Steve Penberthy

It's Been a While...

2011-12-04T14:04:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've posted, but wanted to let you know that I have been hard at work on growing as an artist. Since August, I have been (believe it or not) working on an idea for a comic book! I've been doing lots of research, reading books about making comics, reading comic books, writing a script, and working hard on my figure drawing (through life drawing sessions and sketchbook practice). I'm not quite ready to reveal anything publicly, but I may at some point post sketches on my Flickr site. I've also been formulating new goals for my watercolor painting, and will return to painting very soon. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and I'm wishing everyone a very creative Holiday season! :^) -- Steve

I'm Showing at the 33August Art Exhibit, August 19-20, 2011!

2011-08-12T10:10:00.001-05:00

If you're in or near the St. Louis area, think about stopping by the opening reception of the "33August" art exhibit on Friday, August 19, from 5:30pm to 10pm.

I will have 3 of my paintings on display and for sale (one of which is shown here), so stop by for a look.

The 33August exhibit opening features new work by 33 artists, live music, and food and drink. Admission is free and open to the public at 37 South Old Orchard in Webster Groves, Missouri (a suburb of St. Louis).

The exhibit is also open for viewing (and purchase) on Saturday, August 20, from 10am to 5pm.

For a list of all participating artists and more information about the exhibit, visit http://www.myslart.org/events/33august.

Thanks in advance for helping spread the word and for supporting art! :)
Here's a map to the gallery:
View Larger Map

Artist's Journal Workshop - Video

2011-08-06T10:27:00.002-05:00

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I'm so pleased and honored to have several of my watercolor sketches included in Cathy Johnson's excellent new book, "Artist's Journal Workshop."

I created this video to highlight the pages on which my sketches appear; it's only about a minute long, so I hope you'll take a look. Also, please consider buying a copy of the book for yourself or as a gift--it's an excellent resource.

Finally, you can read my interview on the Artist's Journal Workshop blog here: http://artistsjournalworkshop.blogspot.com/2011/07/meet-our-interview-13-steve-penberthy.html

Enjoy,
Steve

Watercolor Sketch - Deer Lake Stream

2011-07-10T21:35:00.000-05:00

Deer Lake Stream
©2011 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor on Strathmore 140-lb CP paper
9" x 12" (22.9 cm x 30.5 cm)
I sketched this plein air in a cool shady location in Forest Park, St. Louis. I've driven by this particular area of the park many times, but I never realized this little spot existed before today. There are a thousand paintings to be painted here--there is jaw-dropping scenery everywhere one looks.

I enjoy painting plein air, but I haven't done much of it for a while, which added to the already inherant challenges with this scene. The scene was a "wall of green"--green everywhere I looked. So I abstracted the colors to break things up chromatically. Also, the scene was very complex, so I had to simplify things extensively. I'd like to practice more with this type of painting and hopefully I'll have more opportunities to do so this summer.

I saw lots of herons, egrets, and ducks while painting at this watery area of the park. In fact, one of the ducks walked up to me and stood about three feet away from me, patiently waiting for a handout. However, he slowly moved on once he figured out I was too busy painting to give him any bread crumbs...

Watercolor Painting - View from Chaumette Winery

2011-07-08T18:22:00.002-05:00

View from Chaumette Winery
©2011 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor on Strathmore 140-lb CP paper
9" x 12" (22.9 cm x 30.5 cm)
I had lunch at Chaumette Winery and Vineyards a few weeks ago, and this was the beautiful view that we enjoyed as we looked out on the property from the veranda of the restaurant. I was really impressed with the sweeping vistas and rolling hills.

The Chaumette Winery is located near Saint Genevieve, Missouri, in the southeastern part of the state. When I think of Missouri Wine Country, I typically think of the wineries near Augusta and Herman, Missouri, but Ste. Genevieve County has a growing number of wineries and is producing some interesting wines.

This painting is really a planning sketch, as I want to paint this on some larger paper. I used this sketch/painting to work out some problems and just get a feel for the scene. More to come on this one!

Enjoy,
Steve

Florida Beach Vacation

2011-05-22T13:56:00.000-05:00

Florida Beach Vacation
©2011 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor in Strathmore Visual Journal,
Strathmore 140-lb CP paper
9" x 12" (22.9 cm x 30.5 cm)

This sketch is the first one I've tried out in the Strathmore Visual Journal that I purchased recently. I've typically used the Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook as my watercolor sketchbook, but I was interested in trying the Strathmore since it contained 140-lb cold-press paper.

I thought the paper performed extremely well. There was little-to-no buckling of the paper even when I applied wet washes for the skies and sea. I have read in some online forums that people had a little trouble sketching using ink (for example using a Pigma Micron or similar), because the paper has a significant tooth (that is, some significant peaks and valleys in the texture of the paper); I used a 2B pencil for my sketch to avoid this potential issue. However, trying ink in this book will be my next experiment.

Enjoy,
Steve

Balancing Act

2011-03-12T15:40:00.003-06:00

Balancing Act
©2011 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor and ink on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper,
6.75" x 10.25" (16.8 x 26.0 cm)

Watercolor Painting - Near Telluride

2011-02-26T17:19:00.005-06:00

Near Telluride
©2011 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
15" x 11" (38.1 x 27.9 cm)

I've travelled to Telluride, Colorado many times, and it is one of the most scenic areas I've ever visited. This view is of a valley meadow just west of town, looking to the east towards the San Juan Mountains and the end of the box canyon in which Telluride is located. (view a photo of this scene from Google Maps)

I painted this scene from a photo I took a few years ago; I was drawn to the scene by the intense blue of the summer sky contrasted against the billowy clouds. I'd love to say that I just sat down at the paper and, with photo reference at my side, splashed some paint and out came a finished work. Far from the truth. It was a long road to get this painting to a composition with which I was satisfied.

First, I drew a pencil drawing of the scene, and I really liked the dark sky contrasting with the clouds; I knew that the focal point of the painting had to be a spot in the sky with the most contrast between dark and light. In fact, the drawing really didn't come together until I added very strong darks in the sky.

So, using my pencil sketch as a roadmap, I made an initial quarter-sheet painting. And I hated it. I mounted another quarter sheet to my board and painted it again. A little better this time, but I hated this second one also. I decided to let it sit for a day or so, so I could "walk around it" so to speak. In the past, I've had some success in getting a painting to a finished state by letting it lay dormant for a short time, allowing me time to gain some needed objectivity for the things I couldn't see (or think of) during the heat of the painting battle.

So, after a day or so, I looked at the painting again, and made a list of what I thought was wrong or needed correction:
1. I had failed to get my focal point across; I didn't have enough contrast between dark and light in the sky.
2. There wasn't much value contrast in the painting as a whole; it was largely middle values.
3. There was no light; no life. It looked flat.
4. The colors were muddy.
5. I had imprecise edges on the mountains from errant brush strokes and bleeding of the paint.

I started drawing value sketches--a lot of value sketches. I explored compositional changes, alternatives in value dominance, and even played with the idea of adding some close trees in the foreground as a new center of interest:

Thumbnail exploring compositional
and value alternatives

Should I add a tree in the
foreground as a focal point?

Third set of thumbnails exploring
compositional and value alternatives.
Finally--I like the one in the lower
right-hand corner!

Prototype on
iPhone Brushes app

I finally decided that, instead of making the mountains a middle value (as they were in the photo), I would represent them as a dark, thin shape. The skies would remain a middle value, the foreground a light value (the yellow I used in the final painting reads as a light value), and the clouds my lightest. To test whether this made sense using color, I quickly prototyped the painting using the Brushes app on my iPhone, as shown at left.

Finally satisfied with the values and composition, the painting came together. And I addressed the muddy colors by giving my palette and brushes a much-needed cleaning.

It was a fun day in the studio, but it was the work of the initial attempts, objective analysis, and thumbnail sketches that brought it all together.

I don't go through this process with all of my paintings; in fact, I probably did a better job than I ever have at trying to critically analyze what wasn't working. I learned a lot!

Enjoy!
Steve

Sketch - City Skyline

2011-02-16T17:18:00.000-06:00

©2011 Steve Penberthy, City Skyline
Graphite on paper
3.5" x 5.5" (8.9 x 13.9 cm)

A pencil sketch of the view from my window during lunch today. I took a photo reference too, so this might serve me well as a value sketch for an upcoming painting...

Five Great Art Quotes

2011-01-30T20:09:00.001-06:00

I've long been a collector of quotes, but only those that speak to me in one particular way or another. I plan to share five or so quotes every so often so that you might benefit from them as well. Enjoy! -- Steve

"In many things, but more particularly in drawing, I think that delving deeply into something is better than letting it go."
- Vincent Van Gogh, Oct. 1881

"The great-at-anything do not set to work because they are inspired, but rather become inspired because they are working. They don't waste time waiting for inspiration."
- Ernest Newman

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
- Herald Whitman

"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision with a finer spirit of hope and achievement."
- Woodrow Wilson

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
- Pablo Picasso

Birds at the Feeder

2011-01-29T17:40:00.001-06:00

I always enjoy watching the wild birds who visit our feeder. We get a wide variety of visitors, but there are always the regulars, such as juncoes, chickadees, sparrows, purple finches, and, of course the our favorite--the colorful red cardinals. I occasionally see various woodpeckers (such as Northern Flickers), but it's rare. I had a short amount of time this afternoon to sit down and attempt to capture some very quick sketches of these little guys; the sketches are really just gesture drawings since the birds are in such constant movement. They don't seem to like to strike a pose for very long... I used a 6B Derwent pencil for the drawings and added a little watercolor here and there (mosly for color notes) using my homemade sketcher's box pictured here:

New Watercolor Sketching Book (and blog)!

2011-01-18T20:56:00.006-06:00


"Dallas Farmer's Market" by Steve Penberthy

I’m thrilled to share with you that some of my watercolor artwork will be included in Cathy (Kate) Johnson’s upcoming new book, “Artist’s Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures.” North Light Books will release the book in late June 2011.

From Amazon.com:

“Based on her own 40 years' experience in keeping an artist's journal, Cathy Johnson knows that an artist's creative life can benefit from written and visual explanations and experiments. Over the course of this book, you will benefit from the tips, techniques and exercises that will make your artist's journals your own. You will also discover how to use your journal to celebrate any occasion or milestone, work through a problem or creative block, plan future works, sketch from life and experiment with new materials or techniques. With 24 contributors from around the world there is a variety of styles and perspectives throughout the book, and with 15+ exercises you will learn to personalize your journal in a variety of ways.”

I am thrilled to have been asked to contribute artwork to this amazing project. From the beginning, I’ve thought that Kate’s idea for this book was right on target, and that a lot of people would benefit from her treatment of this varied subject. I’ve long held that a sketchbook can be a work on art in-and-of itself, so a new book expressly about that process scratches me where I itch.

Again, the book won’t be available until late June 2011, but you can get more info and pre-order the book from Amazon.com here -
http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Journal-Workshop-Creating-Pictures/dp/1440308683/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I143P09DZ2LVA9&colid=2ETLRT6BWR180

Also, please visit Kate's new blog titled, "Artist’s Journal Workshop – The Book and Beyond" at http://artistsjournalworkshop.blogspot.com/
Kate focuses this blog expressly on the new book and its various artist-contributors, where the artists, their sketches, and other great information will be explored in more detail. All of the contributors will be interviewed, and there’s several posted already. Be sure to check it out. I’ll be sure to let you know when my interview comes around. :)

Kate gives some background on how the idea for the book came about here.

Enjoy!
Steve

What Lurks Down an Alley?

2011-01-16T16:50:00.001-06:00

Alley at Belleview and Wise
©2011 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor and ink in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper
9" x 12" (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

If you're looking for ideas for landscape subjects to sketch and paint, don't rule out your nearby alley--it's a great way to practice your perspective drawing. A perspective view really draws the viewer's eye into a painting or sketch. I guess this is why I'm drawn (no pun intended) to alleyways; they usually stretch out for a long distance, lending themselves to a single vanishing point. Plus, alleys always seem to contain such interesting, odd stuff: boxes, dumpsters, trash cans, strange lighting and fencing, what appear to be abandoned cars, etc.

Alleys in older European cities are usually the leftovers of an ancient street system. Today, they seem to serve as places to put out the trash or to perhaps park your car between buildings.

I wanted to do this quick sketch because alleys have been on my brain lately; I don't know why. Since the scene has a only single vanishing point, I just kind of guessed at the perspective lines. I spent about 15 minutes creating the little thumbnail sketches, mostly to see what I wanted to do with my values. I spent about 30 minutes on the watercolor sketch, again paying the most attention to getting some really dark values into it. You'll see that I did three thumbnails: two of the same scene with differing value choices and one of a alleyway of telephone poles. I didn't choose the telephone pole scene to paint since it didn't look as interesting to me as the other alley scene. Always good to have a choice!

Watercolor Painting - Belleview In & Out Market

2010-12-05T16:24:00.002-06:00

Belleview In and Out Market
©2010 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor and ink on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper in handmade sketchbook
6" x 9" (15.2 x 22.9 x cm)

This little grocery market is tucked away in a neighborhood not far from Forest Park in St. Louis. I thought the facade of this building was very interesting, and I see this type of architecture in various parts of town. I'm sure the architectural style has a name, but I don't know what it is (please comment if you do).

This small painting is sort of an experiment in a new style for me, using pen-and-ink in an illustrative style then adding watercolor washes for color. I plan to do a larger painting in this style very soon.

Before adding watercolor, I did a value sketch using my PITT artist brush pens. I made a photocopy of my sketch, and added value:

Top Watercolor Painting Blogs

2010-11-30T15:01:00.001-06:00

OnlineGraphicDesignDegree.com

I was honored to find that my blog has been included on the Online Graphic Design Degree website in their list of Top Watercolor Painting Blogs!

The website is dedicated to helping those considering a career in graphic design, and the blog list provides readers with a resource to learn more about the art of sketching and painting in watercolor.

I love lists like this, as they aggregate similar information in one place for one-stop shopping; I'm looking forward to perusing the list of blogs myself, as I'm sure there are some gems that I've not run across before.

You can take a look at their list of Top Watercolor Painting Blogs at http://www.onlinegraphicdesigndegree.com/features/painting-watercolor/

Enjoy!
Steve

Alessandra at the Artist's Guild

2010-11-24T15:01:00.001-06:00

Alessandra at the Artist's Guild
©2010 Steve Penberthy
Charcoal and NuPastel on newsprint
14" x 17" (36 x 43 cm)

Watercolor Sketch - Main Street, Old St. Charles

2010-08-20T14:57:00.000-05:00

Main Street, Old St. Charles
©2010 Steve Penberthy
Pigma Micron 03 pen and watercolor wash in Aquabee Super Deluxe 808 sketchbook
6" x 9" (15 x 23 cm)

I sketched this while having coffee at Picasso's Coffeehouse in St. Charles, MO.

The streets were mostly blocked off, and I saw a blur of activity around me as vendors were setting up tents and receiving deliveries of supplies in preparation for Festival of the Little Hills this weekend.

Shortly after lunchtime, I got caught in a huge thunderstorm, and got completely soaked trying to get to my car; thankfully my sketchbooks remained dry in my backpack...

(sub)Urban Sketch - McDonald's

2010-08-13T18:24:00.002-05:00

(sub)Urban Sketch - McDonald's
©2010 Steve Penberthy
Pigma Micron 03 pen and watercolor wash in Aquabee Super Deluxe 808 sketchbook
6" x 9" (15 x 23 cm)

Off work today, so I sketched this view of the interior of a McDonald's where I beat the heat with a cold drink. There weren't many people in the restaurant, yet it was very loud in there--most of the noise came from the employees behind the counter along with the fryer timers going off, etc.

On The Go with Don Colley (and his PITT Artists Pens)

2010-08-10T18:25:00.001-05:00

Today I came across this awesome video featuring artist Don Colley titled, "On The Go With PITT Artist Pens." Of course, the video is a promotional work, but I was really inspired by it--it's sort of a day in the life of an urban sketcher at work.
Don is an incredible artist. I had the good fortune to meet and talk with Don for a while at the Learning & Product Expo in Chicago in 2008, where he showed me his incredible sketches and let me browse through his sketchbooks; he uses large antique ledger books as sketchbooks, complete with pre-printed page numbers and grid lines. Examples of his sketchbooks appears in the photo below and throughout the video. I bought a set of PITT gray-scale brush markers/pens as a result of my interaction with him; some examples of sketches I've created with these pens appear in one of my previous blog posts.

Colley's work in a Faber-Castell catalog

A listing of other videos featuring Mr. Colley (and other artists) using various Faber-Castell products can be found on Faber-Castell's website.

This Is Not a Song

2010-06-21T20:57:00.008-05:00

©2010 Steve Penberthy, This Is Not a Song
Watercolor on Arches 300-lb CP paper
9" x 14" (23 x 36 cm)

I was out sketching with the St. Louis Drawing and Painting Meetup Group for the St. Louis Public Library's "Not So Quiet!" lunchtime concert series. It was a scorching-hot day, and the midday sun heated things in typical St. Louis summer fashion--it was 94 degrees and extremely humid.

This painting depicts a few members of the Bottoms Up Blues Gang band setting up their equipment. Once they got set up, they did a quick sound check where the singer repeatedly sang "This is not a song, this is not a song, this is not a song, this is not a song" while the band warmed up with a three-chord blues progression.

I wanted to paint this because I was struck by the blazing-white umbrellas installed in this downtown plaza area, which provided shelter from the sweltering sun for the people who arrived early to get a shady spot (including me).

For this painting, I used a limited palette of raw sienna, burnt sienna, perm. alizarin crimson, ultramarine deep, and Payne's gray. The shadow areas were created by mingling the alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue together on the paper wet-into-wet, which allowed the colors to mingle on their own. I feel like I achieve a satisfactory color harmony that pulls everything together.

Watercolor Sketch - Lunchtime at the Public Library Concert, 9th and Locust, St. Louis

2010-06-18T20:14:00.009-05:00

Lunchtime at the Public Library Concert, 9th and Locust, St. Louis
Watercolor and ink on Strathmore 140-lb CP paper
9" x 12" (23 x 31 cm)
©2010 Steve Penberthy

I sketched in downtown St. Louis over lunchtime and took in the St. Louis Public Library's "Not So Quiet! Concert Series." Today's entertainment was provided by the Bottoms Up Blues Gang, featuring vocalist Kari Liston, guitarist Jeremy Segel-Moss and Adam Andrews on harmonica. The BUBG plays a unique blend of originals and covers in the styles of Delta Blues, R&B, Soul, Jazz, and Blues-influenced Rock & Roll.

It was 94 degrees with a triple-digit heat index, but an occasional breeze, a shady spot, and some cold water kept the heat at bay.

Watercolor Sketch - Mississippi River south of Memphis, TN

2010-06-08T16:53:00.001-05:00

Mississippi River south of Memphis, TN
9" x 12" (22.3 x 35.0 cm)
Watercolor and uni-ball micro pen in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper
©2010 Steve Penberthy

This is the view looking towards Arkansas from the terrace at the National Ornamental Metal Museum, just south of downtown Memphis, TN. The bridge at the right is I-55.

Had some great BBQ while in Memphis, and I'm looking forward to going back soon to take in more of the music scene there.

Tip: Watercolor Tube Storage Solution

2010-05-24T12:37:00.000-05:00

My sister hipped me to this awesome tip, so I thought I would share it with everyone on the blogosphere. Where and how do you store your tubes of watercolor paint? I just store mine in a quart-sized Ziplock bag...

But, Staples (you know--the guys with the "Easy" button...) sells a plastic box with a snap closure that's intended to store 3" x 5" index cards. However, It holds watercolor tubes perfectly! The index-card-storage boxes come in a translucent white (shown above) and also colors. Cost: about $1.50 USD. I haven't been able to find them on their website, but they are available in stores.

This little plastic box offers a rigid storage solution that's perfect for traveling with your tubes of paint, helping to prevent crushed tubes and consequent messes. Let me know if this tip works out for you!

Donna's Dad's Boat

2010-04-07T21:27:00.005-05:00

Donna's Dad's Boat
8" x 10" (20 x 25 cm)
Watercolor on Arches 140-lb CP paper
©2010 Steve Penberthy

This painting was requested by a friend; he will be giving the painting to his wife as an anniversary gift. This boat is her father's, and represents one of her favorite things--getting out on the boat in Florida. I was in their wedding, so it was especially cool to paint this for them. Happy Anniversary guys! :)

I painted large washes for both the sky and the sea. The sky is a single wash of Cobalt Blue [Holbein], with clouds created by lifting pigment with a paper towel. The sea is a glaze of two washes of Cerulean Blue [Holbein], which I "greened" on the second wash by mixing in a little Hansa Yellow Medium [Daniel Smith] to suggest the thinning depth as it approached the sand, and the violet shadows were a mix of Ultramarine Deep & Perm. Aliz. Crimson [both Holbein]. The metallic hues were made with the Cerulean greyed by mixing in some Pyrrol Orange [Daniel Smith]. Darks (boat's roof, riggings) were done in Indigo [Holbein].

I employed masking/frisket extensively to preserve white areas.

Urban Sketch - Sketch of "Eros Bendato" Sculpture at Citygarden

2010-03-28T15:21:00.003-05:00

Sketch of "Eros Bendato" Sculpture at Citygarden
6" x 9" (15 x 23 cm)
Pigma Micron pen and Pitt Artist Brush Pens in Aquabee 808 Super Deluxe Sketchbook
©2010 Steve Penberthy

This sculpture, titled "Eros Bendato" is by artist Igor Mitoraj artist bio

I did some urban sketching at the Citygarden in downtown St. Louis. Citygarden is a new urban sculpture park featuring stunning modernistic works of art placed among the meandering walkways. Citygarden features elements of water, stone, architecture, and design, and is a true jewel of art in St. Louis. This was my first visit to Citygarden; I met there to sketch with other St. Louis artists as part of the St. Louis Drawing and Painting meetup group.

The day was overcast, a little breezy, and the high temperature only got up to around 60F. However, the sun peeked out a few times which helped to warm things slightly. Prior to braving a chilly afternoon of sketching, my wife and I had lunch at The Terrace View cafe, adjacent to Citygarden; the food was excellent with an equally inventive menu. When in downtown St. Louis, make Citygarden part of your plans.

Watercolor Sketch - LoDo Alley

2010-02-14T19:30:00.001-06:00

LoDo Alley
6.5" x 9.25" (16.4 x 23.4 cm)
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
Sketchbook Painting
©2010 Steve Penberthy

I passed this alley while strolling along the 16th Street Mall in Denver, Colorado's Lower Downtown (LoDo) area. I was drawn to the manner in which the puddles of water in the alley contrasted in shape with the buildings--the water creates its own flowing, organic shapes, whereas the man-made elements such as buildings, vehicles, etc. are boxy and rectangular.

I also liked the warmth to this image. I painted this in sort of a split-complementary fashion (I say "sort of" since I strayed a little beyond the strict three-color requirements of a split complementary, but I stayed pretty close). My results are a little more low-key than I had intended, but I'm satisfied overall with it. This painting is a sketch for a larger work I intend to paint of this same scene.

Watercolor Landscape - Hayden Valley Winter

2010-01-24T15:01:00.005-06:00

Hayden Valley Winter
Watercolor on Arches 140-lb CP paper
11" x 15" (28 x 38 cm)
©2010 Steve Penberthy

Some friends were telling me today about a vacation cabin in Montana that can be rented, and we started talking a little about perhaps going there in the summer. It made me think about Montana, specifically Montana in winter; I revisited a sketch I had done a couple of years ago of the Hayden Valley in Yellowstone, and painted it here as I imagined it might look in this cold time of year in the northern hemisphere.

I used a fairly limited palette on this one: ultramarine blue, perm. alizarin crimson, raw sienna, and burnt sienna. The greens for the trees were created from Payne's Gray mixed with New Gamboge (this makes a really nice earthy that works great for landscapes).

Hope you enjoy the painting!

Watercolor Landscape :: The Chase

2009-12-20T21:51:00.011-06:00

The Chase
Watercolor on Arches 140-lb CP paper
8" x 10" (20 x 25 cm)
©2009 Steve Penberthy

This painting is of the south-facing side of the Chase Park Plaza hotel in St. Louis. This particular view is looking up from the hotel valet area that fronts Kingshighway. I chose a thin wash of pthalo blue to represent the cold winter sky and juxtaposed that with the warm morning sunlight hitting the building. The building is a verigated wash of raw sienna and new gamboge, dulled with a second wash of violet. The painting really came together for me as I added the tree limbs, which I believe helped give the building context. The bare limbs looked a little *too* bare for my tastes, so I added spatters of paint to represent dead leaves that had not yet fallen; these spatters were done using burnt sienna and quinacridone red.

Cake and Fire

2009-12-14T17:36:00.006-06:00

Cake and Fire
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
8" x 8" (20 x 20 cm)
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

This painting presented me with several challenges, most notably how to correctly render the light. I first did a pencil sketch, then made a photocopy of it. It was on the photocopy that I did the pencil drawing below, primarily to test if I captured the likeness or not, but also how the shading was going to work. It was in the pencil drawing where I worked out solutions to the problems I was going to face in the painting; I sort of "painted" with the pencil to understand what I needed to do later on. Lesson learned: It's always tempting to just jump in and start splashing paint around, but a little work up front makes the job easier down the line.

"Cake and Fire"

No. 2 pencil on copier paper

8" x 8" (20 x 20 cm)

Bethel Grain Elevators

2009-11-27T16:37:00.006-06:00

Bethel Grain Elevators
Watercolor on Langton Prestige 140-lb rough paper
14" x 20" (36 x 51 cm)
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

Used with permission from Liz West under Creative Commons license; thanks Liz! Here's a link to Liz's original photograph: http://www.flickr.com/photos/calliope/111110338/

I got inspired by Don Gore's recent painting of grain elevators, and they reminded me of how much I enjoy seeing them. I've spent a fair amount of time in Kansas, and have seen my fair share of elevators. It's such a staple of the prarie landscape that it's almost a bit of Americana just to look upon them. It invokes the agrarian work ethic of the American farmer.

My goals with this painting was to create a work that looks strong from about 30 feet across a room; therefore, I didn't worry about detail--I tried to stay loose and paint spontaneously. I first drew an accurate perspective drawing of the buildings and laid the sky wash in first. I rendered the elevator shadow as one big dark-valued shape to sharply contrast in value with the sunlit side of the taller buildings and the middle-values of the smaller buildings. I used a fairly restricted palette: cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, perm. alizarin crimson, raw sienna, burnt sienna, and payne's grey. This was really a fun painting on which to work. Thanks Don, for the inspiration and Liz for the reference!

Here's a value sketch I did using my Faber Castel brush pens in my 3" x 5" Moleskine:

Watercolor Landscape - "Defiance Road"

2009-11-19T20:23:00.005-06:00

Defiance Road
Watercolor on Langton Prestige 140-lb rough paper
14" x 20" (36 x 51 cm)
©2009 Steve Penberthy

I finally finished the more formalized version of my previous sketch of this same scene.

Watercolor Painting :: Lullaby

2009-11-16T21:14:00.002-06:00

"Lullaby"
11" x 15" (28 x 38 cm)
Watercolor on Arches 140-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy
A friend challenged me with doing a portrait of a baby, so this is a first attempt. Since this is a boy, I intentionally used lots of blue. The palette includes Hansa Yellow Medium and Perm. Alizarin Crimson (for flesh tones), cobalt, cerulean, and ultramarine blue, and indigo.

Watercolor Painting :: St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Defiance, MO

2009-11-15T15:51:00.008-06:00

"St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Defiance, MO"
14" x 20" (36 x 51 cm)
Watercolor on Langton Prestige 140-lb rough paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

This beautiful church is just up the hill from the Yellow Farmhouse Winery in Defiance, MO. I was attracted to the look of the gleaming steeple in the fall afternoon sunlight.

I painted this one using a limited palette of ultramarine deep, cobalt blue, perm. alizarin crimson, and raw sienna (all are Holbein pigments).

Steve Penberthy Watercolor Art Exhibit, St. Louis, MO, 11/22/2009

2009-11-04T11:37:00.010-06:00

Photo by Frenkieb
I am pleased to announce that I will be exhibiting several of my recent watercolor paintings at The Designing Block, 7735 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO 63117, from 12 noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 22, 2009 as part of the Holiday Champagne Stroll on Clayton Row event.

The exhibit will feature both framed and unframed works, all of which have appeared on this blog. Most of my work is typified as traditional landscapes, but I have several that are of abstract or unexpected subject matter. Works in this exhibit includes landscapes, figures, and unusual viewpoints of everyday scenes, and range in size (unframed) from 5x7” to 14x20”. All artwork in the exhibit will be offered for sale.

The Designing Block store, owned and operated by designer Susan Block, offers an eclectic mix of furnishings and interior-design pieces for the home. The Designing Block is located in Richmond Heights, Missouri at 7735 Clayton Road. Here's a map: http://bit.ly/3ppcHS

Please plan to stop by, say hello, and consider picking up some art as special Holiday gift!

Here's an image of the flier:

"Watercolor Sketch - Defiance Road"

2009-10-27T21:13:00.005-05:00

"Watercolor Sketch - Defiance Road"
6.7" x 9.5" (17x24 cm)
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP papersketchbook painting
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

Defiance Road runs runs east-west into Defiance, Missouri, which sits at the northern parts of Missouri Wine Country. The weekend weather offered some great fall color, and I'm reaping the benefits with some good ideas for paintings. This is a watercolor sketch for a larger painting I want to do, and I used this sketch to try out a few ideas. One idea in particular was to try a mix of vermilion hue with french ultramarine for the road, which I think worked well; I've used this mix before for some explosive granulation, so I hope to achieve that in the larger painting. I rendered white tree trunks by scraping damp paint with a credit card, but I plan to use masking fluid in the final painting. I will definitely mask the fence... and, I'm still challenged by how to better show the sky peeking through the trees...

I drew this preliminary pencil sketch first; I really didn't worry too much about making it a true value sketch, but I did use it to play with some value ideas, which I incorporated into the watercolor sketch above.

The Watercolor Paintings of Don Gore

2009-10-24T11:35:00.008-05:00

church, originally uploaded by dgdraws.

If you haven't seen the work of artist (and fellow Missourian) Don Gore, I would like to introduce you to his exceptional watercolor paintings. I found Don on Flickr (he and I are Contacts), and I was amazed as I first poked around and perused his Flickr photostream. The two major themes of Don's work that really stand out to me are his crisp landscapes of churches and one-room schoolhouses, and his photorealistic renderings of architectural detail.

Churches and One-room Schoolhouses
Don renders these buildings simply, depicting them in the gleaming beauty of strong midday light. The crisp detailed lines and shadows are juxtaposed with simplified renderings of distant and and foreground trees. I love Don's palette (probably because he seems to use many of the same pigments I use in my own landscapes) and his liberal application of what looks to be gamboge and ultramarine blue. I also really like how Don renders the trees; they look to be done wet-in-wet with, again, touches of gamboge and ultramarine for highlights and shadows.

Photorealistic Architectural Details
Don achieves in watercolor what some believe only possible in oil or acrylic: exceptional detail and photorealism without looking tight and overworked. Painting convincing detail in watercolor is a challenge, and Don pulls it off beautifully, achieving an easy professional look. I've included an example here, which speak volumes; need I say more? (1 picture = 1k words).

After you've picked your jaw up off the floor, be sure to check out Don's renderings of his Manhattan cityscapes, along with some great sketches on Don's Flickr photostream.

Don is represented by Primary Colors Gallery.

Van Gogh's Blog

2009-10-23T18:30:00.012-05:00

For years I’ve been fascinated by late-nineteenth century Impressionism ever since attending several exhibitions at my local art museum. And I've maintained a thirst and appreciation for this period and genre, seeking out Impressionist displays in museums that I visit. So, imagine my surprise and excitement when I came across the outstanding blog, simply titled, Van Gogh's Blog.

The blog is set up such that it is just like Van Gogh is blogging this himself, communicating to his younger brother Theo (and at times other artists of his day), along with the sketches that these letters often contained, using our modern Internet communication tools.

While reading through some of the letters/posts, several passages lept from the page. This next passage wowed me—and I absolutely love this—with its clear exhortation to artists to master one’s drawing skills before attempting to apply paint to paper or canvas:

Van Gogh Letters, no. 252, "To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Monday, 31 July 1882.

"When I see how several painters I know here struggle with their watercolours and paintings, unable to find the answer, I sometimes think, friend, your drawing is where the trouble lies. I don’t for a moment regret not moving straight on to watercolour and painting. I know for sure that I’ll catch up if I keep hacking away at it, so that my hand doesn’t hesitate in drawing and perspective. But when I see young painters composing and drawing off the top of their head — then daubing on all sorts at random, also off the top of their head — then holding it at a distance and putting on a very profound, sombre expression to find out to what in God’s name it might bear some resemblance, and finally, still off the top of their head, making what they can of it, it makes me feel feeble and faint, and I find it truly tedious and heavy going. The whole thing makes me sick! Yet these gentlemen regularly ask me — not without a certain patronizing air — ‘whether I’ve started painting yet’. Now I also sometimes find myself playing, so to speak, at random on a piece of paper, but I attach no more value to this than to a rag or cabbage leaf. And I hope you’ll understand that if I go on just drawing, I do that for two reasons. Because at all costs I want to acquire a sure hand when drawing above all else and, second, because painting materials and watercolours entail considerable expense for which there’s no return in the early stage — and these costs are multiplied twice and ten times if you work on the basis of a drawing that isn’t yet sufficiently correct. And if I got into debt or surrounded myself with canvases and papers daubed all over with paint without being sure of my drawing, my studio would quickly become a kind of hell, like a studio I once saw that seemed like that to me.”

Another I liked:

"In many things, but more particularly in drawing, I think that delving deeply into something is better than letting it go."

And finally:

"If you're well, you should be able to live on a piece of bread, while working the whole day long, and still having the strength to smoke and to drink your glass; you need that in these conditions. And still to feel the stars and the infinite, clearly, up there. Then life is almost magical, after all."

For a more rigorous treatment of the letters, treat yourself to the Van Gogh's Letters official site.

Watercolor Portrait :: Portrait of M

2009-10-17T11:38:00.004-05:00

"Portrait of M"
10.5" x 7.5" (26.5 x 19 cm)
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

Watercolor Painting :: Looking Up

2009-09-10T21:44:00.010-05:00

"Looking Up"
14" x 20" (36 x 51 cm)
Watercolor on Langton Prestige 140-lb rough paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

For some reason, I've been wanting to paint this utility pole and finally got around to it. This pole is about a quarter-mile (0.4 km) from my house. I like this as a subject since these forgotten sentinels of the information superhighway seem to stand in stark contrast to the seemingly ubiquitous cell towers I see everywhere. Still, I'm sure there's massive amounts of digital information (DSL, etc.) blasting through these analog copper circuits...

To render the clouds, I used knowledge gained from a Tom Lynch workshop I took last year, specifically varying the edges around the cloud to add viewer interest. I used a flat brush to "scrape" in wispy lines of blue into the white, used a paper towel to scrub out color along various edges (creates a smoothing effect), and used short bursts of water from my Holbein spray bottle to create mottled edges. The inner grays of the cloud is a random placement of wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry using a gray made from cerulean blue, yellow ochre, and quinacridone red. I varied the amounts of blue or red to get bluish-grey or reddish-grey. I used cobalt blue for the sky, since it represents a warm summer sky quite nicely.

The painting uses a range of values, from the light clouds to the dark silhouetted telephone wires and supports. The wood of the pole is a mix of cobalt blue and burnt sienna done wet -in-wet, done over a dried wash of yellow ochre (the dull yellow of the ochre simulates the naturally-dull reflected highlights of the lit side of the pole). I used Holbein Indigo for the dark wires and supports. Wires were painted with a rigger brush.

Plein Air Watercolor Sketches :: Red Barn September

2009-09-10T21:20:00.008-05:00

"Red Barn September"
7.5" x 11" (19 x 28 cm)
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I did some plein air sketching while in Colorado over the weekend and created a couple of watercolor sketches/paintings of this red barn in the mountains. I've done a sketch of this same red barn before, but only from a photograph--never plein air until now. I started out by doing a couple of thumbnails in pencil, but then decided to switch to ink for the sketch, using a Pigma Micron 05 pen. I used a small Niji Waterbrush for both these paintings; I found the waterbrush a little challenging to use; it was difficult to create large washes and I feel it led to a tighter look. Nevertheless, the waterbrush is very portable, which is the primary reason I brought it instead of my full quiver of regular brushes.

I decided to try again with another barn sketch, but this time trying to be a little more loose, just concentrating on shapes. I sketched this one in pencil, as opposed to the other one where I used ink. I'm not sure if I really reached my goal, but it was interesting painting the same subject again on a different day.

Here's a view of me sketching the barn. The day was warm and somewhat overcast in the mountains, but a nice breeze kept everything comfortable. While sketching, I heard a wild turkey gobbling every few minutes or so.

There's other stuff on Flickr.

Plein Air Value Sketches using Grey-scale Markers

2009-08-29T11:13:00.007-05:00

I've been experimenting with using grey-scale markers to create value sketches. This isn't a new idea out there in the world of drawing, but I ran across a demonstration in one of my books, "Watercolor Journeys" by Richard Schilling where he uses a two-marker system to create three-value sketches (a middle gray, dark grey, and the white of the paper to make up the three values) which got me started thinking about and using this technique.

Last year, I bought a set of Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen Manga Set. This set contains eight pens (one fine-nib black, one medium-nib black, and six brush pens of varying values of gray). I haven't used this set for much, but thought it would be perfect for the two sketches pictured here. Both of these sketches were done on location, plein-air style. Using the pens is much like watercolor painting: I laid down my lightest values first, then worked from light to dark. My method differs from Schilling's, in that he puts down everything that's in the middle value first, then adds the darks, then adds details with a fine-line pen (whites are planned for ahead and painted around). I find Schilling's method slightly more difficult, but I have followed along with his demonstration in his book to get the feel of it (results not pictured).

Both of these sketches are 6" x 9" (15 x 23 cm) in my Aquabee Super Deluxe 808 sketchbook. I did these two sketches on a heavily overcast day, so I didn't have the opportunity to really render much shadow and light as I would have preferred. However, I felt is was more important to get out there and produce work than wait for perfect weather conditions.

Bread Winners Blog is Featuring My Paintings

2009-08-20T13:21:00.010-05:00

Today I'm honored that the fine folks at Bread Winners Cafe in Dallas, Texas are featuring two of my paintings on their blog! When you get a chance, please go see the posting at breadwinnerscafe.blogspot.com.

Several months ago, I did a couple of paintings based on some photos that I took while visiting the restaurant; seems that the Bread Winners people really liked them and asked me if they could feature them--of course I was thrilled to agree!

If you live in the Dallas area (or if not, next time you visit) you owe it to yourself to stop by one of the Bread Winners Cafe locations. The atmosphere, food, and service is outstanding. I had a delicious, excellent brunch at the Bread Winner's Uptown location in Dallas.

You can read more about Bread Winners, Uptown, and my paintings at these links:
Waiting for Brunch
Bread Winners

Again, please treat yourself and drop by Bread Winners if you get a chance!
Steve

Summer Night at the Muny

2009-08-18T21:22:00.003-05:00

"Summer Night at the Muny"
7.5" x 11" (19 x 28 cm)
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I used this sketch to work out a technique for painting a night scene that I hope to do a little larger in the coming weeks. The scene is of the Muny Theater in Forest Park in St. Louis. I wanted to capture the glow of the theater entrance and evoke patrons arriving for the show. The flags line the Muny's entrance, and there is one flag for each of the shows that's being featured for the summer season.

My Studio Space

2009-08-15T13:03:00.005-05:00

My art studio consists of a semi-circular desk in my bedroom. Why the bedroom? Mostly because we moved the TV from the living room to our bedroom several years ago, and I love to have the TV on while I'm painting. In fact, before getting the desk just a few months ago, I painted while sitting on the bed...

The desk is an antique and has some interesting history. The desk was once the concierge desk at the historic Mayfair Hotel in downtown St. Louis. My brother bought the desk on auction several years ago, before the hotel was remodeled and updated, and my wife and I bought it from my brother a couple of months ago. It was bought from an upscale furniture store in St. Louis in the 1940s. There used to be a playhouse next to the Mayfair, and many celebrities were seen in the hotel. Bob Hope has sat on this desk, and I'm told there was a photograph of Debbie Reynolds in the hotel taken while she was standing next to the desk.

When I'm sitting at the desk, the window to my right provides lots of natural light; a floor lamp to my left illuminates my work area in the evenings. On the desk is my John Pike palette and a small table easel, which I just recently acquired. Behind the desk, I have my portfolios for finished works, a drawing board and large sketchbook for my life drawing classes, and a huge canvas tote from Daniel Smith that stores all my miscellaneous supplies.

I've only been using this setup for about a month, but so far it seems to be working out great. It's better than sitting on the bed... :)

Stroke of the Brush Award

2009-08-15T10:27:00.009-05:00

I was awarded the coveted "Stroke of the Brush Award" by Laure Ferlita, a new web friend; thank you Laure! Laure is a very talented artist, and you owe yourself a visit to her excellent Painted Thoughts Blog.

As part of the award, I'm to list seven little known facts about myself and then name seven other blogs that are also deserving of the award. So here goes:

1. My studio is a little desk in a corner of my bedroom. Until very recently, everything you've seen on my blog (except for plein air work) I have painted while sitting on my bed watching TV. Really.

2. My favorite kind of music is Alternative Rock; I love crunchy guitars and driving rhythms. However, when painting or drawing, I prefer listening to classical music, specifically chamber music.

3. Speaking of music, I play guitar. I keep my acoustic guitar on a stand ready to be played when I have a moment here or there. I can also play drums, bass (electric and stand-up), and a little bit of bluegrass fiddle.

4. I love watching movies and have fun with family and friends quoting famous/funny movie lines. I enjoy watching favorite movies again and again. Comedy is my favorite genre, although I enjoy most other genres as well. Except horror. I loathe horror movies; they hold no appeal for me.

5. I enjoy cycling. In fact, my wife and I watch the Tour de France on TV every year. We watch most (if not all) of the stages in their entirety and we keep up with the stage winners and standings each day while the race is in progress.

6. Although I don't have a pet right now (our cat Penny, who we had for 18 years, died in November 2007), I'm a cat person. Would love to get another one someday, but I'm not quite ready yet...

7. "Seinfeld" is the perfect sitcom; there is no equal to its comic genius.

There are a host of blogs I enjoy and visit regularly, so many deserving ones to list... And I give special mention to my fellow "Real Life Artists" bloggers, many of whom have also given and received the Stroke of the Brush award. But here are a few that I feel anyone reading this would enjoy visiting and bookmarking:

1. Laura at Laura's Watercolors. Laura paints with an appealing loose style, and her blogs feature paintings and sketches of her travels and life.

2. Felicity Grace at Felicity's Philosophies and Other Curiosities. Her sketches, and especially her colored pencil portraits, must be seen to be believed; they're amazing--so lifelike.

3. Jacqueline Gnott at Contemporary Realism. I enjoy visiting her site for her realistic florals. Beautiful and inspiring work.

4. Miguel Herranz at Free[k]hand. I've been a longtime fan of Miguel's blog, which features an interesting variety of videos and scans of his excellent sketchbooks.

5. SketchingSpirit. I've followed this blog for a while and, while the travel sketches a joy to view, be sure to seek out the architectural renderings that are featured chronologically earlier in the blog--just incredible--these are what drew me to the blog originally.

6. Casey Toussaint at rue Manuel bis. A fun blog, and I greatly admire the loose, juicy paintings and sketches. A visual treat.

7. Martha at Trumpetvine Travels. I must give a shout out to Martha, as I relied on her self-published sketchbooking 'zines for information when I was just starting out on my current art adventures. Her blog is an extension of those earlier 'zines. Martha hasn't been making regular posts for a few months; however, her site is a treasure chest of information and inspiration.

Watercolor Painting :: Rose

2009-07-19T17:29:00.010-05:00

"Rose"
11" x 15" (28 x 38 cm)
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I painted this rose from a photo that I took at the Missouri Botanical Garden a few years ago. I've never really attempted to paint any florals formally, so this I guess is my first try. I thought this rose might afford me some opportunities to practice my unifying and separating wash technique that I learned in Laurie Humble's workshop.

This was a challenging painting, and I have mixed feelings about the results; I feel like I succeeded in a couple of areas but the exercise quickly revealed that I also have a lot of room for improvement and learning in other areas.

I did two paintings of the same subject; the first one appears above. On the second, I tried to get a little looser, rely on building up layers/glazes, and go lighter on the values. The second attempt appears below. I'm really not sure which one I like better; they both have pros/cons to them.

I guess the thing I came away with is that I've got a lot to learn, and I learned a lot already by attempting this challenging subject.

I've got other stuff to look at on Flickr.

Watercolor Workshop: Organizing Lights and Darks (Value Studies)

2009-07-15T18:29:00.005-05:00

I attended Ratindra Das' workshop titled, "Organizing Lights and Darks (Value Studies)" at the Learning & Product Expo - Art! in Chicago on Saturday, July 11.

This was a timely workshop since paying more attention to value is something on which I have been working to improve. Das' instructional style is deliberate and unhurried, and he explained his concepts with great detail and patience.

It appeared that Das must be currently working on a book; he reinforced his topics with examples and images using a Word document on his laptop that he projected onto the front wall of the classroom. The Word doc was arranged into chapters...

Das spends much more time with his value sketches than he does with the formal painting. He works using only about four or five values; he mentioned that only about twenty actually exist in nature. He cautioned all of us not to confuse value with "shading." Values that are close to each other "mumble," that is, they're not clear; as few as three clear values speak loudly. Shapes that are close in value in a painting are muddy. He further taught that light creates the passages, darks create the linkages, and the middle values hold the painting together. Our goal was to make patterns in our value work by being mindful of these concepts.

The demonstration portion of the workshop began by Das showing us extensive examples of value studies from his own sketchbooks, which were 8.5" x 11" and of the bound, hardback type featuring lightweight sketching paper (similar perhaps to the Canson basic sketchbook). I love getting to peer at other artist's sketchbooks, so this experience was a real treat for me. One of the key demos he performed was to create various value studies from existing sketches using tracing paper. For example, he chose an existing sketch of a lighthouse from his sketchbook that he did on location, which was merely an observational sketch without much initial value information. Laying the tracing paper over the existing sketch, he then experimented with the placement of new light and dark patterns. He explained how to create paths for the eye to follow using light passages. From this Das discussed the concept of "designing," which he defined as visually connecting the light values together. He further explained that artists must study "conceptual light" instead of relying solely on, for example, the sun in a photo (or lack thereof as in a photo taken on a cloudy day); he admonished us to "create your own light." This is the spirit of organizing lights and darks.

From a photo reference projected on the wall, we created our own observational sketch, then used tracing paper to play with our own value design. Das provided us with heavy-weight drawing paper, tracing paper, and a Cretacolor Monolith 9B woodless graphite pencil. From there, he passed out sheets of 140-lb Strathmore Gemini paper, and we progressed onto a watercolor painting using our value sketch. My work in progress appears here:

The only drawback to this particular workshop was that Das was perhaps not as organized as he could have been, and the lecture/demos extended two-thirds into the three-hour time period for the workshop; we only had about an hour to work on our sketches and painting, and sadly I had to leave before I was completely finished with my painting.

Nevertheless, it was an awesome workshop experience from which I learned much; I soon hope to be incorporating the concepts I learned into my upcoming work. Please donít miss an opportunity to take a workshop from this great artist and instructor.

I've posted various other photos/snapshots from the workshop on Flickr.

Watercolor Workshop: The Secret of the Unifying Wash

2009-07-13T21:12:00.004-05:00

"Matchsticks"
11" x 15" (28 x 38 cm)
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I did this still life painting as an exercise in a workshop taught by Laurie Humble titled, "The Secret of the Unifying Wash" workshop at the Learning & Product Expo - Art! in Chicago on Friday, July 10.

Laurie Humble is an extremely talented artist and a great instructor. She explains things very clearly, and interjects humor and personal stories into her teaching. She is very personable, friendly, and was a pleasure to work with. I felt that this workshop was worth the price of the entire weekend alone; I think Ms. Humble designed a very effective workshop that targets a very useful technique; one that I feel will take my work up a notch. Don't miss an opportunity to take a workshop from Laurie.

The official workshop description reads:

Watercolor is often called an unforgiving medium, but the unifying wash allows you to manipulate the depth of already painted elements. In this workshop, you will discover exactly what a unifying wash is and how to best use it to your advantage. Once you develop a true understanding of how to utilize this technique you will realize how much control you actually have over the final outcome of your work.

The core concept of the unifying wash (which Ms. Humble also calls a "separating wash") is that the unifying wash causes a focal point to emerge; it's a way to add realism and depth to your paintings. The unifying wash separates one element from another in a painting. It can be used on the shape that's "back" in order to bring another shape forward. To do this, a value change must be created everywhere there's a line where two shapes touch each other; not a colorchange necessarily, but a value change. Darker values cause things to look more pushed-back whereas lighter values cause things to come forward.

We first learned how to create a unifying wash by working on a "ribbon" exercise, one that she also features in her latest book, "Watercolor Depth and Realism." We drew random "ribbons" on a quarter-sheet of Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper using two pencils that were held together with a rubber band separated by a scrap of sponge (to keep the pencils about a half-inch [1 cm] apart). Then, using any color we chose, we painted a unifying wash where the ribbons overlapped each other, causing one to visually emerge and the other to be pushed back. Here's a work-in-progress (WIP) photo of my ribbon exercise:

As a second exercise, we did a still life of some ordinary household matchsticks, the result of which is shown in the larger image above. We were each given about four or five matchsticks; Laurie asked everyone to "artfully arrange" the matchsticks, then do a pencil drawing on the quarter-sheet of watercolor paper. The arrangement of matchsticks affords many opportunities for overlapping and intersecting edges and lines, which is the whole point--lots of opportunities for unifying washes. This technique is especially useful in paintings with lots of detail, such as florals with foliage. The matchstick painting took me probably a little over an hour to do; when finished, I got a positive critique on it from Laurie.

The technique is really effective, and it's interesting that, even when you think you're finished, you can almost always go back into the painting and find new areas where the values need to be refined. This restating is often due to the paint drying at a lighter value than it was when it was wet.

I have other photos I took during the workshop on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/sets/72157621416275916/

Improve your art: 20 years’ of best tips and tricks from The Artist's Magazine

2009-07-03T14:15:00.007-05:00

Just wanted to let you know about a great article that I found and didn't want you to miss it: Over at artistsnetwork.com, they're offering a free download of twenty years' worth of the best tips and tricks as a free .pdf. Tips are offered on a wide array of topics including:
- Boosting your creativity
- Landscape lessons
- Fashions for florals
- Drawing basics
- Block busters
- Oil options
- Medium methods
- Portrait pointers
- Techniques to know
- Solutions for still lifes
- Watercolor ways

The intro to the article states:

"For the last 20 years, The Artist’s Magazine has worked hard to help readers like you perfect your painting techniques. The helpful resources we provide issue after issue instruct aspiring artists in every subject, from tips on how you can create a useful reference sketch to information on how to frame your final piece. In honor of our anniversary, we’ve carefully scoured each and every issue to find what we believe to be the best advice for artists. So read on to review those pointers you learned from us in the past, and discover a few you might have missed the first time around."

Hope you enjoy the article as much as I did!

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Lyman

2009-06-28T17:55:00.009-05:00

"Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Lyman"
14" x 10" (36 x 25 cm)
Watercolor and pencil on Arches 300-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I based this painting on a photo from the Library of Congress' Flickr site. The woman's expression was really appealing, so I thought it might be fun to paint. Mr. & Mrs. Lyman were Polish tobacco farmers near Windsor Locks, Connecticut; they were photographed by Jack Delano in September of 1940. The photo is part of a Library of Congress (LOC) photo collection of the U.S. Resettlement Administration, the Farm Security Administration (FSA), and later the Office of War Information (OWI). The most active years were 1935-1943, and the entire collection was transferred to the LOC in 1944.

The painting is much simplified as compared to the original photo. I restricted myself to a limited palette this time, which I think worked well; I like the color harmony that resulted. The palette includes raw sienna, burnt sienna, french ultramarine, carbazole violet, perm. alizarin crimson, and Payne's gray.

Here's my original pencil drawing:

There's other stuff at Flickr.

Subway Guys

2009-06-21T17:03:00.005-05:00

"Subway Guys"
10" x 14" (25 x 36 cm)
Watercolor and pencil on Arches 300-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I know all but one of the men in this painting. These guys were standing in front of a Subway restaurant near a courthouse square at an event I attended a few years ago. I painted this from a photo reference.

I chose this scene because of the strong morning sunlight, and thought it would be challenging to paint a scene mostly in shade but with some strong sun.

One of my favorite parts of the painting is the reflection of the American Flag in the doorway on the right; the flag was flying at the courthouse across the street.

I don't use salt as a watercolor technique much at all, but I used it extensively in this painting; I wanted it mainly for creating a texture on the concrete sidewalk, but I found it to be useful as a texture on the shirt of the man on the far left as well as creating a mottled effect on the door reflection where the flag is.

This was an extremely satisfying painting on which to work; it took me a while, especially the pencil sketch, but it was very worthwhile. Here's a thumbnail of the initial pencil drawing:

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did creating it!
Steve

There's more stuff on Flickr.

How To Plan Your Next Painting

2009-06-16T21:27:00.003-05:00

Just the other day, I ran across this really great presentation on how to plan a painting. The presentation, titled, "Planning the Work, Working the Plan," outlines six basic steps on how to plan your next painting. There's color examples given and mini-exercises on how to write out what you're going to do. The presentation, written by Peter Ulrich of The Art League School, assumes you will be working from a photo reference.

Here is a summary of the six steps:
Intro: An overview on choosing photographic reference material
1. Examine why you picked the particular photo as a reference
2. Make one or more planning sketches
3. Scale the photo to size on your watercolor paper
4. Write down your plan of attack
5. Stop and review what you wrote down in Step One
6. Paint your picture.

Definitely worth a look! Note: The presentation is a Microsoft PowerPoint file, so you'll need to have Microsoft Office installed on your machine to view the file.

Waiting for Brunch

2009-06-09T19:44:00.016-05:00

"Waiting for Brunch"
7.5" x 11" (19 x 28 cm)
Watercolor and pencil on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper in handmade sketchbook
© Steve Penberthy, 2009

"Waiting for Brunch" really means waiting for brunch at Bread Winners Restaurant in Dallas, Texas. I had brunch there with my wife, sister, and niece in April while visiting in Dallas. It was a beautiful, bright sunny day, and the warmth of the sun compensated for the breeze and slight chill in the April air.

We ate at Bread Winner's Uptown location, on McKinney Ave. The Uptown area of Dallas is a very cool neighborhood, with trolley-car tracks still in the roads left over from bygone days of trolley cars; however, you can still ride the McKinney Avenue Trolley, a vintage electric streetcar while enjoying the shopping, dining, and entertainment in the area. The Bread Winners Uptown location is a popular one; there was a good crowd that day and therefore a little of a wait, but it was well worth it. The painting above is a representation of those waiting for their tables that morning. We sat outside (actually the table behind the guy that I illustrate in the red shirt above). I had the Normandy french toast, which is made from sourdough bread stuffed with cream cheese and raspberry jam and topped with berries and cream. Wow--unbelievably good; try it if you get the good fortune of visiting. Also, the mimosa was quite tasty!

There's more stuff on Flickr.

Bread Winners

2009-06-09T12:23:00.011-05:00

"Bread Winners"
6" x 9" (15 x 23 cm)
Watercolor and pencil in Aquabee 808 Super Deluxe Sketchbook, 93-lb (152 gsm) paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I sketched this scene from a photograph of my sister and niece taken while eating brunch at Bread Winners Restaurant in Dallas, Texas.

I used the "upside down" method of drawing, where I turned the photo upside down and drew the sketch. Drawing upside down forces you to really observe and just draw shapes.

I made a photocopy of my pencil sketch then did a value sketch from that. I don't normally do value sketches (other than little thumbnails) but I am trying to do more of them since I'm currently putting more emphasis on value, the purposeful focus on which has been sorely lacking in my work.

There's more on Flickr.

Watercolor Landscape - Chase Park Plaza Hotel, St. Louis

2009-06-02T12:29:00.006-05:00

"The Chase Park Plaza Hotel"
6.75" x 9.5" (17 x 24 cm)
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper in handmade sketchbook
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I came across this view of the Chase Park Plaza Hotel while walking around in Forest Park last weekend. Built in 1922, the Chase is a St. Louis landmark and the centerpiece of St. Louis' central west end, standing watch over beautiful Forest Park.

Watercolor Landscape - Murphy Lake, Forest Park, St. Louis

2009-05-31T12:23:00.009-05:00

"Murphy Lake, Forest Park, St. Louis"
8" x 11" (21 x 28 cm)
Watercolor and pencil on Strathmore 400 Series 140-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I often drive by this little lake in Forest Park, St. Louis and have always wanted to sit and do a plein air painting there; on Saturday I had the good fortune to do so. I first walked around the lake to find a vantage point I liked, and then found a park bench and painted. It was a warmish day, threatening rain from time to time. Some wading birds came nearby several times, fishing intently. I kept a close eye on them as they came close; perhaps they were wanting to see my painting... :) I was there for about an hour before a few intermittent raindrops caused me to pack up my gear and head back to shelter.

More stuff's on Flickr.

Watercolor Sketch :: Lake 1

2009-05-26T21:33:00.004-05:00

"Lake 1"
5.375" x 8.0" (14 x 20 cm)
Watercolor and pencil on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
(sketchbook painting)
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

The scan on this one didn't come out so good, but hopefully you can get the general idea. Colors are more saturated in the original...

There's other stuff at Flickr.

Watercolor Portrait :: At the Fountains

2009-05-25T15:35:00.006-05:00

"At The Fountains"
6.75" x 9.5" (17 x 24 cm)
Watercolor and pencil on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
(sketchbook painting)
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

Stevepenberthy.com lives! Sorry I haven't posted in a while; life and work has a way of getting in the way of making art for a while, and that has certainly been the case this spring...

This is a portrait of my brother that I painted from a photo from a recent vacation. I chose this pose because there was a strong side light and it allowed me to practice more on getting more light into my paintings, something at which I've been trying to get better.

More stuff on Flickr.

George Baumgardner, St. Louis Nationals (AL), 1912

2009-02-08T15:10:00.008-06:00

"George Baumgardner, St. Louis Nationals (AL), 1912"
10" x 8" (25 x 20 cm)
Watercolor and pencil on Arches 300-lb CP paper
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

Another painting based on a photo from the Library of Congress Flickr photostream. I used a different background than what is shown in the photo. In hindsight, I really don't like it--I should have masked out the posts and did a flat wash for the background. Thought I would just tackle it with some brushstrokes; another reason to always have a good plan before you start! :)

Ollie James and T.S. Ray (KY.)

2009-02-07T12:31:00.008-06:00

"Ollie James and T.S. Ray (KY.)"
6.75" x 9.5" (17 x 24 cm)
Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper
(sketchbook painting)
© 2009 Steve Penberthy

I found some great 19th-century photos on the Library of Congress Flickr photostream; these old photos have strong contrasts and really distinct values, so I used the photo of Ollie James and T.S. Ray (KY.) as a reference in order to practice getting more value into my paintings. The darks are actually a little bit darker than what shows up in the scan above.

Here's a link to the original photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3238479835/

Watercolor Painting - Hotel d'Europe--Avignon

2009-01-26T20:50:00.005-06:00

Watercolor on Strathmore 400 Series CP paper, 9" x 12" (23 x 30 cm).

I copied this painting from Charles Reid's "Watercolor Secrets" book, because I really liked how, in this painting, he preserved the white paper in various areas, including the people's clothing and the background; something I've had a hard time doing for a long time and am finally realizing how to make it work by studying Reid's techniques.

There's more stuff on my Flickr photostream.

Watercolor Sketch - Landscape Gestures

2009-01-19T20:35:00.003-06:00

Watercolor, pencil, and ink on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper in handmade sketchbook. 7.5" x 11" (19 x 28 cm).

Had to travel over the weekend, so I sat in the passenger seat and sketched some landscapes. I did these sketches quickly by getting an overall sense of a scene then quickly sketching it in pencil; I then completed the panels with watercolor and added ink details after the paint dried. While sketching, I made color notes so I could record the approximate hues I sensed. As you can see, I was only able to complete three of four panels.

I've seen this technique done by others and I've always wanted to try this. Besides being fun, it allowed me to get in some sketching and painting during a trip where I didn't think I'd be able to paint. Even though I painted this while riding in a car, I count this as plein air work since I had to work quickly under rapidly changing late-evening lighting conditions.

Each panel is about the size of an index card, approximately 2.75" x 4.75" (7 x 12 cm). Painted using my homemade sketch box and a small Niji Waterbrush.

There's more stuff on Flickr

Pencil Sketch - Facial Proportions 2

2009-01-12T21:23:00.005-06:00

Graphite pencil on paper, 8.5" x 11" (22 x 28 cm). Drawn using a Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencil with "B" lead.

More practice work on facial proportions. Even though the hair would normally cover it, I didn't completely erase her right ear, as I wanted to still be able to see the symmetry of the face and the underlying ear and jaw structure.

More on Flickr.

Pencil Sketch - Facial Proportions

2009-01-12T16:43:00.005-06:00

Pencil sketch in 3" x 5" (8 x 13 cm) Moleskine sketchbook.

I am working on getting proportions in the face correct. Until now, I've been putting too much chin and lower-jaw into the face; in other words, too much room between the bottom of the nose and the bottom of the chin. However, I think I got it right on this one, at least in the sense that it looks more porportional and natural to me.

There's other stuff on Flickr.

Watercolor Portrait - "Judith"

2009-01-10T15:20:00.005-06:00

Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper in handmade sketchbook. 7.5" x 11" (19 x 28 cm). Done in a Charles Reid style.

Watercolor Painting - Portrait in the Charles Reid Style

2009-01-04T21:20:00.004-06:00

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140-lb cold-press paper, 9"; x 12" (23 cm x 30 cm).

I don't really do much portrait work at all, as I really favor doing landscapes, but I've been doing some of the exercises in the Charles Reid "Watercolor Solutions" book. This was a pencil-sketching exercise/demo, but I added paint in a loose "Charles Reid" style, complete with spatters of paint.

This is actually the first portrait painting I've ever tried--I'm pleased with how it turned out.

More at Flickr

Watercolor Painting - Somewhere In Illinois

2008-12-26T12:03:00.003-06:00

Watercolor on Arches 300-lb cold-press paper. Quarter-sheet, 11" x 15" (28 x 38 cm).

This is the finished commissioned painting for a friend, which is the final version of several barn and cornfield ideas with which I've played over the past year. The goal was to create a scene in summer, one that you might see while driving the back roads in Illinois.

There's more stuff on Flickr...

Watercolor Painting - Canoeing the Meramec

2008-12-19T13:49:00.004-06:00

Watercolor on Arches 300-lb cold-press paper. Painting: 15" x 22" (38 x 56 cm), overall dimensions 21" x 27.25" (53 x 69 cm).

This is the finished commissioned painting for a friend of mine. He wanted a painting of he and his brother in a canoe. The intention was to create a river landscape in fall where the canoe would be a small feature only to be discovered by the viewer after looking at the painting for a while. Additionally, the ripples in the water in the extreme foreground are meant to convey the wake of a canoe that is perhaps following the canoe farther down the river.

Shown framed, there's a fairly strong glare in this photo, as I took it after the glass was installed. In person, the painting is very saturated with bright fall colors.

This painting is based on an earlier sketch which appears in the previous posting below.

There's other stuff at Flickr!

Watercolor Sketch - Fishing the Meramec

2008-11-16T17:08:00.002-06:00

Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper in handmade sketchbook. The sketch is approximately 6.5" x 8.25" (16x21 cm).

I painted this from a photo provided by a friend who took this during a recent fishing trip. He and I are working on a larger commissioned work for him, and this is a preliminary sketch / idea.

I'm also on Flickr.

Eliminate the Buckling of Watercolor Paper Forever (or, at least in the Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook...)

2008-11-09T16:30:00.007-06:00

Many of the watercolor sketches and paintings that I feature on this blog are done in my Canson Montval sketchbook. The official product name is "Canson Montval All-Media Book." The sketchbook is spiral-bound, and includes 90-lb paper.

I often receive comments from people that get frustrated when using their Canson sketchbook; most comments are usually related to the paper buckling when washes are applied.

I will admit that my pages also buckle, but only very slightly. The trick with the Canson Montval All-Media book is to use less water. Use thicker paint than that which you're used to. And, when pre-wetting an area with clear water (such as sky) use a very light layer of water. If you're having a problem with page buckling, try using a little less water, and I think you'll be happier with the sketchbook.

In fact, the key tricks of less water & thicker paint will allow you to use watercolors in a wide variety of sketchbooks, especially those that feature lighter weight papers. I have even used this technique successfully on copier paper!

Another trick I use is to clamp down the pages with binder clips. You can see an example of this in the photo above. This is a photo of Joseph Stoddard painting plein air, from whom I took a workshop in 2007. In fact, I have gotten into the habit of using binder clips in all my sketchbooks, not just the Canson Montval All-Media book. The clamping helps prevent buckling and curling of the page, and once it dries, it will lay flat.

Give these tips a try and let me know how they worked for you!

There's other stuff on my Flickr photostream.

Watercolor Landscape - "Somewhere in Illinois..."

2008-11-09T15:56:00.002-06:00

Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper in handmade sketchbook. Approx 6.75" x 21" (17 x 53 cm).

Another one of my Illinois cornfield & barn prototypes. New Gamboge (Daniel Smith) used for the foreground field.

There's other stuff on my Flickr photostream.

Watercolor Sketch - Colorado Barn in Fall

2008-10-31T16:28:00.002-05:00

Watercolor sketch in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, 9" x 12" (23 x 30 cm). Sketched with 2B graphite pencil and Pigma Micron 01 pen.

More stuff on Flickr:
http://flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/

I'm On Schmap.com !

2008-10-15T10:26:00.003-05:00

Wow--I've been honored by the folks at Schmap.com! They've included this photograph that I took in Boston in June in the newly released fifth edition of the Schmap Boston Guide. You can check out the photo in context at www.schmap.com/boston/restaurants_icecream/p=28143/i=2814... Just hover your mouse over the "Newbury Street" section and watch the slideshow in the upper right.

This photo originally appeared on my blog as a separate posting at http://www.stevepenberthy.com/2008/06/some-art-in-boston.html

Watercolor Sketch - Wild Acres Park

2008-09-19T15:46:00.001-05:00

Watercolor and pencil, Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper, in handbound sketchbook. Sketch approx. 6.5" x 8.25" (16 x 21 cm).

It was a gorgeous sunny morning, sketching plein air at Wild Acres Park. Several people were fishing from the banks of this little lake, including a family near my painting location. I was expecting a curious onlooker to stop by, but no one bothered me.

More stuff on Flickr

Watercolor Sketch - Log Hill Mesa, Ridgway, CO

2008-09-18T16:51:00.002-05:00

Watercolor and pencil, Strathmore Gemini 140-lb CP paper, in handbound sketchbook. Sketch approx. 6.5x8.25" (16x21 cm).

This was painted from a photo reference taken on a recent trip to Colorado. The mesa is high above the little town of Ridgway, and this view looks at the San Juan Mountains in the distance.

More stuff at flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/

Watercolor Landscape -- Foggy Lake 2

2008-07-27T07:51:00.002-05:00

Watercolor on Arches 140-lb CP paper, 7.5" x 11" (19 x 28 cm).

Another attempt at the photo reference from my recent David Becker workshop. The original photo featured clouds, but after laying in the sky washes, I decided I liked the way it looked without them.

More stuff on Flickr:
flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-

liquidChroma is now stevepenberthy.com

2008-07-26T09:41:00.002-05:00

Not to confuse things, but I've changed the name of this blog from liquidChroma to stevepenberthy.com. If you link here, or have email or RSS feeds for this blog, you won't need to change a thing--the legacy links still work.

If you want, continue to use the old URL:
http://liquidchroma.blogspot.com/

Or, update to the new one:
http://www.stevepenberthy.com/

Thanks for checking in!

Barn, Cornfield, and Sky

2008-07-26T08:34:00.003-05:00

Watercolor and pencil in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, approx. 9" x 12" (22.3 x 35.0 cm).

This is some more prototyping for an upcoming painting. See a pencil sketch that forms the basis of the farm shown here:
flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/2436583870/in/set-7215760...

Toy Watercolor Set

2008-07-25T08:23:00.002-05:00

My sister gave me this little toy watercolor set. There's a small loop in the upper right-hand corner so the set can be used as a key fob. I think it would be interesting to paint a little painting with this set, just to see how something might come out... Not sure how well the little brush would perform though... :)

Ruler shown for scale (English inches).

More on Flickr:
flicr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/

Colored Pencil Sketch - Apple

2008-07-21T07:22:00.001-05:00

I bought some colored pencils recently, just to play with. I haven't really done anything seriously with colored pencils, so this is my first-ever serious attempt. This apple sketch was done as an exercise from "The Complete Guide to Colored Pencil Techniques" by Beverley Johnston, which I checked out from my local library.

Homemade Watercolor Sketch Box

2008-07-19T14:48:00.004-05:00

I made this sketch box by gluing empty half pans into an empty first aid kit. I used rubber cement, which is non-permanent, so that I can change or rearrange the half pans later if necessary.

The box is an emptied Johnson & Johnson first-aid kit that was purchased at Target for a dollar... When closed, the outside dimensions are 3.5" x 4" (10cm x 11cm).

The eight half pans are filled with artists-quality tube paints, featuring both a warm and a cool of the primaries plus two earth tones as follows:
1. Hansa Yellow Medium (Daniel Smith)
2. New Gamboge (Daniel Smith)
3. Scarlet Lake (Winsor & Newton)
4. Permanent Alizarin Crimson (Holbein)
5. Ultramarine Light (Holbein)
6. Peacock Blue (Holbein)
7. Raw Sienna (Holbein)
8. Burnt Sienna (Daniel Smith)

More on Flickr:
flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-

"The Most Important Watercolor Class You'll Ever Take"

2008-07-19T09:33:00.008-05:00

Watercolor on Strathmore Gemini 300-lb CP paper, 11 x 15" (27.9 x 38.1 cm).

My sister and I attended David R. Becker's workshop titled, "The Most Important Watercolor Class You'll Ever Take" on Friday, July 11, 2008. This is the second workshop I've taken from Becker (you may wish to view my posts from the 2007 workshop here and here). Like last year, the workshop was held at the Learning & Product Expo -- Art! event in Chicago.

The focus of the workshop was to learn to control wet-in-wet and wet-into-dry washes. We got started by just playing around with both techniques on a practice piece of Gemini paper. We did a second painting (the one pictured above), working from a photo reference given to us by Becker. The painting above is actually my second attempt; I wasn't happy with the first one so I re-painted it once I got home (I may even try it a third time with some new ideas for the sky; if so, I'll post that painting).

Like last year, all paints and brushes were supplied to us; Nevertheless, I brought my own brushes this year. I used the 1" flat brush (Stratford & York) supplied in the class, but used my own rounds for detail work. I must admit that I don't use flat brushes much at all, so I forced myself to use the 1" flat in order to get more experience using them exclusively in a painting. Two Styrofoam plates were used, one for a palette and one for mixing. Becker supplied us with ten Holbein pigments: permanent yellow light, scarlet lake, mars yellow, indian red, burnt umber, burnt sienna, permanent violet, prussion blue, peacock blue, and horizon blue. We worked on Strathmore Gemini 300-lb CP paper.

I really enjoyed the workshop; I learned much, and it was fun to see everyone else's results. At the end of the workshop, we displayed our finished paintings at the back of the room; Becker made a great point by saying that, even though we all used the same paints, brushes, and photo reference, the results were all unique.

I have more photos from the workshop posted here.

There's more stuff on my Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/

Watercolor Sketch - Knoxville Backyard

2008-06-30T22:51:00.004-05:00

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, approx. 9" x 12" (22.3 x 35.0 cm). Pigma Micron 03 pen.

A quick sketch done on the back deck of a friend's house in Knoxville, TN.

More stuff at Flickr.

Watercolor Sketch - Dallas Farmer's Market

2008-06-28T16:08:00.003-05:00

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, approx. 9" x 12" (22.3 x 35.0 cm). Pigma Micron 01 pen.

I painted this watercolor sketch from a photo I took while in Dallas, TX in April. The Dallas Farmer's Market is alive with color and with people, and I had some excellent Mexican food there. This little food stand is at the north end of the Market.

More stuff at http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/

(Some) Art in Boston

2008-06-28T08:25:00.015-05:00

I was in Boston recently. There's so much to see there, I didn't really have any time to paint or sketch. I didn't even visit any art museums; however, always vigilant about noticing art-related stuff, I snapped photos of several things that caught my interest.

I spotted this display of watercolor prints for sale at the corner of Dartmouth and Newbury Streets. The artist, Charlie Wang, paints watercolor landscapes of various points of interest in Boston, such as Fenway Park, Boston Common, cityscapes, etc.

While waiting for a table for lunch along Newbury Street, I saw this man painting this large oil painting en plein air. I asked permission to take his photo, but he didn't give me his name, seeming too busy for the distraction of admirers...

I saw this headstone for Gilbert Stuart while walking in Boston Common. The headstone reads, "Painter of the portrait of Washington, Louis XVI and Geo. III. This tablet was placed by the Paint and Clay Club 1897" Stuart's unfinished 1796 painting of George Washington, also known as "The Athenaeum," is his most celebrated and famous work, and is the basis for the image of George Washington on the U.S. one-dollar bill.

This marker for John Smibert was attached to a fence around Old Granary Burying Ground near Boston Common along the Freedom Trail (John Hancock and Paul Revere are buried in this cemetery). Smibert was a colonial painter and served as the architect for historic Faneuil Hall in Boston.

Watercolor Sketch - River Scene in Yellowstone

2008-06-18T08:15:00.003-05:00

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, page approx. 9" x 12", sketch 6" x 9" (15.2 x 22.8 cm). Pigma Micron 01 pen.

Another one in my "Yellowstone/Teton" series...

More at my Flickr photostream:
http://www.flicr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/

Watercolor Sketch - On the Grounds of the Elms

2008-06-15T21:08:00.005-05:00

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, page approx. 9" x 12", sketch 6" x 9" (15.2 x 22.8 cm). Pigma Micron 03 pen.

Sketched on the grounds of the Elms Resort & Spa in Excelsior Springs, MO.

My wife and I traveled to Excelsior Springs, MO this past weekend to attend this month's sketchcrawl hosted by Kate Johnson. We met at the Elms Resort & Spa at 1:00 pm CDT, which was a beautiful, historic hotel with lovely grounds. There were three of us in all, including Kate, and we set out upon the grounds of the hotel to pick a spot at which to sketch & paint. I picked this old set of stairs to sketch; it was behind a large gazebo in which a couple of weddings were taking place that day. The cottonwood was really flying; at one point, I looked up into the sky and it looked like it was snowing!

At about 3:30 pm, we convened back in the hotel for a cold soda and to chat about art, our sketchbooks, and whatever else came up. Kate is a wonderful host, and a wonderful artist; check out her work if you get a chance--you won't be disappointed!

There's more on my Flickr photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/

Watercolor Sketch - Mount Moran

2008-06-10T21:47:00.002-05:00

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, page approx. 9" x 12" (22.9 x 30.5 cm). Sketched with Pigma Micron 01 pen.

Another sketch in what seems to be becoming my "Yellowstone/Tetons" series... probably more to come on these before I'm done.

More stuff on my Flickr photostream:
www.flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-

Watercolor Sketch - Mount Moran Over Jackson Lake

2008-06-09T21:30:00.005-05:00

Watercolor Sketch - Mount Moran Over Jackson Lake by Steve Penberthy.

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, page approx. 9" x 12", sketch 6" x 9" (15.2 x 22.8 cm). Sketched with Sakura Pigma Micron 01 pen.

See more on my Flickr photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidChroma-/

Watercolor Sketch - Cades Cove, TN

2008-06-05T18:09:00.000-05:00

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, page approx. 9" x 12", sketch 6" x 9" (15.2 x 22.8 cm).

We were in the Knoxville, TN area, near Great Smokey Mountain National Park, over the Memorial Day holidays, and it reminded me of a trip we took to the park a few years ago. So, in tribute, I dug out a photo I took on a previous trip and did a sketch from the photo reference.

Watercolor Sketch - Grand Teton Range

2008-06-03T19:43:00.000-05:00

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, page approx. 9" x 12", sketch 6" x 9" (15.2 x 22.8 cm).

Watercolor Sketch - Yellowstone, Hayden Valley 2

2008-05-20T21:03:00.005-05:00

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, approx. 6" x 9" (15.2 x 22.8 cm). Sketched with Sanford uni-ball Micro pen.

Another sketch from a photo reference taken at Yellowstone Nat'l Park a few years ago. Hayden Valley is in central Yellowstone; one usually encounters buffalo when driving through the valley.

You may also wish to check my Flickr site at
http://flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-

Watercolor Sketch - Yellowstone Meadow

2008-05-19T09:42:00.002-05:00

Watercolor in Canson Montval All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, 6 x 9" (15.2 x 22.8 cm). Sketched with Sanford uni-ball Micro pen.

Another sketch from a photo reference taken at Yellowstone Nat'l Park a few years ago.

Watercolor Sketch - Hayden Valley, Yellowstone Nat'l Park

2008-05-18T17:55:00.003-05:00

Watercolor sketch in Canson All-Media sketchbook, 90-lb CP paper, 6" x 9" (15.2 x 22.8 cm). I sketched this landscape from a photo I took during a vacation in Yellowstone National Park a few years ago.

Watercolor Sketch - Test of Jagged Fan Brush

2008-05-10T20:32:00.005-05:00

Watercolor in Aquabee 808 Super Deluxe sketchbook, 93-lb paper, approx. 6 x 9" (15.2 x 22.9 cm).

I bought an inexpensive fan brush today with the intent to use it to create grass effects. I took scissors and gave the brush a "haircut," creating a jagged, irregular edge. I first saw this tip in Kate Johnson's "
"Painting Watercolors" book, and I've been meaning to try it for a long time now.

For the quickie landscape sketch above, I used a scratch page in my Aquabee sketchbook; you can still see the abandoned start of an ink sketch and a waterfastness test of two Sanford uni-ball pens.

I'm liking the results that the brush gives, and I'm looking forward to using it on some more formal paintings.

J.M.W. Turner Exhibit - Dallas, TX

2008-04-24T18:57:00.009-05:00

My wife and I attended the J.M.W. Turner exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art on Saturday, April 12, 2008.

The exhibition is the largest and most comprehensive ever presented in the U.S. of the career of J.M.W. (Joseph Mallord William) Turner (1775-1851), one of the greatest landscape painters in the history of art, and features approx. 140 works, divided almost evenly between oils and works on paper.

It’s interesting to me, I guess in some twisted sense, to see the mistakes that the master painters made; it’s perhaps like seeing pro golfers make bad shots—it reminds me that everyone makes mistakes.

In this vein, probably the thing that stood out to me the most was the way that Turner rendered the human figure in his paintings. People were rendered at the level of detail as a sketch; this lack of detail contrasted sharply with the extremely fine detail of landscape features, many times right next to each other. This incongruous juxtaposition made the differences in detail even more pronounced. You can see an example here, in “The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire.” It’s as if he really didn’t care much about rendering people, and just used them to perhaps provide scale.

In one painting, the perspective on the peak of a building was incorrect...

One of the featured paintings, and one of his most famous, is “The Burning of the House of Lords and Commons.” Appearing in the same exhibit room as this painting were watercolor sketches made as preliminaries for the actual painting. I found these quick, sketchy watercolors to be perhaps the most interesting display of all. Each sketch appeared to have taken about 5 minutes each to create (there were about a dozen in all). It seemed like he must have painted these in real time, similar to how we might take photos in rapid-fire fashion, as he watched the building burn from a distance. Turner probably never meant these sketches to see the light of day, but here they were in a major museum exhibit. Lesson: never discount the value of your sketches!

Another notable thing: Turner used beautiful, exotic blue pigments for sea and sky which look markedly different than our modern blue pigments.

Turner’s detail and skill in his rendering of seascape and sky/clouds is amazing and this alone is, I feel, what sets him apart from other artists. The Dallas exhibition was excellent in every way (including the audio commentary, examples of which can be heard here), and it was well worth the airfare to Dallas to see it. The exhibition appears in only two U.S. cities, Washington D.C. and Dallas, and the Dallas exhibit runs only until May 18, 2008. If you live near Dallas, go see the show!

I’m now eagerly awaiting the delivery of the 320-page exhibition catalogue. It was available at the museum shop $60 USD, but I found it online at Amazon.com for about $35 USD.

Pencil Sketch - Barn & Cornfield

2008-04-23T08:19:00.003-05:00

Derwent Graphic 4B pencil on copier paper. Approx 8.5" x 4.5" (21.6 cm x 11.4 cm). This is a prototype sketch for a commissioned painting I'll be working on soon. I added a small stripe of New Gamboge watercolor to see what the cornfield might look like in that color.

Watercolor Landscape - Farmhouse on Hill

2008-04-19T16:43:00.003-05:00

Watercolor sketch in Holbein sketchbook, approx. 2.5" x 6.5"

Happy Spring!

2008-04-16T20:07:00.002-05:00

Happy Spring everyone! For those of you in the northern hemisphere, I hope the weather is warming up a little where you are.

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted for awhile... I've been in a new role at work, and my attention has been on that for the last couple of months.

But I assure you I haven't lost interest in watercolors, or in posting to this blog, so I intend to get back to some regular posting very soon.

In fact, I traveled to Dallas last weekend and attended the J. M. W. Turner exhibit--I'll be posting on that in the next few days.

Watercolor Painting - Winter Afternoon

2008-02-10T15:34:00.000-06:00

Watercolor on Arches 300-lb cold-pressed paper, 5.5" x 7.5" (20cm x 14cm).

The scanner didn't do a very good job of picking up the shadow colors. This was a quick painting inspired by the cold weather we've been having. Although we haven't had snow in a week, it sure feels like we should judging from the outdoor temperatures.