Day 505 "Washington Street" watercolor & ink

The city streets provide ever-shifting light and shadow patterns.  I see them as caverns of light cascading down through the buildings.  Boston's Downtown Crossing makes for beautiful shapes, with pedestrians in the middle of the street casting shadows.  Every few feet creates a different view, all exciting.
This is my five hundred fifth consecutive daily drawing. Thank you for your continued interest and your comments.  I appreciate all of them.   

Day 113 "Brattle Lights" pastel on ink 6 x 9

Last night I was in Cambridge to take my daughter and her best pal to dinner.  Her friend just passed her teacher licensure tests and found a student teacher placement for her last semester of college.  Very exciting.  She's going to make a great teacher.  We had a lovely dinner, than drove back through Harvard Square.  Since I was a kid, I have loved the mesh lights-hanging-above-the-streets look, first remembering it from Boston's Downtown Crossing.  Here's a quick sketch.  I laid down a rectangle of ink, then used some pastel over it to create the feel of the lights at the street.  
 This is my hundred thirteenth daily drawing... I'm exploring and using some materials I never use, and enjoying the exploration.

"Inside Out" 8 x 10 oil

The Girls Just Wanna Paint group challenge this month was "imagination".   Interesting idea.  First I thought of Gene Wilder in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" singing "There is no world I know to compare with pure imagination.  Living there you'll be free if you truly wish to be."  Then I imagined living in Boston.  I am entranced by the antique rooftops against the sky of Boston, so here is my imaginary living room with comfy reading chair and big view of the rooftops I love.  
I tried to keep everything in the painting darker and warmer than outside. I will get back into the painting when it is dryer to push the values some more from the inside to the outside.  I like the design and it does pique my imagination.  Thanks for looking.  You can see all our images here.  
As always, thank you for looking.  I love your comments.

Architectural Grouping

This afternoon, the Girls Just Wanna Paint hung a group show at the South Shore Natural Science Center in Norwell.  We each hung 5 paintings.  I brought several more, so I could decide as I looked at the space.  Ultimately I chose all architectural paintings. Seeing them together is a nice reminder that I love painting buildings.  I like their shapes against the sky, with crisp edges, and the way those edges fade into their surroundings as the eye descends.  I love the shapes that coalesce into a visual of the structure... very exciting to me.  

"Last Light" 8 x 6 soft pastel

"Last Light"  start

I am experimenting with soft pastels.  For "Last Light", I created a ground on canvas with gouache straight from the tube using a combination of ultramarine, burnt sienna and viridian.  The ground formed is matte, and toothy, which I like.  I built up the lights, leaving some of the ground showing in the darkest darks.  Interesting effect, and completely counter-intuitive for me thinking about how to lay color next to other color, rather than using my limited palette of oils or watercolors to make the color I am looking for. 

Thanks for looking.. we'll see what happens next.

"Overlooking Eiffel" 6 x 9 pen and ink

Continuing to explore some old photographs as potential painting subjects.  Back in 2009 we took a school trip to Amsterdam, Lucerne and Paris.  It was wonderful... every minute.  It's fun reminiscing.  I'm enjoying the subject matter, and the drawing.  Thanks for looking.