I tinkered with sketch based on some good comments and will now leave it alone and move to another sketch. i kicked up the darks in lower left corner for better balance and stronger value pattern.

i may come back at a later time and darken the upper left corner a bit.

Quarantine Sketches

One more try...hate and love computers as they are processing machines not creative divergent entities. remember that please. an old man's lamenting here. anyway, here is my latest sketch that is more than a sketch. a nice painting but not full of drama. not yet. learning. ron k

 so here we go, there is some merit here and i will continue to pursue the drama. love you all. ron k

Hi All, hope everyone is safe, stay  home and dont believe some of these idiot governors from the south. okay? stay home and be safe.

It has been a while since i had brush in hand due to a couple of building projects that took up a lot of time. that is all settled and i am trying to get back into the process. My approach at the moment is to do a lot of small sketches to begin reconnecting with my energy and approaches. It is funny that now that i am a Signature Member in the NWWS i look at my work with renewed criticism and have gotten a bit safe and precious in my approaches. so, the sketch process is helping me out of that trap.

attached i have a few examples that i am working on and will continue to add more in the coming weeks. this series features shell fish, lobsters, crabs and crawfish (in process). so enjoy, comments are welcome. one of my aspirations in these is to get away from dirty colors, get the bright vibrant colors in the first wash application.

okay, so i tried to be loose and wet with key bright colors and lots of soft edges. more to come. keep painting and stay in your studios and be safe and creative. ron

YIPPEE

Just received confirmation that "Lemons Basking" was accepted for exhibition in the Annual International Open Exhibition for the Northwest Watercolor Society's upcoming exhibit, April 29 through July 11, 2019 at the Shoreline City Hall lobby, Shoreline WA.  I am truly excited by this and will definitely be in attendance at the opening on April 29, assuming around 630 to 7 pm start.

Keep painting. Ron K

Seeking the Light

It is amazing that after years of painting and teaching that i am still pursuing the elusive "light". Understanding a principle is not the same as being able to execute it. In Lemons Basking i am closer and feel like a made progress. i have "the big apple" in process and am again working on the light pattern so let us hope...also, i am trying to balance the desire to have interesting and complex brush strokes with an uncomplicated technique. Confusing? yes. I want energy in the brush strokes but a few of my studies were way over-worked. so now going back to the shadow shapes as starting point and balancing simplicity with some complexity. hope to have something to show by weeks end.
Keep painting. Ron K

For those interested painters, here are a few key principles that i used in approaching "Lemons basking"; i hope it helps beginning painters:

1. i wanted to focus on the light and the light reflected on the fruit (onions and lemons) as that reflectivity is the heart and drama of the composition;
2. i used a simple yellow/purple color compliment (opposite on the color wheel);
3. i wanted a lot of brush stroke characteristic in every object of the painting, using a lot of color integration and mixing on the paper not in the palette.

Essentially that was the approach plus using some late glazing techniques to unite areas of the painting.
Hope this helps. Ron K

well i actually stopped procrastinating and engaged a painting. i initially thought this would be a large study. as it progressed (and i left it for a day), i came back to it on sunday last and made an effort to pull it out. the deadline for the nwws exhibition turned out to be 6pm that sunday and at 230 pm i decided i would give it a shot and submit after playing with painting for a couple of hours. i photographed it still wet and pulled what hair remains as i tried to download the file and find it. first camera was not cooperating and finally image was found in a file folder. i submitted it at 330 pm successfully.

i do think it is a bit overworked, thus my hesitancy in submitting it but as i studied it even more, the various glazing layers of burnt madder, purple and yellow began to give it some harmony and punch. you be the judge. lesson learned: dont give up, learn by the painting and complete the work whether or not it is "successful" as their is a learning merit in every effort.

here is "Lemons basking"

keep painting and have fun--and comments are always welcome, ron k