Watercolor from Paramaribo, Suriname

I loved visiting this amazing cathedral in Paramaribo, Suriname. It's the world's largest wooden cathedral. It was beautifully remodeled with funds from the EU. 

 This is what the cathedral looked like prior to the renovations. 

Unstringing the Bow by Muscle Beach, Santa Monica, CA

Unstringing the Bow

Finding time to unstring the bow at Malibu Beach, CA

Sketching/watercolor from Bogota Colombia

I enjoyed sketching this cathedral on a sunny Saturday in Bogota. I applied the watercolor after I got home.

Watercolor added to the Basel Cathedral

I wanted to add some watercolor to this sketch - see the previous version below. I think it helps to give the sketch some character and feeling. 

Dakar Boys

I recently had the privilege of being in Senegal with the wonderful dorm staff at Dakar Academy. On an outing with them I took this photo. On the trip home I made this sketch. Later at home I added some watercolor and tried some "splatter". This is a good way to unstring the bow. 

Sketching the Temple Bar in Temple Bar

I had to try doing watercolor with this one. I love the red paint on this building. 

The Siamese Twins

My wife recently discovered this "twin" formation in the Garden of the Gods Park. She led me to this place and I knew I had to sketch it. I'm taking some risks here and trying to figure out how to watercolor. I have a long way to go before I am completely satisfied with this medium. In the meantime it's a good way to unstring the bow. 

The Balanced Rock - Garden of the Gods

Watercolor of the famous Balanced Rock in the Garden of the Gods park, Colorado Springs, CO. A beautiful winter day. 

Amazed at Colorado

I haven't done watercolor in a very long time. I really like the top half of this painting the best. I need to keep practicing this artform. No matter - it's still a wonderful way to relax and unstring the bow after a full week of work.

We took this shot on a recent drive near Rampart Reservoir above Colorado Springs.

Trying Watercolor Again

I'm trying watercolor again today. It's been a long time since I've tried it. More than anything I love this creative process - it's very refreshing. Everyone needs an outlet where they can express their God-given creativity - whether its watercolor painting, writing, running, playing the piano. It's a great way to relieve stress.

Kandern Marktplatz

My wife found this watercolor I did in '99 in some strange file drawer today among other papers. I forgot that I did it. Back in '99 I wasn't happy with it and I think she saved it from the bin. I guess I kinda like it now.

Duomo Drawing

Did this drawing in the last few days. Trying to combine pen, ink, and watercolor. This was done from a photo I took this summer. This particular view was interesting to me for two reasons: the incredible detail on a section of the roof (a spot that few people would ever see) and the fact that the various buttresses were not absolutely consistent. Surprising.

A quick card

I made this card this morning for Sandee. It was a short personal message to her on this Mother's Day. I enjoyed making this little watercolor.

Watercolor Attempt

A watercolor of the same pen and ink sketch in an earlier post (see below).

I love having time to draw and try watercolor during the Easter break. I'm getting faster at this medium. I find that I get better results if I am less careful and just let the watercolor do its thing.
As you will see this is another version of a pen drawing I did. I wanted to do it one more time, larger, and in color this time. I really like the shadows in this shot. This watercolor is 7x5.5 inches.
A house wall in Eguisheim, France.

Early watercolor

I made this little painting 10 years ago. I did it shortly after a trip we made to England. This little street scene only exists in my mind and was a kind of compilation of images in my head upon our return home. Notice the names of the stores - I used the members of my family for the names. Click on it to see a larger view.

I really loved London, the main city, but also the back streets. Only problem was the high cost of everything.

Barfüsserplatz, Basel, Swizerland

I just finished this watercolor, pen and ink drawing. I am very happy with how this turned out. Click on the picture to see the detail.
The name of this city square is "Barfüsserplatz" and it means the "Bare foot place". Why is it named that? I just learned that it is named after an order of monks who lived here and had made a vow of poverty. We go to this place a lot when we go to Basel, but we have not gone barefoot yet.

I love the old buildings that surround this major tram stop. To see a live webcam picture of Barfüsserplatz go to: http://www.basel.ch/en/virtual_basel/webcam That's a cool shot.

My drawing is pretty large: 13.5 x 7.5 inches or 34x19 cm.

The process went like this...
1. Take a digital photo of the platz - in fact, several.
2. Print up the best one at home on heavier than normal paper.
3. Lay out the drawing on a large sheet of watercolor paper with pencil.
4. Make a full pencil drawing of the subject with all parts: every window, shutter, gable, trams, people, etc..
5. Watercolor all of the buildings, trams, foreground - everything except the sky.
6. Highlight everything with Rapidograph pens - 0.25, + 0.35 in waterproof black ink.
7. Watercolor the sky.
8. Make last accent details with the fine rapidograph pen, making accents of the tiles, shading, etc..
9. Make a digital scan of the drawing for my blog.
10. Put it in a frame. Done.

How much do you think the original could sell for? I am always baffled what to ask for one of drawings if I were to sell them. The truth is I really don't know if I could part with them. An art teacher at Black Forest Academy once told me that in art school a student has to learn how to draw and then throw away their work. This is done in order that the student loses their attachment to their work so that later they can sell their work to others. That would be hard for me to do. I get such an attachment to my drawings that I find it extremely hard to think about giving away or selling my stuff. Any suggestions out there? If somewhere offered me enough money I think I could lose my attachments :-). TS

Second try

This is the second try on this watercolor. Just scroll down to see my first try.

I did this painting a second time because I was not very happy with the first try. I am still not satisfied. I am after a different effect. I'll let you know if and when I achieve it.
This is a scene from Kandern, Germany.

Rothenburg o.d. Tauber

Rothenburg is a famous tourist town in Germany. It is truly beautiful. People from around the world visit here. It was the setting for the OLD movie, "The Wonderful World of Brothers Grimm".

I did this watercolor way back in '99. I first used a technical pen to draw this picture and then added the watercolor. You can see our young family in this picture. The way I do these drawings is first, I take a picture, then I draw it at home. In the original picture Sandee and Luke and Tyler were in it. I had to paint myself in. To see us more closely just double click the picture for a larger view.

Rothenburg

I did this watercolor in 2005 and when it was done I thought, "Maybe I CAN do watercolors."

I really like the coloring on the tower. I also like the people walking by.
Rothenburg is a very famous tourist destination in Germany about 4 hours from where we live.
Original size: 16x14cm, 6.5x5.5in.