World Watercolor Month Day #30

It was apparently too hot to blog yesterday although I did sit outside and then inside to paint. That was about all I did, LOL. Sat outside in the warm morning

Painted this:

and doodled a bit inside and then painted from the previous day’s photos”

World Watercolor Month Day #30

Martians

I just finished listening to the Audible version of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. I remember how much it grabbed and moved me when reading it but this was a great version. Plus, I had the deep satisfaction of anticipating some of the moments I love.

Given that it was started in the later 1940’s… it still felt fresh today.

If you haven’t read it (or listened) – just DO it.

Martians

World Watercolor Month Day #29

Drove over to the Clark which was very full of people looking at Renoir and Ida O’Keefe. I did go in after spending time with the hill, the clouds and the cows. It was very hot. Tonight at dinner I had two BIG glasses of water and then I had to wash out my painting hat because it had developed a salt ring! I refilled my gallon jug and two smaller water bottles so I’m ready for next time – hopefully it will be cooler!

World Watercolor Month Day #29

World Watercolor Month Day #28 and Yesterday

Last night, Mom and I saw this, reflecting the late evening sky at Naumkeag, Stockbridge Mass..

And when night came it danced with fireflies.

Tonight the late sky looked like this:

And I painted this:

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.
— Albert Einstein

World Watercolor Month Day #28 and Yesterday

World Watercolor Month Days #25 and #26

Not sure how I forgot to post my bit of watercolor yesterday but here it is. I have a new palette and I’m debating how to set it up, so I’m still messing around to see what colors some new possibilities become when mixed with other more known players. Seems to me that if you’re going to have another palette it should be substantially different in some ways from the other ones you’ve already got going. I don’t know. On the other hand if it was wildly different from what I commonly use, chances are I wouldn’t use it? Ack.

Yesterday I received my first postcard for the August Poetry Postcard Festival. Today I received postcards #2 and #3. They blew me away, humbled me and filled me with gratitude.

World Watercolor Month Days #25 and #26

World Watercolor Month Day #24

Stopped to paint clouds on the way home. I didn’t think there would be a colorful sunset.

I was wrong.

World Watercolor Month Day #24

World Watercolor Month Day #23

Was grey and misting when I painted this from my car in the driveway.

and then the sun came out:

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World Watercolor Month Day #23

World Watercolor Month Day #22

It rained all day and it’s still raining. Which is good because during that insane sunset last night the temperature and humidity dropped 10 points each and this morning it was a swell 65F.

An online tutor that I have, Alan Owen in the UK, posted a video demonstrating mixing various greens and wondering what blues and yellows we were using to mix greens. He’d asked me that question the other day about a painting I’d posted to the group and I have the feeling he’d prefer that we all mix our greens. I do test mixes from time to time because in theory mixing greens make sense. You have blues and yellows on your palette that should be all you need to mix up whatever you need. In reality I keep a few greens on my palette and mix from there. I think it’s often water control that messes me up.

But anyway – rainy day and a question worth answering – what greens can you get from the blues and yellows on your palette (and beyond). I took nine blues and six yellows and did a rather orderly mixing chart. Then I did a page of just various greens I have.

I’ve been thinking of setting up the new palette I got recently but was trying to figure out how to make it different than the one I’m carrying at the moment. So while pondering this I swatched out the yellows and red and browns plus a few purples. That about covered the whole spectrum.

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World Watercolor Month Day #22

It’s the little things…. blogging division

I’ve been blogging since early 2001 but started on Blogger and then moved to WordPress. There are two parts of WordPress, the free hosting on WP dot com and the self-hosted via WP dot org. It’s complicated (not really LOL)

It’s the little things…. blogging division

World Watercolor Month Day #21

I seemed a little early tonight as I drove home so rather than stopping in East Greenbush, I headed a short way past home to the Massachusetts state line, just past New Lebanon NY. I tried painting some of the already interesting clouds (hard – very hot, humid and windy meant things dried quickly or not at all. Soon there was an unexpected crowd to watch the sunset so I set aside paper and paint after a bit and took the photos linked below.

It was an interesting crowd. One woman offered me her glasses to give me a different amazing view of the sunset… uh, no thank you? A couple arrived early on, sat in the car talking to someone on the phone and then got out to look at the sunset. They were apparently finishing up a second date and I’m just speculating there was some drinking with dinner… but hey.

Here are the unedited photos from tonight, gawkers and all

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World Watercolor Month Day #21