Day 26 - 30/30 Challenge - Wait haven't we seen this before???

Yes. Yes you have. A little more than a year ago, this is how I kicked off my trip to Maine and the start of the 30/30 Challenge. This is an ink and watercolor pencil drawing of/on the Cross Sound Ferry.
More to come when I get to Maine!

I'd like to direct you to my Etsy page. Please consider purchasing a painting because, a. Christmas is coming, and these little paintings really make nice gifts, and/or b. the mermaid needs to buy some picture frames for the big solo show and selling a couple of these little guys would be a BIG help!

I'd also like to suggest that you sign up on the right side of this page for emails (not every day), and the follow button to get notifications when this blog is updated (for this month nearly every day, most times, not so much).

Day 18 - 30/30 Challenge - Fishermen's Road, Pencil Sketch

Fishermen's Road, Caumsett   Pencil on paper, approx 8.5 x 8.5

Life is busy! Life is good! But not much time for painting this week, though I am trying to make the effort. A new job, and juggling freelance work has left me with not a lot of time.

Today I only had about 20 minutes (30 if you count the time I need to make this post), so I decided to just pick a random photo and draw it. In pencil. Black and white.  This is from a photo taken at Caumsett State Park along the "fishermen's road." Maybe I'll even paint it - someday!

Though many of these paintings won't be for sale right away (or even for sale at all), I'd like to direct you to my Etsy page where I'm having a little sale. This is the final week!

Please consider purchasing a painting because, a. Christmas is coming, and these little 6x6s really make nice gifts, and/or b. the mermaid needs to buy some picture frames for the big solo show and selling a couple of these little guys would be a BIG help!

I'd also like to suggest that you sign up on the right side of this page for emails (not every day), and the follow button to get notifications when this blog is updated (for this month nearly every day, most times, not so much).

Get more info on the 30/30 challenge go to Leslie Saeta's blog by clicking here.

The 2011 Mermaid for Great South Bay Music Festival

Great South Bay Music Festival Poster 2011

(Please let me know if you are interested in purchasing - copies are in storage somewhere.)

While I'm working on this year's mermaid, I thought I'd share the making of her "sisters." 

In 2011 the festival organizer wanted a new mermaid. We would still use the original for "branding" and for general ID, but a new mermaid every year would give new interest moving forward. I was able to use the same sky and most of the festival grounds, but I had to eliminate the carnival altogether and add a larger stage and ADD MORE PEOPLE. Teeny tiny people.

We went through a number of drawings and ideas. We liked this one, with the floating guitar and the mermaid giving the peace sign, the best.

The original sketch idea (l), and the working drawing of the merm and her flying seahorse guitar (r).

Close up of the merm's face.

Finished merm on guitar with seahorse and bubble holes and moonshell head.

Corner pieces of the border.

New, bigger, badder, gianourmous stage added on left...and more people.

I drew/painted the new stage and new people and placed them in photoshop. The new mermaid, braided border, corner pieces and banner were also painted separately and assembled in photoshop.

Materials: For the mermaid and the festival scene, I use Arches 140lb HOT press paper and a combination of watercolors, colored pencils, and pitt pen. I feel that it allows me to get more detailed,  though I have to give up the lovely grainy textures of the cold press paper. The sky, however, was painted with watercolor on Arches 140lb cold press paper. The moon (in the original painting) was also painted on cold press paper.

Coming soon: 2012 Mermaid.

Hopper Drawings at the Whitney

Monhegan Lighthouse, 7am, Palette Study I

6" x 6", watercolor, $35

This will be in my Etsy shop soon - please contact me if interested

Monhegan Lighthouse, 7am, Palette Study II
6" x 6", watercolor, $35

Available in my Etsy shop

Last Friday evening, I went to the Hopper Drawings show at the Whitney. As is traditional I go to a show as close to the end as I can - no reason - pure procrastination.

There were relatively few finished paintings. The majority of pieces were sketches and notes pertaining to the paintings as well as sketches for some paintings not represented and sketches from when he was a student.

Soire Bleu, 1914

Great character studies of Parisians from the early 1900s.

A few of the iconic Hoppers were there: Early Sunday Morning, The Nighthawks, Gas -

and some that I wasn't familiar with: New York Movie,

my new favorite - Rooms for Tourists. 

There were a couple of paintings from Cape Cod (one a watercolor in a very limited palette that I've seen before), 

(Route 66 Eastham)

(High Road)

a few from the office series, some wonderful paintings of the tops of NYC buildings as he looked out his studio window,

nudes (not my favorites - though his model drawings are really wonderful),

(I love the notes. Study for Morning Sun)

I enjoyed seeing the process of Hopper's problem solving. The little sketches of salt shakers and fire hydrants, the way he worked out the composition in a theater or office, or the details of a shoe or gesture. The notes made on the drawing indicating the darkness of a shadow or the color of a roof.

(He went to several NY City theaters to sketch. There were many drawings of balconies and hallways,  and details of decor, as he searched for the perfect composition.)

(Details such as the uniform, right down to the shoes, are examined in a series of sketches.)

(His model was always his wife, Jo. She has the slightest smile here.)

(More note taking.)

(The docent told about the man who researched the background of this particular painting. 

He went to the hotel on Cape Cod and interviewed people. A few said that they were a little unnerved by a balding fellow sitting in his car across the street for long periods of time, day and night. 

That would be Hopper himself, studying and sketching.)

The above small watercolors are my (small) homage to Hopper - the first, a limited palette watercolor (cerulean, Prussian blue, alizarine crimson, quin gold and burnt sienna) and the second, an even more limited palate of alizarine, ultramarine and cadmium yellow.

What do you think of Hopper's paintings? Do you think that seeing the process helps to understand the painting and/or the artist's point of view?  Please let me know in the comments.