July31Art

Back to work, and back to school can you believe it?  I'm loving the cooler weather, but I'm not counting on it lasting very long, this is Charleston SC after all.

July30Art

What a beautiful day to ride,  low temperatures for July, low humidity.  Ron and I took a ride down to historic Sheldon Church, took a picnic lunch with us, and enjoyed the quiet site.

July29Art

I rarely see a blue jay in my yard, lots of robins, mocking birds, cardinals, finches and the occasional blue bird and even rarer hawk.  Evidence of blue jays showed up in the yard today, several distinctly blue jay feathers maybe a little fight with one of the territorial mocking birds.  Whatever happened, I got a few feathers to try to paint.

July28Art

My hair dryer hangs from a hook on the wall by my desk, the cord caught my eye tonight.  It isn't red it's black,  but a black cord would be boring.

July27Art

I swapped out my Holbein Mineral Violet with Cobalt Violet.  The Mineral Violet was so dried out, it wouldn't rewet, took forever to pick up color rich enough to paint.  I'm not particularly happy with the Cobalt Violet either, the background on this page which appear 'pink' on my monitor, and a pale (very pale) violet on the page, is very weak color wise as well.  I know I could mix a purple, but I'm lazy and wanted to be able to dab a bit in shadows without having to do a lot of mixing.  I think I have a tube of Ultramarine Violet, I think I'll dig thru my boxes of paint and see if I can find it. Any suggestions on a good rich bluey violet?

July26Art

The Urban Sketchers Symposium in Chicago, kicked off today.  I couldn't go this year,  so I've been watching the live stream videos they are posting on You Tube.  Some day I'd like to attend one of those, but walking is very hard on me, even for the sketch crawls in Savannah, so I'm not sure I'd be able to ever manage a big event like this.

July25Art

I like, no I LOVE Heinz 57 Sauce.  I eat it on Chicken, Pork, Fish, Steak and I dip my french fries in it.  I'll add it to Pork and Beans,  and even put it on my hash browns at breakfast.  The bottle was sitting on my desk tonight,  so I decided to draw it.

Book 45 - Title Page

This book is a Strathmore 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch journal filled with Mixed Media Paper.  I like this paper for ink, colored pencils and some watercolor.  It's much smoother paper than the watercolor paper journal I just finished.  This journal is in Portrait orientation, haven't used a journal with the orientation in quite a while, time to mix things up and spark some creativity.

July24Art

Last page in this journal, so a daisy drawing and a daisy quote.  Rained on and off all day today, big thunderstorm rolling through Charleston right now.  Gracie is drooling on my feet, poor thing this has not been a happy Summer for her, all these thunderstorms scare her silly.

July23Art

A short video from our ride out to Edisto Beach today.

Practicing marking marks,  turned into flowers.  Used my Versatil Escoda travel brush on these.

July22Art

Used my Kuretake brush pen (with Carbon Ink cartridges) to do the lizard.  Used a hair dryer to make sure it was good and dry before washing color over it.

July21Art

There's Hitchcock marathon on TV,  I watched Rear Window tonight,  I love that movie.  Took my chaps and vest to the seamstress today,  getting all my patches sewn on.  I think it was 'Tink' aka Carol on our ride that had all her patches sewn on her chaps, since my vest is covered up, the chaps are getting decorated now.

July20Art

Primary colors put down first and then the skyline inked in later in the day.  Early day tomorrow,  headed to Columbia for meetings.

July19Art

Interesting article in Fine Arts Newsletter today, that's where the Tim Tyler quote came from.  He's an oil painter and instructor, with insights that spoke to me.  I enjoy the Fine Arts Newsletter,  some really good article about once a week.  They also host websites for artists,  not something I'm particularly interested in, but the newsletters are always interesting.  Check them out here http://faso.com/art-marketing-newsletter

July18Art

Got our first watermelon of the year... it was so sweet.  We got a little one, so we could fit it in the refrigerator.  I had fun doing the lettering on this page.

July17Art

Got a couple of packs of pens at Wal*mart this past weekend (they were putting out the back to school supplies).  I'd watched one of Parker's reviews of the Uni-ball Signo gel pens,  he said the ink was waterproof and he used them a lot for sketching.  So I used one to draw these birds, the pen didn't perform that well on this watercolor paper,  it has a bit of texture to it,  and the pen would skip and refuse to write.  It got very annoying,  then the ink ran when I applied water,  didn't run enough to be dramatic, just enough to make the colors dull and muddy looking.  I don't think these will be a favorite pen for me.

July16Art

Painted the sky first, then used a brush pen to add the palmetto trees.  The sky didn't blend very well, didn't use enough water I think.  Ron and I managed a short ride today, thunderstorm hit about 5 minutes after we got home and covered the bikes.  Heard on the news that people on the beach at Isle of Palms got hurt during lightening strikes during the storms this afternoon.  Another band of storms is moving in now,  it's raining pretty hard... I do believe this has been the rainiest Summer I've ever experienced in my 20 years in Charleston.

July15Art

This page is mostly me playing with brushes and mark making, turned into feathers.  Really hot today, heat index made it feel like 116 degrees,  we had hoped to get a ride in late but thunderstorms rolled in and we decided to skip it.

July14Art

My pink Hibiscus isn't this red,  I got carried away with the red tonight.  It is a lovely pink with a dark pink center and dark pink edges.  Dog's fed time for bed now.

July13Art

Continuing sketching with a brush, easy shape this time, a wine cork.  Went to the Total Wine store tonight, to stock up on wine and beer for the weekend. Headed to Columbia tomorrow for some face to face meetings, if the weather holds I'm going to ride my motorcycle.

July12Art

Visited Marc Taro Holmes blog  https://citizensketcher.com/2017/07/06/usk-chicago-workshop-pdf-and-video-the-broken-silhouette/ where he generously shared his class notes and a video on sketching with your paint brush, instead of a pen.  This egret was my attempt at doing that using an egret picture of mine.

July11Art

Fooling around with colors and all my brushes today, seeing why marks I could make and which colors flowed together.  This is not the only page I filled today like this, it was fun and educational.

July10Art

Rainy day today,  evening slipped away quickly after work, next thing I know it's 10:30 and time to get ready for bed.  Just some paint blob poppies in the sketchbook tonight.

July09Art

Found an old photo of my Iris and used that to do this page.  My Iris haven't bloomed in a couple of years now,  I may need to buy some more as I do love them.

July08Art

Ron had to work today, so I went up to the Harley Shop, they were having a fund raiser for Fisher House (a place for veterans and their families to stay while they are in the hospital).  Took a little ride over to Daniel Island and back home, very hot and humid today.  Went to Wal-mart and got the dogs a kids swimming pool, the beagle Daisy got in for a minute, but Dixie the lab wouldn't even think about it.

July07Art

Blended paint blobs... that sorta turned into fish and a crab.  Fun stuff on a busy Friday.

July06Art

Browsing thru Anne-Laure Jacquart's blog today http://www.watercolorsketching.com/ I thought I'd try some tulips... mine didn't quite turn out as juicy and nice as hers, but I like them and they were fun to do.

Jul05Art

Someone asked about brushes, which got me thinking about the brushes I use.  Mostly, I'm lazy and use a waterbrush, but I do love my mop brushes, this one and a small travel version both hold lots of water and paint and are a good size for sketchbook paintings.

July04Art

Took a short ride today up to Summerville and the Carolina Ale House, brutally hot and humid today.  Happy Independence Day everyone.

July03Art

Thunderstorms this morning, gave way to sunny skies by lunch time.  Ron and I both had to work today,  but from the crowds at lunch, we were some of the only people working.  Tourists and vacationers were all over the place today.

July02Art

Took a ride today out through the Francis Marion National Forrest, the tourists were all headed to the beaches and islands or downtown shopping.  We had a very pleasant ride, with very little traffic.  I have to put 1,000 break in mile on my new motorcycle,  got in 144 this weekend.

July01Art

I have been wondering why my crape myrtle didn't have many blooms on it this year,  it is shedding it's bark this year, the new bark is a cool orange color.  Tonight we went to dinner in West Ashley and the restaurant crape myrtles were shedding their bark too, and had no blooms either.... so I surmise that when the shed their bark, they don't produce flowers that Summer.