Mamacita

I discovered this colorful mamacita in Lima, Peru for this month's virtual paintout. I didn't think I would have time to paint this month since my own precious mamacita took a bad tumble near the end of September and broke her shoulder as well as breaking and shattering her kneecap.  She was in the hospital and rehab for two weeks, during which time I stayed in her room with her 24/7.  She's so tiny and fragile and was so broken, it was heartbreaking, but she's on the mend now and is her sweet and funny self again, thank God.

Seaview, Isle of Wight

I've been experimenting with different color palettes to try to add punch to the scenes that I see on my virtual travels. This beautiful little seaport town didn't need a color boost but I was in the mood to see how it might look in the late afternoon.

Afternoon Traffic

The strong afternoon light on this street scene in Newport, Isle of Wight, caught my eye. Cars can be intimidating to paint but their shiny surfaces made me think of glass. With that in mind, I painted them shape by shape and aimed for high contrast, just as I would for glass. Fun!

Thatched Cottage

A scouting trip around the Isle of Wight for September's Virtual Paintout brought me to this ancient thatched cottage. Originally built in the 1600s, it now serves as lodging. Wish I could go see it for real!

Detroit Mist

This month's virtual paintout takes us to the city of Detroit. Since it is a city with deep financial woes, I expected it to be an impoverished, boarded up, graffiti plagued wasteland, but I found it lovely, for the most part. I've been hungry for texture in my paintings lately so tried a combo of watercolor and gouache to depict this atmospheric scene.

Flower Blocks

This was a challenging but super fun exercise in my sketchbook to play with a limited palette. I used two new to me colors, antwerp blue and chrome yellow lemon, as well as rose dore, a color I haven't used in years. None of the colors had a lot of value strength so I punched up some of the background with moonglow. This is not my usual painting style but was so much fun I think I'll do some refinement in the design and enlarge it.

Oregon Grape

The weather has been perfect for plein air sketching and painting. I didn't realize how rusty my drawing from nature skills have gotten, ugh! Fortunately, it is pure fun to be outside with a fountain pen and my tiny (4x2") palette in such sweet weather so I'm getting a little practice. I sat on a flat rock on a low bridge over a pond to sketch these Oregon grapes.