This painting of our house is inspired by a watercolor workshop I attended in California in the fall by Carolyn Lord. It was a great workshop, beautiful location and fantastic instructor. Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors on 300# Fabriano cold press watercolor paper.
Built in 1880, Stage Harbor Lighthouse is Cape Cod’s youngest lighthouses. It was built at the entrance to Stage Harbor to help the Chatham Light since Chatham is one of the foggiest points on the East Coast. An automated light on a separate tower was built in 1933 and the Stage Harbor Lighthouse was decommissioned. The light at the top of the tower, the glass enclosure and the roof over it (called the lantern room) was removed and the keeper’s house and remaining tower was sold. The lighthouse is best viewed from Harding’s Beach. Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors on Fabriano 300# cold press watercolor pater. 10 1/2″ x 13 1/2″.
The Foxglove Flower is native to western and southwestern Europe, western and central Asia and northwestern Africa. The scientific name means “finger-like” and refers to the ease with which a flower of Digitalis purpurea can be fitted over a human fingertip. The flowers are produced on a tall spike, are tubular, and vary in colour with species, from purple to pink, white, and yellow. This biennial plant is often grown as an ornamental plant due to its vivid flowers which range in colour from various purple tints through various shades of light gray, and to purely white. The flowers can also possess various marks and spottings. Holbein watercolors on Fluid 100, 140# cold press watercolor paper.
California Dreaming – 
The California Poppy is a species of flowering ornamental plant that is native to the United States and Mexico. It is used medicinally and in cooking, and it became the official state flower of California in 1903. It is a perennial growing to 5–60 inches tall with alternately branching glaucous blue-green foliage. The leaves are alternately divided into round, lobed segments. The flowers are solitary on long stems, silky-textured, with four petals, each petal 2 to 6 cm ) long and broad; flower color ranges through yellow, orange and red, with flowering from February to September in the northern hemisphere (spring, summer, autumn). Holbein watercolors on Fluid 100, 140# cold press watercolor paper.
The poinsettia is a commercially important plant species of the diverse spurge family. The species is indigenous to Mexico. It is particularly well known for its red and green foliage and is widely used in Christmas floral displays. It derives its common English name from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Minister to Mexico, who introduced the plant to the US in 1825. Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook. Merry Christmas.
Christmas Card Studies for 2016. Quick pencil sketches in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook. I was going to select the bottom left and print the cards and then add watercolor by hand. Change of direction when Staples cannot print onto the watercolor cards. Time to re-think.
A trip to Hyannis on Cape Cod and a visit to the local mall. While Lisa was shopping, I did a quick pen and ink sketch with watercolor of a couple of the Carousel Horses. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.
With the last of the fall leaves, comes the change of season over to winter and the thoughts of Christmas. We have 6-8 natural Holly Trees in our yard that were here when we built our house. The largest is probably 30′ tall. This one must be a male in that it does not produce berries. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink, Holbein watercolors and a background wash of Mont Blanc black ink.
Our last tree to realize that it is Autumn. The leaves on the Flowering Pear Tree are just turning now after almost all of the other trees have lost their leaves and are ready for winter. These leaves still have some of the of the green and are turning yellow with some red highlights. Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook.
A SKETCHBOOK ODYSSEY 