Holland American Flower Garden

There are two schools of thought in watercolor. One is to create the artists impression of the scene. The other is to share what the artist sees. The reason I choose to paint in realism is not only am I sharing the beautiful field we were given access to paint in, I'm also recording for me that day, that time and that place. I'm not competing with a camera. Every time I look at this I will remember that experience in detail. In this painting are the elements of composition, negative and positive spaces, the play of light and shadow contrasts, the angle of the sun, the opposite and complimentary color combinations that occur in real life. 

Sennelier watercolors on Arches cold press paper. I made myself a watercolor block out of a pad (way cheaper to buy this way) so it's super portable and I don't have to fuss with taping. Easier to work with out in the field.  

#HollandAmericaFlowerGarden
#RidgefieldWashington
#Tulips

Route 66

Part One of our Adventure Quest:
This segment we started in Chicago and turned around in Oklahoma City.  
Flew 3478 miles.  Drove 2116 miles.  Took 2509 pictures. Officially TIRED.  

It was AWESOME.  

Next one in the series: CRPUD

Columbia River PUD in Deer Island, Oregon  

9-2/3" x 4-1/4" hot press 140# Senneliers cotton paper.
Sennelier watercolors
Holbein gouache

#ColumbiaRiverPUD

Coming in May...

Mark your calendars for the show at the St Helens Library starting May 7th.  We will be doing a presentation the last Thursday of the month on urban sketching and plein air painting.  More details are coming.  

The Library

Another in the series: The Library, St Helens.  

9-2/3" x 4-1/4" hot press 140# Senneliers cotton paper.
Sennelier watercolors
Holbein gouache

#StHelensLibrary

The fire station in St. Helens

Another one finished.  Well maybe finished.  There are a couple of things I would like to tweak but I'll set it aside and take a look at it with fresh eyes in a couple of days.  

9-2/3" x 4-1/4" hot press 140# Senneliers cotton paper.
Sennelier watercolors
Holbein gouache

#StHelensFireDepartment
#ColumbiaRiverFireDistrict

Emmert Motors, St Helens - the next in the series

This one was a tough one for me.  I don't normally incorporate cars in my designs.  I actually bend over backwards to avoid having cars in my pieces but this location was all about cars.  I sat across the street, drew the cars, erased the cars, redrew the cars and erased the cars.  I repeated the process about ten times before deciding to make the best of what I had.  

Emmert Motors
St. Helens, OR

9-2/3" x 4-1/4" hot press 140# Senneliers cotton paper
Sennelier watercolors
Holbein gouache

#StHelensOregon
#EmmertMotors