Newport Bridge

Driving down to California we stopped in Newport Oregon for two days. What a beautiful site on the coast. We ate at the local marina both nights with great views, fabulous wine and food. I captured the top photo out the window when we were having dinner one night. I loved the boat and the bridge, but thought the painting might be a bit bland. So I added a nice sunset. The painting is 12″ x 24″.

At first I missed the spotlight and when I looked back the photo and noticed it, I thought it might add a little life to the painting. I realized bridges are not easy to paint, so I abstracted it a bit and did not put in a lot of detail.

It is nice to be back painting, and when Thanksgiving is done, I will be back in the studio. There are no Christmas parties this year with the Pandemic, so we will have to find ways to celebrate the season that bring us joy. I think I will just cook and paint and be happy! Hope you can do the same!

Newport Bridge

Local Attractions

Portside Pub BW Poulsbo Portside Pub

Poulsbo, Washington is one of our local “Go To” places in Kitsap County,  picturesque with great restaurants and shops galore.  Sheila’s offers great breakfast delights with friendly local servers and The Loft restaurant offers great views of the bay, if you sit out on the deck.  Be prepared to wait a bit, as I find the service a little slow, but the food is local and good.

In this drawing, I think I actually like the black and white better than the colored version.

Since I just started selling Real Estate again with John L. Scott and Penny’s Team in Poulsbo, and will be showing from Bainbridge to Kingston I decided the perfect house-warming gift would be a drawing of the house my client buys.  Let me know if you know of anyone looking to buy a new home in our area.

http://www.dianakingsley.net

Local Attractions

More Pen & Ink Sketching

Barn with Airstream Boats Chad's House Coyote Ranch Kingston Cove Kingston Hotel copy Main Street Ale House Red Car

Once in a while you find some sort of Art that makes your heart sing.  I think I have found my medium, as this is so very relaxing to me.  After years of teaching hand drafting, I get to use the fun sketchy part of drawing, combine it with a little color and have a finished piece that makes me smile.  Hope you find what makes you happy.

More Pen & Ink Sketching

Pen & Ink

Bad Trailor Green House Old House Point No Point Rowboats

This last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a pen & ink & watercolor class with a well known artist.  Pen & ink has always captured my attention, especially after writing my book “Hand Drafting for Interior Design”

Book cover

Working on the drawings for many days, I found pleasure in the hand drawn line and taking this class I got to put to use all the drawings and techniques I shared in my book.

The group of people that came together for the class were talented, funny and made the weekend such a pleasure.  But the drawing was just pure delight, and learning a new way to add a tad or splash of color to the drawings, made me want to draw, draw, draw and water color a little.

http://www.dianakingsley.net

Pen & Ink

Back to Painting

Beach in Black & White

For many years I took classes with a wonderful impressionist artist and enjoyed the time and progress that I made in the class and the other artists that came to paint and learn. I live on the beach and love my morning, evening and anytime of the day view out my back window to the beach beyond.  Over the years I have photographed it and shared the photos here and on Facebook.

Taking the class I wanted to paint the scene in different moods and shades and colors, as it was always changing.  I painted it about three times and our teacher decided for me that I could no longer paint it in class.  I went along with it because she was the pro.  I left that class about three years ago due to political differences.  If we disagreed with her political beliefs we were yelled at, put down and not allowed to say anything in response as it was her home (garage) where we painted.

Time has passed and I do know I learned a lot about colors and how to mix them from her and from watching fellow artists; but I also have since thought about how many times Monet painted haystacks or a cathedral at Rouen in France.  No one told him he could not paint a subject he was fascinated by.  Kevin McPherson, a contemporary artist produced a book called “Reflection on a Pond”, where he painted his own pond 365 days in a row.

Yesterday having passed the real estate broker’s exam, and not being in my studio other than to sew I spent the afternoon painting my interpretation of my view.  I just repainted my master bedroom in gray and have the desire to do a series of paintings in black, white & gray, with maybe one accent color.  Here is the first of this series.  I was inspired by another painting I did earlier called Airstream, that my youngest son loved, so I gave it to him.

Airstream

Now I am finally inspired to paint again for the sheer joy of it with no intention of running all over trying to sell it or put up another show.  I will post on my website:  www.dianakingsley.net, but that is as much as I will do going forward.

Back to Painting

And sometimes we just have to ENJOY!

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Sometimes I am in awe of our beautiful surroundings and what nature freely gives us to enjoy.  This morning is one of those mornings.  This is the view I wake up to in the Fall.  Cold crisp mornings with glorious views.

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Icicles are one of natures wonders that we see lots of in the Pacific Northwest and what a joy to view from inside looking out.  Of course with the change in temperature there are often  a few surprises that we get to deal with, like the frost on your car windows and yesterday it was a broken faucet with water shooting across my front porch.  Guess husband did not turn off water and I did not notice (should have looked) and the frozen water shot my hose across the yard freeing the water to gloriously flow at a very rapid rate.  It was funny to walk around the corner, see the fountain and know you had to deal with it.

Thank Heaven for hot water and pliers, as it took both to turn off the water.  Just a little sidetrack on an otherwise sunny and freezing day in Kingston.

And sometimes we just have to ENJOY!

Quick sketch for your Journal

Quick sketch for your Journal

When I originally drew this I used pen & ink and added a little water color pencil, but to use as an example in my new book coming out, I wanted to show that it can translate very well into black and white with gray scale.

Value Marker is a tool you can use to see all your photos or artwork in black and white or gray scale. It is an Ap you can use on most smart phones or on your Ipad.

Any tool we can add to gain knowledge is helpful. Learning to look for values in your work can make it much better.

In hand drafting it is important to pay attention to details and to line weight. Darker lines bring your eye to them, and lighter/softer lines help something slightly disappear.

In hand drafting, the darker line represents something closer to the front and the light line represents something not as important or further away.

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Home is Where you Drop Your Anchor

Home is Where you Drop Your Anchor

The last few days it has been nice enough to work in my garden, one of the other things I love.

The other day my friend Derek Gundy asked the question on his Facebook page, what is your most productive time of day!

I used to be a “Morning Person”, as I have gotten older I feel the need to take my long walk when I first get up, after doing my blog, my Facebook and my Email. Maybe I was more of a a “Morning” person, when you did not have to do so many things before you could start your real day.

What is your most productive part of the day?

http://www.dianakingsley.net

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Quiet can be your best friend

Quiet can be your best friend

Having just returned from a two week road trip to meet my beautiful two year old grand daughter from Cambodia, traveling with my youngest son to visit my oldest son was rewarding in many ways.

Getting to know Claire a little was totally amazing! Traveling with my youngest son was a fun adventure. We talked a lot on the trip, but also found we could comfortably drive for many miles not needing conversation.

I have always loved the quiet times of the day. First thing in the morning, enjoying a cup of coffee and view from my kitchen and last moment before the sunset when the quiet of the day joins the beauty of the sky.

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