Mt. Moran; pen and ink, grey felt tip brush on paper
I got back home at midnight last Saturday from two days in Grand Tetons National Park and five days at the 15th Annual Susan K. Black Foundation workshop. Both were a resounding success. You can read about my time in the park here. This post is about the workshop, which I’ve attended four times in the past and plan to go to next year.
All the previous instructors had been invited and almost all of them where there, including nationally known artists like James Gurney, John and Suzie Seerey-Lester, Greg Beecham, Mort Solberg, David Rankin, Jeanne Mackenzie, Andrew Denman, Guy Combes, Ann Trusty Hulsey and John Hulsey, all of whom I know personally or have studied with or both.
One of the main events is the Quick Draw, a traditional name but almost every artist at this workshop did paintings. Here’s some photos of the event in action. It’s followed by sketches and watercolors that I did in the Grand Tetons and EA Ranch.
James Gurney, known best for his “Dinotopia” books, painted a portrait of this pronghorn antelope in casein, gouache and colored pencilDavid Rankin, who I worked with most during the week (more on that in a future post) painted an ospreyGuy Combes did a lovely painting of a cheetahAndrew Denman created a graphite on paper drawing of a barn owlAlthough he’s better known for his sculpture, John Phelps painted a portrait the old-fashioned way…from a study drawingJohn Seerey-Lester chose to paint a moose, one of the very popular animals to see in the Grand TetonsJohn Hulsey who, with his wife Ann Trusty Hulsey, publish the online art website and newsletter The Artist’s Road, went for a late light landscape in watercolorGreg Beecham chose to paint a polar bear, bringing in the whites over a toned canvas
The weather was partly cloudy while I drove around Grand Tetons NP, which meant interesting light that could change very quickly. The aspens and cottonwoods were turning to their fall colors, too. All in all a perfect time to be there.
Both of the first ones were painted over the course of a couple of hours along the Moose Wilson Road.
Aspens- watercolor on Saunders Waterford paper 8×8″Aspens with storm clouds- watercolor on Saunders Waterford paper 8×8″Clouds and lightScenery at EA Ranch, near Dubois- watercolor on Arches cold press paper 8″x4″Pen and ink sketches- Sakura Micron .01 pen in a Beta Series Stillman and Birn sketchbookPen and ink sketches- same media as aboveContour sketches at SKB- same media as aboveContour sketches, SKB and the Denver airport- same media as above
Here’s an album of the art I created while I was traveling last month. I had a lot of fun drawing the alligators at the Okefenokee NWR and Harris Neck NWR. They’re good models because they don’t move much. There really is no substitute for drawing from live animals, although I took a ton of photos, too. Other than the one at the top, they’re in chronological order, starting with New York. All but one pencil sketch was done with a Sakura Micron .02 black pen. I used a Pentalic Nature Sketch 7×5″ sketchbook, a very handy size. Drawings on white paper are difficult to scan or photograph. I lightened them as much as I could.
Central Park ViewCalfornia sea lion, Central Park Zoo, New YorkResting grizzly bear, Central Park Zoo, New YorkTurtles, snow leopard cub, Central Park Zoo, New YorkPronghorn head mount and hat, Explorers Club, New YorkCheetah mount, Explorers Club, New York; White ibis, Okefenokee NWR, GeorgiaWhite ibis in tree, Okefenokee NWR, GeorgiaWater lily, Okefenokee NWR, Georgia; River cooter (turtle), Harris Neck NWR, GeorgiaAlligator, Harris Neck NWR, GeorgiaAlligator front leg, Harris Neck, NWR. GeorgiaJekyll Island, Geogia“Crazy”, 12′ long, 800-900 lb. bull alligator, Okefenokee Swamp Park, GeorgiaFarmstead, Okefenokee Swamp Park, GeorgiaAlligator details, Okefenokee Swamp Park, GeorgiaBald cypress tree, Okefenokee NWR, GeorgiaBald cypress roots, Okefenokee NWR, GeorgiaBald cypress, American alligator, Okefenokee NWR, GeorgiaLive oaks and Spanish moss, Fort Clinch State Park, Amelia Island, FloridaSavannah NWR, South CarolinaBirds, Hudson River Valley, New York State
When I got back north and was up in the Hudson River Valley, I visited Olana, the home of American artist Frederic Church. The house wasn’t open but the grounds were. It was windy and pretty cold, but I was determined to do at least a couple of watercolors since the view from the house is famous and has been painted by a number of artists over the years.
Hudson River from Olana, New York State; 8×8″Catskill Mountains from Olana, New York State; 8×8″
I also spent a couple of days with an artist friend at his home in the Hudson River Valley. We spent one morning on location at this lovely pond.
Last year I joined up with an informal “Sunday Painters” group. One person posts the next location on his Facebook page on Saturday and then whoever wants to shows up. There’s been close to a dozen of us at times. It’s about a 50/50 split between those who work in watercolor and those who paint in oil. I’ve mostly been using it as a busman’s holiday and doing watercolors. It’s always great fun and camaraderie. Here’s a selection of what I’ve done over the past few months.
I use either a set of Yarka poured watercolors or a Winsor-Newton set of half-pans on Arches cold press 140lb. watercolor blocks or loose 8×8″ pieces of Saunders Waterford 140lb. cold press. I’ve also been experimenting with Lanaquarelle cold press and hot press. I’ve got a variety of brushes. My current favorite is a large synthetic round that I got at Cass Art Supply in London last May, but I also like Robert Simmons’ Sapphires. I just got a new Stephen Quiller flat, the same as my friend and nationally-known watercolorist David Rankin uses, and plan to try it out this weekend since so far the weather forecast is looking good. David has posted a ton of wonderful tutorials on his website and his Facebook page. If you do watercolor or want to, check them out. I’ve learned a lot from him, not only about handling the media, but picture-making in general.
I’m interrupting my series on the 2015 WildArt Mongolia Expedition to share some special news!
First up, my painting “Morning Drink” of a takhi/Przewalski’s horse mare that I saw at Hustai National Park in Mongolia has been accepted for the Salmagundi Art Club’s Fall Auction! This will be the first appearance of my Mongolia paintings in The Big Apple and I, of course, hope it won’t be the last. You don’t have to be at the auction to bid. More information here.
Next, an excellent writer, Bob Bahr, has posted two articles about me and my travels to Mongolia from phone interviews we did a couple of weeks ago. One, which emphasizes the land, is now on the Outdoor Painters blog. It’s called “Further Afield: Painting Mongolia”. The second is about the wildlife, particularly argali sheep, and is on the News page of the Susan K. Blackman Foundation website. “SKB” as it is affectionately called, holds a terrific art workshop/conference every year in Dubois, Wyoming. I went in the early years, but hadn’t been able to attend again until last year. The warm welcome I got and the support and interest during the years in between have been very gratifying and greatly appreciated. The SKC article is called “Susan Fox and the “Last Great Undiscovered Art Destination”, which is what I told Bob I believe Mongolia to be.
Sketching near our campsite on Jargalant Hairkhan Uul in Khar Us Nuur National Park
Lastly, there’s still time to register and attend Plein Air at the Lost Coast from September 30 to October 4 in Shelter Cove, California. I’m one of the Featured Artists this year! I’ll be giving a presentation about working on location in Mongolia, with some stories about my adventures over the last ten years in the Land of Blue Skies, and doing a demo.
I’m back from our three week trip to England and Romania, a success on all counts! It was lovely to be in England in May, my first trip there in eleven years. Not much had changed…the countryside was still beautiful, the beer was excellent and I was able to get a nice selection of flower garden seeds at a big Garden Centre. I loved seeing Stonehenge again and we finally got to really explore Avebury, which we’d only had time to drive through on a previous trip.
Here’s a album of sketches, plus a couple of watercolors I did (Sakura Micron .01 pen on paper):
In San Francisco waiting to board and then at Heathrow waiting to get the rental car. It’s fun sometimes to just find something to sketch right where one is.New Forest PoniesStockbridge, HampshireStonehengeStonehengeStonehengeSheep grazing near StonehengeStonehengeStonehengeAveburyAveburyBourton-on-the-Water
And on to Romania, a country that I had never been to before. I did a little research and ended up booking a tour to the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in hopes of experiencing the largest surviving areas of the ancient forests that used to cover Europe and seeing European brown bear, of which there are close to 5000 in Romania, the largest population of any country in Europe. I succeeded on both counts and and all that and more will be the subject of a couple of upcoming blog posts.
View from the restaurant patio where I and my driver/guide had lunch en routeScenery near a monastery that we hiked up to. In the foreground is a haystackThe second day we went on an eight hour hike high up into the mountains to what is called The Alpine Hut, which is where I did this sketch. And had a well-earned beer.Another view from The Alpine Hut, which was between two ridgelines in the sub-alpine zone
After a week in Romania, we went back to London for three days, catching the “Sargent and Friends” exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery on the last day. We also spent time just hanging out at Trafalgar Square, where I did these sketches.
The spire of St. Martins-in-the-FieldsSir Edward Landseer’s lions at the base of the Nelson Column, Trafalgar SquareQuick copy of a dog in a painting by Murillo; people at Trafalgar SquareWay in the distance we could see the Egg and the dome of St. Paulr’s from the window of our Airbnb apartment in Soho, which had the most amazing view of the city
On our last day, we spent the afternoon at St. James Park, which had great birdwatching and many very old trees. I got out my watercolors, finally, and did a couple of small paintings.
Ancient oak tree, St. James ParkPencil sketches of birdsPencil sketches of birdsPencil sketches of birdsA view of the London Eye from St. James ParkLondon skyline from the apartment
Hippo and penguins. I did the hippo in about 10-15 seconds since he went underwater at that point, so no time to add any tone or detail. The penguins were more cooperative.
I got to spend a day sketching at the Denver Zoo a week ago. There really is no substitute for drawing from live animals if one is an animal artist. Photos alone just don’t cut it and, even more, photos that you haven’t taken yourself. The kind of sketching I’m showing here is about process and observation, not a polished or finished result. I hadn’t done this for awhile so it felt awkward at first, but got easier as the day went on. I used a 7×5″ Pentalic Nature Sketch sketchbook and a .02 black Sakura Micron pen, both of which I keep in my purse, a roomy Tom Bihn bag which can also hold my iPad. So that’s it….paper and a pen. Anyone can do this and you’ll see animals, whether it’s a pet cat or a tiger, in a new way. Start with animals who are resting or otherwise not moving. What is challenging is exercising one’s visual memory by doing ones that are moving. You will see with zoo animals in particular that their movement often has a pattern. Observe that, pick a gesture or angle and start and stop as needed as the animal comes past again.
Steller’s sea eagle and cinereous/eurasian black vultures. The eagle held still. The vultures were busy hopping around.Kangaroo and Kirk’s dik-dik. The kangaroos were towards the back of their enclosure. The dik-diks were pretty close.De Brazza’s monkey, mandrill and Red River Hogs. The De Brazza’s monkeys never stopped moving. It took awhile to even get a reasonably accurate head sketch. The mandrill just sat and looked at me. Red River hogs are one of my favorites, but I hadn’t had a chance to draw them much before. So the first one shows me searching for the shapes and proportions. Nothing wrong with doing that.Red River hogs. What’s not to like about drawing these guys?Red River hog, gorilla and giraffe. One of the hogs held still long enough to do a decent head sketch. The big male gorilla was working on a treat stuffed into what looked like a short length of wood. Even though his back was to me, I found the shapes interesting to draw. The giraffe was quite a way away so I couldn’t see the head all that well, but I really like drawing them, so what the heck.The zoo has a small group of takhi/Przewalski’s horses and of course I had to sketch them. They also kept moving around, but this one stayed grazing for just long enough.Takhi/Przewalski’s horse and a bactrian camel laying on its side. I did the camel to study the legs. Note how I used small circles to indicate the location of the joints.Okapi back of head, takhi/Przewalski’s horse, okapi. With those ears, why not draw the back of the head? I think that’s my most successful sketch of the day. The okapi was mostly moving, so I had to pick a position and use my visual memory along with noting the stripe patterns on the legs. This was a species I had never drawn before and it was s little challenging to keep the odd proportions correct. It’s reasonably close.Colobus monkeys, maned wolf. The monkeys were up in their trees, moving around and swinging on the ropes. All I could do is try to capture the basic appearance and the gestures. The black one is from memory. The wolf whose back of the head I did was lying down. The other one was pacing so, as mentioned above, I waited until he/she came past me again to continue the sketch.
It was snowing the next morning, so I went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Art. They have a large, very good collection of taxidermy mounted animals set in nice dioramas. One generally does not rely on mounts since accuracy varies greatly, but for field sketching on a bad weather day, they’re perfect! And they don’t move! As with the zoo animals, I was after a quick impression sketch, not a detailed study, because I had limited time. But one could certainly bring colored pencils, larger paper and do more finished work. One might choose to focus in on, and really work to understand, how the feathers are lifting where the bird is grooming them.
Whooping craneWarthog and great anteater. For both of these I was concentrating on the movement and expression. Also the markings on the anteater. Ran out of room for all of the tail, but didn’t worry about it.
One decent storm came through but now it’s back to sunny and cool to cold. I went up to Trinidad yesterday afternoon. It was very windy and pretty cold, so I set up in the van just like I did when it was snowing in Yellowstone last September. I sit in the driver’s seat and use the wheel as support for the piece of foamcore I tape the watercolor paper to. The paint and water container are on the passenger seat.
Trinidad Harbor rock
I’m really liking this rock and the way the light lands on it in the afternoon. It may end up being my version of Monet’s hay bales for awhile. It’s around 9×6″.
Trinidad Head from Little River State Beach
Last week I drove down the hill from our house to the parking area across from the beach and did this quick study (motivated by the nippy temperature) of Trinidad Head, so-called because a Spanish ship made landfall there on the Feast of the Trinity on June 9, 1775. You can read more about the town and its history here. It was cloudy with no sun, but I wanted to get in a little location painting time so figured I’d do a small piece. It’s about 6×9″.
The top piece was done on Saunders Waterford 140lb. hot press. The other two were done on Arches 140lb. hot press. I used my set of Yarka watercolors and a ProArte synthetic round brush. I have a bunch of different brushes and am trying them out one by one to see which, if any, I like best these days.
Trinidad State Beach
And, yes, we’re very fortunate to live only fifteen minutes away from such a beautiful beach.
We’re in the middle of a mini-heatwave here on the northcoast of California. It was almost 70F/20C today. I was invited to join some other local artists at the beach and off I went this afternoon for a few hours. It was a stunning day. I did two 8×8″ watercolors, kind of limbering up again since I haven’t done any location work since the trip to Wyoming in September. It was fun being out with friends and colleagues and I’ll be going again tomorrow. On Friday it’s supposed to go back to more normal temperatures for this time of year here with highs in the 50s.
Loved the light on this rock topped with some trees.
Getting my paints wetted and ready. I’m using a set of Yarka watercolors.Baker Beach with Trinidad Head in the background.Local artist Steve Porter works on a painting of sunlight coming through the trees on a cliff at one end of the beach.
Pronghorn; water soluble colored pencils from taxidermy mount
I’m back home now from my two week trip to Wyoming, where I spent three great days in Yellowstone National Park, a day and a half in Jackson Hole and five days at the Susan K. Black Foundation Workshop (SKB).
I painted and sketched along the way and at the workshop, trying out a variety of combinations of paper and water media. Here’s an album of some of my pieces, all done on location:
Goose Lake sunset, done is about 15 minutes; watercolorGoose Lake mountain and sunset; watercolorBison; pencil and watercolorBison in the Lamar Valley, Yellowstone; watercolorYellowstone trees; watercolor
Since I don’t really paint North American wildlife anymore, I found it liberating to not worry about getting “the shot”, although I ended up with lots of great photos, but instead to focus on sketching the live bison.
Bison sketches; Sakura Micron .01 penCottonwoods and a snowy morning, the Lamar Valley, Yellowstone; watercolor
The third day I was in Yellowstone it snowed in the morning. I drove out to the Lamar Valley and set up my watercolors on the passenger seat of our VW Eurovan camper, then just looked out the windows to do these three studies.
Lamar Valley snow and bison; watercolor
There’s a huge mountainous cliff on the east side of the park that is known as a place to spot mountain goats. And, sure enough, I spotted this nanny and kid with my binoculars. I got out my spotting scope (a Leica Televid) and managed these two quick pen sketches before she and the youngster got up and moved off out of sight. Then it was back to bison.
Mountain goat nanny and kid; bison; Sakura Micron .01 pen
One of the locations at the SKB workshop was a ranch that has been in the same family for over 100 years. Hope to be able to go there again next year.
Cottonwoods, Finley Ranch; watercolorCattle skulls, Finley Ranch; Precise V5 pen and Koi water brush
Next week I’ll share photos and stories from the workshop.
Susan Fox, American Artist 