Tropical watercolor journal entries

I had the opportunity to spend some time on a boat sailing around the British Virgin Islands.  It is a beautiful place, filled with brightly colored towns, white sand beaches, wonderful people, and tropical sunrises and sunsets.  I made a few watercolor sketches of places we visited.

Anegada beach

The Baths        

Trellis bay        

Ossabaw beaches, turtles and donkeys

 We spent a few days on Ossabaw Island learning about their Turtle program and the island's ecology.  This is the largest barrier island on the Georgia coast.  It has thousands of acres of salt marsh, fresh and salt marshes, and several miles of undeveloped beach.  The island was designated as a heritage preserve in 1978, by Governor George Busbee.  

There are several buildings on the north end of Ossabaw Island.  The Boarding house and Club house are used for visiting groups.  The historic tabby houses built in the early 1800's which have been carefully restored.  This is also where the small herd of Sicilian donkeys are often seen.

Five species of sea turtles are found in the waters off Georgia’s coast, but only one, the loggerhead sea turtle regularly nest on Georgia barrier islands.  Turtle researchers spend most of their time cruising the beach looking for turtle tracks made by adult females coming ashore to nest, and hatchlings scampering across the beach to the ocean.  They work from sundown to sunrise.  Early one morning we met one of the researchers on South end beach and were able to watch two recovered hatchlings head out to sea.  This beach has a extensive Ghost forrest of hauntingly beautiful trees.

There are extensive salt marshes along the western side of the island.  I used these photos as references for a watercolor in my field notebook.

Sapelo views

Sapelo Island is one of my favorite places to visit.  The large live oak trees, vast marshes and empty beaches are sublime.  It is worth the effort to get up early to catch sunrises on the beach.  

The road out to the lighthouse along the marsh has quite nice views.  I did the sketch for this plein air and finished painting it using the reference photo.

I also did a sketch of the Renold's Mansion.  It is a Georgia State Park, where you can stay!

Found on the beach

We had the opportunity to visit Little St Simon's Island for a Georgia Audubon 3 day Ornithology workshop.  We had a wonderful time helping the researchers band Painted Buntings (and other birds); count nesting spoonbills, storks, ibis, herons, egrets and anhinga in the rookeries, and checking on nesting sea birds at the beach.  

While on a trek up the beach to see Wilson Plover chicks and American Oystercatcher nests we notices a bouy that had washed ashore.  I took several photos from different angles as references.   I used a panoramic photo for the watercolor sketch in my travel journal.  

Watercolor Journaling kits

I have 2 watercolor journaling kits.  The small kit is designed to carry everywhere; meetings, museums, gardens, restaurants, and traveling by boat, trains or planes.  It contains the minimum items I need for painting:

• Paper Mate Sharpwriter mechanical pencil
• One black fine tip permanent ink pens
• Set of water brushes (3 round and 1 flat)
• Artists erasers (Factis Artists eraser or Prismacolor kneaded eraser)
• 2 oz dropper bottle
• Kleenex packet
• Small watercolor journal or block (a Moleskin watercolor notebook and watercolor block of postcards are in the photo below)
• Watercolor travel kit with professional paints (a Van Gough Watercolor Pocket Box is in the photo below)
• Waterproof clutch I found at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville several years ago.

My large watercolor kit I use for sketch crawls, weekend trips and hiking.  

• All the items listed above for the small kit
• 2 oz spray bottle
• Several Kleenex packets
• One Copic sepia fine tip permanent ink pen 
• 6" plastic ruler 
• 6" plastic triangle
• X-Acto retractable knife
• Clear wax crayon
• Guerrilla painter composition finder
• Gray scale and value finder
• Spiral bound Strathmore visual journals 

In addition to the what is needed to paint, this larger kit has space for a water bottle, snack, sunglasses and a hat.  If I will be out in the sun for a long time I also take a three legged folding chair and a portable shade umbrella.   

I purchase many supplies from local art stores, but I also shop on line with the following venders:

• Blick Art Materials
• Judsons Art Outfitters
• REI
• Jerrys Artarama
• Cheep Joe's Art Stuff

Bahamas sailing and sunsets

 On nice thing about my small watercolor kit, it is super easy to travel with.  That means I have it with me all the time.  Ready to paint wherever I am.  For example, the second night I was able to paint the below sunset while we were anchored off Abaco Island.

We spent a wonderful week sailing around the Bahamas.  From Abaco Island we sailed to Green Turtle Cay, Fowl Cay National Park, Man-o-war Cay, and Elbow Cay.  We anchored off shore or picked up a mooring bouy in the harbor.  Each night we watched the sunset; and the following morning the sunrise.  

Sketching in Maine

In the Spring we made plans for a fishing trip to Montana.  We would be staying in a National Forest Service cabin in the back woods near a favorite creek.  Then the fires came.  We watched the fire and weather reports as the wildfires drew nearer and nearer to the area we were planning to stay.  People were evacuated and roads were closing as the wild fires raged.  Fire fighters were fighting fires all throughout the west.  Smoke from the fires we effecting the air quality throughout the west.  We would not be going to Montana.

Instead we went to Maine.  We stayed at a lovely cottage on Little Deer Isl.  We could see the water from the cottage, and ate several dinners on the porch watching fiery sunsets.

Sunrises and sunsets like these call out to be painted.  Capturing the constantly changing colors and deep shadows before they vanish is a challenge.  Luckily I was given several opportunities to try.

Maine's rocky coast is filled with bays, inlets and small islands.  It was a perfect place to spend time exploring and hunting for lighthouses.  We visited Stonington on nearby Deer Island several times, enjoying local good seafood.  We also took a cruise from Stonington out to the Isle au Haut to see the unique Robinson Point Light house.  We spent a day at Acadia National Park; hiking Cadillac mountain, driving along the park loop road and eating seafood in Bar Harbor.  We traveled along the coast north to West Quoddy Head Lighthouse.  This is the easternmost point of land in the continental United States, and around the equinoxes it is the first place sunlight touches.

I have many photos from this trip that someday will be used as references for paintings.  I did finish three watercolor sketches while we were in Maine.  Besides the sunset above, I sketched some garden flowers and a also a beach scene.

Virgin Island colors

There is nothing like the tropics for intense colors; Bright turquoise seas and vibrant green coasts; Brilliantly colored flowers and birds.  The natural tropical colors effect everything and everyone.  Houses are painted turquoise, pink, red and bright green.  People wear bright floral shirts and dresses.

I took my smallest travel kit with me on my recent sailing trip in the Virgin Islands.  It includes a Van Gogh water color pocket box and a small Mole skin watercolor notebook.  The kit's palette includes cold and warm blues, reds and yellows; along with yellow ochre and burnt sienna.  These are usually perfect for everything I paint, but in the tropics I wished I had also taken some other colors like, Quinacridone gold and Opera pink.

Below is a sketch I did from the balcony of our hotel in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas USVI while waiting for breakfast.  The blue sky mirrored the blue of the bay.  Green palms, banana and mango trees reached up through gaps between buildings.  The rising sun reflected off the red roofs throughout the town.  Mixing Permanent Yellow and Madder Lake Deep provided the various shades of yellow, orange and red I was seeing.

For the rest of the trip we stayed aboard our sailboat, traveling from one island to another.  We did spend three days at Cane Garden Bay, Tortola BVI.  While there I was able to do another sketch from the boat.  The turquoise of the water was done by layering Cerulean blue on top of Azo yellow.

Fish live in beautiful places 2

I don't carry a watercolor kit on me when fly fishing, but I do have one in the truck.  Often it is a hike from the truck to the stream, but sometimes you can park very close to the stream.  I took advantage of fishing close to where the Truck was parked to painted the below view of a beautiful small headwater stream of the Davidson river, NC.

It was done in my Moleskin water color notebook using my Van Gogh  Watercolor Pocket Box.  The various shades of green were made using a pallet of: Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Deep, Cerulean Blue, Permanent Red, Madder Lake Deep, Permanent Yellow and Azo Yellow Medium.

Grand Teton's majestic mountains

While touring Grand Teton National Park we had several days when the smoke from burning wildfires obscured the mountains.  Normally you can see the mountains from many miles away, but due to the fires the mountain tops faded into the pale blur gray sky.  Wildfires are common in the dry summers, and the Park Service and local Fire Departments spend a considerable amount of time monitoring and fighting fires.  Each fire that is tracked is named.  One of the fires that contributed to the smoke we encountered was the large Berry Fire.

On one of the clearer days, I went back to an overlook I had previously visited to sketch the mountain view across Jenny Lake.  Thousands of years ago glaciers moved through Cascade Canyon, pushing rocky debris ahead of their progress.  Later, when the glaciers retreated, they left behind a mass of rocky debris which formed a terminal moraine creating Jenny Lake.

I had a lovely time sitting in a shady spot while sketching and talking to several people who were also enjoying the spectacular view.

Vast open spaces in a small sketch book

I was recently out west, where Idaho - Wyoming - Montana meet.  This area has vast open plains, tall craggy mountains, brilliant blue skies and many beautiful rivers.  I spent most of my time fly fishing in Yellowstone National Park, but also was able to tour some of the attractions at Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons National Park.

Below is a sketch I did of the distant hills, after spending the day fly fishing the Gallatin River, Yellowstone NP.  Like many rivers, this one begins in the mountains and is formed by rain, snow melt that flows into small creeks.  We were fishing in the valley where the now wider river begins to meander.  The banks of this swift flowing rocky river are lined with dense willows.  I was told that moose like to bed down among the willows, but happily we didn't run into any while we were fishing.  The coolness of the water was a refreshing complement to the sunny warm day.

Views of Portland from my moleskin watercolor notebook

These are some earlier sketches that I did while in Portland.  I really enjoyed my trip there.  There is a wide variety of great food and the public transportation makes it easy to get around town.  I had recently purchased a Moleskin watercolor notebook, that has 60 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 pages and decided to try it out.  The thread bound notebook lays flat which would allow me to create long or tall sketches across facing pages.  I found the 200-gm cold pressed paper absorbed pigment faster than other paper I have used.  Controlling the absorption by lightly wetting the area to be painted helped.  I used a Van Gogh watercolor Pocket Box, using a pallet of: Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Deep, Cerulean Blue, Permanent Red, Madder Lake Deep, Permanent Yellow and Azo Yellow Medium.

On my first night in town I had dinner at the Portland City Grill.  I had some great food and enjoyed a wonderful view of Portland as the sun set.  I did the below sketch while finishing my wine.

As the TriMet whisked me back to the airport, I did the below sketch of sunrise from the North Street Bridge.

Architectural reflections

Cities are interesting places to sketch.  There are lots of people, colors and lights constantly moving, day and night.  All this is set against a backdrop of oversized buildings sporting a myriad of shapes, designs and architectural types.

Neoclassical architecture style was popular in the late 18th to early 19th centuries, and is the dominant style of the federal buildings in DC.  However, there are examples of many other architectural styles in the layers of buildings. Egyptian Revival, Victorian Romanesque, Gothic, Neo gothic, Empire, Beaux Art, Craftsman, Contemporary, Modernist, Functionalist and Organic are just a few of the styles.

No matter the style, recently built buildings all boast expansive areas of reflective glass.  As an artist, I am drawn to the play of light and reflections on these buildings.  They provide unique images of life captured in glass, steel, stone and brick.

To the left is the sketch I made of a building's reflection as night began to fall and the final rays from the sun lit cast a yellow glow on it.  Before I could finish, a rapidly moving storm changed the blue sky to gray, whipped the wind up, and pelted my hotel window with rain and hail.

Capturing an image when light is rapidly changing is always a challenge, but this was more difficult than most.  At least I wasn't outside!

Grania Uaile, the Pirate Queen

One of my Irish paintings was accepted in the OCAF 2015 Small Works exhibit.  Because the painting was so small I mounted it floating above a black back background in a deep square black frame.  This was the first time I had done a float frame and was very happy with the results.  The other painting that was accepted was the Sunflower and bee, which I framed the regular way.

The painting featured Grace, a half Old Irish goat kid that was staying at the Essence of Mulrany (pre-cropped painting at right).  Old Irish goats were once numerous in Ireland and now are endangered due to cross breeding and habitat loss.  The herd in Mulrany is one of the best remaining groups in Ireland and Grace was a delightful ambassador.

I named the painting "Grace the Pirate Queen" after Grace O'Malley (Grania Uaile) a local celebrity.  Grace lived in the 16th century, and like her father, was a notorious pirate.  She was known as the Pirate Queen.  During her rein she built, captured and maintained several small tower castles around the area.  We visited Rockfleet castle (Carrigahowleythat ) on the shore, about three miles west of Newport.  We also saw Kildavnet castle on Achill Island, near the passage between Clew and Blacksod Bays.

Achill Island, Ireland

Achill Island, Co Mayo is the largest island off the coast of Ireland.  We followed the Atlantic Drive from Mulranny.  This coastal highway hugged the edge of a land filled with breath taking views of a brilliant blue ocean crashing on the rocky beaches beneath the grass covered cliffs.  We stopped several times enjoy and photograph the views.  We marveled over the sure footed sheep grazing along the steep grassy slopes, at the very edge of the cliffs.

We returned to sea level to cross the bridge at Achill Sound.  We continued following the Atlantic Drive around along Achill Sound to Kildavnet church and graveyard.  The 87% of the island is covered in peat.  Which explains the lack of trees in most of these photos.  The peat bogs support a unique flora of grass, heathers, sphagnum moss, rushes and sedges.  It also provides a habitat for insectivorous sundews (Drosera rotundifolia), butterworts (Pinguicula vulgrais) and bladderworts (Utricularia spp.).

 

Then on to Keem Bay.  Keem Bay is a horseshoe shaped bay sheltered between the cliffs of Benmore and Croaghaun mountains. To day it is home to numerous birds and tourists.  In the 1940's it was the site of a large Basking Shark fishery.  The sharks were tangled in nets hung from the cliffs as they swam through the bay feeding on plankton.  The fisheries flourished until the 1970s when the populations of basking sharks dwindled due to over fishing.

We stopped at the deserted village of Slievemore on the southern coast.  The remains of almost 80 unmortared stone cottages sit on the slope of Slievemore mountain.  Sheep wander between the rock walls that run down toward the ocean.  I did a quick plein air sketch of the lower mountain side while the rest of the group wandered among the abandoned village.