Watercolor – Page 28 – A SKETCHBOOK ODYSSEY

Sea Girt Lighthouse

October 21, 2015October 25, 2015waynejacques2 Comments

Another trip to New Jersey for business. Sea Girt Lighthouse in Sea Girt, New Jersey, flashed its first light December 10, 1896. The beacon, which could be seen 15 miles at sea, guided countless mariners in their journeys and contributed to the state’s economic growth and helped make sailing through local waters safer. The lighthouse was built to illuminate a blind spot midway in the 38½-mile stretch between Navesink Lighthouse (Twin Lights) to the north and Barnegat Lighthouse to the south. It also served as a landmark for nearby Sea Girt Inlet and Wreck Pond. The red brick structure with a tower rising 44 feet was the last live-in lighthouse built on the Atlantic Coast. A live-in lighthouse has the tower integrated into the living quarters. Sea Girt was equipped with a fourth order Fresnel lens, which was 30 inches high. The multi-sided beehive-shape lens had a bulls-eye prism like a big magnifying glass in the middle of each side. Lamy Fountain Pen with Noodler’s black ink and Pelikan watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

Peacock

October 20, 2015December 30, 2015waynejacquesLeave a comment

Another quick sketch from the zoo. Peacock’s are beautiful animals with the iridescent feathers. The Indian peacock has iridescent blue and green plumage. The peacock “tail”, known as a “train”, consists not of tail quill feathers, but highly elongated upper tail coverts. These feathers are marked with eyespots, best seen when a peacock fans his tail. Both sexes of all species have a crest atop the head. Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors with black ink work in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

2015-10-20 Peacock

Trip to the Zoo

October 19, 2015October 21, 2015waynejacques2 Comments

Today I had a couple of hours of time between meetings in New Jersey. I headed to the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, New Jersey. It is a pretty nice zoo, although growing up in Southern California I compare everything to the San Diego Zoo which is on of the best in the world. It was mid-day so many of the animals were hiding pretty well. I took some photos of the Peacock, Red Tailed Hawk and Bald Eagles. I am pretty happy with these sketches except the beak on one of the eagles make it look more like a parrot. Whenever you think of a peacock, you always think of the beautiful tail feathers, although the coloration of the head and body of the birds is amazing. Lamy fountain pen with Noodler’s Black ink with Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

Grand Opening

October 18, 2015October 20, 2015waynejacques1 Comment

Tonight we attended the Grand Opening of Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, New Jersey. The club just completed a multi-year, $15,000,000.00 dollar renovation to the clubhouse that was designed by my firm. The project turned out beautiful with great architecture and wonderful interiors. There were about 450 members and guests at the opening with plenty of great food and drinks. We totally reimaged the club based on its culture inside and out. This is a view of the Main Entry Portico in the early evening prior to the event. Lamy fountain pen with Noodler’s ink and Pelikan watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

Fiddler on the Roof

October 16, 2015October 18, 2015waynejacques3 Comments

My nephew Cam is in a wonderful performance of Fiddler on the Roof this weekend. The musical was produced by The Little Theater of Fall River and was performed in the theater at Bristol Community College. Cam is in multiple scenes as a Russian and dancer. He is so talented and did a wonderful job. Fiddler on the Roof is a musical based on book by Joseph Stein. The setting is Anatevka, a small village in Russia in 1905, on the eave of the Russian Revolutionary Period. The story is based on Tevye the Dairyman and his 5 daughters as he attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family’s lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love – each one’s choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith – and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village. This is an image from the cover of the playbill and is done in Prismacolor black pen with Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

Turkeys

October 14, 2015October 17, 2015waynejacques4 Comments

Every morning on my way into work, a couple of blocks from our house, I come across these guys. There are 2 flocks of wild turkeys that cross the road every morning. A group of wild turkeys is called a flock and a group of domestic turkeys is called a rafter. Some mornings I go slow past them and other mornings and some evenings I have to stop and wait for them to continue. Unlike the domestic turkeys that are used for food, wild turkeys are beautiful with all of the subtle colors. The black feathers have an iridescent quality to them and the tail feathers have brown highlights on the ends. There are also white feathers with black spots and blue and red skin on their necks and heads. Prismacolor black pens with Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

Maple Leaves

October 12, 2015October 16, 2015waynejacques2 Comments

Beautiful fall leaves. New England is known this time of year for the outstanding colors of the fall foliage. These leaves are on a small Maple Tree outside of our office. The leaves were still green on the perimeter and the veins were turning yellow first with some rust color tinges on the tips. Prismacolor Black pen with Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Sketchbook.

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

October 11, 2015October 14, 2015waynejacques4 Comments

The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives. It usually contains a single seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad. Acorns take between 6 and 24 months (depending on the species) to mature. Historically, I have always gauged how severe of a winter we were in for by how many acorns fell to our lawn in the late fall. Some years I would have to rake them up into large piles and other years, there were almost none. Typically, the more acorns in the fall meant that we were in for a severe winter. That all changed last year when we had almost no acorns and we had the snowiest winter on record with over 10′ of snow in basically the month of February. Oh well, small crop this year also, what ever that means.

Star Drive-In

October 10, 2015October 13, 2015waynejacquesLeave a comment

The Star Drive-In is located in Taunton, Massachusetts. The Drive-In hosts Outdoor Pro Wrestling and Car shows on a regular basis. On this sketch I tried a different technique for some reason as a means to practice. Once the classic sign was complete, the background is a series of colorful brush strokes with a #16 flat brush that I had laying around (not a very good brush). Interesting technique that may have a place in the future without the exaggerated colors. Prismacolor black pen with Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

Birch Trees

Image October 8, 2015October 11, 2015waynejacques5 Comments

Some beautiful natural birch trees along our driveway in our front yard. I have always loved the texture and color of the birch bark as it peels. In the fall, the leaves turn a bright yellow early in the foliage season as a contrast to the greens and browns of early fall. Lamy fountain pen with Noodler’s black ink, Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Alpha Sketchbook.