Avamere in St. Helens.

Working on a page in my journal from our urban sketching session a couple of weeks ago.  The group doesn't want to work outside when the weather is murky and foreboding. I was hoping to capture that element before it burned off.  Avamere offered us a view from a third story building.  

The corner of Plaza Square and Strand Street

The corner of Plaza Square and Strand St., St Helens
9-2/3" x 4-1/4" hot press 140# Senneliers cotton paper
Sennelier watercolors

Holbein gouache

Click to view larger.  

A Glimpse of St Helens

I wanted to knock out a bunch of images for the upcoming Plein Air and Urban Sketching show at the St Helens Library coming up in May so I thought I'd work on some small pieces to highlight several areas around town.  First of several paintings of the area.  

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

Columbia Blvd

New business cards have arrived.

Originally I thought the two subjects were related since they feature the same location, just different focus areas.  Experience has shown the images appeal to different interest groups so I made two different cards.  

For the Timberline Lodge coloring book:

For the Newels of Timberline Lodge coloring book:

The last page.

I went to the Portland Art Museum this morning. I drew a bronze Japanese hawk sculpture from the 1800's. Because of the restrictions in the museum I could only do the pen and ink there. I added the watercolor after I got home.

This is the last page in my journal so it's time to begin a new one.  I bought two - one is smaller, another is larger than this one.  Smaller because my sketches aren't intended to be permanent works of art so smaller/quicker is better.  Larger because some of these have actually turned out to where they should be matted and framed so I should give myself the opportunity to develop the images more.  I'm split on which to use.  Regardless I have the hardest time cutting bound journals apart so what's the point really.  Obviously I have unresolved issues.  Fortunately my unresolved issues aren't anything critical in the big picture.  I'll eventually figure it out.  Until then I'll enjoy the journey, whichever way it takes me.  

St Helens Fire Department

Typical winter in Oregon is wet and cold so I have been looking for indoor venues for my plein air/sketching group.  The St Helens Fire Department let us sketch their equipment in the bay.  Watercolor in my sketchbook.  

Caples House

This one has a complicated history. It started out as a gouache piece in my sketch book. I had never worked with gouache except as a highlight to another medium. I seriously did NOT like the painting from that day. I let it sit for months before deciding to test the water solubility of gouache and rinsed off as much paint as I could. Just like with watercolor, apparently gouache has staining qualities in some colors. I let it sit a couple more months. Not all of the pigment from the gouache came off so it wasn't a blank slate to go back to. I decided since this page is a giant experiment, why not go back to it in watercolor.

Caples House, Columbia City, OR
Watercolor in my sketchbook