Palm Springs Artwork - Daily Art in Various Media

Portrait of Jeju (20-Feb)

I brought my art supplies with me on vacation with plans to commit to creating one artwork per day. To start, I drew a colored pencil portrait of my daughter's dog, Jeju, a Shikoku that is slightly larger than an Shiba-Inu. The challenge for me was finding the right tone of gold or caramel to use for his coat. Turns out that a combination of light brown, orange, yellow, and white worked. This portrait was more about refamiliarizing myself with the medium rather than perfecting the proportions. Jeju can curl up into a pretty tight ball, though I may have shortened his body somewhat.

Jarred Kelenic (21-Feb)

Sunset in BD (21-Feb)

For my next two paintings, I decided to switch to watercolors. As a warmup, I painted a small sunset from a photo I took off our deck. Then I got serious and painted a baseball player from a newspaper photo I grabbed from the Seattle Times last Summer. Both end up as mixed media paintings once I embellish them with ink pens.

Jarred Kelenic, Final (22-Feb)

I completed my painting of Outfielder Jarred Kelenic from the photo of him working out at Tacoma's Cheney Stadium last Summer. I wanted to fix the length of the bats and add letters to the uniform, I used the ink pens that my Arizona friends gifted me for my birthday. Also finally used the brush-tip watercolor ink pens I got for Christmas in the past two years. Often when working from a photo certain items like facial features or other details are less distinct. This is where The jersey looked more realistic in the previous watercolor without the darkened details inked in. This is where you as the artist get to be creative. For me, it was about trying out the ink pens not about making the jersey wrinkles look realistic. I do like the effect of the brush-tip pens.

BTW, Kelenic scored the Mariners' winning run against the Padres in the Cactus League opener in Peoria, AZ on the 28th.

Sunset in BD (22-Feb)

Using my Tebik 15 Pack of Calligraphy Hand Lettering Pens (thanks, Donna and Woody), I've embellished my sunset to include the wintery trees (sans leaves) that we can see from our deck. If this were to be framed, I might edit out the ivy-covered trees on the right. Only the artist should be allowed to do such editing. I would never trim any of my students' artwork or anyone else's work for any reason.

Dog Park (Phase 1)

On the 23rd, I began a drawing of three dogs I met last year at the Palm Springs City Dog Park. It begins with a light sketch using a light brown erasable colored pencil, followed by washes of watercolor for the background. Curiously, the waxiness of the pencil acts as a resist that creates a boundary between colors. This was a lot more helpful to me than using a graphite pencil.

I found it too hot to paint that day. Sometimes you need to stop and take a break, then revisit it later.

Dog Park (Phase 2)

Phase 2 includes the beginnings of the definition of the three canine subjects on day #2 (the 24th). I was interrupted by the gardeners who were about to mow grass, edge, and use blowers at the house we are renting. After a quick swim with my daughter, I resumed painting. I will need to darken the value of the cement on the right side, as it is in the shadow of a canopy. I also plan to make the doodle a little less athletic and a bit chunkier.

Coco, Moana, and Spencer at
Palm Springs City Dog Park (2020),
Ken Patterson (25-Feb)

It turns out that the doodle is actually a poodle named Spencer, according to the other owners of Coco the Husky and Moana a tri-color mutt(?). Both were at the dog park today. Coco's owner is a waiter at one of the local PS restaurants and an accomplished drawer himself. I got to see his works in graphite, charcoal, and colored pencil on his Smart Photo Watch. Cell phones and other electronic media are so convenient!

I'm happy with this now that I fixed the poodle and edited out the white plastic chair on the lower left. Only other thing I may do later is use my calligraphy pens to add a bit of details to better define the white dog in the distance and maybe the mans shoes. I wonder what my colleagues at BDAA would think about the result.

I painted outside today in 80° weather and full sun. Unfortunately, the image I was referencing (photo not shown) was on my laptop (no printer) and I kept having to go inside to look at it. This is also the first time I'm using an easel and trying to paint vertically on a pad of canvas sheets (sans clip); canvas board would work better. My challenge was mixing my colors light enough to match the values in my reference photo. I'm calling this first draft my under-painting. I'll let it dry and return to it in a couple of days.

My next watercolor is of the sunflowers on our tablecloth. I was going to embellish it with my calligraphy ink pens, but I think it looks fine the way it is.

Stay tuned for more painting. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish my landscape in oils, do some more watercolors, and dabble in both chalk and oil pastels.