POTW

Here's the very first Piece of the Week that I'll be posting every Wednesday. It'll also be the featured artwork on the home page. I thought I'd switch up the images on there instead of the same ones being recycled.  Also, it'll give me something to do!

Pink Victorian, 12x8, watercolor on paper

One of Alameda's known attractions are its Victorian houses. For being a small island it's one of the more noticeable things you see in town other than our small beach and our speed limit. Sure, Oakland, SF, Berkeley, and other towns have tons of old architecture too, but Alameda is just way easier to get to and see. The homeowners also do a good job at maintaining them.

I started painting around 7pm? A little late in the game, but good thing it's summer. A nice evening to go out on a walk, ( Hey Stacy & Fidelio!). I had some good light on the Victorian, giving me nice cast shadows from the railings and eaves. I know I was limited on time, so I had to make it quick. Good thing I work in watercolor for these occasions! I implied the cast shadows from the start after a thin wash of that funny orange-pink, which caused a lot of blossoming. 

I was too careless to save the whites for the trimming, so I knew I'd touch that off with opaque white.  Used wet in wet for the foliage and the background shapes. Finally finished it off with a rigger for the details. Dang, If I knew that I would have been blogging about this, I would have taken a step by step pictures. Then again, I was racing against the sun setting. 

Speaking of, by the time I was done, the lights were all gone, and the sky turned a radiant pink. Would have been nice to get that sky in rather than the gray blue I started out from. I think I may do a studio study of this again but with the pink sky. Anyway, cheers to the first Piece of the Week. Check back next week for the new one!