GEISHA CAR WASH

I've had the idea for this painting for several months, but couldn't quite conceptualize the composition. I finally could see what things would look like and started two weeks ago. I sketched in the whole composition and then painted the car first. Layers of indigo and van dyke brown paint later I was satisfied with how it turned out and especially the front bumper and the headlight.

With the two geishas I wasn't quite as happy. I'm not sure why the figures and the car don't really mesh. Maybe the size is wrong on the geishas aren't quite three dimensional enough. But after working this over for two weeks I'm finished, or in this case, I've stopped painting.

ABUNDANCE OF HOPE

(Click on image to enlarge)

I envisioned this painting one evening when I was emptying my pockets. The next day I took some reference photos to see what the composition would look like. I added a few things to the painting that weren't in the reference photos including the faux crochet table cloth.

I put about 12 hours into the painting including a lot time making black squares. I like the 3 dimensional nature of the objects and am happy with how the foil gum wrappers turned out; but I think the keys get lost in the crochet.

WATERCOLOR PENCIL PORTRAIT SKETCHES

I'm taking a watercolor pencil class. Our first assignment was to draw, color and add water to a portrait. The portraits were imaginary and not from photos.

Click image to enlarge.

Tim

EMPTY JARS

(click image to enlarge)

I'm not real sure about this one. I tinkered with the composition and wonder if leaving the background blank would have made a better painting. I started with the front jar and didn't take into account that the larger jar would be blue/green. . .in fact the reference photo didn't show it as blue/green. But I liked the idea of blue/green glass reflecting light. I should have had more blue/green in the small jar. Live and learn.

I like how the top of the larger jar turned out. Maybe i can just cut this one up into a smaller painting :-).

RUST BUCKETS 2

(Click image to enlarge)

Several years ago I created a painting of these two trucks . The reference photo was taken by a friend. The trucks are in the back yard of the friend's father-in-law. This is a different angle on the trucks than the first painting.

I used just a bit of masking on this painting for the whites in the headlights and the reflections off of metal. I also masked off the weeds in front of the left truck's grill as well as the bullet hole in the windshield. What I was hoping to achieve was the effect of the sunlight coming from the right as in a later afternoon sun.

I like the way the painting turned out. My favorite part is the Chevrolet logo on the front of the red truck.

Postcard Art

After seeing a gallery show of Artists Trading Cards, Carolyn gave me a pad of watercolor postcards. These 4 x 6 cards are heavy weight watercolor paper and are marked on the back like regular postcards ready to write a message and an address and adhere a stamp.

I'm hoping to send out some art work to friends and family.

HERE COMES THE SUN

(Click on image to enlarge)

Last summer I took a series of sunflower pictures at the farmers' market in Eugene. I finally got around to creating a painting from these reference photos.

I started by layering in a bright yellow for the entire sunflower. I gradually darkened the shadow areas. I used a cut q-tip and masking fluid to cover the yellow that would be come the stems in the dark brown center. I painted the dark brown/burnt sienna centers then removed the masking fluid. I was surprised by how much dark brown and burnt sienna I needed to get the three dimensional look of the flower.

The leaves are a bit abstract. I used a lot of blue green colors.

I like the composition of this painting, but my favorite part is the yellow dots and the shadows across the center of the flowers.

WATERCOLOR SKETCHES WITH A WATERBRUSH

Retired University of Oregon art professor Ken O'Connell introduced me to a waterbrush. The brush holds water in the handle and, when squeezed, drips into the brush hairs. This is terrific for including in a travel watercolor kit. I took the waterbrush, a pencil, pen, 8-10 watercolor pencils and a Moleskin sketch pad with me on our trip to LA during Thanksgiving. I drew the image, inked it, losely added some color with the pencils then used the brush to soften the colors and move them around. Here are some small sketches I did with the waterbrush:

PORSCHE

(Click to see larger image)
24" x 18" on 140 lb. cold press paper

I created this painting as a commission for a colleague who will give it to her husband as a birthday present. I took about 20 pictures of the car in a shopping mall parking lot and then created the background separately. I wanted the background to add some color but not overwhelm the composition.

The challenge with this painting was how to create a painting when the subject was a silver/gray color. I mixed some indigo and van dyke brown with a bit of cerulean blue for the car color. It may not look like it, but I did about 6-8 layers of color on the darker parts of the car. Just when I thought I had enough color, I added some more. I added the yellow parking lines, and their reflection on the car, to include at least some color on the car. There is the Porsche hood ornament and logo on the wheels, but it still is a silver/gray car.

The other challenge were the headlights. There really isn't much content or contrast there with the exception of a few reflections.

My two favorite parts are the rear wheel area and the license plate.

LOS ANGELES SKETCHES

We flew to Los Angeles last week to watch Shannnon's ER episode being filmed and see Kelli and Dave's new apartment. I did these two watercolor sketches from photos I took.

This sketch is of a street on the Warner Bros. film lot. We had lunch just a block away at the Warner Bros. commissary.

Angel Flight is a tram once used by LA's wealth Bunker Hill residents to visit the market down below.

Botanicals

(click image to enlarge)

This painting is loosely based on a photo I took. The flowers below the irises in the photo were yellow freesia so I changed them to daises. I did the drawing for this painting in pencil then decided to add pen and ink. Once I got started with the painting process, I realized, because of the dark colors, that the pen and ink weren't really needed. I did about five or six layers for the blue of the irises. I initially intended to have the dark background fade to a lighter color as the eye moved to the upper-left; but the black background seemed to make all the flowers pop.

LEFT-HANDED FRUIT

(Click image to enlarge)

Size 24" x 18"

Paints: indigo, rose madder, vermillion, indian yellow, raw sienna, alizarin crimson, phalo blue, burnt sienna and van dyke brown

I'm entering this painting in the Eugene Mayor's Art Show today. It is a juried competition with an about 1 in 10 chance of getting selected. The good news is that all those who are rejected can enter their work in the Salon de Refuses, a show that runs unjuried through the entire month of September.

An hour into this painting I was ready to recycle the paper and start over. The colors weren't right and I wasn't sure of the composition. But I persevered and like the results. There are a lot of layering of all the primary colors to get the brightness I wanted. I kept putting in darker and darker shadows to create the contrast and give it depth. There are a few things I really like (the center raisin) and some things I wish I would have done better or differently. I don't think I'll ever be completely satisfied with a painting and maybe that is a good thing.

56 Chevy

(Click here to enlarge)

This painting came out of a work-in-progress I presented on Wet Canvas:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=511278

I was asked to show how I painted chrome. I wasn't sure there was a real technique for painting chrome; but I explained what I did when painting chrome which was basically "paint what I see." You can see a video of the work in progress here:

http://www.timgosswatercolors.com/chrome.wmv

Step by step, I started with the bumper and painting the lightest values (blue and light green) leaving some areas white. After the lightest values were added, I went to the darks which are basically the black and dark brown colors. This really sets off the contrast and shows how things are going to look when finished. After the darks are painted, it is adding the middle values and some detail.

I read recently in a painting "how-to" book about perfect and imperfect reflections. Imperfect reflections, like on water, have a local color (the water) and are muted. Perfect reflections, like on chrome or a mirror, have no local color so reflect back the exact colors. In this painting the chrome reflects the ground, buildings and sky/clouds.

The part of this painting I like best is the grey metal engine parts above the chrome grill.

ODD MAN OUT

(Click here to enlarge)

The idea for this painting just popped into my head. I've done blueberries, crayons and Mason jars before, but I don't know where the idea for the lone cherry came from. I've had trouble with reds before, especially the darker reds, so I wanted to give this a try to see if I could create a shiny fruit. There are about 8-10 layers of red using a mixture of red madder, orange and scarlet. The blueberries are cobalt blue, indigo and red madder.
I masked off most of the reflection on the cherry and the jar then started layering in the reds and blues of the berries, the crayons and finally the cherry. I initially had about 12 berries but I didn't like the look of it so added the more distant blueberries.
I realize that with the juxtaposition of the crayons and fruit there is a bit of incongruity; but you have to paint what the muses direct you to I suppose and I'm happy with the results.

Vacation Sketches July 2008

Here are three quick sketches I did when we were on vacation in Portland and Seattle:

Portland's Japanese Garden:

St. James Cathedral, Seattle:

Fifth Avenue Court apartments, Seattle WA:

Rotunda Roaster

(Click image to enlarge) I started this piece with the intention of making it an op-art painting with high contrast and sharp edges. But as I got into working on the car itself, I fell back into my usual literal interpretation.

The idea was to have only light cascading from above creating a lot of shadows and dark colors contrasting against the bright areas in light. I did a lot of layering on the lights as well as the darks to make them shine. I didn't do as much detail on this car as the parts in shadown don't show as much detail.

I made a number of mistakes early on but was able to recover and I feel satisfied with the outcome.

Saturday Morning Coffee

(Click image to enlarge)

I composed this painting from three separate reference photos I took at the Eugene Saturday Market. The challenge, when painting the figures all in one painting, was to get the proportions and lighting correct. I struggled with that a bit.

As usual I did a lot of layering to get the brighter colors and darkened the shadows considerably to get the fuller 3 dimensional feel. I like how the newspaper turned out without using any real text or images. . .just lights and darks and abstract shapes.

CIRCUS RIDE

(Click to enlarge image)

I had been looking at a photo of this car for some time and didn't quite know how to put it into context. Then, for some reason, it just popped into my head that it should be in a circus. I initially had thought of painting it smaller so I could show some carnival rides in the background; but the reflections and light on the car are critical to the painting and moved it forward and painted the tent behind it. The poster to the left is a variation on a real antique circus poster I saw on the Internet. I really like that clown's face. It is something about his mouth and eyes, but I guess that's true with every face.

I started with masking out the true whites on the car and then did a light blue wash over the whole thing. As I've done in the past to get the deep shine on the car, I did 4-5 layers of indigo and some lighter blues.

I really like how the car turned out and especially pleased with the nose of the hood. There are other parts (the top of the tent and the ground at the left) that I would do very differently if I were to do this one again. All in all, I like this one, but need to step away from it as after 12-15 hours of painting, I'm too familiar with the flaws.

ZOOM! ZOOM!

I think I may have overdosed on painting chrome after this one. When I showed Carolyn the drawing for this painting she said, "What is it?" I should probably enter a 12 step program for chrome painters and be allowed to paint only flowers for a month.

Okay. So what it is? Well, the painting is based on a picture I took at a Harley Davidson dealership. This is the side of a Harley Dyna Low Rider. The light was coming from the showroom windows behind the bike and from a lot of spotlights in the showroom ceiling.

I masked off areas I wanted to remain white. I then started painting the light blue highlights including some areas that I would be adding black to (the black being a mix of indigo and van dyke brown). The blue would be higlights on the black rubber foot supports, for example. I then began adding all the dark highlights and mostly working from left to right across the composition. Finally I added some reflected red color.

Zoom! Zoom! Off to chrome painter's rehab!

Cheery Oats

(click image to enlarge)

One morning I was sitting down to breakfast when I noticed the sunlight shining through the slats on the back of the chair and casting shadows across my cereal bowl. I took a picture for reference. When I drew the composition I added the grapefruit and cup of cocoa. Because I didn't have the grapefruit and cup in the reference shot, I'm not sure that the lighting is right.

Macys Window Sketch 2

Here's a second watercolor scketch I did today in preparation for a larger painting. The subject is part of an elaborate floral display in San Francisco's Union Square Macys.

ORANGES IN A BOWL

While in San Francisco this past week we went to Macy's to see their annual flower show. The first floor is covered with floral displays; but the most interesting was a large display window with art objects, plants and flowers. This small watercolor sketch is just a part of the display. I hope to make a larger watercolor using other parts of the entire display.

1939 BUICK REFLECTING '29 FORD MODEL A

I took the reference photo for this painting last September. I wasn't sure I wanted to paint this car because I only have two thirds of the car showing. However, I was really challenged by the reflection of the Model A in the side of this 1939 Buick Special.

I started by masking off all the areas that would remain white. I then did a light blue-gray wash over the entire car. I added some bright blue across the fenders, around the door, on the roof and on the hood. I gradually did layers of gray for the Model A until it began to turn black. I add the two figures at the left.

Next I started successive layers of an indigo, Van Dyke brown and cerulean blue mix on the Buick body. In most areas i did 5-6 layers. Once the body color was done I began working on the back wheel and the inside of the car. My penultimate task was to paint in Gary's Coffee shop in the background. The reference photo didn't show this, but since I'm going to display this painting at Gary's, I thought it would be a nice touch to show the shop in a painting.

Finally, to finish the painting, I softened edges, cleaned up lines, scratched in some details, and added another layer of paint to the body of the car.

It seems all my paintings have areas I don't care for and others that I do like. This one is no exception. I struggled with the front wind shield. The reference photo was no help and I wanted to have some reflection. In the end, I gave up and left it alone. The parts I like best are the rear wheel area and the reflections in the back side window.

COIT TOWER FROM LOMBARD STREET

(Click image to see enlarged view)

I took the reference photo for this painting in San Francisco last spring. We were standing at the top of Lombard Street (the crooked part) looking east to Coit Tower and the Bay Bridge in the background.

I did a quick sketch at the time and forgot about it.

I decided to try this as a large painting (24" x 18") and have mixed feelings about the results. On the one hand I like the contrasts of the shadows on the streets, the trees and the tower. The hundreds of buildings I'm not sure about. I don't know if they are too detailed or not detailed enough. They look a bit cartoonish to me.

I took some artistic license and took one or two buildings out of the picture to enhance the composition. I started by painting the sky then the trees. There are probably 40-50 trees in the picture. I continued to darken the trees and shadows until I had what felt like the right contrast. I then began working on the buildings. There are probably 100+ buildings that needed, in someway, to be defined as three dimensional without too much detail. I tried to mix up the colors of the buildngs without creating a rainbow effect. In reality, many of buildings are white or shades of white. Adding darks behind and to the left of buildings help them to pop out a bit.

SEEKING FORGIVENESS

(Click image to see enlarged view.)

This is the first floral I've painted. Well, that isn't exactly true. This is the first floral I've finished. I started two others over the past three years, but abandoned the paintings early on as things got muddy and were too flat.

The problem with this one is the roses. They look as if I carved them out of soap. They seem too heavy and not delicate. Perhaps I need to shade them more than I did, but I didn't want to end up scrapping this one as well.

What I do like is the vase and the daisies. I changed the vase a lot from the reference photo giving it darker colors by bringing the background color into the glass. The daisies were a work in patience. I started with a light yellow wash and then built up the colors until they were a bright yellow. I then added some yellow ochre and some orange for the centers and the shaded petals. I added some Van Dyke Brown around the centers to help give them a three dimensional look.

The final step was to take off the masking fluid that was hiding the baby's breath and then scratch some of the baby's breath stems with a razor blade.

I think at the very least, this painting has encouraged me to try another floral sometime.

Dad's Treasures

A number of years ago Kelli, our older daughter, created a box that she filled with baseball artifacts and other interesting objects. She gave this to me as a gift. Looking through it the other day, I realized it might make a nice painting. I added to the box an autographed baseball from the 1962 Dodgers and three baseball cards. To the left I included a glove given to me when I was 15 by then minor league player Willie Davis (who was one of the 1962 Dodgers who autographed the ball). The hat is a replica of the hats worn by the 1948 Negro League Harlem Lincoln Giants.

I started by painting the box. The sticker on the front is from Major League Baseball and the silhouette is Harmon Killebrew. Harmon, a Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, is from Payette, Idaho, where my brothers and I played baseball as kids. Next I painted the five baseballs (can you see all five?). I wanted most of them to be used, a bit dirty and scuffed. It is interesting to me that a baseball has the same number of stitches as a Buddhist prayer mala has beads (108). Pasted inside the lid is a photo of a baseball and bat.

The glove in the reference photo I used was facing toward the camera and didn't real read as a baseball glove. So I turned it around to face away from the viewer. Having used that glove for a number of years as a kid, I found it easy to paint as I knew how it looked, felt and smelled.

After completing the glove and hat, I painted the baseball cards trying to make two of them somewhat generic. Baseball cards, as with most kids of the 50s, where a big part of my life. David and I used to go to Mike's Silver Spray Confectionery across the street from Roosevelt Grade School when we had a spare nickel or dime and buy a pack of baseball cards. We often discarded the flat, pink bubble gum then sat down outside with our backs against the store front to see which players were in the pack. The cards for the longest time smelled like bubble gum. More often than not Don Mossi's baseball card showed up. That's why I included his card in this painting (far left card). Mossi was a journeyman pitcher which jug handle ears whose brother-in-law must have worked for Topps, the baseball card manufacturer.

After touching up some details and adding some foreground and background color I was done.

Imperial Palace Guardhouse

(Click image to enlarge)

This is the formal painting of the Imperial Palace Guardhouse that I just finished. I modified the composition from the original sketch based on the feedback I received on this blog and on The Wet Canvas Studio Forum.

Moving the guardhouse more towards the center and tilting the right-hand tree in towards the center helped. I added more pedestrians in the foreground and added more pen and ink detail.

I originally was trying to get a look of a Japanese block print; however, I started slipping away from that as I added more gradations in the washes and detail in the stone and pedestrians.

Palace Guard Sketch

This is a quick, small sketch (6" x 4") I did in preparation for a larger version of the painting. I thought I might ask for your advice on composition before I start the bigger version.

MORNING PUJA

(Click image to enlarge)

For this composition I gathered objects from my morning meditation table. My initial reference photo was taken from farther away with objects standing alone. I like the close up of images better so I pushed objects together and moved in closer for the photo.

This is my seventh painting of a mason jar. I like seeing how light, water and objects play off the glass. There is a lit candle inside this jar giving it a lot of light and sparkle. The spoon and the beads reflect the light from the jar.

Initially I had a series of books standing in the background, but it was way too busy so I eliminated them. The one thing about this painting that concerns me is the way the open journal cuts right through the middle of the composition. It does lead the eye to the photograph, but I worry that it is too harsh of a transition.

I like this painting and the way the colors turned out. The more I paint the brighter the colors and the greater the contrasts it seems.

More Watercolor Sketches

Here are two sketches I did during our recent trip to LA:

This is an unknown villa that I saw in the Alaskan Air magazine.

A portion of a large temple in Los Angeles' Chinatown.

SAFE HARBOR

(Click image to see enlarged view)

While in Honolulu I took a lot of pictures of the boats in the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. I did a brief watercolor sketch while we were there (see below) and then did this 24" x 18" painting after we returned.

From the photo I simplified the drawing to reduce the clutter in the background adding several boats and a distant skyline. The photo has a building and some indistinguishable boat parts.

The most difficult step was getting the reflections to look like water, not glass. Light colors reflect darker and dark colors reflect lighter. The water isn't still so the reflections need to be distorted a bit, but not so much that you can't tell what they are. This was trickier than I thought.

I like the colors in this painting and the early morning light coming from the right.

Creek Street Ketchikan

(Click image to enlarge)

This photo of Creek Street, Ketchikan, Alaska, was taken by New Zealand photographer Paul Bakker. Creek Street is wooden street built on piers along Ketchikan Creek.

This is a complex composition with a lot of detail including reflections in the water. I started with the background trees then layed in base colors on the buildings. I finished the details of the buildings before dropping paint wet in wet for the water and reflections. I finished the painting by adding a little pen and ink detailing.

Fall Shadows

(Click image to see enlarged view.)

I took a picture of a bicycle leaning against a bike rack when I was in Portland a few weeks ago. It was late in the day and the shadows were long and intense. When I did the drawing for the painting I cleaned things up and deleted the bike rack and other bikes and gave the bike a kickstand to support it. I added the leaves thinking the painting needed a splash of color, but I'm not really satisfied with them and not sure they were needed.

What I do like about the painting is the sense of light coming from the right highlighting the wheel rims and the metal components.

When I thought I was finished I hadn't added anything in the background. In the photo there were some plants and shadows. Instead I put in a darker wall and some tree shadows. Adding the background really gave the painting a good sense of depth.

Hawai'ian Vacation

We just spent five days in Honolulu attending a family wedding. I took a lot of pictures and did some watercolor sketching during the five to six hour flights to and from the islands. Here are three.