Author: admin@cyntada.com

The Third Bird: Brandt’s Cormorant

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091814 Brandts Corm CCI painted three water birds to check out the Garza Papel 140lb sample sheets. Here’s bird #3, a Brandt’s Cormorant. Source image courtesy of stalksthedawn in the WetCanvas Reference Image Library.

Garza 140lb CP, PB28 Cobalt and PBr7 Burnt Sienna. Some of the darker grays are PB29+PBr7. Painted him with thoughts of the compromised young Brandt’s that practically flopped onto my feet during a morning beach walk a few weeks ago. He was struggling to move out of the surf zone and it almost seemed like he came to us for help.

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Port of Los Angeles and Palos Verdes

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092114 POLA and PVWe had a little cool weather this week, and it blew out all the September smog. The Port is back, and so is Palos Verdes!
Not trying to be cheesy with the porpoises, there was a large pod swimming back and forth all morning. One stand-up paddleboarder was surrounded for a while, he must have been pretty stoked.
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A Repair Job – American Avocet

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082314 AAvocet MaskingI decided to paint a series of shorebirds on some of those lovely Garza Papel sample sheets. For extra fun/practice I am doing them without sketching first, just put up a ref and dive in. The Great Blue (heron) turned out nice, so I decided to do an American Avocet next. It was an adventure! I thought others might benefit from seeing a rescue operation in progress.

The short version: Better to plan ahead than try to fix things!

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The Great Blue

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The-Great-Blue-081214Testing a free sample of Garza Papel. I’m in love!! They have a standing offer for free samples, which I highly recommend if you’ve never used their paper. Now that I’ve tried it, I’m dying to purchase and make a sketchbook out of it… have to save up first though. It will be worth it.

Cobalt blue PB28 and Burnt Sienna PBr7. I mixed the samples up accidentally, this one feels like 140lb CP. It’s about 5.5″ x 7.5″.

The reference was a Great Blue Heron, although the red came on too strong and it’s looking more like a Little Blue Heron. Oh well. No base sketch, I just went right in with a wet brush, for the challenge.

Originally posted on WetCanvas.com.

Childhood Friend

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sketchbook5 052714This is the last page in my sketchbook, finished today. I painted an imaginary door on the first page and I kind of like to end a sketchbook with a reprise. This time, I painted the front porch of the house I grew up in. Not sure it’s my best work ever, especially the cast shadows from the rosebush. Still, good times, good memories of a place that only exists in my mind now. (The building still stands, but it’s been remodeled, new owners and it’s just not home anymore.)

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Lighthouse Paper Test

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042214-Lighthouse-detail042214-Lighthouse-paper-testPaper test! The first washes looked really good, so I decided to finish it up. PB28, PO62, and PBr7 Burnt Umber. It’s 12″ x 4″ on 140lb Fabriano Artistico Rough.

And yes, I love the paper!

Stormcloud Painting

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Blue-Lighthouse-crop2That storm doodle sketch inspired me to try it again on a quarter sheet. Same two colors, same method, same laws of physics – totally different results! This is a cropped version, hiding a really prominent breaking wave at the bottom that was just bugging me as soon as I’d painted it.

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