trees about to bloom soon

not a redbud

I’m not sure but it might be a dogwood.

a redbud for sure

Both trees are showing signs of life with tiny buds except the buds aren’t the same on both trees.

I only sketched the main branches for these trees but there are a lot of tiny branches with buds. First I need to paint the background and I’m not crazy about the background that’s there in real life. It’s part of the children’s garden with more trees, a pond, paths, mulch, some grass and then some big magnolias which are green, and brown trees that have no leaves yet. That’s too complicated for this painting.

We have had some nice weather and it might not be bad tomorrow either but cooler. Then clouds and rain are coming in this week. I can get started on these two tree paintings at home. I don’t know if it will take 1 or 2 or 3 weeks for them to bloom. Things change fast at this time of year. I’ll have to keep checking up on them.

tidal pool with ship coming in / charcoal and chalk

The weather has been dismal here. We did get a little snow but mostly rain and it looks like more rain and cloudy weather for another week. I was glad to get another sketch of the tidal pool when the sun came out. It was cool with a little breeze.

It would be nice to see more snow than rain but the people around here don’t drive in snow very well.

I might try to paint this at home or I might do a sewing project but I needed another sketch first. This helped me visualize the bottom of the pool where the water runs back out to the bay and I made some mental notes of the colors I’ll need. It can be a limited palette. The vertical format isn’t going to work for a painting. I need larger paper. Some times I have to keep sketching before I can decide even simple things like horizontal or vertical. The pool looks too narrow here but I think I can use both of my sketches and fake it for the painting.

The ship had a lot of red on it. It was pretty on the gray blue water.

tidal pool / charcoal and chalk

This is what I decided on for my next plein air painting. I hope that pool doesn’t dry up. It looks like it will be easy to paint.

It’s going to rain again tomorrow, Mon. sunny and cold. I don’t mind cold but if it’s windy I can’t paint on the beach. Then more rain and maybe snow is coming for a few days.

The weather is keeping me at home too much. I started a flower painting and worked on it a few times at home when it was yucky out, maybe I can finish it tomorrow.

Today was beautiful outside for a change. Sunny and cool with a little breeze. A lot of people were enjoying the beach.

lichens / charcoal and chalk

slightly larger than life on my 11 x 14 sketchbook

They’re light green, and layered like tiny leaves or scales. I’m not sure but I think this is a live oak. I’ll ask later at the visitor’s center to be sure. The trees are sprawling with limbs going back down to the sand and all covered with lichens.

I was glad to get over there today after staying home for a couple days because of windy and rainy weather. Today it’s still a little cold and cloudy but not much wind. Tomorrow, winter weather is coming in.

I’d like to paint the whole tree. There’s a lot of them around the empty campsites, so, good time of year for that project.

It would be fun to paint lichens super close up too. I might be able to wing it at home since I have this sketch.

sketch from Back Bay / charcoal and chalk

My sketchbook has assorted colors, blueish, greenish, tan, gray and white. The white is too bright to enjoy drawing on in plein air. Sometimes I tint white paper with pastel, blend it down and spray it with fixative. It’s easier to draw on. The white has so much glare in the sun. That’s what I did for this sketch, tinted it gray first.

Darn it, the waves look a little weak. I need more practice drawing and painting water. It’s always a challenge and it changes every day. I’d like to paint this scene. This is a good time of year to do it. The weather was sunny, cool and windy today. It felt refreshing and I had the overlook all to myself

Except for the water, which might be difficult to paint, this scene looks easy to do. I’m trying to decide, it might not be a good idea to take my easel because I can’t anchor it with the spikes on the wooden overlook. I might be able to paint on paper and lean my drawing board on the railing. I’d have to keep a hand on my easel all the time since it’s windy there.

egret in dead tree / charcoal and chalk

The thing I like about this tree is that a lot of the bark has fallen off and it makes an interesting change in texture between the bare places and the places with bark.

The egret wasn’t there. I looked at photos and tried to fake it.

I still need to sketch more before I can come up with a good plan for a painting. I’d like to use this tree and not have it in the center of the painting. I was glad it fit on the paper because it was windy and I took my 11 x 14 sketchbook instead of a larger paper on my drawing board and easel. I can hold that size sketchbook in one hand and it’s ok in wind. Anything larger and I need my easel. Then I have more to carry and wind makes it difficult.

a place on the path that often floods but was dry today / charcoal and chalk

I like it more when it’s flooded.

I’ve always loved sedge. There isn’t much of it in PA. but in VA. it’s all over the place. It looks soft and is so pretty and bright orange, gold or a shade of red when the sun hits it right. It’s ok to walk through and today I sat on a clump when I took a break.

A huge white egret was sitting in the tree on the other side of the water but he flew away before I got far enough into the sketch to include him.

I was off the path a few feet and some people walked and jogged through. I thought I’d have it to myself if it was flooded but it was real nice out today, sunny and cool and hasn’t rained.

This is one spot I’m considering for my next painting but I haven’t decided yet. I often go there to walk and don’t take my sketchbook. There are so many great views there.

I see wordpress is putting their own ad under my post. And they moved it up to keep it current. hahaha Is it showing up on your reader? It says “Learn from the experts”. I guess I’m an expert now. Nah, They want to sell you something. I didn’t click on it. Well, I’m not paying them for the blog so – whatever.

omg. I just looked at freshly pressed under the art tag and there is so much pornography on it today I had to leave it. It’s too annoying having to keep scrolling past it. Sorry, friends, if I miss something good.

a nice view at Pleasure House Point w. oysters

The tide was low. Some mud is showing and oysters in shallow water. I was off the trail a few feet where some fishermen have beaten a path. The weather is great, sunny and cool with a little breeze. Tomorrow it might rain so I was glad to get this sketch today. Now I have 2 ideas for a painting, this sketch and one from a few days ago, but I want to sketch more before I decide which view to do.

Flooded Meadow / charcoal and chalk

I wore my rubber boots because it rained a lot yesterday. It was so nice out with the sun shining and cool temps today! Tomorrow, more rain but that’s not so bad considering that PA is fixing to get hammered with snow.

This is a real pretty spot especially when it’s flooded. I might try to do another palette knife painting there. This sketchbook is too small. I couldn’t get much sky in the sketch so I’m thinking I should go larger again. Large is easier for me to draw than small. To the left of what I have drawn here, I can see a part of the path that’s not flooded and people walking across. I might try another scene with a little figure walking. I’m not sure. The last painting was a real challenge but if I keep practicing on the things that are hard for me to do it will improve my skill in the long run. And it’s not boring when you give yourself something difficult to try.

Pond, Path, Creek, Golf course / sketch and photo

I adde a person walking for scale but I might change the figure in the painting.

I made the path wider so it’s more visible.

This is a plan for a palette knife painting on paper. I’m going to try painting right on top of my charcoal sketch, at home, because it’s going to rain again for a few days. Luckily, I got a few colors mixed in plein air today which I can put plastic wrap on top of and they will be good for a week or more. They say the sun will come out on Sat. too, so I can get back over there and mix more colors.

We didn’t have any frost yet. The trees are showing some color but not a lot. I might fake in some fall color in the background, or I could wait and see what happens, but the beach isn’t the best place for fall colors.

I need to look at this sketch and make some decisions before I get started painting . Like exactly where to start. I mixed some middle ground tree colors in plein air but I should probably start with the sky and background. Or I could try to paint the water first. The water looks different every time I see it, so I might just wing it.

Yawn.

I’m not a good photographer, but this pic is too boring. I’ll get a more interesting painting if I don’t use it, I’m only showing you the photo so you can see how much my naked eye differs from the camera. Which eye is the better representation? The human eye or the camera?