Jen

From Tuesdays life drawing, this one was my favorite.

Tugboat

What a frustrating painting. I kept coming back to this one. I probably should have just left it alone but I kept coming back to it. I may come back to it again but for now it is done. This is 10"x22" on TR paper.

Tugboat (in progress)

I was down at the harbor again yesterday. They are still dredging. This time I got a little better view of the little tugboat that moves this massive barge around. Here is a link to the news story (yes, dredging is big news in Camden!) 10"x22" on Twinrocker paper.

The Smiling Cow

8x20 on Fluid watercolor paper. Ink, graphite, watercolor. The temperature dropped significantly as I sketched this. I took a break and warmed up in the library and found a book I hadn't seen before on Andrew Wyeth - Close Friends. I checked it out for inspiration.

Dredging the Harbor

This is my first painting of the year. I have a goal of completing at least one painting that I'm happy with every 2 weeks for the next year and I'm just squeaking this one in with hours to go. The scene is so complicated I could keep tweaking it for days but I think it sort of tells the story now. A couple of things I was playing with here: Line - I used ink and a stick on the excavator, a ballpoint pen in the middle and pencil in the background. Color - Saturated color in the foreground and more muted color going back.I sketched this down at the harbor and did most of the painting in the studio. This is 10"x22" on Twinrocker handmade watercolor paper.

Dredging the Harbor (in progress)

Lucky me. I walked down to the harbor and I found this. Every 15 years or so Camden dredges the harbor as silt from the river builds up. It was way more complicated a scene than I was looking for but I couldn't resist. 

Amphitheater in Winter (in progress)

I walked down to the library this morning and sketched one of the buildings to the entrance of the amphitheater. It was about 20 degrees so I couldn't paint because my paints would freeze so I just sketched out the scene. After 30 or 40 minutes of drawing I was cold, so I packed it in, took a photo with my iphone and walked back up to the studio. I started by wetting my paints differently. Instead of spraying them with a bottle I used the skipper brush to drop a good teaspoon or so of water into each color. This is a change worth remembering - paints got so much juicier. I used a #10 round Escoda brush for laying in most of the color but scumbled a lot with my 1" skipper brush when I didn't like the application. It's "in progress" but I like the mysterious feeling here at this stage so I wanted to capture it. Also, it's noon and I have some other things I need to do today.

Red Barn in Snow

It's too cold and snowy to go out and paint. I sketched this from my desk. 6x18 on Fluid Block. Pencil and watercolor.