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  • #448735
    Joan T
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        Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to 2018!

        I did go out sketching today. One of the things I like to do on New Year’s Day is take a ride down to the ocean. Today was a freezing day…about 19 when I got down there so I didn’t get out of the car except to take a few photos from the boardwalk.

        I started with a gouache sketch done in the parking lot at Captree, a small island right before you cross onto Fire Island where I was heading. One of my goals for the year is to learn how to use gouache. I watched a video on gouache painting before I left the house this morning, so the thoughts about painting were still fresh in my mind. I was working with just a few colors which could be a good thing or a bad thing…I’m not sure. All I know is that I need to use something with a larger mixing area. This is small…maybe about 4 x 6.

        [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
        [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

        #536790
        Joan T
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            Then I headed over the bridge to Fire Island itself and Robert Moses State Park. I’m always surprised to see how many other people also go to the beach on the first day of the year, no matter what the weather. It was only about 19 degrees when I got there and there was snow on the ground from our snowstorm on Saturday. I did a small watercolor sketch of the dunes.

            [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
            [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

            #536786
            robertsloan2
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                Wow. Snow covered dunes. That’s trippy to me. It got bitter cold here too with no snow whatsoever, but your scenes are gorgeous. Good thing you could stay in the car and keep warm.


                Robert A. Sloan, proud member of the Oil Pastel Society
                Site owner, artist and writer of http://www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com
                blogs: Rob's Art Lessons and Rob's Daily Painting

                #536990
                dagmar_eir
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                    how pretty, i love the beach any time of year! good for you to even leave the house when its that cold. nice job from the car. i love the first one with that cold yet pretty beach sky & the snow dunes.

                    how long do you usually spend on a paint/sketch like that from the car?

                    [FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up. Hawking, Stephen
                    #536791
                    Joan T
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                        Robert, thanks. It is odd to see snow at the beach. Sometimes it looks so much like sand you can’t tell. The weather has been so strange lately…snow in FL and Savannah. We are having a lot more of it today.

                        Dagmar, thank you. I am a beach love who grew up with beach loving parents. I get antsy if I go too long without getting to the beach. The sketches from the car take under an hour usually since they are rarely larger than 5 x 7. Once in a while I’ll work on something that is 8 x 10 and that usually takes about 1 1/2 hrs. In the winter I usually stick to the smaller size.

                        [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
                        [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

                        #536792
                        Joan T
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                            This sketch was done at the Wertheim Preserve. I wanted to catch the last of the snow from the other day before it was gone. lol Then we had more today.

                            [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
                            [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

                            #536793
                            Joan T
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                                My Wednesday evening sketch group had a doll theme this week. I didn’t have any dolls so I borrowed some from the collections that were brought in. The first one was a doll that was at least 60 years old. My friend, Pat, had a whole collection of these that were about 8 inches high. They came in the dresses they were wearing, but her aunt had crocheted dresses for them too.

                                The second one is a small Madame Alexander doll that another friend bought for her daughter that is now about 25.

                                [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
                                [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

                                #536794
                                Joan T
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                                    Today we had a bit of a blizzard. I think there is now about 10 inches of snow outside. It was really cold and blowing so I never left home. I did want to sketch the snow so I perched myself on an end table by the window and pulled out my gouache palette. This time I played around a little with the colors before I started so I had a better idea of how to get different colors from 3 primaries. The problem with painting the views out my windows is all my windows are on the same side of the building and have the same view…no variety. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have to resort to sketching the view from the garage which is on the other side of the building. lol

                                    [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
                                    [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

                                    #536979
                                    eyepaint
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                                        Happy New Year! Love the dolly in the rocking chair :)

                                        -- EP Moderator for:
                                        All Media Art Events, Artwork From Life, Art Journals

                                        #536787
                                        robertsloan2
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                                            Wow. Both of your snow scenes are lovely. I like the one with the dried leaves for its simplicity, it draws me right in. I can hear the leaves crackling and smell the snow almost, let alone feel the cold. The other one’s great too, the greens liven it up quite a bit. Very powerful snow rendering. I’m just stunned.

                                            Beautiful illustrations of the dolls. You captured the textures and stiffness of their garments and every rounded feature. Had to laugh at the doll holding her teddy bear, that’s a bit recursive.


                                            Robert A. Sloan, proud member of the Oil Pastel Society
                                            Site owner, artist and writer of http://www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com
                                            blogs: Rob's Art Lessons and Rob's Daily Painting

                                            #537003
                                            otherworlder
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                                                Here in Boston the snow is finally melting and it’s now around freezing point so actually warm enough to go outside! Lol.

                                                Cool snow scene sketch, very wintery. I love the dolls! especially the one on the right in that little blue chair, that’s super cute.

                                                #536795
                                                Joan T
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                                                    Thanks, EP. It was fun to do the dolls…quite a change from landscapes.

                                                    Robert, thank you. I’m having fun sketching the snowy scenes.

                                                    Otherworlder, thanks. We’ve had several days where the temp has reached the low 50s. Today we’re supposed to get heavy rain which should cause lots of puddles and then ice when it refreezes. I’m sure you know what that is like. lol

                                                    [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
                                                    [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

                                                    #536796
                                                    Joan T
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                                                        Here are a few more snow scenes. The first was done looking out my bedroom window while I was still stuck inside. The others were done from my “mobile studio” parked on the street or in a parking lot.

                                                        [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
                                                        [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

                                                        #536797
                                                        Joan T
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                                                            On Saturday the NYC Urban Sketchers had our holiday party in Jersey City which is on the other side of the Hudson River from downtown Manhattan. The party room it was held in had floor to ceiling windows with wonderful views. Most of the sketchers brought along their sketchbooks and were sketching immediately. The event started at 3 so we had time for a sketch before it started to get dark. I brought along my tiny gouache palette to do a nocturne scene too.

                                                            [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
                                                            [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

                                                            #536798
                                                            Joan T
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                                                                While I was working on the nocturne i turned around and noticed Mary Jane sitting in her wheelchair. She is the elderly mother of one of our sketchers. Andrew takes care of her full time, so he brought her along as his guest. She was posing for a few other sketchers, so I turned around and did a very quick sketch of her. It really looks like her too. Both she and Andrew loved it.

                                                                Later after a lot of socializing I grabbed one of the sheets of paper that were being handed out to do a sketch for the accordion book they were making to commemorate the party. I started sketching with a water-soluble pen which I regretted when I add watercolor…so I switched to permanent ink for the rest of it. I sketched some of the party tables and the people seated at them and some of the people around the room.

                                                                [FONT=Book Antiqua]Joan T
                                                                [FONT=Book Antiqua]www.watercolorsbyjoan2.blogspot.com

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