Scavenger Hunt from Life #148: Feb 7 - Feb 15

[jmfletch]

Ai - You are surrounded so much beauty. Even many of your buildings are beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Bougainvillea are about the only flowers blooming here after the cold snap we had.

Joan - Thanks for sharing your snow. It is pretty in pictures.last night on the news we were literally watching the snow fall vice watching the reporters.

Keep sketching and learning
Fletch

 

[Grapes]

Fletch, very good looking drawing and well rendered mason jar!

Jo, the ceramic hat dish is nice subject matter and beautifully drawn!
Those pleinair locations sound like lovely places to paint! I go way too randomly, I want to paint foreign locations more.

Vivien, then Ireland has special meaning for you and your husband. It must be gorgeous to see all Ireland in a round trip. I will see only the east coast as I'll be busy painting. Thanks for your thoughts.
Nice to receive homemade chocolates and you have beautiful drawing done. Lovely Valentine drawing and present

Ai, beautiful flowers & plants! Gorgeous location! Your shopping mall view is very good. I was fighting with a similar view earlier and you did very good drawing of this! Well done! The horse has special luminosity on him, but what's it with the turtle? The elephant is clever .

Joan, you have more snow than we do! Beautiful! Love the snowman! We don't have enough snow for a snowman. Your trees in snow is so inviting and warm painting. Well done Lovely Valentine's Day painting! Did your friend like to paint in Ireland?

 

[jmfletch]

Hi Grapes
*waves to all the lurkers
#2 Hand. - drawn direct in ink in pocket sketchbook. Not exactly a work of art but drew direct. Tried again using a gel pen which looks a little better so posting both.

2a Fountain pen and taking time

2B Gel pen simply sketching

Keep sketching and learning
Fletch

 

[jmfletch]

All you painters but especially Watecolorists. Do you use Burnt Sienna much in mixing? Curious as watching some online classes by Geoff Kersey and it seems like he adds burnt sienna to almost every mix. He will usually make a comment like ‘to make it more natural’ or ‘to reduce the intensity’.
Also what color do you consider burnt sienna ? Have seen it referred to as both an earth red and a red-brown.
Thanks
Fletch

 

[Joan T]

Grapes, thank you for your comments. My friend painted with the plein air group in Ireland twice and loved it. Now instead of that she has been taking painting groups on trips to Europe. I believe her groups painted in France a few times, and this year they are painting in Greece.

Fletch, I don't use a lot of burnt Sienna. It is on my palette but I don't mix it into much. Sometimes I use it to mix in greens or I use it solo in grasses. I guess it could be either an earth red or a red-brown depending on your point of view.

 

[Grapes]

Fletch, good drawing of your hand always challenging to draw our own hand, it's so near to look at and we know it too well .. kind of.
I use raw umber when painting with oils and it's orang'ish color. I find burnt sienna a difficult color. I have it, but never use it.

 

[Jo Castillo]

Thanks, Vivien. Oh, sweet chocolates. They sound so good. Sweet drawing as well! Happy Valentines.

Ai, thanks always. Fun elephant. I love horses and your drawing is super. Nice lines on the open space. Beautiful flowers and sketch. The orchids are amazing. Wow. Thanks for the lovely sketches and photos.

Joan , thanks. I still haven't used the sponge dish. It's holding a Snickers at the moment. Your snow nature scene is lovely with great shadows. Beautiful flowers, thanks for the valentine and Happy Valentines to you. The snowman and sled rock. Love our snow on the roof. Also the photo. I'm happy to see it here!

Fletch, wow on your jar. We have some with stems as well. They are pretty big for wine. Both hand sketches are great, the quick one is more lively or lifelike. Good job!! I haven't painted in ages so no help with your burnt sienna.

Grapes, thanks. We never made it to your world. And can't now. Thanks for sharing with us. I really love your plein air work and sketches. I can't leave Gene alone now so only get out to paint if I can drag him along.

Still didn't sketch today. At the Parkinson's doc for a checkup. All good for at least 6 months. She is moving to Oklahoma, got the job of director at the University of Oklahoma in Movement Disorders so will be more in research. She says we can still come be her patient there. Who knows??? We have our good friends in Duncan. Ha. Tomorrow are some tests for Gene. Bone density and a Cat Scan sort of routine, been a few years since he had radiation for Prostate Cancer. Maybe that will be a different hospital area to sketch. I'll take my sketchbook in anticipation ... hopefully not procrastination.

 

[Grapes]

Jo, it's not always possible to travel. I've been in that situation often. Important is to sketch/paint things nearby, things you see in front of you.

 

[Joan T]

Fletch, somehow I missed your hand sketches. Good job!

Jo, it is hard to get out alone at times. I have a friend who I've been meeting for breakfast after our weigh-in every week at Weight Watchers. Her hubby has Parkinsons and she can't leave him alone. (He tends to do those things she tells him not to do alone and ends up falling.) So now Sam has breakfast with us every week. It is good for him to get out too, and sometimes other people come and meet us. Sorry to hear that Gene's doctor is relocating. Hopefully you will have a good replacement.

We are off today for Jerry's eye injections. I rarely sketch at the office there. They move us from one spot to another too quickly. I do have a sketch from last night that I will post later.

 

[AiArts]

I went to another park in the city with pink trees blooming. My friend and I settled on sketching this one. I tried to add a young lady scooping the fallen flowers in the foreground...lol

#12 landscape

 

[AiArts]

Thanks all for your kind comments.

Fletch: I don't use burnt sienna as much, except as tree branch/trunk, and use it for the actual earth ground. I use it a little to mix with pink, to make a skin tone. I think artists each has his/her favorite colors/techniques choices. Try to check out some color tips from other instructors, you will get different views of colors, and of course, something may be universal among all watercolor artists.

Jo: I wish you and Gene the best. I hope you get a good new doctor replacement. Take it easy on you, as you have so many things to handle.

All: Not all cafes here are garden theme either, I just prefer to go to the one with plants/real flowers that I like.

Joan: Good luck with the weather and with Jerry's eye check-up. Health issues are never been easy.

Grapes: Thanks. Here we can sub. anything we want to sketch too, as we prefer to sketch something, rather than not sketching anything at all. Fletch, used to expand us with association substitute too, in case we cant find the exact item to sketch.

 

[jmfletch]

Ai - the painting is so pretty. The girl looks like she is having fun. Think you are right it is just Kersey’s preference and style using burnt sienna.

Jo - Hope you find a new doctor that will be an easy transition for Gene. Changing doctors is tough after you have an established connection. We have been going to the same GP for over 20 years and Sharon’s Neurologist for 18. Understand being a bit housebound as we are the same. Sharon can no longer walk but insists she does not need a wheelchair so we use a walker but that is not very safe so where we go is very limited.

Joan - this sounds like medical day. Hope Jerry’s visit to eye doctor goes well.

Grapes - When it is hard to find a hunt item we do substitute. Suggestion I made some time ago was to try associating and share your associations. First example Valentine related. ..Valentine - heart - doctor - stethoscope and draw a stethoscope. Key is we want to see your art.

Interesting none of you use burnt sienna much. So is definitely his palette choice. Thanks!
Fletch

 

[Joan T]

Ai, beautiful softness to your colors! What a relaxing scene! Thanks for your good luck wishes for Jerry's eyes. He hates going for the injections and they stress him out, but that is the only way to keep him from having more problems that will destroy his vision.

Fletch, thanks. It seems like medical issues are something most of us are dealing with. Jerry gets around with his walker out of the house. I wish he would use it more inside too rather than relying on a wheelchair, but I understand that if he is in the wheelchair he can easily give himself a break and take off his prosthetic leg. We turned the medical day into a stop for an early Valentine's Day lunch. Yay!!

I did a continuous line of some of the items and then added watercolors.
8 - zucchini
9 - made of metal (knife)
10 - condiment
11 - fruit (cherries)
12 - mug
13 - small dish

Our sketch group had dolls as a theme last night. One of the members collects dolls and is a member of a doll club. She brought along about 8 dolls from her collection. I liked the style of this one.
14 - free space - watercolors and ink

 

[jmfletch]

Joan - Nice composition with 6 hunt items. Enjoy seeing pen work adcthe painting. Kind of like a WIP. The doll painting is so well done. Excellent. Very much a 50s look I think with the fur and the hat,

#3 umbrella - Multiple grades of graphite in an A5-ish sketchbook. Was very relaxing working with graphite. Thought I had caught difference in texture but it does not show much in the photo.

Keep sketching and Learning
Fletch

 

[AiArts]

Fletch: Lovely hand sketch with two versions. Wonderful umbrella as well, esp. the shine.

Joan: Have a great Valentine day celebration. We likely do low-key stuffs as usual. Gorgeous doll sketches. I love how your line gives vintage feel to all your watercolor painting. Great still-life in contour and later in colors.

 

[Grapes]

Fletch, excellent drawing!
Thanks also for all information earlier, I got somehow distracted for a moment.

Joan, lovely idea to bring & sketch dolls. Very good doll & still life setups!

Happy Valentine !

 

[Grapes]

Ai, love your pink flowers pleinair. So lovely! Very well resolved the big mass of flowers The girl on the ground is a cherry top of the cake.

We just got more snow on the ground so I can only dream of pink flowers. Thanks Ai for bringing spring to my mind.

 

[Grapes]

#2 Painting supply - my red oil paints

This is from last night as I'm home alone so I paint at nights This is also a practice work for a theme "keep hue the same, change only croma & value". Oil colors on pizza box.

The models:

 

[Joan T]

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fletch, thanks. It is fun when someone else brings unusual items to sketch. Nice use of the graphite on the sketch of the umbrella. Hope you haven't had to use it much lately.

Ai, thanks so much! We usually just go out to dinner/lunch to celebrate...never anything big. Today we will probably just have pizza which is one of our favorite meals anyway. lol

Grapes, it was fun to sketch something different. My friend has brought a few dolls before, but this time there were a lot of them. Nice work on the paint tubes. Love your shading on the tubes. Well done.

 

[AiArts]

Grapes: Thanks. Very beautiful paint tubes in Valentine's color.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. Below was what the foreground girl in my painting did. She arranged the pink fallen flowers into a heart shape.