The Gamble House Part 2

Here are the next steps of the Gamble House painting. I loosely sketched the scene

on 14" x 20" 140# Fabriano Cold Press watercolor paper using a Sanford Uniball Micro pen. I included the dramatic shadows cast by the roof overhang and the tree. This pen lines bled a little when I added the initial wash of color, but I liked the texture that created.

I started in the sky, working wet on dry, using a variety of blues: Cerulean, Ultramarine, Cobalt Turquoise, and Cobalt. I then blocked out the big shapes: shadows, walls, foreground, driveway and background trees, letting the colors wash around and mix together, and leaving little bits of white paper to help create a glow of light. I finished the session by laying in a wash along the front of the house suggesting the steps and planters.

This evening's work did not take long as I had already planned the painting and done a preliminary sketch the night before.

The Gamble House

My next little project will be a painting of the Gamble House here in Pasadena. I had taken a series of photos many years ago and I will use those for my reference, although I did take another digital photo this morning on my way to work. My first step was to prepare a quick sketch in pen with watercolor in order to familiarize myself with the subject and explore composition and light/value patterns.

Scale Models

I wanted to be an architect for much of my early life and I spent many hours drawing awesome house designs and making models, which I also love. Here is a series of architectural models I have built over the years. One is a cardboard kit of a Frank Lloyd Wright house; a few are for the design of an artist's cabin in the mountains; and one is a study model of an artist's community with studio space, gallery space and living space. These were stored in the attic space above my studio, collecting dust when I found them after a few years. I cleaned them up and had a friend make some acrylic museum boxes for them. Now they are on display in my studio.

The Joe Columbo Taboret

I first saw the Joe Columbo Boby Taboret at the H.G. Daniels art store in Los Angeles in 1974. For those of you who don't know what that it is, it is a rolling storage cart made out of heavy-duty ABS plastic. It was designed by the Italian designer Joe Columbo in 1969. It has multiple shelves, swing-out drawers and vertical storage spaces and is perfect for the art studio, office, workshop or man cave. I have four: a grey one for my garage/framing department; a white one in my bedroom; another white one at my office; and a red one in my living room studio. They are practical as well as being very cool and designey.

Mood Sketches

These sketches were done from photo reference for the purpose of exploring different moods, lighting conditions and feelings. The original photographs were taken in the middle of the day, when the light is very ordinary. After blocking out the shapes and line work with pencil and pen, I experimented with different colors to suggest early morning sun and moon light. Working small, in a sketchbook, allows me to be bold with color and not be concerned with detail, or making a final perfect painting.