Imaginative landscape study with hunters approaching a lake side castle. Pen and wash with additions of transparent watercolors. I am trying out Winsor & Newton's large pan professional watercolors. Original on cold press Sennelier paper, 4 x 9.5 inches. This ratio is similar to a widescreen movie format like Panavision's 2:35.

Eroded cliff with exposed eucalyptus roots. 10x14", Canson -Montval watercolor paper. Limited palette with additions of red/brown ink, gouache white, light gray and transparent watercolors.

Small ink, watercolor & gouache sketch from life. A grouping of eucalyptus trees with various sapling undergrowth. Fabriano paper.

Large 24"x18" warm up sketch 20mins over abstract transparent doodles. This was a class demo while everyone was warming up. Starting very transparent then mix gouache into the wet washes.

Part III. Color Warm ups and example of sketch to larger color painting.

Gouache & Watercolor class Part II. (two images are from last year's class, the stormy cliff sketches and wide format gouache/wc image.

What a fantastic workshop last weekend up in Mendocino, California. There was 21 students who signed up and I tried to do as many demos as I could muster. We also had several hour sessions to sketch outside and take in nature. The focus of the class was to take these sketches and work on variation from memory in small warm up sketch paintings. Everyone was a good sport when some sprinkles rolled in. Wonderful work by everyone! Various sketches, photos of the area and workshop pictures to share.

Experimental composition with Prussian blue under painting and additions of India ink - pen work. Zinc white gouache was used to build up opaques. This is a hybrid of English and Dutch landscape influences from the 1600's to 1800's. (6x9 inches on Cold press W/C paper)

I will be going over techniques in my class this weekend on how to improve usability of outdoor rapid sketches and employing them in the studio for more elaborate small format paintings that capture complex lighting situations.

To mix things up a bit I wanted to share an oil study I made this summer on the east coast. Pretty small, 5x9 inches or so, linen mounted on wood panel with a middle warm gray ground. Rapid painting on location. I love the lush greens in Connecticut and all of New England for that matter. There was so much rain in June, that this was a rare moment to brave the elements and capture a small slice of nature.

Some recent sketchbook entries.... some of these are master studies for warm ups. Pen & ink work as well.


On another note I wanted to give folks interested a heads up for a Fall workshop:

Greetings Art Enthusiasts!
I wanted to let you all know about a special fall workshop I'm teaching at the Mendocino Art Center.
Their website: http://www.mendocinoartcenter.org/PSS_Cart.54.LassoApp?category=189&feature2=Fall
¬
µ
September 12 - 13, 2009
INTERMEDIATE - ADVANCED GOUACHE AND WATERCOLOR PAINTING WORKSHOP
Erik Tiemens

Class begins Saturday, September 12th. Two day weekend workshop meets Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. Tuition: $180 (members may take a $25 discount on one workshop per year).

From the smallest thumbnail sketch to more finished works in the field, discover the importance of planning and seeing more options in your compositions, color palettes and tonal combinations before committing time on larger studio paintings. The workshop will go over techniques to previsualize your final idea and truly see the many options a location can inspire in a final painting. By combining the best of gouaches opaque-change friendly qualities with watercolors transparent subtlety, you can work more efficiently in capturing lighting, atmosphere and tonal information.

Material List Here: www.virtualgouacheland.blogspot.com

It's going to be inspiring to paint in Mendocino- I hope some of you can come!
Best, Erik