Brushes with the Landscape

Rugged Coast Gouache on Paper This painting is a gouache on paper over pen and ink.  As I've written about before, I will occasionally experiment over earlier paintings.  The Yankee in me hates to throw anything out.  Working in Gouache is still relatively new to me.  I prefer transparent watercolor, but whatever can help me achieve what I'm trying to achieve, I'll give it a try. I was watching one of James Gurney's video's about painting on location with gouache and he mentioned how gouache tends to dry a little darker than it appears when painting - something I found to be very true.  This painting was also over a sketch in pen in ink with a lot of shading, so that did not help.  None the less, my plan was to go for a stormy scene anyway. The picture below shows my current method for sketching on location and even studio work where I will work out different ideas in the margins - focusing on different compostions in thumbnail sketches before attem

I occasionally like to experiment with tracing paper.  Not to trace compositions, but I enjoy the feel charcoal on tracing paper.  Using tracing paper and even newsprint was also recommended by noted illustrators Robert Fawcett and Charles La Salle for practice.  I enjoy finding instructional books by artists such as these for inspiration.  Andrew Loomis is another favorite of mine.  The effects that Loomis and La Salle were able to achieve in Charcoal were amazing.  And Fawcett is an acknowleged master of line.  They make it look so easy.  Any expert does.   I also like to see what the composition looks like in reverse.  While looking at a few of my paintings and drawings in preparation for entering another juried exhibition, I also noticed the difference the colored background makes.   In this case I imagined a stormy sea where visibility was quite limited.  This was done from imagination, through I do enjoy storm watching along the coast.  The first image is simply with

Pen and Ink - Breakers Two I enjoy studying the many moods of the ocean.  The power of the waves.  The color and the shapes in the rock and in the surf, the reflections of the sun and moon, the mist, sea fog and foam, and , the movement of the waves create constantly shifting and new fascinations to me.  This is all purely the visual and doesn't even take into account the impact of the sounds and smells of the ocean. These drawings are half memory half imagination from my childhood explorations of Higgins Beach in Scarborough Maine, Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth, and my most recent trips to Pemaquid. Tidal Pool, Incoming Tide - Pen and Ink