Manhole Covers

I recently put up a page to showcase some photos I've taken through the years of manhole covers. I combined the photos with some special effects in Photoshop to give them a bit of a posterized look. I built the page with some html, css and jquery.

Take a look and tell me what you think.

Fell's Point Front Steps

Had a great time a couple months ago painting with a lot of my watercolor friends at a Frank Webb workshop. This painting was from a photo I took a few years ago while hiking around Federal Hill and the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. I like the steps and the bricks.

Neighbor's Yard in Autumn

The neighbor has a nice shed that I can just see the top of when I look over the roof top of my own shed. The autumn colors are fun. This a demonstration from class.

Speed Boat on Deep Creek Lake

Used a bit of masking fluid for the water behind the boat, and the reflections on the water. It was a beautiful day.

Catonsville Rooftop (I think)

I paint a lot. So I accumulate a lot of paintings. I usually stack them up and forget about them, but sometimes I take pictures of them first. Then I stack them up and forget them and forget about the photos too.

I see a pattern...Here's one of the ones in a stack somewhere. It was from a photo I took of a rooftop in Catonsville as I recall. Let me know if you have seen this one before. I have a plenty more...

Ghost Town

Yes, I've been distracted lately. Being a grandpa is very time-consuming! But I've still been painting a lot. And teaching some painting classes. Below is a quick study I did from a photo mom and dad provided a while back. Kind of looks like an old abandoned town. Painted on crappy Canson student grade paper. (Here's a tip for all you budding painters out there, get good paper.)

Pictures for Noah's room

Grandboy Noah hadn't officially arrived yet last Christmas, but we were all getting ready for him. Part of the preparation was getting his room ready. And part of getting his room ready was to make sure he had some pictures to hang on his wall. So here are Noah's first pictures from his Grandpa Bob. I don't know if he has noticed them yet.

(For my fellow art nerds, they were done with acrylic on canvas.)

The Roman Bath

A long time ago I had the opportunity for a short visit to Rome. The one in Italy. While there, like any good tourist, I took a lot of pictures. When I got back I did quite a few paintings from the photos. Paintings that are now scattered to various locations.

One of them was an ink drawing with watercolor. Ellen always liked that one, so she had me frame it and she put it up in our powder room.

She asked me if I could do some small ones to go along with that one, so I looked through those old photos and found some likely candidates. Below are the three the I did for her. They are each about 5 x 7 inches. The nice thing about old photos from ancient ruins is the subject matter doesn't look dated! I framed them and gave them to her for Christmas.

A corner of the entrance to the Vatican circle.

A street adjacent to the Vatican

The Colosseum

Linoleum Block Prints

I've always alike the look of wood and linoleum cut prints. And I have always wanted to spend some time doing them. So last summer I set aside some time to make some.

I started by looking through my sketchbooks and picking some likely candidates. I drew them roughly on the linoleum then drew them in with ink and brush. (Actually, it may have been one of those pens that have a brush-like tip.) Once the drawing was dry, a day or two later, I started cutting away the parts that I didn't want to print. This part took longer than I expected, 3 or 4 days or so. I'm usually a watercolor guy, I like to finish things quickly, so this was already stretching my patience. Finally, I rolled on some ink and hand-printed 10 or 12 of each. It took a few tries to get the right amount of ink, and the right pressure for printing. And in some cases, after the first test print I had to cut out a few more parts of the block and reprint.

Below is one of the samples. I made a web page for them, which you can see at www.robertjcoe.com/lino/.

Building the page was another interesting project. At work I've been learning a lot about using jquery, so I built this one with basic html and css. Then I added all the interactivity using jquery. I used it to add the links that show and hide the images. And I used it to control the navigation. The right and left links are actually just one line of html. With jquery I was able to change the action of the navigation based on which image that is displayed. Very educational indeed!

Laurel Art Guild Workshop

Back in November 2011 I was invited to do a one day workshop for the Laurel Art Guild. I've done a lot of workshops over the years in addition to my watercolor classes. It's always a lot of fun and workshops give me the chance to meet some new people.

This workshop was a little different. I was asked to show how I use acrylic painting instead of traditional watercolor. For the first demonstration I did a painting in my usual wet into wet method, but intentionally covered areas of paper that I normally would have left white, in the lower part of the sky in particular. Then, after letting the first round of color dry, I added white back into the areas to reclaim the whites and lightened some areas by mixing white in with color. That example is shown below.

For the second painting, I treated it just as if it were a traditional watercolor painting. Using the colors transparently, with wet into wet washes and glazing. No white paint was used in this one. Here is the second painting.

The first two paintings were done on Arches 140 lb cold press paper. I also happened to have with me a pre-stretched canvas, so while everyone else was painting I did another in a more traditional oil-type technique. I started by blocking in with transparent color, covering the entire canvas, then as it dried, adding darks and lights with heavy paint. Quite a bit different from the light touch required in the others. And it takes more effort to move the color around because it doesn't flow like a puddle of color. Here it is.

I had a great time and I think the others in the class did too. Thanks to everyone from the Laurel Art Guild who attended that day and thanks to Donna Aldridge for inviting me!

Almost Gone

I finally got a chance to photograph the painting of the barn mentioned earlier. Sister-in-law Cheryl, who lives just up the road, tells me the decline of this structure has as much to do with scavengers looking for building materials as it does with the weather. It's still fascinating study in decline, since the first time I saw it, and painted it, it was in good shape.

I think it's more interesting now!

Bales of Hay, or Not

As I think I've mentioned before, Grandpa Gilpin had a farm.

When I was a kid, my brothers, sister and I thought the farm was the greatest place on earth. We were small town kids wishing we could live on a farm too. Everything about the place was magical. The cows, the cats, the fields and forests. We even thought the chores were cool!

One of the events we looked forward to every year was hay baling time. Grandpa would cut the hay, wait a day or two, then turn it over with a big, tractor-pulled rake, then turn it over again to get it as dry as possible. If all went well, we would then go out to bale it. Grandpa would hook up the baler to the tractor, and a wagon to the baler. When everything was ready, my dad, my brothers and my uncle Dave, (just a year older than me) would climb on the wagon and off we would go.

Grandpa would drive along the rows letting the baler munch up the fresh-cut hay, and we would wait on the wagon while the baler pushed rectangles of hay out the back for us to grab and stack on the wagon.

Grandpa's bales were proper bales, perfectly sized for a person to pick up and stack. So when I see these gigantic roles of hay as shown here I also think that they did it wrong. I can't imagine what we would have done if Grandpa made these enormous things. I've never met anyone who worked on a farm that produced these kind of bales. What did the kids do?

Waiting for the inevitable

Another favorite site captured in paint. This one is on the corner across the road from Cheryl and Scott's house in upper PA. An overrun barn, left to stand or fall by itself. Lonely but for the birds, weeds and critters who still find it worthy of shelter.

Imagine my surprise when I found it, a year later, collapsed except for the silo. But that's a painting for another day.

I have some photos, should I paint it?

Break Time (Mildred and Ethel)

The long hard winter is over. Spring is here, bugs are out, snakes are getting run over in traffic. My favorite time of year! Here are a couple cows taking a break, enjoying the weather, chewing some cud.

A tree is a tree

One of the side effects of drawing and painting for many years is, you end up with a lot of drawings and paintings. The picture below started with two tree drawings I did in a sketchbook. They weren't based on any trees in particular. Just ones I made up. I scanned them and then added color, texture and type in Adobe Illustrator. I first started this two or three years ago and forgot about it. Better late than never?

Hoping for Spring

With all the stinking snow around here, it was time to start thinking about something else. So I dug out an old drawing and give it some color and grainy texture via Adobe Illustrator. It's one of my favorite programs, and the first one I really got to know in the stone ages of computerized illustration.

Textures and Colors

Near Rome Pennsylvania I've been able to collect lots of material for paintings. Along the stretch of road that my sister-in-law lives on are lots of old farm buildings and worn trees. This painting was of a corner of an old barn. I had a lot of fun with the light coming through the dark doorway from the opposite wall. Not to mention the subtle color changes in the weathered planks.

Wanted, a tree with lots of branches lopped off

Northern Pennsylvania again. Up a winding road in the middle of nowhere I found this lovely old tree. It is quite battle scarred, but still standing strong, wearing it's sign proudly. I don't remember what was on the sign. Probably no hunting or something. I made it a wanted sign. Fugitives must have been on my mind.

This was done as a class demonstration. Quickly with glazes and dry brushing.

More rooftops

I think this was from somewhere in Ellicott City, Maryland. It's very hilly there. I like the way the houses rise up the hillside.

Old friend

Up in Michigan, in the woods behind the Gilpin farm was an old pine tree. Perfectly groomed for climbing. If you could brave the mosquitoes, it was always worth a visit. This painting was done for a class demonstration. So it's pretty loose, and I left off a branch or two. I did a bigger version that is at mom and dad's house. I suppose the tree is still there.

Jerusalem Mill Flag

Very close to where I live is the Jerusalem Mill Park. It has several restored buildings from the revolutionary period. Some good and dedicated people take care of it, some dressing in period costumes and performing some of the typical tasks of the time.

When wandering around there, I found this flag flying from a window. I really liked the way the light was hitting it with the shadowy brick wall behind it.

All the things I've been working

I've been studying javascript,  learning about video, project management, content management, and many other topics that make the web design world go around. So here is what I hope will be a thought-provoking illustration.

The Smart Shopper

Fence Posts

Whether good fences make good neighbors or not, I'm not sure. But I like painting these old fences and fences posts found meandering the countryside. No barbed wire on this one.

Another experiment from class

Here's another picture done in my Spring 2010 watercolor class. In this session we experimented with using watercolor on non-white papers. In the example, I used transparent watercolor on gray Canson paper. After I had all the darks and midtones, I added the lighter color by mixing my watercolor with white Windsor Newton gouache. I like it!

What a busy winter and spring!

It's been a while since my last post. We have a lot of things going on, including the upcoming wedding of my daughter. But I've still been teaching some painting classes, which are a wonderful mental health break. The most recent session has been a class emphasizing experimenting with different materials. The sample here is one of several done combining ink with watercolor. One of my favorite ways to work. I love the feel of an ink line. For me, it's the closest thing to handwriting a picture. Very fluid and free.

Rooftops and Silos

When I was a youngster my favorite amusement park was my grandparent's farm north of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. I never got tired of climbing the haystacks, sneaking into the empty silo, and feeding apples to the cows. Sometimes my brothers, uncle and I would see if we could race across the barnyard without being chased by the bull or stepping into cow pies. Exciting times! It never really occurred to me that it was a work place for my grandparents, not just a big playground. We even thought helping to bail the hay was an extra treat!

Needless to say, with memories like these, I'm always attracted to farms as sources for paintings. The painting shown here was not from the Michigan farm. This one was from northern Pennsylvania. Just down the road from my sister-in-law's home.

I did this one as a quick exercise after my main class demonstration was finished. The goal was to paint rapidly on dry paper, one area at a time, with the final hole in the barn, showing the interior rafters, done as a dark glaze on a previous wash.

Productive year despite myself!

It was a fast moving year. Lot's of distractions, lot's of things to do. I was still able to get a lot of painting done. Here's one of several class demos I'll be posting.

Each class I teach emphasizes a different technique. This first one was of stream that runs into the Gunpowder river in Baltimore County. I used a direct painting approach. No preliminary pencil drawing was done, I just started covering the page with color.

Toby!

Up until about 6 months ago, we lived next to a great neighbor name Cathy. And she has some great pups. One of them, shown here, is named Toby. A fluffy ball of energy seen here in a rare minute of rest. This was painted in spare time after a class demonstration. And now hangs, nicely framed, in Cathy's house.

We've since moved, but Cathy and her pups are still great friends!

Rice Paper Exercises

When I'm teaching my painting classes, I first do a demonstration for the class. Then, as the students settle in to their own project, I do some experimenting. I play with different brushes or papers, or I severely restrict my methods in some way to explore the possibilities of a particular brush, color or paper.

Lately I've been carrying with me a pad of rice paper. Having painted on traditional watercolor paper for many, many years it has been challenge to work with rice paper. I have found that I must paint very directly with simple strokes and a well-charged brush. There's no working of a large wash, one of the things I love about my usual paper.

In this example, I worked quickly, with no preliminary drawing. I have found, as can be seen here, that I can do a second wash over the first with some good results.

So here is a simple, quick scene done with watercolor on rice paper.

The tractor.

Finally Settling In

I've been a little out of the loop due to our recently moving into a new house. Very disruptive! So I haven't been doing a lot of painting, just 3 or 4 small ones every week. Here's a quick chicken portrait I painted the other evening.

I enjoy the absurdity and cockiness found all rolled into the average rooster.

Thinking of Spring

A tired old gardener finding a forgotten flower to plant. There's always something more to do. Sketch book sketch, scanned, imported into Illustrator, outlined and colored.

Night time commuting

One thing I dislike about this time of year is driving in the dark. Each night on my commute home it's dark. Oh how I wish I could be outside in the daylight instead of working inside all day. I made a new picture of a starship commander. I have more hair than this guy.

Watercolor Class

I updated my Watercolor class, bringing it out of the stone ages. I've added painting demonstrations that I completed in the class. You can see it at http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeowofs/wcclass/.

Here's a sample.

Foot Sore

This summer I went hiking for a couple days on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. The funny thing is, you go hiking for scenery, but you spend the whole time looking down so you don't fall and kill yourself.

But I still like it. So yea, I'll do it again.

Computer Virus

Ink, scanned, outlined, colored and texturized in Adobe Illustrator. Better it than me. I did recently get a flu shot.

Laundry

Here's a watercolor suitable for hanging.

This was a quicky I did during my watercolor class last Thursday.

Ready for Spring

Finally another winter is fading away. I'm starting to feel more energetic. Last weekend I photographed many of the paintings I've accumulated through the winter. Below is one I did sometime last fall/winter. It's of the remains of an old wall I found while tromping through the woods in the Gunpowder State Park, just a few miles north of here. Watercolor, exploiting transparency and glazing.

Acrobatics

Sometimes work gets overwhelming and confusing, and you end up doing things that you didn't know you could, but had to. Like walking on your fingertips. This is another drawing, scanned, outlined in Illustrator, colored and texture applied.

Staying Busy

I've got way to many irons in the fire. So many things to do, and so many things I want to do, and try. I recently acquired a mandolin. Not a really good one, but functional. I've always wanted to play one. I've played guitar since hight school, so the learning has been going pretty well. But like anything, it takes time, so playing it means I'm not doing other things. But it's entertaining. And hopefully these two drawings are entertaining too. They originate from sketch book sketches, scanned, colored and textures applied.

Oil

So I had some time, and I had some oil paint that was sitting for too long without being used. I prepared a bunch of 8 x 10 inch boards for painting. They are actually scrap pieces of matt board, which I have a lot of since it's a natural by-product of my usual medium of watercolor. I coated them with gesso and let them dry. Then I did a series of paintings. The goal was to work as fast as possible and see what I ended up with. Here are a couple of samples. These two were a combination of oil, alkyd and alkyd medium. Others, not shown here were done with water mixable oil. That worked well too, but I'm not so keen on the smell. It was fun!

More Textures

It's been a while. More time than I intended. But I have been staying busy. I've been doing a lot of painting with real paint. Oil lately. I'll post a sample or too when I get them scanned. In the mean time, here is another drawing from my sketch book. I scanned it in and converted the lines to paths in Illustrator CS2. I then colored it and added texture.

Hope you like it!