Just Lines For This Clothesline

Staedtler Pigment Liner on Moleskine Notepad - Click to Enlarge

For us North-Americans accustomed to hiding our drying laundry as if it were something shameful, seeing clothes drying from balconies in Europe is one of the charms of the old continent.

That morning, I was going to go out to find an interesting clothesline to sketch, when I realized that I had a fine one right under my nose, or rather, right on my own balcony. I hadn't noticed it because in my mind those clotheslines had to be captured from the outside.

I decided to follow Miguel Herranz's suggestion and use no colour for a while, concentrating on the drawing instead. It was just the advice I needed at this juncture...

I had to take the necessary time to draw the lines as faithfully as possible, and to get the proportions and the perspective right. I realized that, for me, speed is definitely the enemy of straight lines, and so I drew these ve-e-e-e-ry slowly.

Now I have to practice drawing curlicues; I never seem to get those right.

Meet Miguel Herranz

I've often spoken here about how much I enjoy Urban Sketchers*. One of the reasons is that the members are so darn nice and if you travel to their city, chances are they'll be willing to meet you even if you're just an amateur like me.

While in Barcelona, one of the sketchers I wanted to meet is Miguel Herranz. Yesterday, that wish came true and I had a chance to practise my Spanish during our three-hour chat at a terrace cafe. Miguel is every bit as nice in person and he gave me some very good advice and even a signed copy of his book, Here & There.  You can see it in this video:



But this only shows a tiny part of this multitalented artist's accomplishments. Check out his blog (it's bilingual) and don't forget to click on the links in his "Otherwise" section in the sidebar.

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 * Here is the link to the Urban Sketchers blog: http://www.urbansketchers.org/

The Search For A Personal Style

I complained earlier about my lack of a personal style, which is obvious to anyone who sees any two pictures of mine. Here is some more proof:

"Purple Garlic", Ink and Wash, 5" x 5"

This is the style that I have the least trouble with, and I find it works well for this kind of subject. Except that I don't really want to be painting still lifes all the time!

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"Four Friends in Port Vell", Watercolour in Moleskine Notebook, 5" x 8"

I fell in love with this scene, and took a photo, then tried to paint it at home. Those are boats and masts beyond the fence... I'll bet you hadn't guessed!

The foliage was extremely delicate, so I used a sponge to stamp it... I think that worked out quite well.

When I get home, I'll try a larger, more detailed version.

I'm In Barcelona... Now What?

I don't promise to do much posting from Barcelona. I brought my old iBook, which is slower than a snail, and my iPad, which, for mysterious reasons, refuses to connect to the internet, except for the built-in Mail.

But the main reason is that I haven't been painting that much. First I had to get my bearings, then I bought some paper but I don't like it (entirely my fault -- one is supposed to like Arches rough paper but I don't, only I didn't know it!) Worse than that, my Moleskine watercolor sketch pad has only a few pages left, and I can't find another one...

Excuses, excuses... I know.

I tried painting in situ but found it too intimidating. I must keep trying, because that's the whole point of suffering through a nearly 24-hour trip under inhumane conditions. Otherwise, one may as well copy photos from the web.

But I did paint this scene from the safety of my tiny balcony, away from prying passers-by. The narrow house is very similar to the one I live in; it's about 10 feet wide, and it's typical of most houses in this part of the old town.

So I took a photo of my sketch and here it is.

(Those are only the top 4 storeys of the building. On the ground floor there is a bakery that makes cakes with photographs on them (honest!), and the second storey consists of a highly modernized façade that is mostly glass.)

An Essential Tool For Sketching in Barcelona

My trip to Barcelona was only two weeks away, and I had a nice travel palette, but no portable stool. You just can't sketch on location without some sort of seat, and when travelling, a light, portable stool is an essential tool.

Last year, I had bought a decent small one at an army surplus store, but I had left it in Montreal because I already have a very good portable seat back home, which I keep in the car in case the urge to draw something or have a picnic strikes me. It's portable but too big to take on trips abroad.

So I checked several Canadian art supply places.

Curry's, my regular online supplier, had something called "mini sketch stool"; it looked a little flimsy but at $9.53, the price was right, but the shipping was $12!

DeSerres carries the classic wood and leather tripod model -- at $60. The Art Shack has a similar one, for $37, and they ship by Canada Post for just $7. With tax, that climbed to just under $50 -- a bit steep for my budget.

Several US art suppliers also listed that nice wooden folding stool, and the price varied from $30 to $60.

Cheap Joe's had a fabric and aluminum one, at $19.99.

But shipping to Canada made all US suppliers out of my reach.

Eventually, I realized that I was using the wrong search word. When I switched to "camp stool", I got results like these.

One of those pictures led back to my local Canadian Tire store, which carried not one, but two models -- and at great prices!

This green tripod stool was $8.

And this "camo" model with carrying strap was $10.










I settled for the "camo" one, because of the carrying strap.

It's light, very sturdy and highly portable. The quality is amazing. And it looks great -- very Canadian with its hunting camouflage pattern of autumn leaves and birch bark!

When deployed, the seat is 15" (38 cm) high, and it will fit in my suitcase.

Barcelona, here I come!

Painting Water And Reflections

Fall Reflections In My Favourite Park

I use my blogs as parking places for things that I want to save. That's better than merely bookmarking them, and it gives me a chance to share those favourite things with you.

When I came across this lesson for painting water and reflections by Joanne Thomas, I couldn't resist pasting the link here.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=487693

She generously shares dozens of photos and several demos of every kind of reflection situation found in landscapes.

There's also a link to a video by Joanne, but the quality is very poor.

As for me, I am constantly taking photos of puddles and reflections, but I don't get much practice painting them. I hope this tutorial will encourage me to do it more often.

Lesson 1 Of The Florals Course: Sunflower

Sunflower 1, Watercolor on Paper, 9" x 12"

I'm very proud of myself for having been brave enough to tackle something so outside of my comfort zone.

Why did I wait so long? I've been a fan of watercolorist Ann Blockley for years, and I own two of her books: Country Flowers in Watercolour and Watercolour Textures, and yet I never dared try to paint in her style. I'm sure Ms Blockley was the inspiration for Joanne Thomas' own painting style, which she teaches in this new Florals series  that I purchased the other day.

I started with the Sunflower lesson because this is the flower that inspired me the most, and though there are all sorts of things wrong with this painting, I can see that I did learn what I considered the main challenge of this lesson: working with negative shapes. I can see that I grasped the concept and I feel confident that I will be able to apply it again and again.

The main thing that's wrong with this painting, I feel, is that there's too much green at the top. I did try to lift some in order to lighten it, but have you ever tried lifting a cadmium pigment? It's almost impossible because of its very staining nature.

I'm not sure if I succeeded in representing the way the top of the sunflower folds down over the centre... but maybe I'm just being picky here.

I like the way the salt and the splashing came out. And the limited palette (cadmium yellow, cadmium red, cobalt blue and burnt sienna) is something else that I've been meaning to try. Joanne is right: that creates unity and harmony without effort.

But after that attempt at lifting pigment, I'm not sure that I won't switch back to my good old non-staining ones for the remaining assignments.

Speaking of Ann Blockley, this is how she  interprets this subject.

Powerful.

This sunflower picture is from from her book, Watercolour Textures that I mentioned earlier.

You can see how she, too, takes advantage of the negative spaces. 

That gave me an idea: what if I cropped my own painting?

I think I like it better this way.

And how about cropping it even more?

Well, that was one way of getting rid of the excess green at the top!











This was the most fun I've had in a long time!

Now I'm off to order Ann Blockley's DVD!