Prep for travel to London

My wife & I are leaving for London in one week! We will be there for two weeks and are lucky enough to have tickets to some Olympic events. In addition to spending time in London, we will visit a friend in Hastings, and also go to Ramsgate to see the vacation home my sister-in-law recently purchased. Since the trip will be quite busy, I don't believe I will have a lot of time to paint, so I'm not taking my pochade box with my acrylic paints. Instead, I will take ink pens & my travel watercolor box. I have been practicing a quick way of sketching which I will use on this trip. First, I use a black gel pen (water soluble) and sketch the scene. Afterwards, I use a watercolor brush to add water and create a black/white/gray image. Finally, I go back and add just one or two (or, as in this case, three) watercolor washes  just to add a bit of color. As long as I get the first step done on location, I can finish the sketch at a later time, which will work well while traveling.
This building is a local bar called George's Hideaway; the structure used to be a train depot. Over the years, the building has settled and now appears totally crooked.

View of the Russian River

Last week, I packed my small pochade box and other art supplies, along with my dog, into my car and headed out to paint the Russian River. I had noticed a spot in Duncans Mills, facing east on Highway 116, which has a beautiful view of the river and a small area to pull off the highway. One thing that caught my eye about this portion of the river is that the water looks blue here, whereas it usually looks green (or sometimes brown when there has been lots of rain to churn it up). In this photo, the water looks a brighter blue than it does in the painting.

Bye Bye, Baby (I hope)

Well, here she is, all dressed up in her frame, ready to be donated to the 2012 Art for Life auction. It is a bit unnerving to send a painting out into the world, to see if anyone wants it enough to spend $ on it. I suppose that if no one does, I will feel humiliated. Ah, well.....won't be the first time!