Blackberry Season

When we take the dogs for a walk with the family on the local Oakwood Trail my grand daughter likes to pick the wild blackberries. She takes along a container to collect them in but by the end of the walk most of them end up being eaten rather than collected.  The prickly branches of the blackberry bushes grow every which way and I tried to convey that somewhat in this watercolor. Size is 11.5" X 7.5". I used Winsor and Newton's indian yellow and alizarin crimson and Daniel Smith's moon glow and quinacridone burnt orange.

Dandelion Heads

I have been practicing these dandelion heads for some time and only now have I managed something half decent.  Thought I would post this one even though there were a few things I could have done to make it more lively. I should have spattered masking fluid before starting to preserve some whites. And maybe cobalt blue would have been better than the indigo I used.  I will definitely work on perfecting the technique. I bought this great bottle of masking fluid by Daniel Smith that has different size applicator heads, including very fine ones for masking out the the fine white lines of the dandelion. Other colors I used were Daniel Smith's quinacridone gold by itself and mixed with alizarin crimson in areas. Lots of spattering and some salt also.

Last week I went to a demonstration of Daniel Smith watercolors and I must say I am quite smitten. They have some beautiful colors and I ended up spending way too much stocking up on a lot of their granulating colors because I love using textures in my watercolors. The representative from Daniel Smith told us that their watercolors have more pigment in them than other watercolors. They can also be resurrected after they have dried out. I tested this and the colors stay as vibrant. Quite impressed.

Textures In Watercolor

I like using textures in my watercolors and am a great admirer of Ann Blockley's watercolors and her innovative use of textures. She incorporates acrylics, inks and sometimes paints with sticks rather than brushes to achieve her goal - all with very effective results. These teasels grow on the mountains around Marin and make an interesting subject for using textures. For the teasels I used sepia ink and scratched into them to create the spikiness. Remembering that one should paint dark against light I used a watered down burnt sienna and cobalt blue for the background.  The painting below was done with acrylics and I was really just doodling as an exercise to loosen up, but liked the result so decided to post it. I thought it ended up resembling an abstract leaf design.

Ocean Sunset

I cropped off the bottom three inches on this piece because it did not add anything to the painting. I wanted the focus to be on the reflected light on the ocean in the distance. One always has to remember the focal point.  I like it better now and it has sold.

Early Evening Light

Trying to catch the early evening light for a tonalist effect on the landscape in this watercolor. I started with an underglaze of raw sienna followed by burnt sienna and indigo for the sky. The foreground is burnt sienna and French ultramarine. Had to do quite a few glazes for the sky to get that dusky look. Size: 13" x 10"

Lone Pine

The hills around Marin County turn a lovely wheaten color in summer. I have been trying to find ways to reflect them in an impressionist or atmospheric way in my watercolors.  Need a lot of practice still. I used burnt sienna, raw sienna Payne's grey and some sepia indian ink for the tree and darks. Also used granulation medium for the hill textures.

Dappled Moonlight

Another atmospheric watercolor. Trying to capture the moonlight I see over the bay from my living room window. If I were to do it again I would not put so much detail in the tree on the right. This would be better with just a few abstract strokes. Size is 13.5" x 9.5 inches. An underpainting of raw sienna was followed by using French ultramarine mixed with burnt sienna for the rest of the painting. I used a coarse painters brush for the sea to get the effect of dappled moonlight.

Stormy Sky Over The Bay

We've had some pretty stormy weather recently. Thought I would try to catch the mood over San Francisco bay during this period. I used hookers green mixed with Payne's grey for the sky and sea, and Raw Sienna for the beach. Size: 14" x 11".

Cypress Sunset

Trees and sunsets - my favorite things to paint. I love atmospheric skies and what better setting to complete the picture than some dramatic trees. I used granulation medium in the foreground for the texture. For the sky I used a course painters brush to create the striations. Just four colors - transparent red iron oxide, cadmium red, Payne's grey and burnt umber.

On The Cliff

This was an experiment with textures. I wanted to paint a subject where I could practice using different textures - hence the cliff.  I used burnt sienna, burnt umber and sepia ink for the cliff and dribbled granulation medium in different areas to get texture. I also did some spattering. For the sky and distant trees I used indigo and indian yellow.I was quite satisfied with the cliff but feel the sky could have been a little more muted.