Aquabord

Watercolor on Aquabord

Watercolor on Aquabord

After a trip to the arts supply store last week, I have a whole array of new goodies to try out. One of them was Aquaboard by Ampersand. A flat panel made of wood fibers with an absorbent  surface, appropriate for watercolors. I bought a pack of three post-card size panels, just to try the surface. Surprisingly, it handles water very well. You can paint wet-in-wet, wet in dry and dry-brush. It seems to dry slower than watercolor paper, so you have more time before hard edges form. Of course the price is way higher than the best paper, but they say that you can seal the painting and hang it without framing, which could be a great advantage in some cases. I am not sure what can be used for sealing, though, so if you know, please let me know.

The forecast is for a very cold and rainy weekend, but who cares, I still have water-soluble charcoal, graphite and crayons to try out, as well as hot pressed and rough paper. I'm sure you know that feeling...

Portrait

Arches cp, 23 x 28 cm

This was my second and more successful attempt at this and my model approved it after a brief glance. Though, I don't think he noticed the yellows and purples. In fact, I used just a basic palette of Raw sienna, Quin. red and Cerulean for the face, plus Burnt sienna and Ultramarine for the darks. Despite the recommendations to mix the colors on the paper, I found it much easier to produce the darker values by premixing them on the palette. That's  how the purple appeared. I liked it, so I made it the dominant color. I have been realizing lately the way greater significance of value versus color - a text book truth, but you have to reach it on your own, nevertheless...

Simple objects

These sketches are inspired by Judy's post  "From the kitchen...", which reminded me that one doesn't have to paint complex subjects to have fun. The simple objects around the home can do just fine.

Painting my mood

Normally, painting takes my mind away from work. It is an activity quite opposite to my technical profession and helps me keep a balance. Yet, when the stress from office politics and nonsense at work passes a certain level, I loose any desire to paint. Not having painted for days then depresses me more, and the vicious circle feeds itself.
Last weekend I tried to force myself to grab the brushes and I ended up going overboard with squiggling and splatters, producing the crazy flower above. Didn't feel any better though. You can't force a peace of mind.

Finally today I managed to do some productive work and with that came the desire to put paint on paper...
And there is so much to catch up with in blog-space!
 

A walk on the beach

Walk on the beach, arches paper, 38 x 28 cm

The boat, arches paper, 38 x 28 cm

Parrots

Arches, 30 x 40 cm (12 x 16 in)

The Mexican resort where we stayed prided in its Eco theme. The grounds were turned into a park and much of them were left as the original jungle. A number of wild animal species lived freely there - wild parrots, woodpeckers and other colorful birds, monkeys, iguanas, racoons and coatis. We did see monkeys twice jumping through the trees outside our window. To make things more interesting for the guests, the hotel had a few introduced species, like these gorgeous Macaws and several peacocks. These birds were left free during the day, but spent the nights in an enclosure. Why take the risk to have any of these beauties become the victim of those little bandits, the racoons...

The above painting I did at home, while the two sketches below were done live. The place where the parrots spent the day was relatively crowded and I drew the attention of a number of people with my activity. That wasn't so terrifying after all. A good exercise to overcome my fears.

Live sketch 18 x 23 cm

Live sketch 18 x 23 cm

Sun, sand and sea

Last week we took a break from winter at a sunny destination. I used the opportunity to do some plain air sketching. The colors of the sea were so enticing, I was constantly imagining the blues and greens mixing wet-in-wet.

The real challenge was sketching people. I had read somewhere that the best place to paint people is at the beach, as there people tend to maintain a position for a long time. So not true! The moment you start drawing someone, they move.

Nevertheless, I managed to do a few sketches. And, of course, took tons of photographs for future reference. 

Here are a few pages from my little sketchbook.

watercolor pencils

My father

My father, 23 x 30 cm

My father, who passed away two years ago, would have been 92 today.  I painted these two portraits, a couple of weeks apart, from an older photograph. What a satisfying feeling it is to be able to re-create, albeit in a tiny way, the person you miss.

I remember the time as a child when I realized that my parents are not all-mighty gods, but more or less ordinary people. Every child probably has such a moment of revelation. Yet, for me, my dad always remained a kind of a semi-deity. I could discuss with him almost anything, from complex math and science subjects to art and culture. He was my Wikipedia, in the pre-web era. He had a nice, refreshing sense of humor and a fine taste. A true model to aspire to, which all of us, his children, still do.

While from the same photo, the two portraits ended up having two different expressions, both typical of him. In the first one, he is about to crack a joke, and smiling on the inside already. In the second, he's glad and content. So I couldn't pick the one over the other. I'm grateful to my niece for trying to help the selection and for her articulate descriptions.

My father 2,  23 x 30 cm

Back to basics

This is a quick sketch of the kind of glass jars I use as water containers for painting.

It has been a year since I posted a photo of my, then brad new, improvised, studio in the basement. So, here is how it has changed since. The flimsy garden table is replaced by a decent one, and a tilting desk was added. There is storage for all paints and materials and a comfy chair. One of the best things about this basement setting is that I don't need to protect the floor and furniture from water and paint, and can concentrate solely on what happens on the paper.

Sunny day in Aix-en-Provence

Another sunny scene in an attempt to bring some warmth and sunshine to all friends in eastern and southern  Europe, suffering through an unusually cold and snowy winter.