Combustion

Combustion
Watercolor, 5 x 7"
Matted and backed to 11 x 14"
$100
to purchase this painting, email me

Nine days ago, my house was hit by lightning which took out my HVAC. At some point, my old refrigerator failed. This may or may not have been related to the lightning. I now have new, energy efficient central heat and air system, a new energy star refrigerator, and, just to be thorough, made an appointment to have my attic properly insulated next week. This afternoon, I learned that I was correct in assessing that I need a new roof. I have to get in line for my fabulous and very fair roofer, so by the end of another six weeks, I'll have a new roof with a nice venting system. As a result of this visit by Thor (Did you know that lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the sun?), I'm suddenly on a major home improvement tear! What the hell. Considering my electric bills over the last year, this is truly a blessing.

In celebration of these improvements, I've just decided (as I write this) that I'm hosting an Energy Efficient Summer Sizzler Watercolor Sale! 10% off all paintings in this blog plus FREE SHIPPING. Browse and email me when you've found something you like. I have to pay for this home improvement jag somehow (the insurance only goes so far), so why not through paintings? Special needs? Email me and I'll see what I can do.

Other than dealing with the lightning strike, I've been obsessing over my garden.

As far as watercolor goes, I think I mention somewhere that I've been fussing over my palette. I'm happy to write that I have finally settled on a slightly revised set of colors that I'm really pleased with. Have been playing with larger sizes. Frankly, I'm a bit tired of making tiny paintings (at least for the moment). I'll show and tell with some new examples soon. I've been in transition for a while now. These things don't happen overnight!

Life is such an adventure!

Visit My Great Day.

Splash of Sky

Splash of Sky
Watercolor, 5 x 7"
Matted and backed to 11 x 14"
$100
to purchase this painting, email me

Life is full! One day, soon, I'll be satisfied with my garden plantings and I'll have more time to devote to painting and blogging. But in the meanwhile, my hands (and feet and clothes) are covered in dirt, not paint. When my California series has run its course, I'll post some drawings and pix of my garden on My Great Day.

Have a great weekend!

Phase

Phase
Watercolor, 5 x 7"
Matted and backed to 11 x 14"
$100
to purchase this painting, email me

Another painting started the first week of May and finished last week. The phase like placement of the clouds reminds me of some early Steve Reich pieces, like Piano Phase

Still am posting California sketches over at My Great Day.

Flight

Flight
Watercolor, 5 x 7"
Matted and backed to 11 x 14"
$100
to purchase this painting, email me

Home to cat hair everywhere, a shin-length weedy lawn, promotion of summer classes, a new part-time job, neighborhood drama catch-up, the garden (the garden!) and so on...

Because I have just started to settle into painting again, am fussing with colors and just about everything else in my studio, I'll post a few that I worked on just before leaving a month ago.  But, I warn you, these new small paintings may be few and far between for these next couple of weeks.  Yesterday, I started in on some large watercolors that I am taking my sweet time developing.

My daily drawing — always in a good gear while I'm traveling — has fallen apart now that I'm home. I'll have to see what I can do about that. But meanwhile, I'm posting sketches I made while I was away over at My Great Day.  There, you'll find a regular daily fare.

I'm glad to be home, I'm glad to be back in the blogosphere and I just spotted my first firefly!

While I was away...

...I made many quick demos for students in my Basic Drawing and Watercolor Workshops. My teaching demos — usually executed in under fifteen minutes — are always rough and ready, just to make certain points in passing. In these introductory workshops, my aim is not to show people how to paint as I do but rather to demonstrate certain behaviors of watercolor to help them learn how to develop a relationship with the medium. This approach is designed to encourage each student to discover (and appreciate) their own marks and expressive style.

The above sketch was made at my Palm Springs workshop, looking out the front door.

I made the sketch below outside the San Luis Obispo Art Center looking up from one of the rocks in the middle of San Luis Creek.



I jump into these demos and feel as if I'm holding my nose and plunging into the abyss from a high cliff. Crude and unpolished, still, they serve a purpose!

For more travel scribbles, you can visit My Great Day where I'm posting pen sketches and photos from California and beyond.

Fresh Gateway

Fresh Gateway
Watercolor, 8 x 8"
Matted and backed to 11 x 14
$150
to purchase this painting, email me

Here is a place keeper for gazing while I'm traveling.

This is the latest in one of my favorite series that emerged with Float, a painting I did not post here but which can be seen (barely) framed for a show last year. That was followed by The Crying Clouds and continued with what I think I'll call Huge Cumulus.

Now that I've gone back through to categorize these, I see that there are not nearly as many as I thought. My urge was to keep doing these sorts of things over and over but did not want to continue to repeat myself. That I had done more, apparently, was just my imagination (running away with me). Maybe I'll throw myself into these when I get back.

If you'd like to stick around or have posts to visit while I'm away, you're welcome over at My Great Day to see posts on the materials I use. If you like those, you can read posts on Artists, my Influences and all sorts of other things (see My Great Day Sidebar).

In yesterday's post, I came forth about my dilemma on how to continue or better integrate my blogging output. Feel free to comment with suggestions (if you have any) after perusing my posts while I'm away.

Enjoy yourselves!

Flashpoint

Flashpoint
Watercolor, 4 x 6"
Matted and backed to 8 x 10
$85
to purchase this painting, email me

At one time, I was posting daily to 4 blogs with weekly posts to a fifth, plus writing articles for my squidoo lens. I enjoyed every bit of it (though I did stay up way too late some nights). As life and circumstances have changed, and some of my blogs have reached their natural conclusions, I've been thinking about how to continue my blogging life. My thinking has not resulted in any satisfactory solution so I've just slowed down.

At the start of my blogging, a couple of years ago, I thought it was neater to keep my sketches and drawings in one place, paintings in another, and writings on art and life in yet a third (a file clerk's approach). Now I am wanting to integrate to one blog but am still unclear whether Landscape into Art is an appropriate blog theme. I'm also wondering (as I have from time to time) whether I am restricting my work by the theme that originally was intended as a title for a series of paintings.

I'll have time to wonder more on this as I travel about Southern California over the next few weeks teaching workshops and visiting. I want to (and have been wanting to) change my blog presence and experience. After my travel break, you may begin to see changes....

(may being the operative word...)

Divertimento

Divertimento
Watercolor, 4 x 6"
Matted and backed to 8 x 10
$85
to purchase this painting, email me

While cutting paper for some upcoming workshops, I took a slice of my left thumb away. I won't be able to handle paper cleanly for a few days but this one was already scanned (with an appropriate title). Here you can clearly see the difference in work on Indian Village paper (here) and Fabriano paper (last few).

Running from the Sun

Running from the Sun
Watercolor, 5 x 7"
Matted and backed to 11 x 14"
$100
to purchase this painting, email me

This resulted from a bit of play. When I noticed the horse emerging, I thought of Caren Goodrich's paintings and decided to post it.

Afterglow

Afterglow
Watercolor, 5 x 7"
Matted and backed to 11 x 14"
$100
to purchase this painting, email me

Time is rushing by in my world. Can barely believe it's been so long since posting last. Lots of changes afoot. A guest arriving. My own preparations for two weeks of workshops in California. And the weather has suddenly switched to summer. I've been busy in the garden. Planting, transplanting, helping transplants recover, nursing seedlings, watering, herding cats (yes, I do this), and all the time consuming necessities of earning my keep.

Yesterday, for example, I taught 5 classes of physical education to K-4th grades. Their lack of physical fitness was shocking - really! I coached 5 sessions, partaking in each, showing off for the sake of a good example. It probably won't surprise you that, afterward, I could not move from my day bed until it was time to move to my night bed. I wanted to pick up the paint brush but it will have to wait.

Afterglow is from earlier in the week. A slowly layered development.

Spring Smoke

Risen
Watercolor, 4 x 6"
Matted and backed to 8 x 10"
$85
to purchase this painting, email me

Spring Sails

Spring Sails
Watercolor, 4 x 6"
Matted and backed to 8 x 10"
$85
to purchase this painting, email me

Spring can be deceptive. Fresh green appears and the sun warmly sweetens some days but windy and overcast rainy days pull me back into chilly winter shrugs.

When picking up the paint brush after taking breaks from this series, I find that I first must pass through a quick review of types of images or tendencies. Spring Sails, for example, is very much in keeping with early seascapes and skyscapes from 2007.

I still have a pocketful of useful Abraham Maslow quotes...

"We are not in a position in which we have nothing to work with. We already have capacities, talents, direction, missions, callings." — Abraham Maslow

Fortunately, these reviews must just be ways of getting my bearings because I seem to finally break out of them into images that are slightly new in some way or another.

"
You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety. — Abraham Maslow"