WATERBABY'S CIRCUS

I visited my younger (and only) sister over the weekend in Grass Valley. She has a green thumb, although she tries to deny it; but she actually waters and feeds her plants. The weather was balmy, which I fully appreciated, coming from the gray, overcast Bay Area. Holiday traffic meant I arrived late, then had to leave early the following day, so I didn't get any painting time in. I wanted to do a watercolor plein air sketch of her house, but had to settle for taking a few snapshots to work from once I got back home. I think I figured out how to deal with the problem I've been having with the sketchbook paper. Unsized paper soaks up water and watercolor pigment like a sponge, so no blending on the paper, or lifting color out is possible. So I painted on a thin layer of acrylic medium first, then let it dry. This slightly sealed the paper's surface, and let the paint slide on. Now that I have just one page left in this sketchbook, I've solved the problem!

Sometimes I go out and paint outside (plein air). Most Thursdays when the weather is good enough, a loosely organized bunch of us meet to draw or paint or take photos. Usually in or around the El Cerrito/Berkeley area. Last week the Rose Garden in the Berkeley hills was our site. The roses are in bloom and San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge and Mt. Tamalpais in the background gave us a lot to choose from. This is a rose arbor with Mt. Tam in the upper right. I'm not real happy with it, but it's way better than last year's attempt. (The original is not so blue-ish.)

Thanks to Jana Bouc's and Terry Banderas' flower paintings for the virtual kick-in-the-pants to get me painting again. Coming back after spending three months in Brazil has been a shock to my delicate system. But having painting friends here cheers me up and inspires me. Gotta go paint something!