Sepia Tree Cluster study with shadow-obscured artist sketching on the lower left side. Italia Acquerello water color paper -6x6 inches. Watercolor, gouache, sumi ink, Liquitex Ink! - transparent raw umber, sepia ink, dip pen, reed pen, charcoal pencil with additions of Pitt artist pens along w/ sable brush work.

Happy New Year! All the best to everyone and may this be a very creative year to all of you.

Just finished a recent landscape commission using Pt.Reyes National Seashore (West Coast of Northern California) for inspiration. Oils on linen - 80 x 29 inches. In my post from earlier this summer I shared a handful of digital color sketches and the client picked this one to develop.

I wanted to share some recent imaginative color sketches. A French pastoral landscape and an Italian campagna setting are both atmospherically set with fast changing weather.
-Digital-

Digital Gouache sketch from memory after a hike. Morning light with breaking fog, 8:30am. It was interesting to notice the buzzards looking dark in their shapes and with the right angle see them shift to a high shine against the muted hillside.

Sun dissolving into the headlands fog. Digital color sketch from memory.

Recent gouache study for a larger painting. Thinking about Valenciennes, Poussin, Lorrain, Richard Wilson, and Turner. 6x6 inches with additions of gold gouache dip pen boarders.

A study of river side woods with the great Barbizon school painters in mind, in particular the friendship between Harpignies and Corot is evoked. I can't even imagine
how wonderful sketching and painting the Italian country side must have been in the 1860's with these great ones.

Gouache & watercolor on hot press paper with pastel pencil, pastel stick, sepia pen/ink and touches of lifting out with paper towel. 24,5 x 10,5 cm.

Watercolor and gouache sketch painted on location near the Golden Gate Bridge. 6x6 inches - Italia Acquerello paper by Magnani.

Just wanted to spread the word about the upcoming SketchTravel book auction that will be held October 17th in Brussels. Please check out the links to help out a great cause!

I've been lucky to be featured on the SketchTravel Blog today.


official website
http://www.sketchtravel.com/

facebook page


There are so many ways you can help!
1) Donate to Room to Read: http://www.roomtoread.org/sketchtravel
2) Visit and "like" the page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SKETCHTRAVEL/30677216995
3) Re-share this to spread the word.

Thank you for those who attended my Watercolor & Gouache workshop last week. It was an excellent group of artists and I had the best time! Here is one of my demos of a Mendocino Cypress tree study. An old dilapidated fence rested at the base of the trunk, almost like a faint attempt at holding up the 100 year plus tree. We sketched outside and then carried on in the studio with painted value and color work.

Watercolor burnt umber with Sepia ink. Touches of dip pen work, and a Derwent Inktense pencil (Outliner) used for blocking in the shapes. In addition, white gouache and chinese white watercolor were used for the sky and foreground details. 6.5" x 9" on warm gray smooth card paper.

A study of parting clouds and mist above a bay - moonlight. Watercolor, dip pen with touches of gouache. Arches cold press paper, approximately 5x11 inches.

Drawing on a post-it note with yellow background (3"x 5"). Brush Markers, grey pastel pencil and permanent Pitt artist pens for details. This approach can be useful in working out ideas for projects. I have made hundreds of small sketches like this for various films over time. Warming up for concepts is something I recommend trying before diving into complex pieces. I like to do this when thinking of new paintings to be later carried out in oils or gouache.

Workshop Coming Up!

My Mendocino Gouache & Watercolor workshop is just around the corner. Please sign up soon: it's the weekend of September 17-18, 2011. Besides demonstrating my painting approach and how to tackle the local coastline and other landscape features, I will also be able to look at portfolios and give feedback on all aspects of your work.

Workshop Info

I also wanted to share that there are special discounts at local inns- just ask the Mendocino Art Center: 1-800-653-3328 ext. 10

*The sepia image is a recent digital painting exploring an invented Italian harbor, in the spirit of the Dutch Italianates.

Painted yesterday in Penngrove, California, in the Sonoma wine country. There was an incredible change in the weather as the sun was setting.
The valley got more diffused and finally the fog shrouded the distant hills in a veil of blue mist by sunset. Gouache and watercolor on hot press Fabriano 'Artistico' paper. 5"x7". There are a few touches of warm gray watercolor pencil in the background mid way through the painting process. Big thanks to Kim's family for sharing their vineyard views!

Introducing a HD video clip showing the process of the 'Gouache Ruins' painting. The music gets louder at the end just to let you know. You can see the full resolution if you click over to my Vimeo link.
Enjoy!

'Gouache Ruins' Speed Painting from Erik Tiemens on Vimeo.

An invented Italian architectural (theatrical) sketch of ruins with a limited palette of gouache and watercolor. Fabriano 'Artistico' rough paper 5" x 9 1/2". There is some pen work that had bleed through the lighter gouache, almost separating into a bluish stain. I taped the painting session for a tutorial down the road.

Fall 2011 Workshop Coming Up!
I'm excited to announce a new painting workshop September 17-18, 2011. I will be teaching a Gouache and Watercolor class on the West Coast of California, at the Mendocino Art Center. Please sign up if you are interested. The location is superb for outdoor sketching and continuing the paintings in the large studio at the center. I will be painting multiple demos and assisting students with their thumbnails and sketch paintings.

For complete information click here: Exploring Gouache & Watercolor

The watercolor pictures here are from a recent East Coast trip. I had a chance to explore the coast of Maine and work on location. These are stills from HD video that was shot. I'm experimenting with possible tutorials this way.

A recent imaginative painting titled Autumn Storm. The medium is oil on panel, 9x12 inches with an egg tempera under painting. It could be a California landscape with hints of Dutch Italianate. Painters like Jan Both painted the transitional hilly spaces of travel with the often dry Roman Campagna setting in the distance. This at times can look similar to the vast pastoral valleys of California minus the classical ruins.