Howard's Mill - Watercolor

Rain has finally come to Northern California.  We are in a severe drought situation, so it is very welcome.  My artist friend Howard Rees and I had arranged to paint outdoors on Saturday, but the rain drove us inside Howard's studio...where Howard had set up a complete watercolor station for both of us.   I had my own personal Howard Rees watercolor workshop.  Howard is an accomplished watercolor painter, so it was a very informative rainy day activity.  I painted from a photo of a painting Howard had done some time ago.  He painted the same scene so I followed step by step as much as I could.

I made lots of mistakes.  Years of oil painting have to be set aside in favor of more carefully controlled watercolor techniques.  My biggest sin in watercolor is to paint too fast.  Watercolor requires some careful thinking before you begin and as you proceed.  It is a wonderful medium though...so much different than oil.  I had a great day in Howard's studio, learned a lot and did this painting.  I look forward to the next attempt.  Hopefully, I'll do a little better.

I call this Howard's Mill.  I don't even know if it is a mill, but who cares?  Thanks for a good day Howard.

Howard's Mill   Watercolor on 15" x 22" Arches Rough

My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

Sutter Creek Pizza Patio - Plein Air

Today I joined artist Howard Rees for a plein air painting session in Sutter Creek.  Time was limited so we picked some locations close to our parking and other "conveniences".   I was intrigued by this deeply shaded patio across the creek from our location, but it was not an obvious painting subject and I thought it might be a struggle to get something recognizable out of all the shadows.  I knew the umbrellas would provide some focus and color, but much of the building behind was in deep shadow from trees.

I selected a small canvas and toned it with yellow ochre and a touch of Alizarin.  Then I tried to block in all of the darks that dominated the composition.    In reality, the building is a deep barn red/brown, but I need more contrast, so I left the tone as the building color in the beginning, adding brighter highlights as I went along.  I simplified the umbrellas and pushed the color of two of them.  The stairs added a little detail and I spent some time suggesting tables and other "clutter" in the darks under the umbrellas.

Later we had some delicious pizza (and beer) and sat at the window next to the green screen door.  I highly recommend Pizza Plus in Sutter Creek.  Fabulous...and a small pizza is enough for two, easily.  Check 'em out.  

Pizza Plus Patio - Sutter Creek   Oil on 9 x 12 canvas panel

  


My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

The Ironstone Winery Art Show

The Ironstone Winery near the gold rush town of Murphys in the California foothills held its 16th annual "Spring Obsession" art show reception last Saturday.  As I mentioned in earlier posts, I spent several days painting in Murphys last year with a Howard Rees workshop group. (  http://www.howardreesartist.com/ )  On one of the days, we visited the Ironstone Winery to paint on their beautiful grounds.  I was not aware of the art show at that time; however, this year my artist friend Vickie Chew who lives in the area gave me the details and, at the last possible moment, I decided to enter. ( http://vickiechew.com/ )  I entered five paintings into the juried show and four were accepted, including one of my paintings of a small miner's cabin on the Ironstone grounds done during the previous year's visit.  

On Saturday night I was honored to receive a merit award for the miner's cabin plein air painting.  The judges for the show were Kathleen Dumphy, Craig Nelson, and Anamarie Nelson.  Kathleen is a nationally known plein air artist, Craig Nelson is a well known oil painter (I have two of his dvds) and Annamarie Nelson is a faculty member of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco (as is Craig Nelson).  Certainly a very distinguished panel.  There were three blue ribbons and three merit awards given in the open competition.  One merit award was awarded by each of the judges individually.  It was an honor to have Kathleen select my painting.

Of the four paintings I had in the show, this was probably the last one I would have expected to be given an award.  But I do remember the beautiful day painting at Ironstone Winery with my friends, and that in itself was a very special "prize".  

My thanks to Ironstone Winery for putting on this show.  If you are ever in Murphys (which is well worth the visit) be sure to visit Ironstone.  It's very impressive.

PS:  Thanks to Ted Smith, another gold rush country artist, who framed this painting for me at literally the last minute.  I picked it up from Ted on the way to Ironstone!  ( You can find Ted at Gallery 10 in Sutter Creek  http://www.gallery10suttercreek.com/ )