Watercolor Sketch in the South of France, Cévennes Region

I have been on somewhat of a self-imposed exile from the internet and social media lately. I've been working intently on a special project I will share with everyone soon and have had a little bit of vacation time with family.

Today, I thought I would share a plein air sketch I did one summer when we lived in Paris.  We have friends that have a summer home in the Cévennes region in the South of France and we love to visit them and spend time there when we can.  They are there right now so I have been thinking of them the last few weeks.  The two sketches done vertically are views from the valley where they live.  The Cévennes area is west of Provence, more mountainous and absolutely lovely!

Stay tuned, I will share what's been happening in the studio and will start posting works in progress of my new painting.  I hope everyone is have a great summer so far!

---

Tuscan Olives

I have a few friends who are traveling in Italy right now.  I can't say that I'm not jealous!!  I hope they are having a great time and since I"m feeling quite nostalgic wishing I was there, I thought I would post one of my paintings that was inspired by wandering around the olive trees in Fiesole just above Florence.  This and many other of my paintings are available as limited editions giclée prints and note cards.  Click here for more information on Giclée prints and here for note cards . If you are interested in bigger sizes just let me know.   Ciao!

---

Gate of Reverence

I had to sit with this one a while in my studio before deciding if it was finished. I thought it was until I photographed and looked at it on my monitor.  I noticed a few more things that needed to be tweaked.  This is a great way to analyze a painting from a different perspective.  After a few more hours of noodling I think it is finally finished.

This new painting is the second painting I've done that was  inspired by a photo I took in the Passy area of Paris.  When I’m wondering around shooting reference photos I’m often struck by something that speaks to me as a strong interesting design. It could be what I’m observing has a very graphic quality, or a cast shadow on an object that creates an interesting pattern.    When I came across this gate with a stained glass window juxtaposed behind it, I knew I would eventually paint it.

First, I was immediately attracted to the design of the gate.  I thought I might change the composition completely and paint something else in the background.  However, the more I studied the photo the angel image in the stained glass started to speak to me as well.  I modified the position of the image and the gate from the photo to create a better composition. I also like how the lighter values in the painting are in the background. Painting a stained glass window, something that is more graphic, made me paint a bit tighter than I normally paint, which was a nice challenge.  I also incorporated metal leaf in the halo on the angel. If you look at the work in progress photos you can see where I intended for it to be but didn't add it until I put on the finishing touches.

Like Paris Passy Gate, this reminds me of the time I lived in Paris and a fond friend that lived near this gate.

---

Watercolor Sketch The Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World

It's been a busy week here in the studio.  My newest work Gate of Reverence is finished except for a signature and a pressing.  Will post the finished painting soon!  I'm also in the process of researching and designing my next painting which I will be doing for a very special cause.  More to come on that too!  My daughter is home from school. I have been spending some wonderful time with her on her days off from work. And, my husband has some time off from work too!   Life is good.

Today thought I would post a sketch done a while back of some local subject matter.  This is a view of The Grand Floridian Hotel at Walt Disney World in Florida.  It's kind of challenging to sketch a big "grand" building on a small 6 inch by 9 inch page.   It forces you to measure and keep it simple!

---

Watercolor Sketch in The Alcázar Seville Spain

It's been a busy week,  I'm in the process of finishing Gate of Reverence, and am brainstorming and designing a painting for a special project which I will talk about when it's a bit further along.  Plus doing a lot of general life stuff, doctors appointments, grocery shopping, you know the stuff that still needs doing while we try to squeeze in painting time!

Today I'm posting another watercolor sketch from my travels.  I love Spain, even though,  sadly I speak no Spanish.  I have probably seen more there than in any other country in Europe.  I have been to southern Spain a few times and this sketch was done on one of those occasions in the Alcázar in Seville.

After sketching in many places oddly there are those select few where you find out after the fact,  it is forbidden to sketch there!  This is one. My husband and I settled down to do our sketches.  We split up, he a few yards away from where I was. We were probably about 45 minutes into the process, just about finishing up and we were approached by a guard asking us to stop.  Mind you if we were painting oils, I could see there might be some issue painting in the garden.  There were no signs posted, nothing in the literature we received when we paid our entrance fees.  You were allowed to take as many photographs as you like. The guard gave us no explanation. Needless to say we were a bit stumped. However, we came away feeling like we had gotten away with something, a nice memory painting in the Alcázar and some pretty decent sketches.

---

"Gate of Reverence" More Work in Progress

After Clowning Around, (no pun intended), my latest painting, I'm back to working on Gate of Reverence.  I'm in the detail and value phase now.  Since my last post, I have added more detail to the central figure.  I've also tweaked the dark background on the sides just a bit.  I thought the darks were too uniform so I went in with some pure water washes to do some lifting of pigment at the same time adding some washes of color to bring out a green tone in the dark background to tie in with the gate.

Next I will be adding more detail.  This is depicting a stained glass window in the background, so I will be painting in the lead lines, maybe adjusting value a bit more and working on some hard and soft edges.  This one has been a challenge for me, because I'm painting a bit tighter than I normally paint,  but still painting representational and trying to  avoid a photo realistic interpretation.  Hopefully I'm achieving this goal!

---

New Work...Clowning Around

I took a little break from Gate of Reverence to work on this small painting. I had done a ton of research, taking photos at the Nemo & Friends Pavilion at Epcot,  to paint the Coral Reef Restaurant Menus and have wanted to do more sea life themed paintings.  This months themed exhibition at the 127 SoBo Gallery in Winter Garden, Florida is She Sells Sea Shells:  Works focusing on nautical themes and water.  Perfect!

This is another painting like Star Struck that I mounted to a cradled board and sealed with a spray acrylic sealer, thus, no need for framing with glass.  I like the idea of doing a series of these sea life themed paintings mounted this way.  I feel it would make a great collection to hang together, or to set on shelves or table tops!

If you are an artist interested in this process of framing without glass. I am in the process of writing an article on the steps and techniques, which will be available for download. I would like to experiment with a few more sealing options before publishing the article so please stay tuned.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting please contact me.  It will be at the 127 SoBo Gallery the months of June and July and if purchased then, 30% of the sales will go to the gallery, which is a non profit organization!

Hope everyone is having a great start to the summer!

---

The Actual Coral Reef Restaurant Menus at Epcot, Walt Disney World

I haven't been to the Coral Reef Restaurant at Epcot, Walt Disney World to order from these yet, but I did get copies to keep!!  I am so thrilled with how they turned out!  After I did the initial design with the sea turtle the folks at Epcot liked the design so much they wanted to do the dinner and dessert menus too.  In order not to have to paint the entire painting multiple times, (It was painted on a full size watercolor sheet, 22" x 30")  I painted the spotted eagle ray separately and it was digitally swapped out with the turtle.  For the dessert menu they liked the lower left portion of the full painting and cropped in for the smaller menu.

Menu Interior

For the interior of the menu I did a tone on tone painting to serve as the background for the copy.  The graphic designer at Walt Disney Imagineering did the layout  of the other elements on top of my painted background.

The Original Painting, Watercolor, 22" x 30"

The actual menus covers measure 8.5" x 14", however, I painted the image large because I wanted to have a larger surface to get more variation in color and not have to paint the details super small.

I couldn't me more pleased and can't wait to go and order food!

---

Watercolor Sketch at the Albert Kahn Museum and Gardens in Paris

I haven’t posted a watercolor travel sketch for a while so today I’m sharing one I did when I lived in Paris.  One nice thing about living in a city that one normally just visits is that once you have gone to all the museums and sites that are the most popular and that you would see as a tourist,  you start to discover and explore places that are off the beaten path.  The Albert Kahn Museum and Gardens in one of those places.

Albert Kahn was a 20th century philanthropist who made it his mission to document the planet.  He financed many discovery missions all of the world.  The museum houses his archive of autochrome Lumière photography (color photos on glass plates) collections from 60 countries.

The thing that is the most spectacular about the museum is it’s gardens.  Comprising 10 acres it’s organized in sections modeled on gardens from around the world: a contemporary and village style Japanese garden, a rocky Vosgienne forest and English and French Gardens.  There is also a Japanese tea pavilion where on certain days you can participate in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony led by a tea master from Kyoto.

I went to the gardens a few times in the spring because it was so such a relaxing place and was hardly ever crowded which made it the perfect place to sketch.  This sketch was done overlooking the Japanese bridge.

If you are interested in going, the museum and gardens are located in Boulogne-Billancourt at 10-14 rue du Port.  One can easily get there by metro or bus.

---

Work in Progress of Gate of Reverence, Watercolor

I've completed the details on the gate's ironwork.  Next I'll be adding details on the background, and then finally adjusting values overall until they are where I want them.  I'm happy with the gate so far!  I'll be taking a break from this one to work on another small painting.  Stay tuned!

---