Virtual Paintout - Valparaiso, Chile

This month, the website Virtual Paintout has chosen Valparaiso, Chile as our painting location. One visits the city virtually using Google Maps' little yellow man to view city scenes from the streets. You travel around until you see something to paint or draw. I was introduced to this painting opportunity by my friend Mike Bergen , another artist that participates in virtual paintouts. It's pretty cool that Google has given artists permission to use Street View for painting references - Thanks Google! Here's the painting I did from this Google map location: 

It's 4x6 inches - watercolor with pastel on paper. "Abrazo, Valparaiso, Chile"

Unframed - it is available for $25.00 plus $5.00 shipping and handling. 

SketchCrawl #38

This morning I met up with five other artists downtown to participate in my very first SketchCrawl. It's the 38th world wide event, where people all over join in for a day (or several hours) of sketching, then post their artwork online to share with other SketchCrawlers. It was a chilly day here, so we met at the downtown Starbucks, thinking we'd disperse from there, then meet up later at a different spot to share our sketches. Well, 4 out of the 5 of us ended up staying right there, content and warm to draw what we could see from our table. Here are 2 of my sketches from today: 

Fast and fun sketches! Enjoyed the company, and also the opportunity to play with my watercolors. Works in progress - for sure - I can see where I'd like to improve some bits of these, but also was concerned about working too much and losing the fresh quick capture. 

Looking forward to the next SketchCrawl opportunity! 

Watercolor Sketchbooks

Last weekend I was reading Sketchbook Confidential 2 and watercolorist Robin Poteet wrote about how she makes her own traveling watercolor sketchbooks. She cuts down full sheets of watercolor paper, using both 140 lb. and 300 lb. papers along with some sketch weight papers, cuts mat board for the front and back covers then takes them to be spiral bound at a print shop. I loved that idea, especially since I paint on canvas now, yet have lots of full sheets of watercolor paper languishing with loneliness and neglect, upstairs in my watercolor studio. I decided to make my own and after lots of slicing and dicing I had enough to make 5 sketchbooks! Off to the printers the following Monday I was eager to see them completed. After being turned away by 3 different print shops I was beginning to think I wouldn't get them bound, and would end up with a nice pile of trimmed loose papers and a lot of wasted effort. Happily SP & B came through for me, and the next day I picked up 5 new sketchbooks for a very reasonable price!

You can see in the above photo the backside of an old watercolor painting I scrubbed most of the color off of. I'll probably cover it with gesso for a fresh start. One of the sketch books has random sizes of papers to mix things up. Two of the books have already become gifts! It's fun to make custom sketchbooks with quality artist papers. I can see myself making more of these in the future!

Art Show and Reception

The annual Vista and Vineyard juried art show went up yesterday in the Guistina Gallery at The LaSells Stewart Center on the Oregon State Campus. I was pleased to have one of my pieces chosen again this year. There will be a reception Monday October 3rd from 5:00-7:15. Come on down and see some really terrific plein air paintings and meet the artists. If you can't make it Monday evening, the gallery is open during the day most weekdays, and this show will be up through the month of October. Here's the pastel of mine that made it into the show: 

This is a pastel on canvas and is titled Hoping for Blue Skies. Hope to see you at the reception Monday! 

Pelican Sunset Miniature Pastel Painting on Canvas

Pelican Sunset #1. This tiny 2 inch by 2 inch canvas has been painted with pastels and sealed with many layers of diluted PVA size then finished with 2 coats of an acrylic UV protective spray sealing the edges and front. With gentle dusting and care, this could become your next family heirloom! This real piece of miniature art can be displayed on its accompanying mini easel or hung by the tiny metal hanger attached to the back of the canvas. The edges of the canvas have been painted and sealed, so it's all set to be displayed in your home, or office. Imagine how sweet this would be sitting perched on your desk, as a wonderful reminder of your beach vacation this summer. These tiny paintings make great gifts too. They can also be hung with a ribbon tied through the small hanger on the back - making them useful as holiday ornaments. You can be the happy owner of an original painting for just $35.00 + $5.00 shipping and handling within the US. 

Cuppa Cappuccino, Framed Original Watercolor Painting

This little watercolor is an original painting on 100% archival cotton rag watercolor paper and it comes in an aniline dyed wooden frame with a museum rag archival mat separating the painting from the glass front. On the back is a saw tooth hanger for immediate display. The actual painting measures 2x4" and the frame is 5x7". The price is $65.00 + $5.00 shipping and handling within the US. Just what a coffee lover needs! 

Strawberry Leaf Original Watercolor painting

This is a luscious original watercolor, painted on a small 4x4 inch canvas with 1 1/2 inch gallery wrapped sides. The painted image continues over and around the edge, making this immediately ready to hang or prop up on a small easel or shelf. Because this painting can be viewed from multiple directions there is not a hanger attached. A sawtooth hanger will be included so when you decide which orientation you prefer you can attach it yourself. It can still be hung without the sawtooth hanger by the wooden canvas backing, so you may decide to not attach the hanger, leaving your options open! The canvas has been primed to smooth out the canvas texture which make a wonderful surface for the watercolor paint to dance, leaving lots of juicy, colorful, painterly marks. Once finished this painting has been sprayed with an acrylic  varnish to protect the surface. There is a slight glossy sheen. It still is somewhat fragile though, so be aware and try not to scratch or get the surface wet. This is the second in a series of small watercolors of this size and technique. The price for this original painting is $70.00 + $8.00 shipping and handling within the US.

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