Saturday, November 29, 2008
Kingman area
We took a sunrise photo jaunt yesterday morning and got the one above with the spooky cloud below the horizon. There was so much moisture remaining in the atmosphere from the rains of Thanksgiving Day that these low clouds were everywhere. We had a very cold and rainy Thanksgiving Day, but a nice potluck feast here at the RV park where we are staying until tomorrow. They baked three luscious turkeys on the huge stone barbeque and everyone brought all the traditional goodies. Other than getting too wet and cold, it was a nice day. Friday, our oldest son and his family came for our second Thanksgiving feast. We smoked a pork loin before we left home and I used Crockpots in the motorhome for the rest of the feast (see the Crockpot blog link on the sidebar...it really works!).
Today we went to the top of Hualapai Mountain to the County Park there. There are good vistas from above, I took series of photos to stitch for panos but will wait until home to upload them to Flickr and direct you there to see them. We drove for HOURS on a one-lane, 4-wheel-drive trail to come down the other side of the mountain and come back to the motorhome. We thought it would be more picturesque than going back by way of the interstate. It was picturesque, but got quite tiresome after a few hours of rocking around up there over that rocky trail. The other photo with this blog entry is from about halfway down the other side, we were up pretty high and saw some great mountains across the valley. Lots of Manzanita bushes and these silvery white bushes (I wish I was so knowledgeable to be able to identify them for you) contrasting with the abundant greens. It was an experience for our memory books for sure.
Home tomorrow, nice sunny and breezy day yesterday and today. Hopefully that will hold until we get home.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving Trip to Kingman
We drove to Kingman, AZ yesterday afternoon, most of the way in rain and fog. The reward for this was to arrive to the area around Kingman just in time for sunset and a huge, very vivid rainbow. This rainbow lasted and was very visible for almost 15 minutes and as the sun set through a small opening in the clouds we had the treat of seeing this magical color display. The rainbow stretched from one end of the valley to the other. It is around 48 degrees right now on Thanksgiving morning but not raining presently.
Happy Thanksgiving to all, have a great day!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Hooked up and ready to go!
We are hooked up and ready to go this afternoon on our Thanksgiving adventure. I am giving thanks here for the friendship and support I have been given through this blog, it truly is a valuable tool for artists. The human factor cannot be ignored, either.
As you can see the street and sidewalk in front of our house is wet, imagine that, rain here on the desert! We need it so I won't grouse about having to travel in the rain, but I hope it doesn't become too stormy for our three-hour trip this afternoon.
As long as we have good WiFi I will use this blog as a travelogue and post photos of what is going on. Our oldest son and his family will be joining us for our Thanksgiving feast on Friday so that will be fun. We also plan, weather permitting, to scoot around the area for interesting photo ops while there.
I wish all who read this blog the very best of turkey days, good left-overs and great fun with family and friends. God Bless....Susan
Monday, November 24, 2008
Glade Creek Grist Mill WIP 6
I have been working on this painting again, lots! I have just submitted it to the watercolor workshop gang for critique. I don't want to continue fussing with it because I think I could easily over-detail it...to death! I have spent more hours working on this painting than any other I have done. This is because the subject matter makes me reach out of my comfort zone and figure things out I have not tried before. I know this is necessary for growth, but it has really caused me to stretch!
If anyone sees anything they'd like to change speak now or forever hold your peace. I'm leaving it on the Homosote board until after Thanksgiving in case I need to do something else, then it will go into an antique bronze metal frame. The image size is 16x24, watercolor on Arches 140-lb cold press.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Surprise Sunrise - 11/23/08
Friday, November 21, 2008
Razor Blade Painting - First Try
While I dislike the shade covering I wound up with after playing around with the ink too much, I do think this method is a good way to loosen up and do something different than my usual "style" sometimes. We sure had fun working with these at the art club yesterday afternoon! And, I didn't cut myself one time working with those razor blades...hooray!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sandy's Bridge
I asked Sandy Maudlin for permission to copy her painting in my Beginning Watercolor II class as a way to show the students nice mass foliage techniques and the "value of values". I loved her painting and was grateful for her permission to work with this. It did work out to be a good lesson for us to work on. This is my demo painting. For my students seeing this, after class I darkened some of the values where needed, added some branches to the trees and did some spattering in the foreground.
Monday, November 17, 2008
I Wish I Hadna....
I am at the point in this painting where I am soooooo wishing I had not done several things. I think I cleared up (as much as possible) the foreshortening problem with the front right corner of the roof. Now, I am wishing I had not done an underpainting as I am feeling as if I had painted myself into a corner. I have few options for the troublesome rock/stream area since I have painted the darkest values with the blue. I promise to try my next project like this without an underpainting and see if that works better. In the meantime, I am plodding along trying to do this without messing up what I do like about this painting. Stay tuned for how this goes from here on out...it may be cropped down to a landscape orientation with just the mill and middle ground rocks! I know we never learn or advance our skills if we only paint what we know and are comfortable with, but I think I may have pushed myself farther than I want to go at this point! I am stepping away from the painting for a breath of fresh air and, hopefully, a new perspective.
Friday, November 14, 2008
The same as below!
Glade Creek Grist Mill - WIP 4
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Glade Creek Grist Mill - WIP 3
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
More on Artist of the Month for AAG
Monday, November 10, 2008
Desert Sky
Friday, November 07, 2008
Glade Creek Grist Mill - WIP 2
I have had two painting sessions working on this 16 x 24-inch painting, but failed to take a WIP photo after the first session. This is the Glade Creek Grist Mill in Babcock State Park in West Virginia. I have been granted permission to paint from the excellent photos taken by Bob Harris on a recent RV trip to this area. His photos were taken in somewhat failing light, but with that peachy sunlight glow that just begged to be painted. I want to capture the warm glow, in addition to the wonderful blue rocks and water that were in the photo. This one was made for the complements of blue and orange! I have already painted this mill in sepia twice and have fallen in love with the charm of this place. Hopefully, some day we can travel to this wonderful area and see it in real life.
I have the background foliage partially finished and the underpainting mostly done to set the middle ground and foreground values. Since I have been preparing for the first ArtChix sale of the season here I have not been able to paint much, but will keep on working on this one. I like it so far. But, as has been said before, "tis many a slip twixt cup and lip" so I want to post it "just in case".
Speaking of ArtChix, if you are in the area do stop by and see what we have going on this weekend at the Sun City Grand Art Club. We have all been painting this summer in preparation for our ArtChix events!