Strater Hotel: Stage Four

Strater Hotel: Stage Three

Strater Hotel: Stage Two

Strater Hotel: Stage One

I started my painting of the Strater Hotel in Durango, CO. It is a great old Victorian building. I am painting just a slice of it, looking up at the upper portion of the building against the sky. I like the lines, arches and angles. By using this point of view and just a piece of the building, I hope that the details are more noticeable. I also hope it is an interesting painting and composition. My reference photo was taken on an overcast day. I am going to try to capture a little more light and contrast as would be seen on a brighter day. I have started by including more blue sky in the painting than there is in the photo, and making it a deeper blue. As it is now I have done two wet-in-wet washes with cobalt blue. The clouds look light and fluffy. I am done with the sky for now. I need to wait until I get more building painting before making any adjustments. It might be done.

Tagged

I've been tagged by R Garriott.


Here's my list of "Seven Unusual (okay, maybe not so much) Things About Me":

1. I had the good fortune to go to high school at the American School in London. We took art field trips to Paris and Amsterdam. It was an amazing experience.
   
2. In college my first series of paintings was of Purina Dog Chow bags. (The old bag with the red and white checker board and the portraits of various breeds of dogs.) We were able to have pets on campus at my school, and I shared my dorm room with a cocker spaniel. His bag of food sat on my desk. I still like the folds and creases that distort the pictures and words on the bag. And I remember the tag line "All you add is love." Silly then and silly now.
   
3. I tend to organize my books by color, I always strive for the rainbow... with colored pencils and markers too. I like having a variety of different colored post-its and high-liters, I need color!
   
4. Due to a "series of unfortunate events" (scaffolding collapsing on my car) I rented a Mustang (a black convertible). I had no idea what it is like to lust after a car before this! I'm thinking I should be looking at a Prius, but I can't get that Mustang out of my head...
   
5. My birthday is the same as A. A. Milne the author of Winnie-the-Pooh, who is still one of my best friends.
   
6. My new favorite food is Vongole Pizza at Otto's in New York, fresh calms in the shells on top of the pizza. Is there anything like that in Los Angeles?
7. I have a skateboarding cat. He hasn't learned to do it standing up yet, once he gets that down we will be posting the video on YouTube. I think he is the kind of cat that would wear a Halloween costume. As tempting as that is, I know it would be wrong (so didn't do it this year).

And now I am supposed to pick seven artists to tag, so they can join the game and play too:

My first pick is Kevin's Studio Blog with the hope that it will encourage him to actually blog!
Jelaine Faunce Studio

A Painting A Day: Miniature Masterpieces - Small original oil paintings by Darren Maurer

Ryan Studio
Ali Cavanaugh Fine Art
my fiddlestix
Susan Abbott

Date Palm Detail

This is a detail of a watercolor painting looking up at a date palm. The full painting is all branches covered in dates radiating out of a center point. It is part of my Meditation Series: Natures Mandalas. I've always liked the painting but never thought it reproduced well. The digital image I have of the painting was scanned from a slide. Today I decided to take some close-ups of the painting myself. I am thrilled with the result. I included this detail of the painting in my 2009 Art Calendar.

National Watercolor Society 88th Annual Exhibition 2008

I had the honor of having a painting accepted in the National Watercolor Society show for the first time. I missed the opening but finally made it out to Riverside on the last day of the show. The paintings were great but I was not impressed by the way the show was hung. When I was describing it later it occurred to me that perhaps there had been additional movable walls that had been taken out as the gallery was being set up for a wedding reception that evening.

Despite the difficult viewing situation I was glad I made the drive to Riverside and saw the paintings in person. I particularly liked Susan Stuller’s “A Balancing Act”, Irene Roman’s “Connected by Shadows”, Mary Ann Pope’s “Still Waters”, Bruce McCombs’ “Porch” Kay Carnie’s “Red Door” and Carol Hubbard’s “ In Your Dreams II” to name a few.

In case you can't find it on the wall. "Giant Wheel" is my painting that was in the exhibit.