Plein Air Gouache/Catalina Island

This month I've lived in San Francisco for exactly 18 years! I can hardly believe it's been that long, longer than any other place I've lived. In all that time, I had never visited Catalina Island, 17 miles off the shore of Long Beach, just south of Los Angeles. 

The view from our hotel, especially at sunset, was gorgeous! 

I normally sketch in either pastels or oil, but I didn't want to carry around an easel or heavy materials. Gouache is so easy to pack, light to carry in a backpack, and easy to clean up on site. 

I also started a new sketchbook made of kraft paper. The paper has a nice base tone that I like for gouache, but I don't care for how much it absorbs the pigment. I end up using more paint than I normally would and I never really got clean color in the sky areas. I will continue to fill up this sketchbook, though. I will likely gesso a few pages with a base of casein or acrylic for future sketches. 

Little ticket booth for "submarine" rides out in the bay. I'd love to try it, but we were there to sketch this trip.

The view from the main beach in Avalon. Just a quick sketch before we watched the Kentucky Derby!

The staff told us that on Mondays and Tuesdays cruise ships arrive. There was an uptick in visitors, but even then it wasn't too crowded. 

On our final day, we sat and ate breakfast on the second floor of our hotel, the Vista del Ray. After breakfast, we sat and sketched for awhile. This was our view. I was working pretty quickly on this one, trying to get all the little details recorded.

I hope to come back and do more exploring of the island. It's rather large and apparently there are hiking trails and another small town on the other side. 

Thanks for looking!

Shop Is Officially Open!

Spent some time on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with my dad and step mom. While there I visited Bloedel Nature Reserve almost every day. Brought my pastels with me and did some sketching.

 "Summer Willow Tree, Bloedel Nature Preserve", pastel on paper

"Birch Pines, Bloedel Nature Preserve", pastel on paper

 "Forgotten Voyages", pastel on paper
This old ship is right down the street from my dad's house. I've watched it age over the years. While I was sketching the family that owns it came out and we chatted for a bit. What a great old girl this ship was and still is!

"Japanese Pine, Bloedel Nature Preserve", pastel on paper

Let me just say painting backlighting with pastels is trickly. I felt I could have pushed the contrast more, but the pastels weren't having any of it.

"Morning Willow Tree, Bloedel Nature Preserve", pastel on paper

"Pleasant Beach Afternoon", pastel on paper

"Rich Passage Morning, Bainbridge Island", pastel on paper

My father recently had a few of my paintings framed. I really like the simple mat and framing that his framer recommended. With pastel paintings, the mat needs to be slightly raised off of the surface because of the dust. This looks great and adds some dimension to the piece. I like how the borders of the paintings are exposed although I think they would also look great cropped. Either way - nice job!

Yosemite & The High Sierras, 2015

This past July, I went with my family to the fabulous Yosemite National Park, Lake Mammoth, and Bodie. It was a family trip that was packed with activities and endless inspiration all around. Yet we were surprised when the hot, dry heat suddenly turned to RAIN, THUNDER, LIGHTING, HAIL, and SNOW! In fact, the Tioga Pass had to be closed one night due to snow and slick conditions along the windy, high elevation road.

The weather curbed my painting time since my pastel kit would have melted if gotten wet. I regretted not having brought my oil kit, which can work in any weather. Because of the weather, I managed to sneak in just a few studies, mostly under the threat of rain or the watchful eyes of aggressive squirrels and scrub jays looking for a handout.

One hot, semi-rainy afternoon in Yosemite I went out a long the Mirror Lake trail. I was completely blown away by the massive moss covered granite boulders and pine trees everywhere. 

The scale alone is impressive! 

I stopped along the way off the path in a quiet spot from the huge crowds on the trail, spreading out my pastel kit on my oil cloth picnic blanket only to be visited by two squirrels who came right up to my backpack and sniffed around. 

On another day out we all went along the Vernal Falls trail, which is mostly uphill. It was fortunately a bright, hot, sunny day with great light. On the way back down the trail I climbed up some rocks, found a nice spot and painted this quick 45 minute study. 

I ended up spending more time along the Mirror Lake trail since it had great views of the North face of Half Dome.

This view (above) is the base of Half Dome, while the painting below is a study of the entire North face of Half Dome, a different view of the usual one we see in photos of the park. 

After a full week bike-riding, playing, hiking, and laughing around Camp Curry, we left to make the long drive up to Mammoth Lake, stopping at the historic gold rush ghost town Bodie. A massive thunderstorm was on it's way, making it impossible to do any sketching.

We eventually made our way to a cabin deep in the Mammoth Lakes area near Lake Mamie. We took a shuttle up to the Mammoth Adventure Center, where I found some a-frame chalet style cabins I wanted to paint. 

Just as I was finishing rain drops started to hit the paper, and I raced to cover it all up. 

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What I missed in plein air time I made up for in art viewing.  Hanging on the walls of the famous Ahwahnee hotel is a collection of gorgeous Gunnar Widforss watercolors that are worth checking out, along with the collections of Native American baskets, stained glass windows and hanging textiles. 

The Ansel Adams Gallery on the Yosemite grounds is really more of a store but underneath large prints of his work hanging on the walls, beautiful books, prints and postcards of his work can be bought there. 

I think my favorite art viewing place in all of Yosemite was a small gallery that contained a collection of paintings by 19th and 20th century artists who painted around the valley floor after the landscape was designated as protected by Abraham Lincoln. 

Below is a painting, "Yosemite Valley, Winter" by William Keith (1838-1911) that I looked at for some time. I am always amazed at how little detail an artist can get away with and still create a landscape that says everything it needs to. It also made me really want to visit the valley floor in snowy winter!

The brushy strokes of the trees are so simple. I've painted tons of trees and I have yet to achieve the gesture of one that is as effective as these trees in this snowy landscape.

Careful gestures of the figures and horses - not too much over modeling.

On a plaque next to this Thomas Moran painting (below) was this description:

Thomas Moran joined the Hayden Expedition to Yellowstone and traveled at his own expense to record the landscapes along their route. His paintings and the photographs of William Jackson were used to persuade Congress to protect Yellowstone, much as Carleton Watkins' Yosemite photographs had been used in 1864. He continued to interpret western landscapes - including Yosemite and the Grand Canyon - throughout his life, often on a grand scale. His daughter donated many of his works to the Yosemite Park after his death, and these pieces are now part of the collection of several national parks. 

This Andreas Roth (1872 - 1949) painting impressed me up close when I looked at his brush work. "Inspiration Point, 1933. 

Again, groupings of trees painted with simple masses. I love the negative painting in the shadow areas that create the look of tree trunks too. You see that a lot in watercolor but I've not seen it in oils very often.

I love the washy transparent masses of trees in the distance against the more opaque foreground tree. Works so well.

The watercolors of Gunnar Widforss (1879-1934) are always amazing to me for just the technique alone. The description says they were painted on pebble mat board. It seems the focus of Widforss' work was texture of things like trees, plants, rocks, almost pattern like in their treatment. "Halfdome in Autumn", 1923

Frederick Schafer (1839-1927), "Morning in Yosemite Valley, Cal.", 1887

At first this Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) painting, below, appeared to both my dad and I a bit overly dramatic, but when I looked at it further I began to appreciate the masterful vignettes within the larger painting.  "Night at the Valley View", 1864

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When we went up to Mammoth we stayed at a little cabin that had a nice porch area. On a few showery days my nephews and I sat out on the porch drawing and painting in our sketchbooks. What a cool experience to spend in sketching sessions with your own family. Nothing could be more fun!

Thanks for reading!

Pacific Marine Animal Studies

Some more studies from our recent trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I spent most of my time trying to capture a gesture or general feel for each animal, then tightened up my sketches later using photos I took and in some cases video, the puffins being the most difficult since they were very busy beasts! 

The jellyfish exhibits are like nothing else I've seen at other aquariums. Absolutely stunning.

Moon Jellies (above) are in abundance in the Pacific Ocean, however because they are white they look very similar to white plastic bags. Sea turtles have mistakenly eaten plastic bags and died as a result, one more reason to go from plastic to paper. 

I really loved these gentle sharks. Conservationists are concerned about them becoming overfished due to sport fishing along the Pacific Coast, where they live, mostly along kelp forests and rocky areas. 

Tufted Puffins are in abundance along the Pacific Coast, especially up toward the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. I loved watching them - this guy was very curious about us! 

The light shining through the water in the Kelp Forest exhibit made the anchovy schools look magical. Anchovy schools tend to gravitate toward long columns of kelp in a swirling spiral upward. Sublime! I did these studies from some video footage I shot and then painted various parts of different shots to make it all work together as a portrait of the habitat.

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Next week Jamie and I will be busy sketching over Memorial Day weekend, so I will delay posting until the following week. Thanks for visiting!

Digital Sketching | Leveling Up my Tablet

For a while now I've been sketching around town using my iPad. I like using a tablet for sketching when I am in situations where I cannot bring my usual pastel kit or oil painting kit for plein air studies. The iPad is light weight, fits in my bag, and can be whipped out without questions or funny looks just about anywhere.

Sketching at the Art Institute of Chicago

Until now I've been making good use of my iPad. I use the Wacom Stylus 1 (not 2) and the fantastic Procreate app. My only on-going frustration was the sometimes lag of the stylus and inaccuracy of the pen tip, as well as brush sizes and other issues that have often felt like painting with a giant crayon that I don't have complete control over. 

Frankly, I have been frustrated with Apple's lack of support and indifference for third party vendors who make styluses to use with their sketching, writing and painting apps. (Having worked in mobile games I know quite well Apple has rigorous internal checks before any app can be launched in the App Store - so why not rigorous checks for 3rd party devices intended to use with their products?!!) Additionally, it seems, I've been waiting forever for Apple to upgrade the iPad to run OS X so that it can run Photoshop or Painter, and - dare I dream - have it's own digitizer stylus. The iPad is cool, I suppose, but a tablet that can actually run Adobe software and be brought along in a bag is powerful stuff. 

Jamie painting in Golden Gate Park

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 Here's The Skinny

Since about 2013, rumors have swirled around the internet about the secret development of the iPad Pro, which would run OS X and have a custom stylus. 

Most recently, rumors were that the iPad Pro would be announced this March, but the iWatch trumped that as Apple leaps into the wearables market. Still, rumors continue to swirl that the impending launch of the iPad Pro will be announced later this year, fall 2015. Still others are skeptical of a launch this year or even next. Ugh - I am tired of waiting. There are already several tablets on market available right now with a few being relatively inexpensive. Whenever the rumored iPad Pro does launch, one thing is certain, it will be an expensive version of the current iPads. Most likely more than I really want to spend for sketching around town. Even my plein air oil and pastel gear each came in around $500-$600 for the equipment.

Given my quest and budget, I identified what I'd like in a tablet and then set out to find one. 
I wanted these attributes:

between $300 - $600 max
light weight and slim
good battery life 
can run Photoshop
stylus with a thin and more precise tip, and good response with no lagging

Best Options:
Wacom's Cintiq Companion, $2000
Microsoft Surface Pro, starting at $800
Samsung Slate, a retired line which can be purchased new or refurbished around $450-550 on Amazon Marketplace. (I've seen it even cheaper on eBay and B&H Photo)

I know there are other tablets, but many of them get poor reviews, so I narrowed my choices down to the three listed above. After a lot of research & recommendations from friends, I opted for the Samsung Slate. 

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Samsung Slate 

Out of the box I spent an evening fumbling around the Windows 7 OS, which I am not accustomed to. After I watched the on-screen tutorial for a few minutes, I was able to navigate around the desktop with the excellent digitized stylus. After I connected to my wireless account and accessed the internet, Windows promptly updated. 

I was then able to load the Creative Cloud app at $10 a month to run Photoshop. Since the Slate also has a usb port, an older version of PS can be loaded if you prefer. 

While I was researching the tablet, I found a great plug-in for Photoshop that enables two handed use in order to use the hot keys without a keyboard. This plug in, Art Dock, is also customizable and can be configured for either right or left handed use. 

When loaded, Art Dock allows you to work with one hand using your stylus for painting/sketching/drawing while the other hand hits hot keys - a very nice workflow compared to the iPad/Procreate model, where the stylus alone must choose everything from brushes, layers, colors, brush size in addition to painting.

The link for the Art Dock plug in and instructions for left and right handed docking is HERE.

For saving art, you can, of course, keep your files on the desk top (not recommended), upload your files to Dropbox (or another cloud based service) or save everything on a thumb drive using the USB port. Incidentally, I found the cover on the USB port difficult to remove and ended up using a sharp knife tip to remove it. Seems to work just fine now.

I also like the size of the Samsung slate. It's longer than the iPad, closer to the 16:9 ratio, which I like for studies, especially when studying film shots. The tablet also comes with a Sim Card slot and a camera, though not capable of video. That's ok with me as I usually carry my iPhone or a camera with me that can record when I need to.

Side by Side size comparison

Because the on-screen keyboard is awkward to use, you can also get a bluetooth keyboard and also a docking station if you'd like to use it as a casual computer.  I haven't purchased either of these yet and probably won't since I don't plan to do a lot of typing on the machine other than saving files.

When I finally got down to painting I felt like I was in HEAVEN! Using the Art Dock plug in plus sketching directly on-screen using PHOTOSHOP and my own custom brushes (uploaded from Dropbox) felt like I had been liberated from all the clunkiness that I was trying my best to be patient with. Pressure sensitivity is not that of a full blown Cintiq, but frankly, it is good enough for me to complete this sketch, below, without any complaints, lag time, or inaccurate brush calibration. The only noticeable oddness was that the screen sometimes changed brightness when the light changed, but that was due to the extreme changes in brightness of the television screen that was also in the room. This might be an issue later; if it is I will surely update this post. 

A quick process video using Flipagram

The final piece. I worked in my bedroom at night in three 45 minute sessions was able to finish this sketch. 

I don't know what your needs are for tablet sketching, but you might want to consider these options. If you have a budget, the Cintiq Companion 2 looks amazing. If you are like me with a pretty limited budget (this was already a splurge!), you might want to look into a refurbished tablet or take the Microsoft tablet for a whirl. Whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy a new avenue for plein air sketching practice. Please leave comments if you have additional info, good or bad experiences or questions.

Thanks for reading!