Painting & Halloween from the Lowcountry

Painting with gouache at the Hilton Head Motorcoach Resort where we spend as much time as we can- it’s been a glorious two weeks. This is the view looking out from our lot- see photo reference below. Keeping things simple and small as I struggle with back issues. But being creative is certainly a great pain-reliever…get in the zone and you’ll see… no worries at all!

Did this gouache the day before from inside our motorhome- looking out the dinette window to our beautiful magnolia tree. This resort is known for the old-growth canopy of wonderful trees- keeps it cool and shady when the days are hot. Love the lowcountry!

Lagoon

Experimenting with some larger paintings based on abstracted gouache studies I did back in October on Hilton Head. This one is 16x20. I feel like a new path is emerging, but I'm not far enough along to feel comfortable or whether I'm even staying!

2/18/14
Making a few minor changes to the window mullions, wanting to integrate it with the landscape more. I feel it's better. Will continue to look before I declare, "Done!"

Over the Lagoon

I took my paints out to this gazebo like structure that sits out over the lagoon looking at the light on the bank of the opposite shore. I approached it as I have been doing, getting the drawing down in pencil first. The sun has come out after two days of clouds but the wind has also picked up. I decided to go back to the comfort of home, and use my visual memory to paint. Before I left I looked carefully at what I wanted to emphasize, what wasn't as important to me and then I packed up my things and biked home. I haven't tried that particular way of working before and I enjoyed it quite a bit!

Reflect

I want to work with the window image for a series, did this gouache in a 4x8 format. I love the reflections on the glass table in front of the window and felt I was able to keep an overall abstractness.

Lagoon

Looking out the window I was thinking about Lois Dodd and looked for shapes in the water and in the shadows. Did a quick pencil first to get the shadows, a good thing because the sun soon went behind a cloud. Note to self: Get those shadows in early!

Bridge to the Pool

Brought gouache with me to Hilton Head. I want to get as abstract as possible while retaining sense of place. That will be my objective this week. I'm working on Canson paper in a nice portable traveling book I found at Utrecht. 

Wanderer Lane

Biking one morning in Hilton Head, I brought my sketchbook along and stopped as I passed these small streets, all ending at the ocean. No outlet. No parking. I stood and quickly got my impressions, later making gouache studies. Here's the first one.