Summer storms

Didn't quite finish this plein air sketch overlooking the west of the Tucson valley. But I was happy with some of the things that were happening in the clouds and rainfall. Still trying to learn this medium, I don't have much experience with wet on wet effects.

And the new colors in my palette completely threw me when I tried to paint the mountains. That'll teach me not to mix some samples before going out. I think that splotchiness in the blue on the mountain, center-right, is from something called "granularity" in the paint. I just read about this aspect of pigments in the new Daniel Smith catalog. Maybe some watercolor mavens could straighten me out if I'm wrong.

Someone stop me, before I art again

From my Moleskine sketchbook. This was done late in May at a terrific B&B/Artist's Retreat, the Triangle L Ranch. It's run by an artist in Oracle, Arizona, Sharon Holnbeck. The painting is a view from the porch of one of her cottages. It strikes me as slightly overpainted -- which brings up the question, "When to stop?" It's quite the metaphor in art. When to stop, indeed?

And I'm still surprised to see a bird in this painting. My attempts to include birds in paintings rarely add positively to the work. I paint them oversized, and stilted, so they don't add spatially to the composition.

That hawk kept circling around, though, like she thought she ought to be included. I was really struck by the presence of birds at the Ranch, everything from a family of horned owls to a cacophony of quail. Because of that heightened awareness, I think the hawk became a necessary part of the image; it was intrinsic to the place.

Is it just me, or are flocks of birds smaller and fewer between than a few decades ago?

Nativity

Coughing and spluttering, yet another blog is born into a crowded, weary virtual world. A cry goes up, and one's first tears are shed. So it begins.

This watercolor is of Ted DeGrazia's chapel. It was done in the Spring of 2008, on location. I can't say I'm a big admirer of Ted's popular works, but I do admire his courage, conviction and activism as an artist.