Plein Air….Plants

Hello….Spring!!



I really enjoy this view from my study in my new house.



So, one day I tried to capture it.



I first, just got some basic shapes down, and lots of green for those trees.



When I was done, I went back in and outlined with my micro pen.  The above portion is not outlined and the lower portion was.  I prefer to outline but I don’t dislike the look when it’s not.



Here’s my cactus for my daily Watercolor month last July. 



My front door with a potted plant that stayed strong the entire summer!



My Christmas tree sans ornaments.



Here’s a truck from a flower farmer (@floretflower) that I follow on instagram.  Drawn from my ipad feed.



And most recently, my precious plant that was given to me a few years ago.  Grown from a cut off of my grandmothers stock.  A most interesting house plant that can handle my neglect.

Now, I’m off to enjoy this nice weather!

Plein Air….Structure

My back porch is THE place that I gain Calmness!  Drew this for the July World Watercolor challenge.



I’m an inspiration “junkie”!  I’ve had this little Angel for more than 10 years! 



Since I wasn’t in Rome painting this weekend, I painted the next best thing.



My view from my desk chair, and just trying to keep things loose.



It’s really all about perspective…. and my entertainment center gave me lots of practice.



Headed out to a local park last Fall and drew this helicopter.  I’m trying to take advantage of those beautiful day, in a drawing kind of way! 



I’m on board to “Make America Great Again”!  But apparently I miscounted the stripes!

Plein Air….Birds-n-Bridges

Lets hear it for Friday!!!



I have a thing for Cardinals, so during the July World Watercolor Challenge, I drew this candle holder.



On another day in July, I drew this bluejay off of an image on the internet.



You got me!!! This is not a bird, but she’s a bit of a beast!  A lovely beast….Our City has many artistic horses throughout town in honor of Horse Country or Derby…not sure which?  The program is called Gallopalooza.  Life size horse statues are painted colorfully and are bought by individuals or cooperations.



Took myself out to dinner last winter and found the perfect spot!



Bridges can be intimidating….but…the trick is to “see the patterns”, cuz they are there.



That same bridge, but on the Indiana side!  Beautiful day for drawing too

Plein Air…. Drink and Draw

This is my favorite Adult Beverage….but I was not drinking it when I drew this pic off of an image on my ipad.  This drawing was for the July World Watercolor Monthly Challenge.



And this one was at Starbucks….where it’s White Chocolate Mocha’s that I digest!  Yum!



And another Starbucks setting, where I wanted to capture the subjects in a bigger mode, as in, the people take up all the space in my moleskine….Ran out of time ….again!



This one is hard…College football games can be quite distracting…lots of movement, lots of Energy!  Love that Energy, unless it’s being directed to me in the form of  “Why aren’t you paying any attention to the game?”!  Gotta love the honesty of loved ones (offspring), but you also gotta do what you gotta do to survive a 4 hour event   .



During this football game….less energy than the seats in the middle of the “student/band crowd”….where I could actually capture some details….And to my chagrin, enjoy the game.



With my schedule…I’m usually ready for dinner at 4pm…so on the days that I’m not responsible for dinner at home….I’ll head out to a local restaurant where hopefully people have bellied up to the bar and I can practice my art!  And by the time I’ve consumed a beer or two….I’ve made some new friends out of the staff or the patrons.



The absolute hardest part about drawing people in public….is them spotting me!  Cuz sometimes they’ll totally change stance, or they keep looking my way….hard to notice details when I have to keep averting my eyes!   I swear the guy in green was on to me!



Pubs are a really good place to practice brick-painting.  As in copying the look of brick in watercolor.



I learn the best from my pieces after posting them somewhere.  Here is no exception….those table angles look like the back wall was not even.   I now know I’ve got to get that perspective right early on. 



This piece was done last week….I really tried to use the lesson from the last piece and keep those table angles in line!  I could do this every day!  I’d learn something new everyday too!

Plein Air….Beaches and Boats

Mid-February in the Ohio Valley has me daydreaming of warmer days!



Brought my moleskine out to the beach one day last summer!   Watercoloring in this environment is a lot harder than I thought it would be…..Sand is always shifting and winds are always blowing.



Had a nice meal at a beach-side pub one afternoon. Then I ran out of time to really get my watercolor on.



Hung out at a marina another morning before it got too hot.



On this outing, I stepped back to try and capture all the boats under a covered dock.



Apparently I only saw the left side of boats on this drawing day.



And last, the great lawn of a popular local restaurant with all these fun chairs.

Architecture….En Plein Air

When I don’t know what to draw, but I really want to draw….I will often just draw buildings or houses.  This beautiful home is behind my house.



This building has always fascinated me.  Since I was losing sunlight, I never was able to finish it.



Hung out at Papa John’s headquarters for an hour one Friday night.



Stopped by this new Sports Academy in town because I like the modern architecture.  But I never went inside.



Had a late lunch at an outdoor grill, and decided I’d draw the cars in the parking lot.



The backyard view from my previous home one fine summer day.



And last this cute little shop that has a lot of interesting objects outside.

This is such a good way for me to zone out as I pay attention to lines and angles.  It’s also nice that I don’t have to divert my eyes when drawing buildings like I do when I’m drawing people in public.