Sunday Sketches

The colors of fall here in Washington have been exquisite!

Notice I used the past tense..........the Pacific Northwest rains have returned; days and days of it. Although sometimes if you watch for it, you might be lucky to catch a "window" without rain. I have learned to get outdoors no matter what otherwise it can become depressing.

In my studio I am still enjoying the fall colors and creating watercolor paintings of the brilliant colored leaves. The big leaf maples are one of my favorites. The shape of its leaves and colors are awesome!

More Sunday Sketchers.....

Stellar Day in the Pacific Northwest

Yes, sunshine and fall colors!

One of our rare fall Pacific Northwest STELLAR DAY.

I took my dog, Ebony, for a walk on the Chehalis Western Trail here in Olympia, Washington.

I love the arches of color and the depth seen down the trail.

It is like a fairy land.



The leaves are a still-life in themselves.......

Sunday Sketches

Still learning about this Sketchbook Project 2012 process.

Today's lesson; Joanne verses "the paper."

I wanted to give a blast of color with watercolors to emphasize the leaves' fall color. The paper got saturated and started to shred. Immediately I took out the hair dryer before disaster occurred and I would have to remove another page from the sketchbook.

I remembered that my ink pen leaked through this paper, therefore, I opted for colored pencil to bring out the leaves and trees.

Hey, it worked! Score one for Joanne!



I have to figure out what to do with the next page because it is now wavy from the use of water on this page.

Ah, the challenge continues........

Cannon Beach Gallery 2009 Miniature Show

The Cannon Beach Gallery's annual All Juried Miniatures Show begins this weekend and runs until the end of November.

The Cannon Beach Gallery, a program of the non-profit Cannon Beach Arts Association, is located at 1064 S. Hemlock Street and open Thursdays through Mondays from 10-4PM.

One of my New England encaustic painting was juried into the show. I used hot wax, craypas, and colored tissure paper and have several in the series.

Here is their selection:



New England Fall Colors #1

Painting in the Berkshires

I just returned from the East Coast immersing myself in the fall colors.

We did some "peeping"* in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York. I also attended a workshop at Kripalu entitled Yoga and Painting in the Berkshires with Linda Novick. Linda is an artist and art educator as well as a certified Yoga instructor, but best of all, a totally fun and supportive person to be with.

There were eight of us and our days revolved around morning and afternoon sessions of creativity and plenty of time to enjoy nature and do yoga. The food was outrageously good and healthy; glad to still fit in my jeans after the five days!

I dabbled with new media; a form of encaustic done with craypas and hot wax and I added colored tissue paper, as well as a return to pastels. Nature was intoxicating and I did several plein air paintings.

Here I am in my element.....



I created these wax paintings using craypas, tissue paper, leaves, and hot wax.





* "peeping" is a New Englander's term for driving around looking at the beautiful fall color of leaves.