Iris

Watercolor has become more and more important to me these past few months. Besides sketching at least once a week with my outdoor group I've also been doing smaller watercolors in sketchbooks.  

"Iris," ink and wc on paper, ~5x8

This particular watercolor is actually a decoration of the front flyleaf of my newest sketchbook. When I've worked in watercolor outside it's usually been in a 5x9 watercolor sketchbook. That size allows good attention to detail and a relatively quick finish. Most of my sketches that size are sixty to ninety minutes. Unlike those, this watercolor has much more detail and so took more time. The bicolor iris is from a personal reference photo and includes a peony in bud and about to open. The date in the upper left is the date on the flyleaf. Although I drew this in graphite, I inked it before painting, whereas I usually ink the finished painting. I reversed the steps because I wanted to study the intricate anatomy of the open flower and wasn't sure when I'd be able to add color. 

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Pairings

My New York art club--the Salmagundi Club--has a new exhibition opening Sept 1 and lasting through Sept 25 titled "Pairings." This members-only show follows an interesting premise. Entrants have submitted two works of art (any media) from their practices, separated by 20 years or more. It's a chance to contrast early works with later ones. 

I submitted these two oil paintings. The winter scene dates from 2003 while the second, summer landscape is from last year. Although my oils have evolved over the two decades separating them, realism is still my main interest.  

"Winter Walk," oil on canvas, 24x20

The street scene is a look at a Boston street after an overnight snowfall. The summer scene is a view of the back of the Des Moines Art Center. The building partly seen in the painting was designed by I.M. Pei, the well-known architect of the Louvre pyramid. 

"Behind the Museum," oil on panel, 12x16

 

Another Saturday

Last weekend the sketch group decided to spend a couple of hours at the local baseball park. There are quite a few views from the parking lot that merit sketching, including the river and bridges, the downtown skyline, the ballpark itself, and so on. 

"From the Ball Park," wc/ink on paper, 8x13

I chose downtown, which is challenging because of the jumble of building shapes and sizes. This was the beginning of a new sketchbook, too, so I wanted a relatively panoramic picture. This particular book has fairly heavy watercolor paper, bound to lie flat. I drew the skyline, then inked it and corrected drawing errors as I went. The painting step involved several layers to add depth and separate values. The new book is larger and sketches cover more, so a wider variety of compositions and sizes will be possible.

Striper Time on the Hudson

"Striper Time," oil on panel

Back in 2019 I attended a plein air painting workshop in upstate New York, the Hudson Valley to be exact. One of our painting sites was the shore of Newburgh Bay, a remarkably wide place in the river a few miles north of West Point. I used the sketches for that experience (plus photo references I snapped) to develop this oil. It remains in the studio as a reminder of a lovely few days.

Besides painting at this locale I was fortunate to spend a day there with my host and his fishing buddies, angling for striped bass as they ascended the river from the sea, to spawn. Every year a group of fishers gathers daily during the season, vying to land the largest fish. . 
 

Saturday

The weather was wonderful last weekend--dry, temperate and partly cloudy. Most of the sketch group decided on something besides the confines of city streets. Eventually we decided that either Waterworks Park or Grays Lake would be good venues, and off we went. 

"Grays Lake Underpass," wc/ink on paper, about 5x17

A few years back the city built a wide underpass below Fleur Drive, the boulevard that divides the two areas of parkland, and it's usually busy with walkers and cycles. I opted to sketch the lake side of it. On a day like Saturday the bike/pedestrian trail that passes through it is even busier than usual, crowded with people enjoying the sun. I sat on a rock beside the trail and did a panoramic view, putting in a couple of strolling people, to define scale.. 

As ever, this is the result of a sequence of a graphite sketch, watercolor painting, and ink accents and lines.  

Casein Still Life

"Studio Arrangement," casein on panel, 6x8, private collection

One of the joys of learning to make pictures is trying different mediums and methods.

Many artists routinely draw with graphite but a great many use other mediums like charcoal, ink, crayons of various kinds, and metal point (a rare one). 

Over the years my primary painting medium has been oil paint, but I've experimented with most other paint mediums, including acrylics, gouache, and watercolor (all water media) plus another relatively rare paint called casein. 

Casein paint is made using a casein-oil emulsion as the vehicle. Casein, of course, is milk protein and the oil it's emuslified with is usually linseed oil. When I use it I'm pleased with its opacity and handling. Like acrylics, casein dries very quickly. And also like acrylics, casein is waterproof after it dries. In fact casein was the choice for quick-drying paint until the advent of acrylic vehicles. 

The painting posted here served me a dual purpose. First, it gave me practice in setting up and making a still like painting. Second, it was an early, fairly experimental use of casein. The view is of my glass studio palette on a grey tabletop near a big studio window. The light seemed to spill over the sill and onto the arrangement at that time of day. The entire work was done alla prima. The multiple pieces of glass allowed exploration of the properties of glass--transparency, opacity, refraction, reflection and so on. 

Historical Building

The subject of this plein air watercolor is Hoyt Sherman Place, which is not only a historical building but also a long-serving art gallery and performance venue. The original building was built as the home of Hoyt Sherman, whose older brother was William T. Sherman, the famous Civil War general. Hoyt Sherman was an early settler who became deeply embedded in the political and social life of Des Moines. In the late 19th century he built a brick home northwest of downtown. In later years a large auditorium addition turned his private home into its current form. 

"Hoyt Sherman Place," wc/ink on paper

Last Saturday the sketch group decided to spend some time drawing or painting the grounds and site. I sat under an ancient tree and made this image. The auditorium addition is just visible on the right side; the left side is (mostly) the original house.  

As always, my approach is to make a graphite drawing with more or leas detail, trying very hard to capture perspective and proportion. After that I usually add watercolor, then ink touches or emphasis.  

Mug

"Mugshot (glasses)," oil on panel 16x12

Police mugshots are fascinating and often overlooked images. Some years ago I made a number of portraits based on mugshots, some of them of relatively famous criminals, some of unknown miscreants with memorable faces. The crimes of this particular person are now unknown because I've lost the source. Still, there is something in the face that seems maimed and enraged so my suspicion is that he was a violent person. 

 

Iowa State Fairgrounds

One of  my favorite spots for sketching is the Iowa State Fairgrounds, on the east side of Des Moines. Every year the Fair generates more than a million in attendance over it's 10 day run, the crowds topping a hundred thousand most days. But the rest of the year the old fairgrounds are peaceful and shady under hundreds of old trees surrounding huge exhibition buildings. One of my particular favorites is the Agriculture Building, which hosts all manner of exhibitions from flowers to enormous pumpkins. It's a giant two-story masonry affair, and on it's south side is a wonderful demonstration garden run by the local Master Gardeners. 

"Discovery Garden," wc/ink on paper

Last Saturday the sketchers went nearly en masse to scout spots to draw and paint. I chose a shady spot with a decent breeze and did a corner of the garden. As ever, I did a modified version of the background building and surrounding garden in graphite, then painted the scene, trying to capture both color and value. Showing three-dimensional volume is difficult for me in watercolor unless I manage to pay sufficient attention to my darks. 

Behind the Museum

The Des Moines Art Center has three connected buildings surrounding a courtyard. The first building was designed by Eliel Saarinen, a well-known Finnish architect, in the 1940s. About twenty years later, the Art Center commissioned I.M. Pei, who would later become world famous for his work, which includes the pyramidal entrance to the Louvre. The third building was designed by Richard Meier, famed for designing the Getty Museum in California as well as many other buildings.

"Behind the Museum," oil on panel, 12x16

The Pei Building is in the brutalist style--angular, unpainted concrete, unusual shapes, and so on, with an array of enormous windows facing south down the slope of Greenwood Park and its rose garden. My Saturday sketch group meets there weekly before dispersing, and sometimes we stay in the garden behind the museum. This painting is a studio version of a watercolor sketch I did there one Saturday last year. The Pei Building is the angular, pale ochre building in the background.  

Pei did something clever with the poured concrete. Concrete is composed of cement, sand, and aggregrate (commonly called gravel); Pei used aggregrate identical to the midwestern limestone of the first building, which gives the concrete a warm yellowish tone.  

Sketch Outing

"Toward Downtown," wc/ink on paper, 5x8

As we always do, the Saturday sketchers met at the Des Moines Art Center last weekend, then spent time sketching around the city. Sometimes most of us go to the same location but other times we disperse. This time I was planning on working among the taller buildings downtown. But as I drove toward the city center the view above seemed inviting, so I pulled over and did yet another Des Moines skyline, The site was a busy thoroughfare but I changed it somewhat, making the street seem quieter. This particular angle on the skyline is somewhat different than some others I've done. 
 

Spire

"Spire," wc/ink on paper, ~8x3.5

As readers of this blog might imagine, the subject of this watercolor sketch dominates the skyline in Des Moines. It's the 801 Grand Building, sometimes called the Principal Building, situated in the center of the cluster of downtown high rises. Being the tallest building in the state, it's not surprising that you can see it from nearly any place nearby. A while back I wanted to visit a downtown garden but found it closed, so I sat in a convenient spot and did a small study of the 801 building in my pocket sketchbook. 

The paper in this tiny book is a bit lighter than I usually employ for watercolor. The color muddiness of the skyscraper is likely the result.

Imagination

"Fall," wc/ink on paper, 3.5x5

Sometimes, when no obvious subject for drawing or sketching is available, imagination serves. One day, while between oil paintings, I was casting about for a subject but none came. So I did this little study of autumn from memories. I fiddled about and added color swatches here and there with watercolor, then realized it resembled a traditional landscape, and the warmth of the toned paper suggested autumn. After some thought I added the trees and figures in ink. 
 

Summer Garden

"Summer Garden," wc/ink on paper ~8x5

This small watercolor is a quick sketch of a corner of one of my flower gardens at home. The black-eye susans and lillies bud and flower at nearly the same time every summer--around now. This was done in a small pocket sketchbook, using my standard techniques.

Downstream

"Downsteam," oil on panel, 9x12

This springtime view of the streambed of Druid Hill Creek was done during the early days when foliage on the honeysuckle undergrowth was just emerging. I set up my pochade box just above, on the bank. The rock in the stream has fallen from rip rap that was used along the banks for erosion control. The stream is maybe six inches deep.

Outdoor Oil

Painting outdoors ("en plein aire" if you want to be fancy) is a great way practice careful observation. A session of studying the world in all its myriad shapes, colors, arrangements and more gives an artist the opportunity to not only see the world but also to translate it, to make it attractive or at least acceptable to the eventual observers. Plein air painting forces the artist to confront the world, as a teacher of mine used to say. 

"Grays Lake North Shore," oil on panel, 12x9

This oil is a good example of my outdoor work. The trees on the opposite bank were lush and very dark green. The challenge for me working outside is the million hue and shade of green, complicated by the infinite variety of tree shapes, leaf shapes, and more. I did this one standing on the northern shore of Grays Lake, near my studio. I've painted there many times, often choosing to focus narrowly on a small portion of the shore. This was late summer so that the surrounding woods and trees are fully leafed.  

Skyline

"Rooflines," wc/ink on paper, 

Last Saturday the sketch group splintered into smaller groups. Some of us went to the Botanical Center, on the east bank of the Des Moines River. Some painted in other spots. I went to the park next to the river, just downstream from the dome of the Botanical Center, where I could sketch the downtown Des Moines skyline, The tallest building houses the home of Principal Insurance, a locally-based firm. The dark brown building is the Ruan Center, named for a trucking firm that built it nearly 50 years ago. The Asian roof is the top of a pavilion in the Robert Ray Park on the river bank. The graceful arch is actually the top of a pedestrian bridge you can take to go to the opposite bank. 

 

Veterans

Although I do watercolors of automobile subjects, they rarely figure in my oil paintings. Nonetheless, over the years I've done quite a few watercolor sketches of pickups and cars. This particular work was done one Friday while I sat in the shade across the street from a local antique car dealer. The two cars in the sketch were both painted and accessorized as police cars. 

"Veterans" wc/ink on paper 5x11

"Veterans" is two late 1950s Chevrolets. One is a '57 and the other a "55. Long ago I actually owned a 1957 BelAir that resembled this one. Antique cars of that vintage now sell for enormous prices, depending on condition. 

 

The Dock

"Grays Lake Dock," wc/ink on paper, ~5x15

Last weekend we selected Grays Lake for a visit from the sketch group. As always, of course, people chose other venues too. I set up on a picnic table near the parking lot, by a floating dock they put out every summer. Two guys were on the dock but weren't fishing. In the distance across the lake you could just see a pedestrian walkway that skirts the opposite shore. 

This began as a graphite sketch, after which I added watercolor. The two fishermen on the dock and the dock itself were accented with ink. 
 

Goldsworthy Group

Andy Goldsworthy has a piece in the garden surrounding the Des Moines Art Center entitled Three Cairns. Materials used in Goldsworthy's art include natural materials, from flowers, leaves, and twigs to stone. This is because of his intense commitment to nature and an intent to work with its entirety. The piece is just south of the Art Center buildings, situated just by rose garden that's currently in full flower.  The three large cairns are perhaps 8 feet tall while a central, pear-shaped cairn is perhaps five feet. The pieces are limestone, carefully dressed and laid without mortar. The Art Center's original building is clad in a similar limestone. There are two other cairns, one in New York and one in San Diego, which with this one form a nation-wide sculptural group. 

"Goldsworthy Group[," wc/ink on paper ~5x14"

Our sketch group elected to stay on the grounds of Greenwood Park, which contains the Art Center, rose garden and a number of outdoor sculptures, including works by Richard Serra and Henry Moore, among others. I sat at the edge of the rose garden on a stone bench to draw Three Cairns in the wooded area they occupy. Built in 2002, these have become popular as backgrounds for wedding photos and other significant events, as happened Saturday. A bride and groom in full dress were posing among the cairns while several of us worked away. 

Because I enjoy a panoramic view I started on the left side of the open sketchbook with a fairly detailed graphite sketch then proceeded directly to full-bodied watercolor, sometimes trying for translucent or transparent effects, sometimes trying for opacity by loading thicker, nearly dry pigment for dark values. After I was mostly satisfied with the colors and values I accentuated parts of the cairns to emphasize the center of interest.