urban sketching

Or in my case small town sketching.  I have been very inspired by the urban sketchers website and decided to begin sketching Fredericksburg.  My goal is at least one drawing a week.  As I look more carefully at the houses around town I've noticed many of them have plaques with names and dates that I can research and learn more about the history of ordinary people in this town.  

I

micron pen, watercolor, 1 hour

I sketched with a friend yesterday while sitting in front of Hyperion coffee shop.  The house across the street is 312 William Street and the little building next to it is Vivify, a new hamburger place.   I found out that Robert Ellis (1781-1843) owned a large milling business, and construction business.  He built and owned this residence.  He was buried in the Fredericksburg Masonic Cemetery.

 

new work

Here is the painting finally:

Hyacinthe Fields, 30x40

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are two new pastels:

and here is the finished sketch

     Sometimes I do a more finished sketch to work out how to abstract the design and tune the colors.  The coral colored outline along the bottom and up one side are an important element that I'll need to work into the painting some way other than an outline.  Without that color in the foreground it seems a little too bland.  

blank canvas

      I love the beginning of a painting, especially if I have a sketch I am excited about, which I do.  I mixed up a large batch of nice cool, but not too cool gray for an under painting.  It is a 30x40 canvas so I need quite a bit. 

  

the thumbnail sketch

the first two pages of my illustrated journal

     

 
 I just got a book by Cathy Johnson, Artist Journal Workshop.  I bought a nice big sketchbook with watercolor pages.  I decided that I really like playing with w/c, something I haven't done in years. 

I've had a cozy weekend, making mini ginger whoopie pies (King Arthur flour recipe) with a friend- yum! and watching birds on my back deck.  

new paintings

Bananaquits, 9x12, oil

Houses in Bermuda, 12x16, oil

A Brief Moment, 30x40, oil

sketch

pastel sketch for my next painting