Christmas Berries

 Generously, every December our Saturday paint-out group organizer hosts a holiday get together.  I always look forward to it.  It's also a card exchange for anyone wanting to participate.  This year I had fun making my card of greenery and berries using colored pencils and watercolor.  I also added some glitter/glue dots on the berries which really made it sparkle.  

Last fall when we were not meeting together to paint, I painted some red Nandina berries in watercolor.  Nandina is also known as Heavenly Bamboo.  There is a tall plant next to our driveway that gets beautiful red berries in the fall.  I usually can't resist painting or drawing them.  Next to the green, background, bamboo leaves the red berries really stand out.

Approx. 5" x 7" Pencils and Watercolor

7" x 5" Watercolor

Snow!

Well, not actual snow.  Another recent Saturday group painting "challenge" was to do some holiday art of decorations in our neighborhood.  I easily found a home on the next street with some beautiful added "snow", a big decorated tree, and twinkly Christmas lights.  Perfect!  It was fun to try this at home in watercolor. 

5" x 7" Watercolor

Holiday Paint-Out 2015!

Our Saturday paint-out group leader, Barbara, hosts an annual holiday get-together for us at her home.  Barbara is so generous throughout the year with organizing and planning paint-outs, then invites us to her house for snacks and a paint-out in December.  It's always fun to be able chat with paint-out friends since we're usually individually looking for a view and then quietly painting.  This year Barbara suggested a greeting card exchange.  Great idea and I had fun painting my outdoor scene with gel pen accents!  

This was my fourth year painting at Barbara's house.  I tried a view of the front entrance last year in gouache, Holiday Paint-Out 2014!.  I thought I would paint in the back yard on this visit.  Barbara has a back yard I can identify with.  She's attentive to the birds and butterflies, she plants veggies, and has lots of potted plants.  For added interest she even put some wash up on her clothes line.  With limited time after chatting and snacking, I painted a small watercolor.  It's got a lot of Christmas-y greens.  Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

5" x 7" Watercolor

New Year's Eve

Hi and Happy New Year to you!  Thank you for a year of encouragement and support.  I'm sharing some fun, vintage New Year's images and sending my hope that you all have a happy, healthy, and creative 2015!  Plus a late addition below...

On New Year's Eve every year we stop by the local South Pasadena Rose Parade float construction site.  Most of the other parade floats are decorated by commercial float builders but ours is "self-built" by South Pasadena volunteers, which only a few local cities do.  I'm including a photo of the finished float ready to head out to Colorado Boulevard very soon.  Racing dragon boats this year!

Testing motors and driving from the cockpit

Holiday Paint-Out 2014!

The creator, organizer, and leader of our Saturday plein air group hosts an annual paint-out at her house around the holidays.  Barbara is so generous throughout the year as planner and faithful painter, then in December she invites us for some morning snacks before painting around her home.  Barbara's house in South Pasadena is a terrific craftsman bungalow.  On my first holiday paint-out there in 2012 I tried the front of the house since it looked so festive.  I posted that piece in Holiday Paint-Out.  It was one of my first plein air gouache pieces.  Last year I painted a bird bath in the back yard.  This fall Barbara has had some beautiful, home-grown(!), white pumpkins on her front steps.  I've been admiring them and had to give them a try.  The morning was overcast but some sun came out as I was finishing up.  What a nice way to end the year with friends and painting.

   

5 x 7" Gouache

Darryl and Bill found the perfect vantage point

 

Christmas 2014!

This is my third Christmas blog post!  With a few nostalgic "found" photos, I'm sending my best wishes to you all at Christmas!

Christmas 2013!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas with some vintage holiday graphics....from the 1920's to the 1950's!

Christmas 2012!

My blog's first Christmas!  Last December I would never have thought I'd be posting on my own blog so this is pretty exciting!

I have to share that in 1995 I planned to paint a watercolor of some vintage Christmas ornaments in their box with the tissue around them.  I took some snapshots at the local flea market for reference and inspiration.  The painting never happened but I have hundreds of wonderful Christmas snapshots which I enjoy adding to each year.  Of course I branched out from snapping just ornaments in boxes.  There are some funky flea market Christmas items out there.  Over the years it's been interesting to see the changes in what is available at the flea market and in stores.  The photos are still inspiring so maybe I'll actually do that painting sometime. 

So here are a few photos from a couple years ago to help in wishing you all the best Christmas and 2013.

          

Christmas in July

I love photos and I always have my small camera with me.  All those glimpses of a view, or passing moment, vignettes I happen to see, I want to capture.  I'm not a photographer, I just love snapshots.  Nowadays I like to take photos with possible paintings in mind.
I've had a page on Flickr with some of my photos for a few years.  I really enjoy adding to it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51786707@N07/
I also have fun looking for vintage images that catch my eye.  For many years I've looked through piles of old snapshots at the flea market and ephemera shows.  Some jump out as instant favorites.  It might be the subject matter or the lighting and values.  Here are two that I ran across at the local flea market this month...Christmas in July.  All this month I've noticed retailers advertising Christmas in July specials.  I love the lighting and tones on these, and what fun to find them together.