"Spanish Rooftops" watercolor & ink 9 x 12 #Inktober

Here are a couple of rooftops from a trip to Spain years ago.  I remember looking up at the deepening sky, and seeing their silhouettes against the blue.  Beautiful detail, casual, elegant, utilitarian.  Striking.  They remind me a bit of the tile rooftop in the Charlton Heston movie, "Ben Hur" where his sister knocks a loose tile off and it falls onto the new centurion, Ben's childhood friend Masala.  Ben takes the fall for her and becomes a galley slave... the rest is "history" as it were.  I'm not sure what town were were in, but I remember the scene vividly.

This is my sixteenth entry for the #Inktober challenge.  Thanks for looking as I continue my exploration through my archives.

"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.

Monhegan Sketchbook July 2015

A few sketches from the deck of the house where we are staying this week.  Weather has been varied, as always, and lovely.  We've met interesting people, hung out, learned a new card game (!), painted, cooked, and may finish our jigsaw puzzle by end of week....  Van Gogh's irises.  In other words, a fabulous time here.

Thanks for looking.

"Over View" 9 x 12 oil Monhegan

One of the reasons I love the New England coast is its topographical variety.  Up, down, around, in, out, over, under... the foreground and background constantly shifting in their relation to one another, providing a myriad of exciting views. 

Remember all those Hanna- Barbera cartoons where the Flintstones, for example, were driving in their car, and the background was zooming by?  The foreground was moving at a different pace than the background and conveying speed.  I was fascinated by that relationship of the front and back when I was a child.  Still fascinating.

"Over view" is a painting from up behind the Monhegan schoolhouse, looking out at Manana and the mainland 10 miles distant.  Walking along Monhegan's coast provides that same fascination.  Every couple of steps provides an entirely new arrangement of foreground to background.  So exciting.

Thanks for looking.  Feel free to comment and to share.

Oh, and here's the Flintstones opening segment.  It'll all come flooding back to you.

"Flintstones, meet the Flintstones..."

Monhegan Village 12 x 9 watercolor & ink

Just back from a week on Monhegan Island, ME.  This is our ninth or tenth year going to this vibrant locale for a week in July, then another in August.  It makes for a choppy summer, but we love it.  We spent this past week in a different house than our usual rental, and we invited friends who had never been to the island - lots of firsts.  It took me a few hours to acclimate to a new view. 


 Here is a watercolor sketch from a deck off the living room of the new house, and a photo of the same scene from a slightly different angle. I loved the long view over the village, and the jumble of rooftops stretching from below into the distance. More sketches to come. Happy to be home, and happy to be going back later this summer.