Thursday, November 6, 2008

Painting in the Car

On a rainy day, one of the only options is to run the heater and the windshield wipers while you prop your work on the steering wheel. The problem I had at this paintout a few years ago in Rye, New York, was fogged-up windows. The painting was a dud, and I ended up rubbing it down and doing another once the rain cleared in the afternoon.

Hi, everyone, Jeanette here. Thanks so much for all of your encouragement. Since this post is about sketching from the car, I thought this one might fit. I did this ballpoint pen and watercolor sketch from the front passenger seat on a cold day in the Catskill Mountains. We were waiting for our younger son to finish skiing with his friends. We had an hour to ourselves (sans teenagers) and Pine Hill is sort of a forlorn and ramshackle little town, our preferred locale for sketching.

Since all I had with me was a sketchbook with laid-finish paper, the paper buckled a little. The color is from my palm-sized Windsor&Newton bijou box, bought in Los Angeles 27 years ago when Jim and I were dating.

Speaking of Jim, he called from Malta, and helped me with my technical problems. I also appreciate all of you who explained the quirks of Blogger for me. Jim is fine, sketching away, and hasn't yet been able to find an internet cafe from which he can upload photos. Something about the software being correct. I'm sure he'll have plenty to show when he gets back.

10 comments:

Andrew said...

Jeanette, that's a lovely sketch. For some reason, I always like watercolor works of winter environments. It always carries a certain sensitivity to it from the medium that makes the whole scene soft.

And I've never heard of painting from a car...I'd imagine it'd be difficult to do, considering how cramped certain cars are.

Noon said...

I really love those sketches that capture a mood with so few resources.
How long have you achieved it ?

Jeff Mahorney said...

I love the pic of you painting in the car. I've got to give this a try. I bet it also cuts down on people comin up to talk to you about how their aunt paints. :p

Anonymous said...

Wonderful and inspiring!

Unknown said...

It's nice to see some of your work, Jeannette.

Speaking of drawing in a car:

From what I've read, Georgia O'Keefe took the back seet out of her Model and used it as a mobile studio in the desert.

And, I certainly wouldn't recommend this one, but I once saw a film that showed that caricaturist Al Hirschfeld used to draw WHILE DRIVING!!!!

dragonladych said...

Jeanette, in a month you'll know everything about blogging and you can have your own blog, so we can see more of your works also! :D

Ginger*:) said...

You are both so extremely talented and so generous with your daily blogging hints and words to the wise. I really appreciate that you are continuing to post whilst James is away.

These two images are wonderful and true. I often find that I need to sketch or photograph from the car or even from inside the house on our colder snowy days.

Your work is wonderful, I hope you will share more of it with us.

Anonymous said...

Jeanette, it's a treat to 'see' you step into the limelight! I'm so impressed with how you are carrying on posting to Jim's Blog while he is away. Kudos to you!!!

I especially love this watercolour of yours. It's got a special charm and I love watercolours, anyway. I truly hope we get to see more of your work here. Or maybe you really will need to start your own blog, too ;))

James Gurney said...

Thanks, everyone, for the compliments and great fire-up for plein air sketching. It made my day, and I laughed out loud at JMahorney's comment about carsitting helping to cut down on those pesky folks who want to talk to you. It works!

Harmony said...

Love the photo. :)