Scavenger Hunt from Life #144: Jan 6 - Jan 14

Joan , You posted while I was writing. Umbrella sketch is a good find. Not sure which way to go on it being closed. Should I feel good for you or sad as you missed out on a yummy.?
Fletch
 
Ned, wow on your rocks. I just love your rough beach scenes. The only beaches I went to in CA was Malibu and Santa Monica if that is a beach. This was over 60 years ago so don't remember much except the water was cold and deep right away, couldn't wade out very far. It was also November-January. Love those footprints in the sand. Thanks, I love pastels. My light sense comes from Helen Van Wyk and Bob Ross. Light against dark and dark against light. Van Wyk said in a still life it is dark where the light is coming from and light where it falls. This way the light side of the bowl for example is against the dark background and the dark side of the items is against the light except where the shadows are. Anyway, too wordy. I love talking as much as painting. Heh, heh.

Joan, love the umbrella and the bakery.I like the utility box and rail. Sad for you to miss the goodies. We are about to finish the Christmas candies. Hard to resist.

Fletch, hey. Now on the cactus do I water it while it has blooms?? Hmmm. Guess I'll try to keep to the 2 week schedule.

Thanks all.
 
Thanks all for kind comments on my flowers.

"Ai - Am with Jo, love the yellow shading. Did you use multiple yellows out of the tube or mix them? Heliconia is pretty. Not familiar with the so had to look up. They will grow here so going to have to watch better.

Fletch: For the yellow flowers... I tried to glaze the painting with pure colors (let the colors mix on the paper) but not mixed the different yellows in my pallette. I use 3 colors: 1. Gamboge 2. Lemon yellow and 3. Yellow Orche... and also at some point with a light touch of Winsor orange (this is what I have on my travel palette). And for Heliconia and Bird of paradise varieties... there are many for you to try to grow in hot and wet climate of FL. I wish I had more time to experiment with growing them. However, they require quite regular watering so now I am still too busy to growing them well. They will flower more with plenty of water.
 
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Ned: Wow on your lunch break majestic nature backdrop. Well done sketch.

Joan: Wonderful umbrella scene, love your brick texture works and all everything... lol :giggle:
 
Joan -- I laughed at "luckily the store was closed" :) The blooms of grey in the door look neat, and I like how the umbrella mimics the brick wall behind it. :) I'm glad to hear you have a portable stool... makes me feel a little better. Sometimes I think I'm being lazy or using it as an excuse when I don't want to stand and sketch. My first car was a '63 Rambler from my grandfather... that was a neat car.

Jo -- That makes perfect sense about lighting for a still life. I didn't know about Helen Van Wyk ... I went and watched her paint a white jug and eggshells on a white table, and I could hear her thinking about contrast like that and also about what colors to use in shadows... very interesting. ( Also laughed when she said "don't paint what you see" and changed a boring shadow into one she liked better... )

Ai -- thanks for info about the yellows! I've seen heliconia in Hawaii... and similar looking Bird of Paradise at some places in the San Francisco Bay area, but I don't think there are any up here where I live ( it gets colder than SF Bay area ).

Robin -- Hi! 👋

Still drinking my morning coffee and trying to decide where to walk today....
 
Fletch, thank you! The "dark & dirty" is kinda my personal fav. as well. You have beautiful model and I like both your drawing and the model. Very good hatching and drawing lines.

I didn't make it to the Winter Garden but next week is promised warmer weather with less snow storms.

Ai, lovely and exotic looking flowers. Really well painted!

Ned, the red toy car made me smile, lovely model to paint!

Jo, your welcome! I like a lot the Christmas cactus. Very special model and how in earth did it survive that long without water. Maybe it took humidity from the air?
 
Ned, love seeing these scenes of rocks and sea. Your rocks are very good! I like the shapes.

Joan, there's was too much snow yesterday to get out of the house. So, garden needs to wait. Lovely patisserie scene! Well done!
 
Fletch, hey. Now on the cactus do I water it while it has blooms?? Hmmm. Guess I'll try to keep to the 2 week schedule.

Thanks all.
I have the same plant but November cactus and I was told to water it about once a week. It gives flowers twice a year in Nov. and in March. I do water mine when it has flowers so that the surface only has dried a little bit. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong when watering it 🤔
 
Fletch, hey. Now on the cactus do I water it while it has blooms?? Hmmm. Guess I'll try to keep to the 2 week schedule.

Thanks all.
The only cactus I have that survives is plastic.
Try one of these:



 
The only cactus I have that survives is plastic.
Try one of these:



Fletch, thanks. I forget to look up "how to" on line. Larry often reminds me. Ha.
 
Robin, always good to see you. :love:

Ned, ahhh, thanks. Helen had a whole series on using each color. Fun. I had many on VHS and would listen/watch her and Bob Ross to go to sleep. Bob Ross was especially good for that. Ha. But her classes on color and light helped me a lot. Never had art in school after 3rd grade.

Grapes, thank you. I think that the cactus had been overwatered as it has no drainage so it was happy to dry out! It is a bit past Christmas. Ha.

Fletch, ha, just reread about your plastic cactus.

Catch you later.....
 
The only cactus I have that survives is plastic.
LOL! Don't overwater it!

Joan -- Agree, if you're in the car it's stopped not parked...

I was going to put layers of ink on this first and try for very detailed reflections and dark tones with sharp edges... then the cheap paper started to pill so I went to WC and the completely opposite direction with only a #8 brush. It doesn't show, but I learned from this one: If I'd left the WC as it first went on in the big brush strokes, it would have looked neat, even if it wasn't what I had in mind when I started! Will try to remember..... :) This will probably taste pretty good when we open it!

#6 jam
IMG_1973rs.jpg
 
Fletch, I like the closed umbrellas and the folds it creates. I know if the shop was open I would have indulged. lol

Jo, thanks. I think there are still a few Christmas cookies hiding in a tin somewhere.

Ai, thank you. I love when you paint the tropical flowers there, especially when flowers are so scarce here in winter.

Ned, I would never be able to sketch on location without my stool. I've tried standing and sketching but it is not for me. Funny how you had a Rambler too. I don't think I've ever had jam from Idaho...or huckleberry jam. Nice sketch of the jar!

Hi, Robin! Hope things are good for you. Miss seeing your sketches.

I haven't tried growing a Christmas cactus in years. The only flower I've tried growing indoors since we moved out here is an amaryllis. We get almost no direct sunlight, so I don't think they would do well. In my condo before this we had a wide, sunny window and I grew all sorts of indoor plants and flowers. Now I have to settle for window boxes on my railing when it gets warm enough...and then I have to search for flowers that can handle indirect light.

Grapes, with all your snow I hope you have windows with nice views of it.
 
Hello: All & Robin.

Ned: Wonderful jam jar sketch. It feel homemade and yummy,
 
Ned - it is amazing the directions we end up going trying to create the painting in our head.

#2 orange - in direct wc. This did not turn out as I envisioned. (Sound familiar Ned😎) my intent was to paint the shape in yellow that dry brush orange over it to simulate the texture. Should have had more patience and made sure the yellow was completely dry. Borrowed Joan’s purply shadow color.

IMG_2899.jpeg


Keep sketching
Fletch
 
Ned, wow on the jam. Sounds yummy. You did great on the shading and colors.

Joan, I have the three plants. None seem to mind if I forget about them. Ha.

Hi, Ai..

Fletch, wow, you are learning your watercolor. It does look a little more like lemon yellow than orange on my screen but well done!! All screens are different. That cactus looks very much alive in the photo.

I sketched on the footstool in the large Canson bottom of a page from last August. Micron 03 and watercolor.
#6 umbrella - a small fold up.

csshfl144umbrella.jpg
 
Fletch - Seems to me that some watercolors move more easily if you touch them again even if they are pretty dry... maybe it depends on the paper, I don't know. I'm still surprised sometimes how much lighter they get when they dry. I can see the texture!

Jo - you got nice color and contrast on that umbrella!

I drew a tree today... not sure if I'll post it.... didn't go smoothly. It's out in my car right now. Already morning of the 14th in Thailand and afternoon in New Zealand, so I'll get the next hunt figured out first!
 
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