View Towards Carbon Canyon

8" x 5" watercolor on 4-ply plate bristol

(plein air sketch)

I love this view which is very close to my home in Yorba Linda, CA.  The weather was very quick to change as it was windy and partly cloudy.  I'm still trying to get the hang of the medium and in this case was surprised at how long it took for each layer to dry.  I've committed to paint in a transparent (traditional) fashion for a while to take advantage of the beautiful translucent quality of the medium.   This "waiting to dry" time was to my advantage as I was able to really just observe and mentally record the different light and shade patterns which were constantly changing before me.  It was a glorious day though I've been frustrated many times trying to paint in such weather.

Yorba Linda aquarelle sketch

 8"x5" 3-ply plate bristol

I had a chance to get out of doors yesterday for a quick sketch.  Loved every second of it!  I tried the paper Burt Silverman uses as explained in his book "Breaking the Rules of Watercolor".  It's quite different with it's rather smooth finish - but I really like the way the color pools in spots.  I still have much to learn - but as they say, "I'm enjoying the journey!"

Walter Vaes - Master of the still life.

I usually don't post about other artists - Walter Vaes will be my first.  I thought others might appreciate seeing these paintings as much as I have.  I stumbled across some images of his on the Artinconnu Blog a while back.  Since then, I'vescoured the internet and sadly could not find much more on this Belgian artist.  I did find an exhibition catalog from Interbook International - but was dissapointed to find that the only image in color was the cover.  I'm still glad I purchased it - so beautiful is the cover image.  To me he has a wonderful balance of realism and abstraction.  I've found a few more images lately and have added them here.  The final image is one of the black and white reproductions from the book.  Oh how I wish I could see it in color!

 Thank you for your wonderful works Walter Vaes!  You have left a great impression and set the bar rather high.

A small sketch

oil on canvas panel 8" x 10"

detail