I found this composition sketched out in my book from over the summer, so thought I’d finish it off. My reference photo had a giant utility pole in it. I resisted the temptation, and left it out of this. This one was done with Prussian blue, nickel azo yellow, and transparent pyrrol orange. Prussian blue and transparent pyrrol orange are good complements of equal strength, so mix a rich black that can be easily tinted. The Daniel Smith version of the orange is really more like a vermilion or cadmium scarlet, but without the opacity. I am finding it to be a useful color.

I am slowly learning my way around gouache, sticking with ultramarine, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and white. The cup on the left reminded me how out of practice I am drawing. I like the little landscape, though, of another field in Montana, especially the yellow ochre fields against a cloudy sky.

I’ve been drawing and painting small sketches for awhile, fitting things in when I can, but haven’t posted much recently. This one is from Fenwick Island–a small park on Little Assawoman Bay. This was done in my homemade sketchbook with 90lb Fabriano Artistico cold press paper. I might work this one up into something larger.

A few weeks ago I made a 3.5 x 5.5 sketchbook of 90 lb Fabriano artistico cold pressed watercolor paper. I’ve been pretty busy since then, but have recently fit a few sketches in, trying out watercolor, pencil, fountain pen and ink (Quink, which washes out to a dark blue and orange) and Pentel color brushes in black and sepia. My goal for the next few months, at least, is to make and fill sketchbooks, to reinforce and improve skills in different media. No plans for big paintings for awhile. I have more paper on the way, both cold and hot press, and plan to make books of different sizes. Now that I have proven to myself I can make a decent book, I am going to stick to making my own with one exception–a mixed color toned paper Fabriano quadrato on the way. 

I like unbalanced compositions. Stillman and birn Zeta.