No, this is not a bar for "Negroes" in the old, segregated South. It is a beautiful granite bar on the American River, east of Sacramento. It was further up into the Sierra Foothills on the American that John Marshall discovered flakes of gold while supervising operations of John Sutter's lumber mill around 1843. The great California Gold Rush commenced, and it was on this part of the American River that various gold prospectors were allowed to set up segregated camps according to ethnicity (whites, blacks, latinos, and chinese). So this scene that I painted side by side with one of my talented private lesson students, was where the African Americans...uh...Negroes set up camp. Now it is a fishing, kyacking, and swimming paradise. Just a beautiful area. This watercolor was painted from a photo I took. In front of the swimmers were some scuba divers. We left them out of the painting!
1. We first wet the watercolor paper above the granite rock line then charged in light toned, pre-mixed colors from off of our palettes. We let those colors mix on the wet paper and enjoyed results!
2. After the background colors were bone dry, we wet the tree area and again charged in colors...tree colors! Ahh...more luscious color intermingling...let it happen...it's a happening,man!
3. After that, we brush in some light shadows on the granite. We let it dry, and splatterd granite texture with an old toothbrush. Never ever throw away those used up tooth brushes!
4. Delicately, we painted in some fissures and darker areas of the granite. We painted in the figures with just a minimal amount of detail. The large granite rocks looked flat and boring until the swimmers were painted in. Then they came to life. Funny how that worked! I think it was a dramatic tonal contrast thing. Also, we painted some light toned water to further help define the hard edges and forms of the granite.
5. With a large, flat brush loaded unevenly with two colors, and brushing with a flowing side -to- side motion, we started to paint water reflections. We had to keep going back to the palette to load the brush with more colors and back to the paper for more side-to-side motion. We kept it going and only lay down our brushes after we were done! Again, the colors intermingle with all that water on our brushes along with the constant sweeping motion. What a rush!.. and scary, but that's watercolor.
6. After the water reflections were bone dry, we took a dry, thirsty brush and pulled off highlights.
7. Just a very light, warm yellowish color needed to be brushed onto parts of the granite rock, and "Negro Bar" was completed. Whew! About three and a half hours painting time, and time for a cold beer!
Remember my personal definition of watercolor? Watercolor is all about controlling the flood.
A fellow homey (Terry Miura) and oil painter extraordinare, posted pics of his garage studio... very well organized and appointed indeed. I noticed in one pic, where his garage door was open, parked in the driveway is the same black gas guzzling SUV that I drive except the interior of his vehicle is covered in oil paint smears whereas my vehicle, driven by a god fearing and clean cut acrylic artist, is bereft of such accouterments. A thorough description accompanied his studio pics, and at the end, he suggested that I post views of my studio, so here you have them.
I rent out about an 600-700 sq. ft. space on the first floor of a mixed- use bldg. Top floor is living, rental units and the bottom floor is commercial units.
I recently purchased an Olympus digital camera that shoots panorama views. Kinda reminiscent of Cinerama (if you are younger than 50 yrs. or so, google "Cinerama"). These three views are almost 360 degrees of the studio. I could not shoot towards my large window on account of it screwing up the exposure, but that's OK. The important stuff is within these three shots.
Most of those airplanes hanging from the ceiling were built by me from paper model kits whereby you cut out all the parts with an exacto knife and glue them together with Elmer's Cement. Most all the paper model kits came from Germany. That's a 1920 designed Bauer chair in the corner where I sometimes park my butt to eat lunch or view the art on my easel. That one chair set me back $800 in 1976!
The next view shows my $365, circa 2004, cheapo easel and a monitor that I sometimes use to view my painting photo references. It's hard to discern details on the San Francisco paper model cable car on top of the book shelf. The kit even came with paper litter. There is a San Francisco Chronical newspaer left on one of the passenger benches, a banana peel ( I predict a law suit ), and an umbrella!... very cool cable car detailing! This particular kit was made in the good 'ole US of A...not in China but in the good 'ole US of A!
Moving along and finishing the Studio L tour is the third view. Notice the table and chairs on the right. That is where, twice a week, my wife conducts knitting lessons. She is a fantastic knitter!
And that concludes the tour of Studio L where fine art and knitting prevail.
DON'T FORGET THAT SEPT. 12 IS THE DEADLINE FOR THE SECOND SELF PORTRAIT GLOBAL LOVE IN CHALLENGE. CHECK OUT AN EARLIER POST ON THIS BLOG OR ON MY SECOND BLOG (SPGLOBALLOVEIN) FOR DETAILS.
