Saturday, December 28, 2013


  Watercolor sketch this evening…..Gesso'd 300# D'Arches rough.  Laid in the distance mountain and sky with a light acrylic wash…..Distant Pines was placed in with Derivan Liquid Graphite with watercolor (yellow ochre, raw sienna) and gouache (neutral grey #3) directly in front of distant pines.  There is some acrylic laid in at the immediate foreground which will likely be overpainted.
Sometimes I'll staple W/C paper down on a board…gesso it, maybe texture it with a little sand, and then sketch something out with a mixture of mediums… I do get some interesting effects which are not the traditional watercolor…..but then again, I usually don't paint in the so called normal fashion…  If this painting turns out, it will be matted and framed….if it doesn't turn out, I'll just gesso over it and keep plugging away at it……maybe I'll just get rid of that very front foreground and leave it alone…sometimes you can overwork a watercolor as we all know……. don't we….

Friday, December 27, 2013


This evenings watercolor sketch……….getting ready to conduct a workshop in Feb, so I thought I'd   better do some 30 minute quick sketches….I like the composition/color (cobalt blue, raw umber, yellow ochre, paynes grey, davies grey) in this one, so It will evolve into a finished painting I think…



    Logan Canyon, Utah  (From a hike around Tony Grove Lake)   Early Summer 2013….cool overcast day with just a hint of moisture in the air….  Used the salt technique in the right side to get a fuzzy wet appearance and dropped in a raw sienna/cobalt blue mixture to get some splotchy color.

Thursday, December 5, 2013


   11" x 12" watercolor/Liquid Pencil on Gesso'd paper…Titled "Night Sky"..Utah Watercolor Society (cache Valley) "Best of Show"…October 2013

"The rusty leaves crunch and crackle, Blue haze hangs from the dimmed sky, The fields are matted with sun-tanned stalks - Wind rushes by.  The last red berries hang from the thorn-tree, The last red leaves fall to the ground.  Bleakness, through the trees and bushes, Comes without  sound."             (Joan Mitchell)
6 1/2" x 6 1/2" watercolor titled "End of Autumn"…"Best of Show" in the Utah Watercolor Society (Cache Valley) 2013 Small Works Show….August 2013