FALL FOLIAGE

Living in the midwest means living near lots of small towns, near lots of old barns, and being able to enjoy our beautiful fall foliage. This painting was created, postcard size, many years ago on site in a delightful town along the Ohio River in Rising Sun, Indiana.

The PAVEY'S sign is gone now, and in its place is an art gallery with studios for rent. In fact, a friend and I used to have a studio upstairs in this building called "FOCAL POINTE."

If you're near the area, stop in and say 'HI' to Oscar and Judy. Both are wonderful artists.

"SMALL TOWN" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Arches, 5 x 7" COLLECTED

ITALY IS FOR ARTISTS

Last month, five of us painted together in the little mountainous town of Orta, Italy. Our sixth artist was busy scouting out the nearby shops for some good deals.

The colors in Italy are different than anywhere I have ever been. Maybe it's the sun's angle or maybe the ancient textures reflecting the light in a special way.

It was an excellent trip with some special friends. From left to right, Valerie, Carol, Mary, Shirley, and me. Joan's the one around the corner shopping, and my sister-in-law from Dusseldorf, Germany, took our picture and helped critique the paintings. Thanks, Chris!

Here are two of the paintings - in progress - that Valerie and Shirley were working on in Italy - two unique creations of the same scene. You can refer back to my quick study painting of this scene - blog from Oct. 9.

IMAGINATION OR MEMORY?

This scene could've been from my great grandmother's place on the outskirts of my hometown. Back in the eary '50's, she had an outhouse and pumped her own water, too. I remember playing under the huge weeping willow in the front yard.

Each brush stroke was applied with a very, very dry brush. Even though it's called WATERcolor, I avoided using water except to lighten the pigment to the right value. Most all the moisture was wiped out of the brush before it touched the surface.

"Drybrush" watercolor requires a lot of layering and patience. You need to check out Andrew Wyeth's work to see exquisite masterpieces done with dry brush. If you can, go see his drybrush watercolors in real life.....and his egg temperas and his looser watercolors. He is awesome!

"FORGOTTEN TIMES" Transparent Watercolor on Bristol Board 20 x 14"

MORE GESSO

We've enjoyed fabulous weather this month, even though there's a brisk chill in the air now - beautiful weather for painting outdoors! This painting is another oldie, painted on gessoed watercolor paper. Now a restaurant, the building used to be a working mill somewhere in Massachusetts.

First I painted over the entire sheet of paper with light to medium valued colors, using mostly burnt orange, yellows, greens, and some blue. After letting the paint dry, I lifted off the lighter shapes then painted in the darker shapes.

My hope was to leave as much area untouched by my brush as possible, but I had to do more adjusting than I wanted to. Still, I like the foreground area a lot in front of the mill, and, I remember sharing a wonderful dinner there, too.

This week in one of my classes, we'll be working with watercolor and gesso again, hopefully incorporating some of the special techniques Nick Simmons taught us here at the studio last fall. We sure have great memories of that workshop!

"EVENING CALLS" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Gessoed Arches, 22 x 15"