Oct-Dec 2015 Project

Welcome to the Oct -- Dec 2015 Project. If everyone is like me, painting time is hard to come by during the summer. Too much to do--for me camping, fly fishing, and grandkids. Yet, during my adventures, I always seem to find interesting subjects--I spend a lot of time looking for painting subjects. The project has been on hold for a year now, but a few of my fellow artists have expressed a desire to start them up one more time. For this project, we are going to paint from an image provided by Kathy Robbins, one of my artist friends of many years. If you click on the image above, it will link you to a larger image you can print out for reference. Your painting must be painted specifically for this project and be watermedia. Submit your images to me via email. Send title and comments about the paintings and painting process. Let me know if it is okay to link your email address when I add your image to the project page. Also, if you have a web site, send that address so that I can link it also. The project end date is Dec 31, 2015.

Finally committed to finishing this. I found this subject matter difficult. This is painted on Arches HP 7" x 10".

Here's my second version: Arches 11 X 16" 140 lb, cold press, "Impressionist" palette.

This was one of those paintings that just went together so effortlessly. I have been to Tuzigoot Ruin many times and the restoration has been fantastic. One of the room you can actually enter and climb a ladder to the roof. By the way the room did not have ground entry. The Sinagua would have climbed a ladder to access the roof then climb down another ladder to descend in to the main living area. On this day my attention was the beautiful landscape around the ruin. The light was perfect that day and the colors were lovely.

Gouache as with transparent watercolor has gum as part of it's ingredients. But is very opaque unlike transparent watercolor. It tends to lay on top of the paper or illustration broad. Gouache also can be a little tricky as the color one mixes on the palette, dries lighter. So one has to adjust for the difference. My favorite Gouache is made by M Graham and a second choice is Winsor Newton both are excellent.

Half Sheet watercolor
I’m not big on the soft tonal variations of the desert floor so I looked at other images of this site and decided I could push the structure up and make it prominent. Plays more to what I like to paint.

9 X 12 watercolor 140 lb. cold press. I began loosely painting this using ivory black, and then added the washes of vibrant color afterward. After it dried, I then added a few sparse details in black again. This is what I pictured in my mind when I glanced at the photo for the first time.
I enjoyed painting this rather quickly, and found it to be a fun project! I also read about the ruins online. A visit to see them in person is being added to my bucket list! Thanks for sharing!

11" x 15" on Arches 140 CP. Painting is always an interesting journey--you never know where it will go. I thought this composition hard, kind of ended up with things centered, but felt that the way it turned out, wasn't too static. I'm getting ready for another large truck painting with a lot of color, so feel like this was a warm-up.