Two new Mount Diablo Watercolor Paintings

October Afternoon, 14 x 21

Zig Zag, 21 X14

We've had lovely sunny weather, but not much rain. The fall colors are more muted this year. October Afternoon was painted at the top of Sunhaven in Magee Ranch. Zig Zag was painted on Diablo on Southgate Road looking at a Ravine about 2 miles up.

ADAS Demo Images

ADAS Demo Stage 2 (12 x 16, Hill at Carmel Valley 2)

ADAS Demo Stage 1

I fine tuned the demo painting, mostly by glazing over the trees and deepening the foreground. I may fine tune a couple of things as I stare at the painting over the next week or so, but I would say it is 95% done.

ADAS 11/13 Demonstration Notes

Last night I got to demonstrate in front of my "home" art organization, the Alamo Danville Artists' Society. I can't say enough about how much I've learned at these meetings, because the caliber of Artists is generally so high. I got much further in my demo than I expected, covering the whole sheet. My mouth,brain and hand only coordinate for about an hour, but I have to say my friends in the audience really helped by asking brilliant questions. Here is a copy of the notes I passed out. I remembered to mention about 3/4 of these talking points , not too bad. Email me for clarification if anything in the notes is too cryptic. I tried to stay on the how and what of painting because the why is so nebulous.
ADAS Notes 11/13/2007

Materials
Pigments: Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ocher, Jaune Brilliant (holbein) Winsor Yellow, Cad yellow pale, winsor red, winsor bright red, perm allizarin crimson,perm. rose,winsor green (red shade) cobalt turquoise, manganese blue hue, winsor blue, french ultramarine,cobalt. I am trying out quinacredone gold and Q burnt orange. All pigments winsor newton or daniel smith

Paper: Arches,300lb,bright white, hot press

Brushes : Cheap Joe's Naturals (squirrel hair) Rounds, 6 through 12

Palette: Robert E Wood

Words of Wisdom( Things I 've learned, mostly from ADAS demos)

*Paint the darks to showcase the lights-Dale Laitenan
*Accuracy of values separates the professional from the amateur-Bill Ternes
*Values(especially darks) exist on the whole 360 degrees of the color wheel. Try to use them - Jane Hofstetter
*Look for Verticals and Diagonals because so many landscapes are full of horizontals-Randall Stauss?
*When Simplifying,look for the telling silhouette that defines the subject- Carolyn Lord
*Color came from within him ,Pam Della re Jade Fon

These statements though simple, have so many ways for me to use them that they keep me thinking and working for months.

Favorite local places to Paint

* Pescadaro Court , off Matadera Way
* Tao House
*South Gate Road on Mt Diablo
Fossil ridge and near devil's slide,near the rangers station
*Curry Point on Mt Diablo
*Fire trail off of Belleterre Drive
*Anywhere in Magee Ranch
*Finley Road (east of Blackhawk)

I didn't talk about where I look at art on the web at all, so I'll just add that for representational art, you can't do any better than the California Art Club Web Site.

For next time, I would bring a hair dryer so I could get the "underpainting" drier and put more glazes over it. The demonstration's colors looked weird under the fluorescent lights but I was pleasantly surprised this morning . I might bring a balanced light another time/ I would finish the demo up today, but miscalculated my caffeine intake to function after 8 last night and was up all night!