash (watercolor, 5 x 7") is a quick painting made with salt. The first painting that I ever sold was a quarter sheet painting very similar to this that I painted when Warren was an infant. It took me five minutes to paint and was very beautiful. I let the lady talk me down to $95; I still miss that painting.

Days completed: 29

Days to go: 336

Day 28 Red Mushroom

Driving home somewhere on the coast this afternoon (I have to be vague about my exact whereabouts so as not to excite any mushroom eaters), I noticed this mushroom in the pine needles, jumped out, and took a few photos.

Later this evening, I painted Red Mushroom (ink and watercolor, 5 x 7").

After a bit of googling, I believe that this mushroom is Amanita muscaria muscaria, the red Fly Agaric mushroom, which is hallucinogenic and slightly poisonous. This is the mushroom that you see with elves and Santa Claus; it's believed to be the reason that Santa Claus wears red and white and reindeer fly. It was effectively used by Vikings because it inhibits fear. Shamans in Siberia used this mushroom to speak to the Gods, and, in 1968, R. Gordon Wasson wrote a book about A. muscaria called Soma-The Divine Mushroom of Immortality.

Here is a link: http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/dec99.html

I noticed this mushroom because it stands out so much, and I've seen other beautiful mushrooms on my dog walks lately. I felt kind of silly and childish painting a red and white spotted mushroom for my blog, but I love all the history and stories associated with this beauty.

Days completed: 28

Days to go: 337

Day 27 Misty Lake Triptych

I painted Misty Lake Triptych (watercolor, each 5 x 7") as a lesson from an old Jack Reid watercolor book. Which one do you think is best?

Days competed: 27

Days to go: 338

Day 26 Ocean

Ocean (watercolor, 22 x 30") is the feel that I have of the ocean out at Montara State Beach.

Days completed: 26

Days to go: 339

Day 25 Mini Fling Flowers

Mini Fling Flowers (watercolor, 7 x5") is a little painting that I started when I was at the Evelyn Wright Memorial Watercolor Workshop in Santa Cruz in November 2009. It is has been up in my window since December, and, as I looked at it everyday, I felt that it needed more darks. This image shows it a bit washed out, but I like it much better now with the higher contrast.

Days completed: 25

Days to go: 340

Day 24 Wild Turkeys

Wild Turkeys (watercolor, 15 x 22") is a composite painting from the photos that I took on Glenn's ranch. We did see an entire flock of wild turkeys in a different field, but they weren't in the field with the hay derrick so I just moved things around a bit.

Days completed: 24

Days to go: 341

Day 23 Devil's Slide (III)

I painted Devil's Slide (III) (watercolor, 11 x 15") out in plein air today. I had to finish up the foreground and loosen up the sky at home. The waves were super big, lots of surfers at Mavericks, lots of people out on the beach.

Days completed: 23

Days to go: 342

Day 22 Cherry Blossoms and White Flowers

I painted Cherry Blossoms and White Flowers (watercolor, each 11 x 7.5 ") as demonstrations in my class today. Even though several of my students had never held a paint brush before, they all painted fabulous, loose, beautiful, original watercolors. I was so pleased for all of them.

Days completed: 22

Days to go: 343

Day 21 White Flower Triptych

Tomorrow, I am teaching a private art class, composed of mostly beginning students, that I donated to a charity auction. These images (watercolor, 11 x 7.5" and 7.5 x 11") are my sample paintings. The three white round flowers are formed by the resist of pieces of ripped paper towels. For the other two, the salt blossoms on the page; and, then, the branches are added.

Days completed: 21

Days to go: 344

Day 20 East of the Weir

East of the Weir (oil, 8 x 10") is the same view as the one in Walker River from Day 11, only in oils.

Days completed: 20

Days to go: 345

Day 19 Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve (watercolor and ink, 5" x 7") is one view of a hundred beautiful things to paint at the Reserve, even with the ocean so gray and choppy. I lucked out with the weather. It was sunny only during the hour I painted in plein air in between storms.

Days completed: 19

Days to go: 346

Day 18 Surfer's Beach

Surfer's Beach (watercolor, 5" x 7") didn't have any surfers today. We have had wind and rain all day which is expected to last the rest of the week. I sat in Harold and painted this gray scene at sunset.

Days completed: 18

Days to go: 347

Day 17 Calla Lilies

Calla Lilies (oil, 20" x 16") was Eleanor's idea. She cut the flowers in the yard and arranged them in the vase. The blue velvet is left over from the shadow box from Clay's uncles.

I've never painted a still life in oils before; this was my first attempt. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I almost feel that I was sculpting the flowers, rather than painting them.

Days completed: 17

Days to go: 348

Day 16 Blue Farmhouse

Blue Farmhouse (oil, 12" x 16") is the next painting in the series I started yesterday. I started out in plein air, but finished up in the garage working from the photos that I took today.

The most amazing thing about this scene is the mustard field in which this blue farm house sits, which I've wanted to paint for years, every time the mustard blooms. The mustard is false advertising, a lost leader. Once committed, the difficult decisions begin: what to omit, what to leave in, how to shade the angles of the house...

Days completed: 16

Days to go: 349

Day 15 Mustard Field

Mustard Field (watercolor and ink, 5" x 7") is a rough sketch of the two palm trees and old ranch house in the mustard field below the high school on the corner of Main Street and Cabrillo Hwy. I hope to go back and work on this scene some more.

The two palm trees seem out of place, and the old house is in such poor condition. It makes me wonder about the history of the place.

Days completed: 15

Days to go: 350

Day 14 Aspens (Escher Style)

I painted Aspens (Escher Style) (watercolor and ink, 7" x 5") while I was waiting for Harold to have his oil changed. I didn't have any masking to mask out the whites so I ended up sketching in ink and painting the sky and mountains around the whites. The problem was when I started painting the tree trunks, I noticed that one of the trees ended up being a mountain. So I just smiled and kinda went with it.

Days completed: 14

Days to go: 351

Day 13 Hydrangea

Hydrangea (oil, 8" x 10") is the view out the window of the Sunroom at the Ted Adcock Community Center in Half Moon Bay where I teach my Wednesday afternoon art class for Seniors. I originally planned to go in early and paint another snow painting from Glenn's ranch, but, when I got there, I realized that I didn't have any white paint. Ooops, kinda hard to paint a snow painting without any white paint. Time for plan B.

One of the "rules" that I made for myself when I made this New Year's Resolution was that I could work on a painting for more than one day, and the day that I finished it would become the day that I could post it. In this manner, I could paint some larger pieces as long as I did a "quickie" to post for the day.

Luckily, I had this painting that I had started this summer of the hydrangea outside the art room and had a print of a picture that I had taken from my cell phone. The colors of the hydrangea were so beautiful, I wanted to capture the feel of these colors. And best of all... I didn't need white paint!

Days completed: 13

Days to go: 352

Day 12 Fling Flowers

Fling Flowers (watercolor, 5" x 7") is one of my favorite, quick, easy things to paint. Evelyn Wright taught me this technique where you fling clean water on the paper, add strong pigment to the water, put in a soft background, and finish the flowers with a few greens.

I took my first watercolor class when I was about ten years old and one of the first paintings I recall was of red mums that look a lot like this picture. It makes me smile.

Days completed: 12

Days to go: 353

Touch-up on Day 10 Painting

Yesterday's painting had a couple of little things that were bugging me: the weeds next to the road ended too abruptly, one willow bush in the center mid ground needed some darks and lights, the little fence posts needed adjusting, and the track of snow needed smoothing. I touched up the painting and the above image is of the finished painting. Can anyone tell the difference?

People often ask me the differences between oils and watercolors. The biggest difference is that with oils, you have the ability, the luxury of adding whites and lights last, on top. In transparent watercolor, in which I work, you always have to leave your whites and lights, therefore, thinking all the way ahead when you begin painting. I think this difference is very apparent in the cottonwood trees in the paintings from Glenn's ranch. I love the way the light branches in the oil painting seem to reflect the sunlight.

The next biggest differences are clean-up and drying time. Watercolor wins hands down on this one with using water to clean-up and having it dry almost immediately.

Another difference is the lovely way that the watercolor pigment flows and moves and blends on the damp paper. Very few artists can paint in oils and make it look like a watercolor.

Day 11 Walker River

I'm still working from the photos that I took on Glenn's ranch; this one is from the weir looking east on the Walker River. I have a dear friend who lost her father this summer, and I've been wanting to paint her something special in his memory. He lived in Bishop and so loved the Eastern Sierra, too. This painting, Walker River (watercolor, 5" x 7"), is for him.

Days completed: 11

Days to go: 354

Day 10 Mason Valley

Mason Valley (oil, 12" x 16") is the view driving out of Glenn's back yard. I particularly liked the tracks in the snow with the blue shadows, the fence post, and, of course, the cottonwood trees and willows. I painted for nearly three hours using Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, and, mostly, cerulean blue.

Days completed: 10

Days to go: 355

Day 9 Hay Derrick

I painted Hay Derrick (watercolor and ink, 7" x 5") from a photo that I took on my walk with Glenn on his ranch on Monday. My dad and his brothers used this derrick during the first half of the 1900's.

One thing that I am really good at painting from memory is fence posts, something that most people paint far too straight.

Days completed: 9

Days to go: 356

Day 8 Devil's Slide (II)

Here is another attempt at Devil's Slide (watercolor, 11"x 15") which I'll call Devil's Slide (II). Which one do you like better? I am going to go out to this spot and paint this scene one more time, en plein air, as soon as the weather and my schedule line up.

Days completed: 8

Days to go: 357

Day 7 Cessna-172

My husband asked me to paint a picture of the HMB Flying Club's Cessna-172 (watercolor, 5" x 7") with the airport in the background as a get well card for the club's Chief Pilot.

Days completed: 7

Days to go: 358

Collection of Forrest Storz

Day 6 Moulton Barn

I painted Moulton Barn (watercolor, 5" x 7") from a photo I took of the Grand Teton behind the barn on Mormon Row in Jackson Hole, WY more than a few years ago. Even though the golden fall colors weren't out when I took the photo, enhancing seasons is one of the joys of painting.

I teach the Seniors oil painting on Wednesday afternoons at the Senior Center. My painters got done early, and I finished this painting today at the end of class.

Days completed: 6

Days to go: 359

Day 5 View from Jay's Room

View from Jay's Room (watercolor, 7" x 5") is the view out the back of Glenn and Darla's.

Darla said, "You love those red willows." It's true. I think that Nevada is so beautiful! Driving home today, I saw about a hundred scenes I would love to paint.

Days completed: 5

Days to go: 360

Day 4 Geocache Tree

Geocache Tree (watercolor, 5" x 7") is the view out my brother Glenn and his wife Darla's front window from his ranch in Yerington, NV. Darla tells me that there is a geocache hidden in the bush at the base of this tree. This winter in Nevada is the coldest Glenn can remember in fifty years. The snow has been on the ground since early December.

Glenn and I went out for a walk through the snow by the weir on the Walker River where I took about 50 photos of the cottonwoods, snow, mountains, and fence posts from which I can paint later.

Glenn said, "You love those trees." I do love the cottonwood trees, the raw sienna bushes, and the blue and purple shadows on the snow. Not only was I born and raised in Yerington, but my love of art and of subtle earth colors was born there also.

Days completed: 4

Days to go: 361

Day 3 Abstract Triptych

Day 3

Abstract Triptych, vegetable dyes with Elmer's glue and glycerine on Yupo paper, each piece 7.5 " x 11"

Because I will be driving over the Sierra's today to Yerington, NV to go to my Uncle Eugo's (my dad's eldest brother, 97 yrs old) funeral tomorrow, I wanted to paint something simple and quick so that I could get on the road. Beverly Kay, my dear friend from Evelyn's Santa Cruz Memorial workshop, taught me this technique. The dyes do the darndest things when I'm not looking. These images were taken while they were still drying, so the paintings may be quite different when they are completely dry.

For inspiration, I was looking out the north window at the blue sky, eucalyptus, and blackberry bushes in the open space behind our house.

Days completed: 3

Days to go: 362

Day 2 Devil's Slide

I painted Devil's Slide (watercolor, 11" x 15") based on a card that I made from a previously sold quarter sheet and from photos that I took yesterday. My neighbor Gina wanted me to recreate a quarter sheet of this famous local spot for her son's birthday present because his children know and like me and my art work.

It was one of my more difficult paintings because I was trying to capture the feel of the original and wanted to please my neighbor. I actually sketched it out with graphite first, something I rarely do. I think that I will paint a couple more of these and let Gina pick.

Days to go: 363
Days completed: 2

Day 1 Creekside Smokehouse

1 January 2010

Day 1

I've been wanting to paint the Creekside Smokehouse for about a month since the Fire Poker has been in bloom. I sat in Harold, my Honda Odyssey, and painted this 7" x 5" ink and watercolor. I met Teri, the owner David's girlfriend, and found out that it was the one year anniversary of David's ownership. Teri would like me to make cards to sell in the store.

Days to go: 364
Days completed: 1