It was another warm day at the Farmers Market in my little town of Scappoose, OR. The good part about this market is that it is small in a small town. I meet my neighbors. It’s a fun hard day of work. I seem to be the last person to leave every day – I have lots of bits and pieces to pack up. Thankfully, Foxy had a cold glass of iced tea ready when I got home. With lemon even!
I’m still working on my series of watercolors of Portland landmarks. This one is the Portland sign at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Broadway.
3 New Paintings: Modern Landscapes
Click the image to see them.
I am taking a break – I was working on my Portland-area Landmarks watercolors most of the day today. The list of paintings in this series in below. They will all be 11×14 inches.
We’re checking my progress on the Burnside Bridge.
It’s one of the many bridges over the Willamette River that connect east and west Portland. East Portland is pictured. Downtown (west) Portland was behind me as I sketched.
Watercolors in the Portland Landmarks series:
Burnside Bridge
Portland Outdoor Store
Portland Theater Sign
Powells Books
St Johns Bridge
Voodoo Doughnuts
Downtown Portland from Burnside Bridge
I continue to meet wonderful people at the market. I am selling my travel watercolors (the washed out white spots on the left) and recent paintings (flowers & landscapes). People are also giving me ideas for new paintings (I have a notepad where everyone can write down their suggestions). Some ideas are London, Greece, and Italy.
What to expect:
New watercolor versions of places I have previously visited from the suggestion list.
New watercolors of Portland-area landmarks.
A few new flowers; in oil.
Workshops – I have received requests for classes/workshops. I will plan those as well. Possibilities are watercolor and drawing.I can do one or both. Let me know your thoughts.
Caio, Michael
What do I look at? When in Phoenix … I visit the Phoenix Art Museum (PAM). I saw some old favorites and new things, too. The Heard Museum is great, too, just up the road, but it was a PAM sort of day today. Here is a bit of what I spent my time looking at.
The highlight was the traveling exhibition of Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads: Gold by Ai Weiwei. It was very worth the trip. It’s a conceptual exhibit, so one has to read about it as well. Ok, one does not have to, but it helps. Another place for info is Ai Weiwei’s site (http://www.zodiacheads.com).
I spent a lot of time studying the painting by Edouard Vuillard. I looked his brushwork, the layers of his colors, how he placed colors to create the illusion of shapes, and more. I also visited a bronze by my favorite sculptor Barbara Hepworth. It was class Hepworth, a powerful piece. I did not like where it was placed, on a shelf across a staircase, too far away to get its full impact. I also noticed a dreamy image by Agnes Pelton. It was almost a bit too surreal for me, but it was well done and its imagery pulled me in. My photo doesn’t do justice to her painting. If you cannot make it to the museum, take a look online at http://www.phxart.org. Oh yes, then there was Rodin.
List of images
· Ai Weiwei Exhibit (http://www.phxart.org/exhibition/zodiacheads)
· Madame Lucy Hessel Working at a Dressmaker’s Table by Edouard Vuillard, oil, 1908
· Aloe by Barbara Hepworth, bronze, 1969
· Kiss by Rodin, bronze, 1880
· Day by Agnes Pelton, oil, 1935
Just returned from a three-day weekend get-away to Fez, Morocco. These are a couple of sketches I drew from memory one night as I had trouble sleeping.
First step in the process; will become an ink drawing. With watercolor added?
