A quick watercolor sketch in my travel journal.
Watercolor
Naples Sunrise
A beautiful sunrise on the first day of vacation.
Manhattan Bridge
Another quick sketch from New York City. This is the view from the DUMBO neighborhood in Brooklyn. The bridge is framed by the old warehouses that are going through a renaissance. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
Fishing Pulley I
A studio sketch from a photograph that I took at the New Bedford harbor of vignettes of fishing boats. It was too cold to do a live sketch since I could not get my car in good location. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook.
Chives
I miss our chive plants that have gone dormant for the winter and have been buried in snow for the past week. The name of the species derives from the Greek σχοίνος, skhoínos (sedge) and πράσον, práson (leek). Its English name, chives, derives from the French word cive, from cepa, the Latin word for onion. Chives are a commonly used herb and can be found in grocery stores or grown in home gardens. In culinary use, the scapes and the unopened, immature flower buds are diced and used as an ingredient for seasoning dishes. Chives have insect-repelling properties that can be used in gardens to control pests. The flowers area pale purple and star-shaped with six petals 1/2″ – 3/4″ wide, and produced in a dense inflorescence of 10 – 30 together. Before opening, the inflorescence is surrounded by a papery bract. Holbein watercolors on 140# Fluid 100 cold press watercolor paper.
A New Year
Looking forward to another great year of sketching and painting!
Our House
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.
Stage Harbor Light
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″.
Poppies
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.
Poinsettia
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.
A SKETCHBOOK ODYSSEY 