New (silly!) plein air, video!

I learned a great deal, playing with this one! MOST important is that it's difficult to paint in the Jeep with my journal in my lap while holding the camera in the other hand! Talk about hand-held jiggly pictures!

The string that shows in the bottom of some frames is the camera strap...and sometimes I just wandered off the page entirely as I focused on painting, not filming. (I edited out the worst of those!)

I'm also exploring my video edition software with...interesting...results! (I see I forgot to delete "Director Name" on the end of the credits...that's ok, it's pretty undirected!)

Still...I hope you have fun with this!

Full Thunder Moon

 
Full Thunder Moon, a photo by PJBee on Flickr.

This was the scene last evening when I took the dogs out for their last pee trip. I had written off being able to see July's full moon.... but the clouds parted briefly and I was there.... quite accidentally!  It brought to mind the Lemony Snicket's line that I read on Jan Yates blog recently....
It is one of life's bitterest truths that bedtime so often arrives just when things are really getting interesting.  ~Lemony Snicket
I painted the sky and moon from memory and the tree plein air today :)

Plein Air "Workstation" for "On the Grounds at the Elms"

I hope all of you are enjoying your copy of Kate's "Artists's Journal Workshop" as much as I am!  It's an incredible resource, and I'm awed by the talent and information in the book.

It occured to me that I had a photo of my watercolor setup for the "On the Grounds at the Elms" sketch, so I thought it would be fun to post it here.  Also, here's a link to the photo on my Flickr site:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidchroma-/2578737757/

Enjoy!
Steve

Lake of Fire on Conesus Lake

Lake of Fire 2011 , a photo by PJBee on Flickr.

In Western NY on Conesus Lake, the 3rd of July is very special. The law turns it's head and the lake property owners have a huge celebration. At 10 pm everyone lights flares that have been placed along the shore line and the whole lake lights up. Fireworks all around, people everywhere. Fun!!

Stawberry Moon Eve and Full Moon

Stawberry Moon Eve and Full Moon, a photo by PJBee on Flickr.

You know I can't let a full moon pass me by :)

One more painting at Sketching in Nature blog. And, the full story on my blog.

Journaling at a Favorite Golf Tournament

Golf courses are one of my favorite places to sketch. Every year that we can, my husband and I attend The Heritage, a PGA tournament that takes place at the Harbour Town Golf Links in Sea Pines Plantation on Hilton Head Island, SC.

On practice days, I will make a quick watercolor sketch and then have the tour players autograph the page. The most 'artsy' signatures that decorated my pages this year were Jesper Parnevik's and Ian Poulter's. They really got into it :)

Once the tournament officially begins, I park myself in one spot and pick a view that sparks my interest.  Most of the time, Rob and I like to sit at the intersections of holes 2,3,6 and 7. It gives Rob two green and two tee boxes to watch close up action.  Day one and two sketches are here.

Day three, we set up our chairs near the green of #14. The view between holes 13 and 14 is one of the prettiest around. The landscape is lush and every year I fall in love with the three Live Oaks that separate the golf holes.

After about an hour at this location we decided it would be better if we moved back to our favorite spot on the front nine so we could see the last half of the players come through.  One very large challenge..... I only had the basics of this scene laid in.  Luckily, I had my iPod with me. In between groups of players, I photographed my piece and took a shot of the view.  I so love that with a flick of your fingers you can enlarge the image on the screen.  Between this image and my memory, I was able to almost finish this piece.  I had to wait to get home to add the people on the bleachers.... I got a bit carried away with the green paint and forgot to leave white paper at the top of the bleachers. Thank goodness for gouache :) Nothing like opaque paint to save the day!

Fast Sketching My Way Around a Wildlife Center

Back in March, Rob and I spent a lovely afternoon walking along the manicured trails of the Oatland Island Wildlife Center of Savannah, GA.

The second feature along the trail was an area where two Sandhill Cranes reside. I didn't want to leave!

They walked over from the far side of their area to right below the bridge we stood on. A few more people came a long and the cranes let out a sound that made all of us jump!  Goodness, they are loud!

I sketched and painted for a bit then we made our way to see the Bobcat..... very well hidden.

On to the Red Foxes.  Yes! From there we walked to the Birds of Prey area. By then. the no-seeums were having they're way with us!

We saw the Center's herd of White-tailed Deer and then moved on to see the pack of Gray Wolves.

You can observe the wolves from a bridge that overlooks their area or you can go into a building with one-way glass. Both vantage points were exciting as it was feeding time.  Nothing like seeing the pecking order of a wolf pack first hand. I'm hoping the addition of color will help the wolf head sketches....

Our last stop... the American Bison.  Wow! Pappa is one big dude!!

We were on our way back to the parking lot and I just couldn't stand it... I had to go back to see the cranes again :)

So, a few more crane sketches to surround the Bison :)

I've been hoping to finish these pages with color using the reference photographs we took... hopefully soon.  Then I'll add some more words. The first crane page is begging for a calligraphic touch :)

What a great place to practice fast sketching! I can't wait to go back :)

Ut oh, what to do?

Here I was happily journaling along when I found out that March's full moon was extra special. Ut oh, no room left on the moon's page and I already had a start on the next page.  What to do?

Laure and Kate had great suggestions but I read those too late, also :)  Do we see a pattern here?  Ha!

Here's what transpired in journal land:

Please click images for a large view

Full Pollen Moon

Full Pollen Moon, a photo by PJBee on Flickr.

I gave March's full moon a new name but can't help but think the long ago Native American tribes of this area probably called it Full Pollen Moon too :)

My nose has been so close to the grindstone lately I didn't hear about this moon being so special and called, by some, the 'supermoon' - I'm going to have to figure out how to add a note about this on an already full page!

Mid-February Happenings

Mid-February Happenings
Originally uploaded by PJBee

This started as a memory sketch and ended with a plein air sketch. Did the lettering today. Signs of Spring are everywhere :)

I've been so taken lately with the contrast of colors in this mid-February and mid-winter landscape. The grasses; both lawn and marsh have reached their most dead and dull coloration. The blue of the water on sunny, blue sky days is absolutely brilliant and such a shock to your eyes. Red maples started to pop a few weeks ago so I splattered some red on the page :) It will mean nothing to someone who may thumb through my journal in years to come, but I will know :)