a slender fellow in the grass

This fellow was sleeping under an up-turned flower pot in my yard. He stayed still just long enough for me to sketch him, then slithered off into the leaves. It was almost as if he waited for me to finish his portrait.

A sad day in the neighborhood

This baby squirrel had been hanging around my yard for a few days and Saturday I spent a couple hours phographing and sketching him. He had a crippled right front paw and didn't run or climb very well. I fed him pieces of apple and he stayed close by. I went inside for a few minutes and heard my nextdoor neighbor yelling frantically at his dog. I knew what had happened. The little squirrel's back was broken but he was still alive so I got the shovel and put him out of his misery. With his crippled foot, I know he wouldn't have lasted very long but is was horrible to have to kill him after spending so much time with him. Needless to say, I had a good cry.

Photos from 33rd SketchCrawl

Here are photos of the sketch crawlers from Saturday.

My sketch from the 33rd International Sketchcrawl

There were 6 of us and we started out in Market Square. I chose to sketch the backs of the row of shops that face William Street. There was a lot to sketch and I plan to go back. Beautiful day and lots of fun. I had pulled a back muscle but I didn't feel it as long as I was sketching. Talk about therapy! If you are interested in seeing more sketches from yesterday's crawl, be sure to check out the forum at www.sketchcrawl.com
There were people from all over the world and there is some fantastic work. Just be warned--it's addictive!

33rd Sketch Crawl

Just thought I'd mention the next International Sketch Crawl date is Saturday, October 15. We're crawling in Fredericksburg if you'd like to join us. Meet at Hyperion at 10 a.m. Write me if you've got questions. Check it out at http://www.sketchcrawl.com

Greek Church

These are tracing paper sketches I did for the painting of the Greek Church below. It is a long and tedious exploration (and I haven't even included all the sketches), but in the long run, it made for a better painting.


Here is the final outcome. It was done on hot-press illustration board using watercolors mixed with white gouache to make them opaque. The sky took 6 layers of paint to get the coverage I wanted. I think it was worth the trouble. The painting is 4 1/2 " x 3".

(Note to Phil: hope this helps explain my email ;-)

End of Summer

As summer begins to fade here in Virginia, I often cut flowers and leaves to bring inside to extend the season. I'm taking an online course in water-color pencils with Cathy Johnson and had great fun layering the colors in this sketch trying to match the coleus.

August 28th--the day after Irene

This poor dragonfly got wrecked in the hurricane. I found him clinging to a branch unable to fly.

Sacred Datura

This is a sketch I did yesterday of the Datura plant in my front yard. I counted 40 buds on it! It blooms at night and smells like vanilla. The seed pods it's named for have not developed yet but I will add them to this sketch when they do. The Latin name is Datura inoxia and is sometimes called downy thorn apply (from the Hindi dhatura), Indian apple, and sacred Datura.

32nd International Sketch Crawl

Yesterday was the 32nd sketch crawl and 2 of us ventured out into the heat. We lasted a few hours and here are my pages.

sketch crawl pg. 1

sketch crawl pg. 2

Catitude

This is a little painting of Alice I did at camp this summer. That's her signature look.

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly

This fellow was in the parking lot at work the other day. The top of his wing was iridescent purple/blue and the under side was dark with orange-red spots. So different and so beautiful.

A leaf for Elizabeth

My friend Elizabeth commissioned me to paint this Japanese Maple leaf for her grand-daughter. I have about 12 glazes on this little painting.

WV weekend

Here are some sketches I made this past weekend in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.

Another Botanical Workshop

I took another botanical illustration class with Lara Gastinger at the wonderful William Cox Inn. This time we worked on spring flowers and I attempted a native columbine. I didn't have as much luck with it as I did with the seed pods in the Fall but it was still lots of fun. Unlike the dried seed pods, the flower kept changing so that by the end of the workshop, it was rather sad looking. I guess the trick is to paint on site and don't pick the flower. And work fast. I will not be posting an image of this painting. You'll just have to wait until I do a better one.

Abstract, abstractus, abstracti

I finally got an image of the abstract I did in Steve Griffin's workshop. It was accepted (along with another one) in the Abstract Show for May at the FCCA. Thank you Steve!!! I titled it Ode to the Gryphon. Hopefully someone will "get it."

Beware the Ides of March

That is today, isn't it? I'm just so excited that it's almost spring, I'm already way beyond March.
Have done some fun things since my last post. I took an abstract painting workshop with Steve Griffin a few weeks ago. It was a real stretch for me--abstracts, acrylic paint, large format...
I really kind of enjoyed it. Acrylic still is not my favorite medium but it worked for this application. I even did one that I might enter in an upcoming show but best of all, I'm now thinking about doing another one. I've been planning it in my head but it probably won't end up looking anything like I expect. That's kind of what I like about abstracts--there's always a surprise. Maybe that's just because I don't really know what I'm doing yet, but I like being a beginner.
I'm also going to teach an Illustrated Journaling class in June. Just a quick, one-day workshop but I'm hoping it will get more people interested in sketching. We had a good time at the last Sketch Crawl but it would be more fun with more people.
I'll post my abstracts for your to see soon. I'd just like to do one or two more, so stay tuned.

30th International Sketch Crawl

Hi everyone! I just uploaded the four pages from my sketch book from yesterday's 30th International Sketch Crawl (Fredericksburg's 3rd). There were four of us on the crawl and we had a good time. It was far too cold to work outside (I don't think the temps got above freezing all day) but we found warm, welcoming places inside.

After meeting at the coffee shop, we walked a block to St. George's church and spent some time there. It was a busy Saturday with the altar guild arranging flowers and the cleaning lady sweeping and dusting and the jazz (really!) band rehearsing. Those Tiffany windows are always amazing but with the new organ and new decor, there was lots to see and draw.

From there we went to LibertyTown Arts Workshop where crawler Ruth Ann had a still life set up for us to work on. Risa and I did that for a while then joined Bob in Betsy's studio where I sketched Betsy's work table.

We were going to make our last stop the library but we ran out of time so we all met up at Eileen's and had a lovely lunch. After lunch, Risa and I went to see the realism show at Belmont which was fantastic. It was the 2nd time I had been there for this show and I was even more impressed. Be sure to see it if you get the chance.

I uploaded them a little out of order but couldn't figure out how to rearrange them without re-uploading all of them. If any of you have a clever way to do that, please let me know. Thanks.

Meanwhile, hope you enjoy my sketches below.
P

30th International Sketch Crawl

oops

Someone just pointed out that I was really planning ahead in the previous post where I announced that the Sketch Crawl is Jan 22, 2211. I've corrected it, thank you. It should, of course, be 2011. I wonder if they will still have crawls in 2211...

Sketch Crawl

Mark your calendars! If you live in the Fredericksburg, VA area, or are visiting, the 3rd Fredericksburg Sketch Crawl will take place on Saturday, January 22, 2011. This is part of the International Sketch Crawl movement (http://www.sketchcrawl.com/)
Join us at Hyperion Espresso Bar at 9 a.m. and we'll plan our day.

New paintings

Here are 3 new paintings of dried fall woodland detritus. I'm really enjoying getting back to details. I spend hours and hours on each of these and get totally lost in them. I've found it's rather like meditation. I get up from my chair after 3 hours and I'm not stiff or sore, just relaxed.

Leaves and Grasses

Watercolor on Fabriano Hotpress paper

Sumac

Watercolor on Fabriano Hotpress paper

Pine Branch with Lichen

Watercolor on Fabriano Hotpress paper

Workshop with Lara Call Gastinger

This past weekend I took the workshop with Lara Call Gastinger and 11 other students at a delightful bed and breakfast near Charlottesville. We all worked from actual bits of trees, bushes, berries, leaves, etc. I chose to draw the seed pods from a redbud tree which I have always found fascinating. We drew on tracing paper then transferred the drawing to the watercolor paper. This gave us a clean line with no erasures which disturb the surface of the paper. The paper itself was new for me as I am accustomed to using coldpress paper. I found I really liked the hotpress. I was able to get cleaner lines and the color blending was smoother. It was ironic that I've been trying to get away from being so exact and putting in every detail and here I was doing just that again. But I really enjoyed it. The only problem with the weekend was we were stuck inside and it was a gorgeous couple of days. I would much preferred to have been working outside. I did get to take a walk each day so that helped.

Hope you enjoy these. I still have a little work to do on the poppies but thought I'd put them here anyway.

Redbud seed pods

Watercolor on 140# Fabriano hotpress paper

Redbud seed pods detail 1

Redbud seed pods detail 2

Poppy Seed Pods

Watercolor on 140# Fabriano Hotpress paper

New Challenges

Two new exciting challenges for me this month: I'll be taking a workshop with Lara Call Gastinger doing botanical drawing/painting and beginning a 6-week online class with Cathy (Kate) Johnson on sketching and drawing. I am really looking forward to both of them and will post my work (good, bad, and indifferent) here for your always-welcome feedback. I love the autumn and having these artistic endeavors to look forward to makes it even better this year.

P.S. thanks to all of you who came to my opening in October and to those who visited the show later. It was an interesting experience.

Oct. 30 sketch

Oct. 30 sketch
Originally uploaded by paularaudenbush

Oct. 30 sketch

Oct. 30 sketch recto
Originally uploaded by paularaudenbush

Oct. 31 sketch

Oct. 31 sketch
Originally uploaded by paularaudenbush

Oct. 31 sketch

Oct. 31 recto
Originally uploaded by paularaudenbush

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Solo Show in October

Hope those of you who are in the area can make it to the opening of my solo show. Here is the info:
First Friday (Oct. 1) 6-9 p.m. at Studio A (1011A Princess Anne Street, upstairs). Many of the work shown below will be on display (and for sale!). Do hope you can come. The exhibit will be up through the month of October and the gallery is open MWF during the day and by appointment.
Thanks for all your support!

My screened porch where I spend a lot of time. It's a great seasonal studio.
Plus, there's a place (just out of sight) for naps!

Jack

watercolor on 300lb Arches

Mrs. Chin Sleeping in the Sun

Watercolor on Arches #300 hotpress

Pyne Mt. sheep

Watercolor on Arches 300# Hotpress

More pouring

The painting below of the Rappahannock River is another one done with the pouring method that I learned at painting camp this summer. I tried to control the colors (red, blue, yellow) as horizontal bands but they all bled into each other anyway, making for some interesting reflections of color in the water. I had a lot of fun with this one and want to do more...stay tuned.

Rappahannock River in autumn

Watercolor on 300# Arches

Painting Camp

The nine paintings below were all done at camp this summer. I was only able to be there for 4 days this year but I made the most of it. Hope you enjoy the results.

Mrs. Chin

Watercolor on 300# Arches paper

Alice upon waking

Watercolor on 300# Arches paper

Larkspur and poppy

Poured watercolor on 300# Arches paper

Under the train station

Poured watercolor on 300# Arches paper

Under the train station 2

This painting was SOLD in a show at our local library about our town.
Poured watercolor on 300# Arches paper

Plastic wrap impression with watercolor and real leaf prints plus hand carved rubber stamps.

Plastic wrap impression with watercolor and handmade rubber stamp

Canada Goose in the rain

Poured watercolor on 300# Arches paper
Mom has this one 'cause she loves Canada geese

Jerome Sunrise

Poured watercolor on 300# Arches paper