Sketch of 7th Avenue

Today I studied a plein air painting I did in New York last summer and thought about ways to improve it. I did about a dozen Notan ink sketches (black and white values only, in a sketchbook), and finally settled on a backlit variation.

Then I spent about an hour quickly sketching my idea with oil paint. I used a limited palette of four colors plus white, following a suggestion of Terry Miura: (1) yellow ochre; (2) transparent red oxide; (3) a little black; (4) asphaltum; and (5) titanium white.

It's obviously just a sketch, but I'm liking the composition! I may try to develop this into a larger studio piece. I'd add more cars, people, details, and clarify the drawing -- but, I hope, maintain the lighting and feel.

Geoff Watson, study, “Sketch of 7th Avenue at 57th Street,” oil on linen panel, 8” x 10.”

Flowering cherry tree

It’s brisk here, but our cherry trees are starting to bloom all the same. I spent about 90 minutes painting this tree before my hands got too cold to continue. I need to find better painting gloves! This picture would have benefited from another hour’s work. Not a bad start, though.

Geoff Watson, “Flowering cherry tree,” oil on canvas, 16” x 20,” 2018.

Auto shop

I’ve always wanted to paint the various auto repair shops on Butler Road in Bethesda, and today I had my first go at it. I should have chosen a different time of day, as I was painting contre jour — into the sun. Also, I realized that I was more interested in the stacked cars on the left; next time I’ll make those the focus. So, not my best effort, but an interesting first study.

Geoff Watson, “Study of an auto shop,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2018.

Shoshana redux

Shoshana sat for my life group again today, but I couldn’t get the same seat, so I started a new picture. I wish I’d had fifteen more minutes to model the eyes! But I’m still happy with it.

Geoff Watson, "Shoshana looking left," oil on panel, 12" x 16," 2018.

Telescoping house

It was unseasonably warm today, so I rushed outside and painted this telescoping house. I spent about 90 minutes on it. Fun!

Geoff Watson, “Telescoping house,” oil on canvas panel, 9” x 12,” 2018.

Interesting failures

Not every painting is a success, but I try to learn from mistakes. In today’s life session, my back was hurting, but I tried to stand so I could view the model from the same vantage point I had last week. Not smart! I had trouble concentrating, and the figure did not improve. After a while I gave up, sat down, and just started messing around with the background instead. Not a huge success, but still interesting.

Geoff Watson, “Not my best,”oil study on panel, 12” x 16,” 2018.

Yesterday I had a different kind of failure. I drew a pretty good likeness of the model, and my first wash of watercolor enhanced it. I should have stopped there! Instead I overworked it. Then I compounded the error by adding eye detail after the model was gone, and of course I got them wrong, lol. You can get away with that in oil, as it’s easy to wipe out mistakes. Not so with watercolors! (A comedy of errors: my computer isn’t letting me upload it. Maybe for the best!)

Mallina

In today’s life class, our instructor asked us to mass in the form without drawing contour lines. She suggested amoeba-like soft edges, allowing us to push and pull things to refine the drawing. I like this approach. It took some of the pressure off the initial lay-in, and it promoted soft edges. We had only two hours, so it’s still rough, but I still feel I made a statement. 

I only wish I’d painted this on a panel! All I had handy was a canvas pad. Maybe some future art historian will cut it out, put it on stretcher bars, frame it, and donate it to the Met.  :-)

Geoff Watson, “Mallina,” oil on canvas pad, 12” x 16,” 2018.

Revisiting Cabin John Woods

It was relatively warm today, so I paid another visit to Cabin John Park in Bethesda, Maryland. I painted a scene like this about seven weeks ago, in warm afternoon light. Today there was some sun, but it was not as intense, and the woods seemed more subdued. I painted this quickly; it took about two hours.

Geoff Watson, “Cabin John Woods in January,” oil on linen, 12” x 24,” 2018.

Here’s what I did in December. Not quite the same vantage point, and different light.

Geoff Watson, “Cabin John Woods in December,” oil on linen, 12” x 24,” 2017. 

Emily, backlit

Today we did more quick figure studies in life class, and again I did several charcoal drawings that I may post later. For now, here’s a look at a 45-minute oil sketch. I was mostly interested in the backlighting around her head and upper body.

Geoff Watson, “Emily, backlit”, oil study on panel, 11” x 14,” 2018.

Gesture studies in oil

A couple weeks ago I posted some gesture studies in watercolor, which I did at the Art Students League in New York. Today I did some gesture studies in oil. The two I'm posting here both took 20 minutes from start to finish. Fun!  I also a did a bunch of quick charcoal drawings. I may post some of those later.

Geoff Watson, Study, "Legs crossed," oil on panel, 11" x 14," 2018.

Geoff Watson, Study, "Standing," oil on panel, 11" x 14," 2018.

Wayne

Wayne was a last-minute substitute model in today's life-painting session; the scheduled model failed to show. Wayne turned out to be great! He showed up with ropes and posed with them. We started with a couple 10-monute poses. Here's one.

Geoff Watson, "Hauling," carbon pencil on paper, 9" x 12," 2017.

Then it was the main event -- a long pose of about 90 minutes. This is not a great photo, but it does show my main focus -- the intense light on Wayne's left shoulder. 

Geoff Watson, "Wayne," oil on panel, 11" x 14," 2017.

Laundry day

In this painting, I was trying to convey the warmth and steaminess of a laundry room. Hence the warm colors and soft edges.

Geoff Watson, "Laundry day," oil on panel, 11" x 14", 2017.

Clara Barton's house

Clara Barton's house is a national historic site at Glen Echo Park in Bethesda, Maryland. Barton lived in the house for a number of years, and the building served as one of the first headquarters of the American Red Cross. The park used to give tours of the site, but it's closed now; I don't know if there are plans to reopen it. It could use a bit of sprucing up, frankly.

Architecturally, the structure is unusual: it has a facade of stone towers with pink caps, giving it a palatial appearance, but behind this is an ordinary wood-frame house. It proved to be a challenge to paint, all the more so because of the intervening foliage. I'm not very happy with this first effort, but I'll give it a try again later.

Geoff Watson, "Clara Barton's house," oil on panel, 11" x 14", 2017.