I started this series for a friend of mine that was active in the Winters Chamber of Commerce. They were in a small section of a downtown store. People seemed to like them. They served as a nice memory of drinking wine, eating yummy food, or just spending time in Winters. I recently expanded the drawings to include a few new spots of interest. You can buy them at Yolo 365 Artisan Market in Winters or from me direct in Vacaville. Each card is $6.50.
I taught Hand Drafting (and many other interior design classes) at the Art Institute of Seattle for several years. This experience translated nicely into this type of architectural drawing. My book “Hand Drafting for Interior Design” is in it’s third edition and available on Amazon. It is still used (believe it or not) in colleges around the world. Let me know if you think there is something or somewhere else I should add to this collection. Most of the originals have already been sold. The clock, The Preserve and Yolo 365 are available at Yolo 365 Artisan Market in Winters.
A few years ago a friend of mine asked me to do a series of drawings of Winters, California. They were sold at the Winters Chamber of Commerce. People enjoyed purchasing a card to remember having a glass of wine or maybe a meal they enjoyed.
Now living in Vacaville, I thought it would be fun to do a series of drawings of the local downtown. See if you can name them all. They are for sale at “The Artisan in Vacaville” or from me directly. They sell for $6.50 per card. If I am low of your particular card I can order more.
When I first moved to Vacaville, I created a series of drawings featuring some of the beautiful old homes on Buck Avenue. Cards can be made of the ones I drew, or if you would like one of your home, contact me.
I will do a blog with my drawings of Winters, California. I started doing these drawings during the Pandemic, when we no longer went out much. I enjoyed drawing and did not yet have a studio or my oil painting supplies here in California. I took photos of many of the houses I wanted to paint. In the evening, I would work on the drawings as I watched television and had a glass of wine. Since the idea of going out was not an option, this was a great way to pass time.
I hope you enjoy them, and maybe think about buying some!
I often have ideas for projects, that sound so great when I start them, but become tedious as I start working on them. I thought it might be a fun idea to do sketches in a notebook on all the different flowers in our yard. I quickly realized that we have a lot of different flowers!
So far I have completed these two and have started three others. I think I might have to take the time to count all the different flowers in our yard? Yikes! Humm, then do I include my herb garden. I started it as kind of a joke, as my husband can never remember the names of any of the flowers. I’m not sure on the other hand if he would ever look at this book? Ha Ha
I’ll keep you updated as I add more drawings, and see if I can complete this notebook this summer while all the flowers are blooming. It sounded like a good idea when I started.
Our yard is full of wonderful flowers that bound into bloom every Spring and continue through the summer. My husband loves to work in the yard (if it’s not too hot), but never remembers the names of the flowers. When we are discussing an area in the yard he calls it by “the pink flowers”, or the “red flowers” and etc. I thought it might be fun to put together a journal of the flowers that grow in our yard.
What I am discovering is that it will take more time than I thought it might. I started to do the journal in watercolor, but quickly learned that my paper was not nearly thick enough for that. So I got out a pencil set that I purchased several years ago for a portraiture class. I took it to my sketching group and quickly discovered I needed to sharpen all the pencils and did not have a sharpener with me.
As you can see, sharpening all of these took a bit of time! So far I only have completed two drawings. The drawings are small in nature, but considering how many different flowers we have in our garden, it might take a bit.
Since the last butterfly was fun, I decided to do another. This one is 8 x 8 inches and a little fun!
Last week I met up with a group of artists that do a variety of different things. We were inside, so no Urban Sketching. There was a lovely photograph right in front of me, so I decided to decided to use it for my sketching. I didn’t take a photo of the field of Sunflowers, so only have what I quickly drew while chatting with others in the group.
People often ask you: “Why do you paint”, or “Why do you want to make money selling your art”.
I paint because it makes me happy and brings joy to my life. It brings more joy when someone appreciates what I do, and even more when they like it enough to purchase it. I never understood why someone would ask an artist why they want to sell their work. Painting is an expensive hobby. It’s like owning a plane or a speedboat, but the supplies are not inexpensive.
People willingly (sort of) pay their doctor, lawyer and CPA, but come short on spending money on something they look at every day and should bring them joy. In my case I do have a Ph.D, but not in art. I have a Doctorate in Business Marketing, my MA in Art and my BA in Art. That’s a lot of education to be offering my services for free. Do you want your Latte with a free cookie? That’s rather like me giving my art away with a frame for free. How much did it cost to bake that cookie? What time and what ingredients are involved? Ah, how much was that frame and how long did it take me to paint that piece. People ask me that, and I laughingly say it has taken years and years! Years of practice and success and years of failure are all part of a successful painting or piece of art. It didn’t happen spontaneously. It took years of studying. Malcolm Gladwell in his well-know books, says it takes 10,000 hours to good at anything.
Practice, practice and more practice. Everything I paint is a new experience and many ways a new beginning.
Urban sketching means so many different things to different people. I love to sketch when I travel or when I waiting for something, and when I was working on my Ph.D I would sketch whatever was on the table. I thought no one was watching, but I found out later that was not quite correct. My classmates were always curious as to what caught my eye.
Sitting on the beach in Cabo San Lucas I used pen and ink and gouache to have fun painting the locals.
On this one in Puerto Vallarta I used watercolor and gouache and pen to capture the surf. I find it very relaxing.
The men at the Taco Stand was fun to sketch using pen & ink, and watercolor. You can tell I often use a small 6″ architects ruler to get straight lines.
On a cruise we took this last year, while the boat was at sea, I would often just find a spot and sketch people or furniture.
There are so many things to choose from and so many different art supplies you can choose from. When doing quick sketches I tend to stick to just pen & ink, so I don’t have to carry around a lot of “stuff”.
If I have an afternoon free, then I carry more equipment and spend more time on the drawing/sketch. This was done sitting in the shade by the swimming pool, having a Margarita using pen & ink and gouache. I like gouache as it gives you more depth than water color, and you can paint over mistakes. I find it fun to mix with watercolor for a softened effect.
I don’t take my sketches serious, but I do try to get the drawing right, or enough off that it is just fun.
This is the fountain overlooking the water at Lindo Mar in Puerto Vallarta.
i’ve sold a few sketches, but mostly give them away after I photograph them, so do not have a book of sketches per se.
I’ve been painting for about forty years. I first got a degree in art, doing acrylic abstracts. I was working in oil till a sorority sister sat on my palette right before one of our big dances, and I had to give her my dress, as hers was ruined, and mine was her replacement. Luckily we were the same size.
As I’ve had more time to spend painting and have tried many different types of art, it is interesting to watch reponses on social media of what people like and what they think I should do. If you follow my blog, then you know I did a few drawings of roosters when I was on a cruise. I gave them to one of the men that worked on the ship, as he had a farm at home with chickens. One of my friends thought that I should focus on only chickens. I like chickens, and had some of my own for a time. I do not want to draw them all the time. If you read one of my last blogs, you will see what happened to the chickens. It was really pretty wonderful.
Another friend of mine likes my mini-abstracts and tells me I should only do those! I did them as a prelude to a series of the same in a much larger format. That person told me that my larger pieces do not have the same impact as the smaller pieces? I actually like the larger ones better, and wonder how you can make that judgement from online photos?
Still another friend loves my impressionistic work, and thinks I should focus on that. So who do you listen to, or do you listen to anyone at all. Other friends have asked me to do portraits, and I have done many of those.
No one asks me what I enjoy the most. Maybe they should ask: “What sells the most?” I’ve had someone ask me “Why do I want to sell my art?” I wanted to say something not so nice, but just said that the art supplies were expensive. It was a complete lie! Artists want to be known for what they do and how they do it, and making a little money would not be bad either?
I guess the big question is: Why do people think they should tell you what to do? Or in other words, why do people want to control someone else’s life?
My conclusion is that you should draw or paint whatever you enjoy. If it sells, then great. But if it does not sell, then at least you have enjoyed doing it. I actually donate a lot of my art to local organizations.
Every morning we would go down to a small Coffee Bar on the cruise we just finished. Marvin, from the Philippines would remember our orders and greet us cheerfully each and every day! His smille and amazing attitude was one of many we encountered on our Viking Cruise. He poured our “Green Drink” and we would chat for a while. He was working to grow his own farm back in the Philippines. He said he loved his chickens, goats and a couple cows. I wanted to say “Thank You” for his wonderful, cheerful attitude! As an artist I thought what might he enjoy the most as a remembrance of our trip together?
When I travel I now take a variety of pens, watercolor and gouache. I found a nice photo of a rooster online and decided giving him a drawing of the chickens he loved might be something he would enjoy! We tipped well too, but I wanted to give him a little more. So I drew this rooster and gave it to him the next morning. He said it was the nicest gift he had ever received since working for cruise lines.
As I gave it to him, several people at the coffee bar enjoyed it too! One woman asked me if I would do two for her, and did not blink at the price I quoted. That was all well and good, but I never saw her again on the cruise?
As our cruise was coming to an end, and our friend, Marvin had enjoyed the one so much, I decided to give them to him our last morning. He caught me off-guard, by crying when I gave him my additional two drawings. I was a little embarrassed, but warm inside as I knew I made the right decision giving these to him.
So the Roosters were a big hit and it was fun giving them to someone that made our trip so delightful. I think this may be something I will continue doing!
It had been over a year since I enjoyed a “Life Drawing” experience. I call it an experience, as it is not a class, but more of a session. A model is provided, and you bring everything you intend to draw with, and sit and sketch. In this session, it started with four minute sketches, went on to five minute sketches, then ten and finally twenty minute drawings. Our model had strong facial features, so I decided to focus on that. I brought a variety of tools to use. This drawing uses 8B, 6B & 4B pencils that can be manipulated (somewhat) with water. Since I had never tried this before, it was a bit challenging.
This was my first twenty minute drawing, using only charcoal and little pen and ink. I did not get the eyes right, but like the fierce look it gave the drawing. Need to practice a lot more!
This is the same model, but I wanted to show the softer side to him. He looked so very serious, till he took a cellphone call on a break and gently started laughing. I do realize his eyes are looking in two different directions, so a bit of an error on my part, but now too late to change.
I do suggest joining a session like this to loosen up your drawing skills. I firmly believe that if you cannot draw, you cannot successfully paint.
Life is about the experiences we have, not about what we have or often what we do. I’ve been painting for several years and never really entered a larger competition. I took a class in Mendocino and my teacher suggested I should join the upcoming Mendocino Paint Out; so I signed up. As the weeks went by, I collected frames and made sure I have enough canvases. I made an hotel reservation, and thought I was set to go.
About a week before I was set to leave, I thought I should check with the hotel about my reservation. I am glad I did, as I accidentally booked a room with twin beds and a bathroom down the hall. I upped it to another room with twin beds, but my own bathroom. In the interim, my husband decided to join me for the weekend festivities, so when I arrived I asked if I could upgrade a little more, so I would have one bed, not two. I ended up having a living room, bedroom and bath, which was large, but very old and very sad. The draperies in the rooms, had blackout shades in shreds. At one time they must have been beautiful, but today they were old and looked tired. Everything looked tired. It could have been spectacular with a little love and maybe a little money.
When I got back to my room after dinner, and discovered the TV did not work, I was glad for my IPad and was set to watch a movie on it. But as I pulled back the sheets I noticed a fairly small drop of blood on both the top sheet and the bottom sheet. That did not make me smile, but I was tired from the long windy drive in pouring down rain. I just crawled in, poured myself a glass of wine and watched my “Chick Flick”.
And then it began: The first day, we all (or those who started that day) lined up to have the back of our canvases stamped. We could enjoy viewing the one piece painted before the paint out, that everyone was to bring and hang. It was a wide of assortment of talent and style. The three main artists (the judges) had their work on display. The work was interesting and varied, consisting of two oil painters and a watercolorist. Although their work was artistic, it was not particularly to my personal liking. I would learn a lesson from this later in the week.
So we all took off to find out place to paint the first day. I headed to Little River Inn, where I has stayed before, and enjoyed the distant view. I finished my first painting in a couple of hours, and headed back to town to get a bite of lunch. Waiting in line, a nice young man informed me there was a spider on my backside, before he knocked it off. I had been sitting on a quite old and damp bench painting. As it turns out, I was lucky he saw it and ended its life, as it was a Black Widow. So that was how my week began?
View from River’s End Inn
My first painting was 20″ x 10″, and I painted it in an already framed canvas. I forgot to have this one stamped, so had to call to get permission for it to be allowed. They were very nice, and let me use this the first day. I had time after lunch and it was a beautiful day.
I had discovered when I set up my palette to paint, that my plein air paints had all dried out, so I decided to drive to Fort Bragg to a local and wonderful art store to refresh all my oil paints to the tune of $260. Fresh and new, but an expensive lesson. Since I was already in Fort Bragg, I ventured to MacKercher Park, hoping to paint the lagoon. As I was setting up, a creature crawled out of the lagoon with a direct line toward me. I did not know what it was, but it did not look “friendly”! I had never seen, what I found out a few moments later, was a Crawdad, alive. Luckily a young woman in the parking lot knew what it was, as her father was a commercial fisherman. But I decided I would go to the other side and paint the beach!
When I got to the beach, the fog was setting in and I could not decide what view to paint. It was busy with lots of people. I generally like to paint quietly in my studio or in a more deserted spot for Plein Air. I did spend a lot of time on this one, and I am afraid it shows. By the time I finished my first day of painting I was pretty tired and wind-burned. Nevertheless, I took it back and hung it on my wall. The Art Center provided free pizza that night, and they even had gluten free. That and glass of wine was perfect!
The next day, I decided I would paint one of the beautiful houses downtown. I worked on it most of the day, and wiped it clean at the end of the day, not liking it. The next day I tackled it again and upon finishing it called it “a day”.
By this time, I am beginning to think that I do not work as well under pressure. The next day I went to Fort Bragg with a very nice woman I met to paint at the harbor. I decided to paint something a little more simple. I painted the trees on the hill above the harbor. It was fun and relaxing and we painted in an area where there were not many people.
The last day was a quick draw contest. They give you a location and send you out. You have about a half hour to set up and two hours to paint. This year it was downtown Main Street. You could paint the beach or turn around and paint the town. There were 50-60 artists all painting downtown. I chose to go quite simple and painted the distant shore. I never knew so many small bugs could fly into a painting. Apparently they like the smell of the paint. I still need to finish the piece I did, as a gnat flew into it after I hung it up on the wall.
You can see the bug and the scratch marks, where someone tried to remove it.
That evening they had the rewards ceremony. My lesson with all this was: If you are not particularly fond of the work of the featured artists (judges), why would not be surprised that you would not have selected the same pieces to win the awards? Of all the talented artists in the contest, I did not agree with most of the winners. Many that were by far better, did not win any awards. Of the awards given, often another piece by the same artist was more beautifully executed. One of the awards went to the husband of one of the judges, and it was the one I really thought was color straight from the tube, poorly drawn and actually a little ugly.
I did not go expecting to win. I went for the experience and an experience it was! I met a lot of really nice people, and a few that were a little too overzealous about their art. I ate some great food, and some not so great food. I could not find a good latte anywhere in town, but the raw oysters in abundance made up for it, even if they were flown in from Washington State.
Many artists do ten to twelve of these a year. I found it exciting, exhausting and challenging. Would I do it again? Maybe for a shorter duration? I might try doing another medium, as no one was doing gouache, there were only a couple pastel artists and maybe one doing acrylic. That might up the odds of having a chance to win. Some paint outs provide a free place to stay, so that might make a huge difference expense wise. There are so many factors that go into deciding what to do with your art.
