Boardwalk Days part 48

 Today I did a little more to look at what I had before I left home, to make sure I had everything with me that I needed. As a result, I did have the new brushes and paints with me today.  Everything else was already there.  I had no plans for music, but just brought the smaller jazz/blues book, and decided to figure it out there.  Only a few cars in the parking lot, so I had my choice of spaces.  All the boardwalk prints are printed on okawara, a Japanese paper, and very thin.  Good for printing, but tricky for coloring.  One has to be careful that the watercolor doesn't soak back around the ink into another part of the paper, and part of this is having the right thing underneath it.  A few days ago when I started it, I had a piece of foam core, but one with a glossy finish, and as a result, the watercolor didn't absorb into the backing, but a little popped up in another place I didn't want it.  I didn't worry about it too much, as this is just a practice copy, and the unwanted color may be obscured enough when another color is put in that space.  For today's session I used the large corrugated cardboard box used for recently delivered paper, which seemed to have the right exterior texture for my needs.

Molly had been in since my last visit, but that didn't affect me.  She wasn't there now, so I put on some music.  No plan really, I just selected my home burned copy of Glen Miller live radio cuts, written about in the past in February of 2020.  I got my table ready, pulled out the current color proof and my supplies, and got to work.  

I picked up from last time, using my new tube of Buff Titanium to put in the light warm areas of Convention Hall, sand, light warm parts of the former Howard Johnson's, and a few other places it belonged.  I repainted skin on a few figures, both large in the foreground and distant ones on the boards and beach, and some reds and oranges in some planned places.  Even threw down some colors on beach figures, as long as I had them out, and some birds on the ground and in the air. That was enough for today.  Results can be seen below:

So far it seems to be coming along.  I think that's all the light and warm stuff.  Next will be the neutrals (grays and light browns), then I will start on the cools and darks, including the largest piece, the sky.  

Boardwalk Days part 47

 Last week I ordered some art supplies and was expecting them early this week, but I was surprised to return home on Saturday and see two packages on the porch. The big one I figured was the paper, and the small one the tubes of watercolor and brushes.  Brought them inside and was half right.  The big box was indeed the paper, but the small box held charcoal and pastels, items I did not order. And did not need. I certainly wasn't going to pay for them.  So I called the company, and explained the situation.  I was told to do what I wanted with the charcoal and pastels (probably not worth it to pay me to ship them back), and that the paint and brushes would be sent to me, probably going out on Monday.  I could wait that long, since I have no deadlines and two projects to work on.  I planned to start of the next Robert Johnson print when I went back to the Studio.

But then I got another small box  on Monday, same size as the one I had, from the art supply company, and it was the items I expected.  Well, maybe I'll work on the boardwalk print next, get it finished, then move on to the other one.  That was the new plan.  Still, I packed the wood block for the Johnson print, in case I wanted to start that one, especially as I didn't seem to have my practice color piece for the boardwalk print, with the colors mostly worked out.  Not at home, and not in my car.  There was a good chance it was already in the Studio, but I brought the other wood just in case.  For music I brought my Shonen Knife disc, mostly because over the weekend I got an email from Dave where he sent me a video of the band and had questions regarding a show they are scheduled to do later this year in his hometown of Seattle.  I had no answer for his question, so it will be up to him to do more research, or take his chances with the show.  You can read more about the band back in July of 2019 if you want.

So grabbing  all my stuff, I headed up to the Studio.  I found my practice color copy, and the proof I would use first, to test my color choices.  Opened up my small box to find it was the one with the charcoal, not the stuff I wanted and needed to color my boardwalk print.  Okay.  Well, I did have that piece of wood, so I copied the information from an older block in the series, drawing the box and lyric lines.  Would need to do it anyway.  Then I looked at the color test piece, the brushes and colors I had with me, and my practice proof on Japanese paper, the first one printed last fall.  Although I was lacking some of the things I expected to have today, I decided I could get started at least, and not waste the day. It was always my custom with this series to do warm and light colors first, then cools and darks later, which is how I learned to do watercolors in general.  So I did some of that.  Results are below:

This was just a start, and not even close to finished, but I wouldn't have anyway, even if I had brought my small box of paints and brushes.  For instance, I put down a first layer of color in lots of places, but plan to go over these with a second layer before I am done.  It is my goal to try to finish this first proof before the Open Studio in about two weeks, and get some drawing done on the Robert Johnson block, even if I don't quite finish it or start the cutting by then.