Color

 Andie's watercolor palette

I took a class all about color with Andie Thrams at SFCB this past weekend. Andie is an bookmaker, and observational sketcher, a nature lover and above all a master of color. When we introduced ourselves early Saturday morning, I said that it wasn't color itself that led to be to this class, but the organization of color. I love things in "rainbow order," for lack of a better phrase. I love to group color with its complimentary, with is neighboring color or just reorganize my colored pencils even though I might be in the middle of a very messy studio. The beauty of color arranged is so, so seductive...

  mixing colors

  pastels arranged by color 

  One of the first known color wheels, this one by Moses Harris. This image is one of many great images found in a treatise on color by Sarah Lowengard. 

Love this image of Crayola colors and their evolution since 1903. And since I'm OBSESSED with this, I have a whole pinboard of images you can oogle, all of things organized and having to do with color. Trust me, these pics bring happiness!

http://pinterest.com/ccerruti/rainbows/

Baking & a Sketch in 3 Parts

started a watercolor yesterday morning... still in progress...

 ...also made some rosemary pound cake with a lemon rosemary simple syrup soak...

Autumn

Autumn is without a doubt my favorite time of year. The shadows are long, the light is golden and there is a sharp crispness to the air. Ruby reds, oranges and golden hues arrive in the color of fallen leaves and winter produce. For me, October clearly marks the transition into cool mornings and cozy evenings at home. Halloween in my favorite holiday and I look forward to preparing a Thanksgiving meal. 

This weekend we went to the John Muir house in Martinez and the grounds were full unkempt orchards of forgotten fruit trees. Old withering grape vines crept low to the ground, their gnarled trunks winding toward one another.  Quince and apple trees laden with fruit drooped with the burden of their bounty. Toward the back of the property, old fig trees reached upward, their limbs bejeweled with ripe figs. I liberated a few of these fall fruits and brought them home to paint. Coupled with rose hips from a roadside bush, I thought these two plants were the epitome of what Autumn has to share. 

I look forward to spending this time of year cooking with my family, making jam and photographing my favorite season.

watercolor melon

Another watercolor sketch. This one of a melon.

Mangoes!

I dropped in on Kate Weese's watercolor workshop yesterday and had so much fun. I could only stay an hour, and just didn't get enough! I picked out a couple of mangoes sitting on the table yesterday and stuck a post note on them "Do Not Eat, Want to H2O Color These."

I had the chance just now to sit down and paint the mangoes. I didn't have any watercolors here, so used gouache instead. I haven't watercolored before, but have used gouache a bit, and prefer it. I was also very interested in using salt which is one of the techniques Kate teaches in class.
I definitely could use some more practice, but I was pretty happy with the process. I need to learn patience and watercolor requires it, so it seems like a good thing to do right now.