I'm posting some more gouache studies, painted this past week. One outdoor, the other painted at home. I am using watercolors as a base and then introducing more opaque colors as I complete the pieces. I am using Holbein Zinc white gouache along with other colors on top of the more transparent washes of traditional watercolors. I am also using a cheaper student grade Montval watercolor block (10x14") which is really nice for reworking the surface. It seems to take a lot of rough brush work while building up a luminous patina.

Nice cloud day to sketch in gouache. Rapid studies of clouds and their cast shadows on the distant hills. The fence study was from the living room. A small oak takes form against the sky with hungry birds to the sides.

Gouache and watercolor fog study of Angel Island. 9"x21"

Private Collection

I'm posting today's gouache study painted in my car. It is rare that I work inside like that, but I needed to listen to some music and relax a bit, after the work week. As things progressed the wet painting fell on the floor because I wedged the watercolor block just inside the steering wheel and it was precarious at best. Of course it popped out, and while it was sliding down between my feet, my brush made a mark across the surface on the left side. I ended up making a plant out of the main errant mark.

I'm calling this piece the Crepe Maker. It is inspired by the Sonian Forest in Belgium, near Brussels. Many painters in the 1600's were attracted to the landscape. In particular the painter Lodewijk (or Lodewyk) de Vadder, who worked in the period. He was granted the privilege to make taperstry cartoons for the city of Brussels in 1644. He and others were influenced by Rubens' technique with oils. Also the contrast between the vast size of the forest vs. the small scale of humans is a common theme around that time.

Study after Lorrain. An imagined roman country side with figures. I'm interested in studying invented landscapes. For example many dutch artists traveled to Italy in the 1600's. They made sketches then came back to create finished paintings of the low lands with hills and Italian atmosphere.

An experienced seaman lost at sea as a theme. 1640's? off the coast of Spain - perhaps.

Recent sketches from life. I was using a bottle of sepia ink with watercolors and gouache. Unfortunatley I had a major spill, what a mess. A few minutes later though I saw a bobcat. Random events you can say.

Old California

Today I saw an oil tanker leaving the bay, riding up high and showing the rust red of the hull. The journey back to exotic lands. I'm interested in pushing the range of green grays, like in the clouds while introducing hints of the ship colors too.

This is a gouache sketch of mountian tops above Lake Como I made earlier this year. It started to rain a bit so I had to work fast before the raindrops did their damage.

A study of the seashore with the last touch of sunlight on the clouds and sailing ships.

I recently saw a Claude Lorrain (b.1600) drawing and painting exhibit at the San Francisco Legion of Honor museum. Beautiful, glowing ink washes of tree groves are my favorites. He also did a series of invented seaports. Some of the tonal wash drawings displayed churned up seas under the wrath of a stormy sky. Lorrain was a big influence on Turner. The digital sketch here, in progress is exploring high contrast, sunset lighting against a moody mid-ground. I hope to have a bit more free time to refine this concept more.

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/claude_lorrain.html (links to Lorrain images) Check out the British Museum link. They loaned their work out of drawings to the SF show.

Last weekend I sketched a scene in watercolor and gouache on coldpress watercolor paper. The view looking out over the Richardson Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay is always interesting from this elevation. It was amazing as the Blue Angels were flying by for Fleet Week while I was painting. My mind was contemplating the slow moving watercolor washes while the hum of loop to loops danced above me. I of course dropped everything to climb up a park slide ladder to get a better view of the jets. Sort of distracting for painting, but darn entertaining. The hills of Sonoma dissolving in the far distance had a pink grey quality to it, which I used to unify the piece. The size was just under 12x18 inches. About two hours was the time line in creating the image - then things were getting a bit dark as the sun was sinking behind the hills.

P.S. Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful feedback on previous posts for this blog. I will try and keep it going with more sketches now and then.

- Erik

I just got back from attending a panel discussion about art direction in Ottawa, Canada. My flight back home got cancelled and I rebooked a ticket stop over to Vancouver BC rather than Chicago. I had some time to burn, so I did a couple of laptop sketches from life. It was interesting, in that I have never sketched in public on a laptop from life. Nobody bothered me as they were all rushing here and there. I had so much fun I almost missed my plane! There are so many lighitng temperatures to deal with, skylights, large windows, glowing signs, awful sodium lights, etc.... this makes for some interesting color shifts.

Figure study in browns

Italian or Spanish head from imagination. I am thinking about Sorolla or Sargent in some dark living room painting in the 1880's. Let there be some kind of time travel!

Brick Pink Windmill

Friesian Storm

Study in Greens and Yellows