Industrial Marker Sketch Watercolor 2

Industrial Plain 2
watercolor on paper
5½" x 8" (13.97cm x 20.32cm)

This one like the previous post is from this post.
I mentioned I generally do the watercolor the same value or light/dark pattern as the marker sketch which is generally true. But this one I wanted a little more separation between the fore-middle-backgrounds so I did not darken the middle ground, the two fences, as dark as the foreground to distance them from the foreground and let the building fall back into the background by keeping it lighter. The middle ground has more terrain to it than it does in the marker version due to the taller format.

This is one reason for the marker sketch which serves as a way of trying out a composition and not just the notan. With that in mind I don't mind these kinds of changes. The decision I had to make was where to put the extra space. Do I add to each F-M-B ground, two of them or one? I chose the middle ground. I like the squeeze of the sky and the relative size of the foreground so it all went to the mid-ground. It opened up the composition and put a little more distance between the fore and mid-ground.506

Industrial Marker Sketch Watercolor 1

Industrial Plain 1
watercolor on paper
5½" x 8" (13.97cm x 20.32cm)

Here is another small watercolor from one of my marker sketches from this post.
I have had a lot of fun painting these in watercolor from the marker sketches. You can see some slight differences from the sketch with part of that resulting from a different size proportion but I generally maintain the original light and dark value pattern or notan.505

Demo at South Bay Watercolor Society

"Industrial Terrain 2" work in progress
watercolor on paper
9" x 15" (22.86cm x 38.1cm)

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2017-18

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Here are a couple pics from a recent watercolor demo at the South Bay Watercolor Society in Torrance California.
I was invited by another National Watercolor Society member and gallery director Louisa McHugh who also provided the demo photos. Thank you Louisa!

I decided to do the demo from one of my marker sketches. If you are familiar with pasts posts on these marker sketches you know that most are from my imagination. I draw in marker because it is immediate and it forces me to use the design skills I know instead of interpretive skills you use while drawing from life or a 2d source. It also helps that I have done so many industrial paintings so I am familiar with how they look.

Since my watercolor process is relatively slow and demos are short I came in with the lay-in and first few washes painted. I knew I would not necessarily end with a finished painting so I spent the time talking about my process, my influences, how I arrive at a finished watercolor and answering questions while I painted.
I also had some examples of other watercolors done from these marker sketches, finished and in progress and several of the marker sketch books on hand.

The posted painting here is the state of finish I had at the end of the demo. I managed to get it past the really 'ugly stage' that all my watercolors go through. You know how some watercolorists have beautiful paintings at every step? Not mine!
I have never like my watercolors early in the painting. The first two-thirds is so awful to look at and if I didn't know better I would never finish one! I just know to stay with it to the end.

When I finish this one I will post it.

Industrial Watercolor and Marker Sketch

"Industrial Terrain"

watercolor on paper, 2017

9" x 15" (22.86cm x 38.1cm)

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Long time since a post!

Here is a watercolor painting I did from one of my marker sketches. I originally started it as a demo for the National Watercolor Society show at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center worked on it a bit down at Laguna Art-A-Fair and later put some final touches on it in my studio.
My work in that Muckenthaler show here and here.493

Nocturne from Marker Sketch

"Suburb Nocturne"
watercolor on paper, 2016
4" x 7" (10.16cm x 17.78cm)

Marker sketches
black markers
sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)
Not for Sale

Here's a small watercolor from my marker sketches and another imagined nocturne landscape.
You can see the marker sketch original post here.
I am working from the marker sketches as an excuse to experiment in a variety of paint applications or treatment of the medium, taking my cue from the manner in which I drew with the marker.
The marker sketches were experimental in themselves and often were dictated the complexity of subject, my patience for careful study vs quick sketch and even by my mood at the time.

I am back to posting on a regular basis again so stay tuned. For now I will be posting these watercolors from the marker sketches.492

A Watercolor and its Marker Sketch

"Tree w/ Lightning"
watercolor on paper, 2016
4" x 7" (10.16cm x 17.78cm)

Marker sketches
black and value markers
sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)
Not for Sale

A watercolor painted from one of my marker sketches, original post here.
Most of the marker sketches were done while sitting in my booth at Laguna Art-A-Fair the last two years.
These sketches allow me to draw from my imagination. It is drawing for the simple pleasure of drawing.
I also enjoy the marker because it is so direct and forces me think ahead while still having the freedom to let it flow onto the page. It is very much like watercolor since you must plan on preserving the light areas and whites of the paper.
As you can see the watercolor is stretched out horizontally from the marker version. Having done the marker sketch first allowed me to see the proportions and make adjustments before the painting. I decided it needed to be more elongated for its simple composition.
Maintaining the value pattern was important and in this one, the textural quality of the tree.491

National Watercolor Society Paint-Out

This Saturday is the National Watercolor Society Paint-Out  at artist Rirkrit Tiravanija's water pavilion in Van Nuys as part of The Los Angeles Biennial Current: LA Water, a citywide summer event held at various locations.

The paint-out is open to all NWS artists as well as anyone who wants to participate.
When:
Saturday August 6, 2016 from 2:00 pm to 10:30 pm

Where:
Sepulveda Basin, 6300 Lake Balboa Hiking Trail, Los Angeles , Ca 91422

I will be there painting away the day along with the site co-ordinator Juliana Lujan from Tiravanija Studio.
Come on out and join us for some plein-air painting or just to see artists at work.
Hope to see you there!

You can read more about this cultural event here.

Thanks go out to Rirkrit Tiravanija and his studio from all of us at The National Watercolor Society for his invitation to this unique Public Art Challenge.

Splash 17 Release

Splash 17: Inspiring Subjects published by North Light Books is due out this July. You can pre-order the book here on North Light Shop. My previous post here of my above watercolor accepted into the book
Special thanks to Editor Rachel Rubin Wolf and Sarah Laichas Editorial Coordinator of F + W Media.

Mid-show Night at the Muck

"Scrubber"

"Steel Bundles"

"Colored Tanks"

“Scrubber”
"Steel Bundles"
"Colored Tanks"
watercolor on paper, 2016
6” x 8” (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Here are my other 3 paintings I have in the NWS Plein Air Exhibition and sale at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center. Today, Thursday March 3rd from 7:30 - 9:00 pm the Muckenthaler is hosting a mid-show gallery tour.
Several artists including myself will be there doing demo's and/or talking about our work. It will be a perfect night to attend if you can make it.

These 3 are the most orderly of my six. Part of that reason is the view I choose and the way I presented them, straight on and compositionally horizontal. Industrial subjects often are chaotic but even when so I can usually find the view that is less chaotic.
When the subject is busy as in "Colored Tanks ", with so much going on in the painted surfaces the straight on view as well as simplification helps make a better painting.

My other 3 in the show are made up of more angles and diagonals compositionally, which I usually favor, but they are simpler to begin with so they needed the perspective views to keep them more interesting.

“Scrubber”
We see these attached to every industrial building. Seen in endless configurations these kinds of machinery are called scrubbers. They clean or scrub the air inside the warehouses, factories and industrial plants. Very similar to my power pole series there is a lot going on with them. With their boxy structures, angles, valves, pipes, wires and ducts it’s their forms that attract me. Sometimes oddly proportioned, gangly in appearance, rusted, worn and weathered they can take on an anthropomorphic character and are irresistible to me so I must paint them.

"Steel Bundles"
Bundles of steel girders, wood haphazardly stacked on top and overlooked by most. I find these kinds of repeating forms a great subject to paint, especially when the stacks are not perfectly arranged. In the simplest form they represent the industrious and hard working as well as both organization and chaos.

“Colored Tanks”

Industrial subjects have more color than most realize. The colorful palette of hues can range from the more earthy to the bright and highly saturated. Then they take on the rich patina of the time worn and sun faded. This one had the two sides of its gates painted at different times and in two different reds. The blues tanks too were faded, its paint water stained in various degrees. I waited for a full sunny day to paint these to accentuate the lively palette.434,435,436

My Work at The Muck

"Storage Yard Sun"

"Railroad Crossing"

"Powder Magazine"

"Storage Yard Sun"
For Sale at DailyPaintWorks, click here

"Railroad Crossing"

"Powder Magazine"
For Sale at DailyPaintWorks, click here
all watercolor on paper, 2016
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Here's three of the six paintings I have hanging at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center.
All were painted for the NWS plein air show, an exhibition and sale. The bottom two I painted just prior to the show opening.

Most often I am already familiar with the site and at different times of day. I walk the location, choose a view and proceed to do small, quick but careful studies of complicated subjects, capturing both my perceptions and an honest depiction of any information I see as important. These studies, done in a near journalistic fashion, allow me to get familiar with the subject and later serve to inform my studio work. Through later editing I am able to present my thoughts and views on the subject.

"Storage Yard Sun"
Another of my Storage Yard Series, an all encompassing term for the many industrial sites that I paint that don’t fit any category like refineries or warehouses. This particular day the sun was bright and was bouncing reflected light into the shadows giving the scene an animated quality. I set out to capture that before the light could change and even played it up a bit to give it some life.

"Railroad Crossing"
I often paint railroad locomotives, bridges etc but I also find a certain fascination with the common everyday railroad tracks, crossings and signals. I liked this particular view for the tracks splitting in two directions and had this site in the back of my mind for some time. I knew I wanted to paint it either in the early morning or afternoon to take advantage of the shadows to provide darks for the composition, finally deciding on the afternoon.

"Powder Magazine"
Easily overlooked, what looks like an unassuming little stone and brick building is actually a Civil War era powder magazine built in 1862 for Camp Drum in Wilmington CA. It’s odd to see in the middle of a residential neighborhood down near the LA Harbor since we don’t associate the Civil War with the west coast.
I have driven past it for years and finally needed to get it down in paint. With this study, as well as some others, I plan to develop it into a larger studio painting.431,432,433

Catalina Pacific Concrete Watercolor

"Catalina Pacific Concrete (Demolition 3)"
watercolor on paper, 2015
8.5" x 15" (21.59cm x 38.1cm)
For Sale at DailyPaintWorks, click here

A slight pause from all the recent marker sketches just so you know I still paint.

Here is a recent watercolor from the ongoing Catalina Pacific Concrete series, the demolition sub-series. This sub-series focuses on the actual destruction of the neighborhood landmark. At least it had been a fixture in the neighborhood for years.

Many from the overall Catalina Pacific Concrete series are painted with a thought in mind first, with some level of realism, not rendered, but with a certain vagueness to communicate that thought.

I painted this one simply and in a stark more graphic manner reminiscent of its final demise, quietly disappearing with a final punch in the stomach. Sometimes simply stated communicates that idea better as I did with this earlier version of the plant. It is the subject being subdued.

This one is completely devoid of any real background which is lost in the mist of demolition.

If you've read my Skies post this sky too is not an afterthought. It has a similar but more subtle upheaval as this watercolor of another local neighborhood landmark succumbing to the fate of demolition. Its subtlety came from the decision to retain the stark white from the first of this sub-series "Catalina Pacific Concrete (Demolition 1)" while still showing some of the action of the de-construction.380

Lone 2 - Dockside Red Shed

"Dockside Red Shed"
Watercolor on paper, 2015
15" x 20" (38.1cm x 50.8cm)

Here's a recent watercolor of an old shed in a marina in the LA Harbor. It is similar to this one in it's rendering, although it is a more tightly packed composition, and this one for the lone idea behind it.
I was drawn to not just the shed, I love corrugated buildings, but also the small palm and the two backlit plastic barrels for their luminosity.
Besides adding some shape variation to the composition they countered the predominant rectangular forms with cylindrical and radial (round or circular) forms. Just enough to break up a static composition.

The palm leaves fanning out in the lower left corner and the short retaining wall lead nicely to the barrels and shed, the power lines reinforcing the diagonal compositional thrust from lower left corner. Without that everything is horizontal and square and dull.

After those initial observations that first get my attention, when I sit down to paint I always realize the other artistic decisions that must be made before I put paint to paper. That for me is the real content, the design just aids in making it work.

I have to identify what I was seeing and decide how to portray those impressions through paint.
It's not always automatic.
What I was really seeing was not just the shed itself but how it sat by itself on the large dockside slab, isolated from the rest of the buildings.

The warm bright slightly overcast sky and simplified foreground communicated that idea of the isolated shed and also helped ease its busy liveliness. A nice clear blue sky or clouds would not have done that. Pretty blue skies generally say happy or pleasant, clouds say another depending on how they are portrayed, a dark sky says something else. But a bright nearly colorless sky doesn't draw attention to itself and in this case this reinforces the lone subject.

Since all the vibrancy takes place across the center in the shed itself its shadow needed to belong to it and differ from the barrels and palm shadows. So it starts green at left and after turning the corner is warm blue.

I also decided that since the shed had such a strong red color and aged patina showing the rippled surface of the corrugated metal was not necessary this time... it was busy enough.302

Accepted into "Splash 17 : Inspiring Subjects" !

"E 4th St, Bridge"

I just received the great news that my painting "E 4th St. Bridge", which I mentioned earlier here on my blog, has been accepted into "Splash 17: Inspiring Subjects", the annual watercolor book published by North Light Books.
As follower's of my blog already know I am always inspired by industrial subjects and my city of Los Angeles. All cities have their own great landmarks and little treasures and I love seeking out the ones in my own. I have seen paintings of the 4th St. Bridge before but I hope that by focusing on the section that splits to E 4th Place I caught a unique view that has not been painted too often. I loved this view for its dramatic composition.

Since I have been super busy preparing for this summer's Art-A-Fair and with so many other projects happening all at once this kind of news is a boost to my weary bones, sore back and tired eyes. Exactly the shot I needed right now!
From the way things have been going so far it looks like 2015 will be a high watermark year for me, even with our extreme drought!  ; ).

Santa Ana River 5 Vespertine painting

"Santa Ana River 5 (Vespertine)"
watercolor on paper, 2014
6" x 18" (15.24cm x 45.72cm)

This is my painting for the article "The River in Me" by Susan Straight for Orion magazine. See previous post.

The client wanted to see more color than my more urban versions of the river to communicate the lush verdant arroyo and river banks of the author's essay.
If you are not familiar with Southern California's landscape much of it is either desert or savanna, dry most of the year. But the river basins are teaming with green lush vegetation and wildlife year round.

I was happy I visited the site because I learned that at this time of day with the river sitting down in the arroyo the long streaking shadows are gone as the sun drops behind the hills but there was still plenty of light in the landscape.

We originally talked about showing some evidence of the manmade as you can see in the some of the sketches in my previous post but we arrived at this one (sketch 3) and I was happy with it.
When you are down in the arroyo, although there is some of the manmade, you do feel like you are away from the city and the final painting reflects that as well as that same feeling in much of the article.
What did remain was the distant dry desert mountains of Southern California in the background.297

Santa Ana River 5 Vespertine sketches

"Santa Ana River 5 (Vespertine)"
pencil on paper, 2014

This is a recent commission for Orion magazine. Today the thumbnail sketches, tomorrow the painting.
My art is featured in the current January/Feburary 2015 issue.

I was contacted by the magazine after they found my Santa Ana River series while researching an article for their magazine. The article titled "The River in Me" by Susan Straight is about the authors experiences with the northern section of the Santa Ana River here in Southern California.

After some emails back and forth I decided to visit the site in person. The northern section of the Santa Ana River is more rural or natural than my more industrial/city versions I had done previously and I needed to get a feel for it so I could be as true as possible to the site and especially the author's vision of it.

I did some value thumbnails and sent these six for approval.
We decided on number 3.

Vespertine refers to the hour before sunset, not quite dusk or twilight. Poetically it is the magic hour.
While visiting the site I made it a point to really pay attention to the quality and the amount of light and I was surprised how much light is still in the landscape that final hour, more than I expected, much more than dusk but still a different quality than earlier in the afternoon.

As part of my research I took photos of course and although I originally planned to do color sketches on site. Once there I changed my mind.

The alternative was to simply stop and pay attention, make mental notes or write down thoughts. I have found I will remember more when I make it a task in itself.
Photos are good for the technical information and on-site sketches are only good to a point when it is late and the light is changing by the minute. We can get caught up in making the sketches and miss a lot of change. I might get down a color sketch or two but I gained much more by simply observing then committing it and trusting it to my memory.295,296

E 4th St. Bridge

"E 4th St. Bridge"
watercolor on paper, 2013
10" x 15" (25.4cm x 38.1cm)

Happy New Year!

I recently submitted this painting for Splash 17, the annual book on watercolor.

The solid but well aged E 4th St. Bridge near downtown Los Angeles, a concrete arch bridge built in 1930.

This section is referred to as the 4th St. Bridge split, where it splits south to E 4th Place. It is on the western side of the Los Angeles River and viewed from under E 4th Place.

Often when I paint an older structure I show it as it is today. Here I anchored it in the present by adding the orange fluorescent traffic cone and post.294

Watercolor Landscape - Storm

"Storm Over Cajon"

watercolor on paper, 2014

9" x 13" (22.86cm x 33.02cm)
For Sale at DAILY PAINTWORKS, CLICK HERE

Direct link to painting here

Although I would describe myself as a fair weather person I love stormy weather. It always makes for a great painting subject.
A nice dramatic storm rising from the Cajon Pass, the long climb from San Bernardino to the high desert, is about to pounce on the Mojave Desert.291

Watercolor Landscape - Old Tree

"Old Tree"
watercolor on paper, 2014
9" x 13" (22.86cm x 33.02cm)
For Sale at DAILY PAINTWORKS, CLICK HERE

Direct link to painting here

A simple watercolor of an old tree hemmed in by lush green healthy ones. They seemed to be huddling around it, as if in a protective manner. I simplified the dark mass of trees to better play-off the lines of the foreground.

I also liked the shapes of this landscape, the troughed out foreground and the odd irrigation pipe loop so I painted it. That's it.290

Watercolor Landscape - Palm Grove

"Palm Grove"   SOLD

watercolor on paper, 2014

9" x 13" (22.86cm x 33.02cm)

This palm grove near home made for a simple subject but challenging compositional design. Its simple design motif of the palm tree shapes could too easily lead to a boring design of repetitive shapes.
The right cropping and ratio of positive to negative shapes is what makes it work. The only trees shown in their full outline are the yellow green ones which are not big within the overall composition.

I took a more graphic approach for this watercolor using value for atmospheric depth but ignoring the rule of warm foreground to cooler bluer colors (only) as the landscape recedes, except for the distant tree line of blue and purple.
I like to test various ways of depicting distance and here I put the coldest color, blue, in the foreground, a blue green in the near middle ground, changing to a yellow green in the far middle ground. The far background falling into the cooler range of purple and blue.
The alternating cool, warm, cool still does a good job of showing distance - cool foreground, warm middle ground, cool background.
The color saturation and intensity falls somewhere in the middle of the scale but is low chroma.
I like to do simplistic studies like these to work out ideas for the more involved paintings. That way I am not committing huge blocks of time only to find out it did not work.289

Catalina Pacific Concrete - Ruins Study 15

"Catalina Pacific Concrete - Ruins Study 15"

watercolor on paper, 2014

5¾"  x 7¾" (14.605cm x 19.685cm)

For sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE

Studying more of the shapes within the overall mass as I have done in study 13, study 12, study 11 and study 2. Of course I could say that is true on all of them since you really can't ignore shape but these four I was focusing more intently on the debris atop the main structure.

This one, 13 and 2  I was also really looking into the shadows. There are so many great jagged puzzle pieces within the shadows that even with a predominantly horizontal composition and rectangular form, and I am referring to the upright structural nature of the architecture in its blocky squareness, it is secondary to the dynamic and lively action of its torn and shattered appearance.

There is some anguish in the shredded metal of the tank as it reaches up and back upon itself. Sort of like a fist cursing its demise.

The more I do of these, the more I see.284