Pen & Watercolour Sketches from Arizona & New Mexico by Sharon Lynn Williams

It has been over a month since I last posted, I am embarrassed to say! I have been very busy working on my NEW WEBSITE which is now live -check it out and let me know what you think. It has been a huge labour of love by my beautiful daughter who gave it to me for Christmas. I don't think either of us realized just how much time it would take us to get it up and rolling according to my vision for all that I wanted it to be.
Also, I was thrilled to go on a 9 day art viewing retreat to Arizona and New Mexico with some of my favourite art buddies. We visited a TON of art galleries and artist studios in Scottsdale, Santa Fe and Sedona. I came back with so much inspiration that I didn't know what to do with it all!
I made several pen and ink and watercolour quick sketches during our trip, which are presented in this post for your viewing pleasure.

 I haven't had much experience with cacti, and just had to capture their wonderful forms.

 I did this one from the car and painted it afterwards. We drove through some sleet on the way to Santa Fe.

I am really impressed with the building code in Santa Fe, that all homes etc must be done in the adobe style. It really adds to the wonderful ambiance of Santa Fe, which I love.

 We stayed in the wonderful (?) Wigwam Motel in Holbrook on Route 66 -a throwback to the 60's. There are a bunch of old cars in the parking lot, and I couldn't resist this one.

Our last stop was to visit Montezuma's Castle. It is incredible to me that those folks would climb the cliffs to farm and to get water, while everything is so easy in our lives today. Makes me appreciate all that I have!

Enjoy!
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Tuscany Workshop -day 12

"Montepulciano", 6x16", pen & ink & watercolor

Guess where we went today? (Hint -see title!) what a great day we had -we have been so blessed by the weather during our trip. It did sprinkle a touch today, so we HAD to duck into a shop that sold lovely Italian leather handbags, what's a girl to do? - just sayin!

Here are some photos if the amazing medieval city:

(Please note: the photos are for your viewing pleasure only, copyright belongs to me)

Me just in case you haven't had enough of the incredible sunsets here, here is tonight's spectacular:

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop - day 10

"Bagno Vignoni View", 

Today we went to the gorgeous Bagno Vignoni. It looked like it might rain, but it passed over, and the resulting day was glorious. I did this pen & ink & wc sketch on my new pad of hot pressed watercolour paper, which was perfect for this approach. 

Here is my sketch before adding the watercolour 

I also did a watercolour demo (without the pen) on this paper that I will pst tomorrow, so stay tuned. 

Here is a photo from Bagno showing an artist's installation of painted marine floats in the pool

Enjoy!

Tuscany Workshop -day 8

Today there was a huge market at nearby Castel Del Piano, so we thought we would take it in, even though it was supposed to be our day of rest. There is an awesome piazza there with a 1st world war memorial, surrounded by these incredible pine trees. They grow to incredible heights with no lower branches - if you know the name of them, please let us know!

Here is a decoration on a meat vendor booth at the market;

I thought you'd get a kick out of that, but I wouldn't want a slice on my panini!

Thanks to you, I now am the proud user of Snapseed -just the program I needed for my phone to do some great photo editing, and its free to boot. Try it out -simple to use with tons of ways to make your photos really sing. To thank you I will close with tonight's sunset, made to look just like I saw it with Snapseed!

Enjoy!

Watercolour sketch and more Moab photos by Sharon Lynn Williams

I did this pen and ink and watercolour sketch at Island in the Sky, the northernmost part of Canyonlands National Park. This part of Canyonlands is very similar to the Grand Canyon, but on a much smaller scale. The mountain range in the distance still had a lot of snow on it, creating a wonderful contrast for the layered reds, oranges and tans of the sandstone.

Some more of the fabulous scenery in the area.

Dave took me to see the sunset at Fisher Towers, and while there was a phenomenal sunset, I couldn't take my eyes off the reflected light on the towers. I didn't touch this shot in photoshop, honest, it really was like that!

Ever since I visited Writing On Stone Provincial Park I have been fascinated with early native pictographs and petroglyphs. I was delighted to go exploring along the Colorado River and find so many fine examples of several different tribes and times, some dating back a thousand years. As always, it is devastating to see modern graffiti obliterating some of the drawings. Why is it that mankind has always desired to leave his mark wherever he goes?

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.

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A Few Pen & Ink and Watercolour Sketches

I have a bunch of new oils to show you, but I keep forgetting to photograph them when it is light out! So instead here are a couple of recent pen & ink and watercolour quick sketches. The first one I did in about 15 minutes before the heavens opened and I ran for the car. The second one is a demo I did in my last sketching workshop at the Leighton Centre. While neither of these are brilliant works of art, I hope you will find them entertaining.
Enjoy!

Plein Air Sketching Workshop

These are some of my students in rapt attention to their pen & ink and watercolour sketching at the workshop I taught yesterday at the Leighton Centre. We were very lucky that we had super weather all day -the first day like that in the past couple of weeks.

This is one of the sketches that I did as a demonstration for the class. That accordion shaped foothill is John Ware Ridge, a favorite painting site of mine. It was a really fun day and a good time was had by all.
Enjoy!

More plein air w/c sketches

I really took 'Liberty' with this sketch -the cows were 1/4 mile away, the mountains are 50 miles further than I have shown them here, the windswept trees I took from a view to my left and the farm building from a view to my right. The joy of plein air painting is that you can make things the way you 'wished' they were!
This is my last sketch from Beaverlodge. I was intrigued by the shadows cast on the tin roof of the old chicken coup and the field of dandelions in front. The workshop was a great time and this area of northern Alberta is fascinating. I thank the kind artists of the area for making it possible for me to come to paint with them.
Enjoy!

New pen & ink & W/C sketches

These are two of the pen and ink and watercolour sketches that I did while teaching my Plein Air Workshop for the McNaught Preservation Society in Beaverlodge, Alberta. I really like the second one in particular. I have never painted a cemetery before, but the wispy clouds reminded me of the spirits of those who died a long time ago.
Enjoy!

A New Venture

Original photograph by Karin Jurick.
I have been watching Karin Jurick's invitational blog called Different Strokes For Different Folks for a while now, but have never done one of the challenges. I figured today was the day! Rather than do it in oil, which was my first inclination as I am on that kick again, I thought I would do it in my sketchbook as a pen & ink and watercolour painting:

"Karin's Veggie Platter", 12 x 9", pen& ink and watercolour
It is a bit of a challenge to work with watercolours in the sketchbook as the paper does not stay wet for long, so you have to be quick to get colours to puddle. I use a Robert Bateman Recycled Sketchbook that has 140lb sheets of very smoothacid free paper, and it works better for watercolour than any other sketchbook I have tried. I really like this method of painting - it's quick and loose and really gets the message across.
Enjoy!

Plein Air Workshop -Openings next Saturday

Hi all: I just posted that the May 23rd workshop at the Leighton Art Centre was full, BUT it was the June 20th workshop that is full and the one on May 23rd is the new one! Sorry if I confused any of you, but there is still room in the plein air pen & ink and watercolour workshop coming up NEXT Saturday, May 23rd. Please call 403 931 3633 to register.
Sorry about that, and hope to see you there!

Upcoming Plein Air Workshops

Many years ago (1995 to be exact) I began to take a sketch book, sharpie marker and a small watercolour kit on location to capture the beauty and colour of my surroundings when I did not have the time to commit to a full watercolour painting. Since then I have taught this technique to hundreds of artists and non-artists. I have NEVER had a person who was unable to do their own sketch that they were happy with. Of course, practice makes 'near' perfect! Once again, I am offering a plein air pen & ink and watercolour quick sketching workshop at the Leighton Art Centre. As the first workshop on May 23rd has filled up with a waiting list, I have agreed to do a second workshop there on June 20th. Please call the Leighton Centre at 403 931 3633 for more information or to register.
Hope to see you there!

ink and watercolour sketches continued

"Gallardia", ink and watercolour, 6 x 4"
Third out of 4 demo sketches for Sedgewick. This is also from a photograph, very quick and very loose.
Enjoy!

Sedgewick demo continued

"Elbow River", ink and watercolour sketch, 6 x 4"
This was another demo from the quick sketching workshop, done from a photo in about 20 minutes. We would have loved to go outside to sketch, but the wind that day was about 80km/hr! I have never seen anything like it before -should have taken some photos of the fall leaves blowing horizontally in front of trees straining to remain erect. Glad I wasn't on the highway driving that day.
Enjoy!

Sedgewick workshop demos

"Rocky Slope", ink and watercolour, 6 x 4"
I haven't posted for a while because I have been 'up to my ears in alligators', with several shows, workshops and my teaching year has begun and that is always very time intensive. I did a pen and ink and watercolour workshop in Sedgewick, AB on my way home from my Edmonton show opening. This is the first demo from that workshop, done from a photo I took on one of my many hiking trips. More to come...
Enjoy!

"Victoria Falls", plein air watercolour and ink sketch

"Victoria Falls", plein air watercolour and ink sketch, 6 x 4"
Just for variety I did a pen and watercolour sketch. There was really no place to set up to paint in oils, and it was getting late -just enough time for a quick sketch. So ends day 3.
Enjoy!

Cobble Flats -plein air watercolour sketch

"Cobble Flats", plein air watercolour and ink sketch, 4x6"
This is another great painting sight within an hours drive of my house. This was done after I did the "Banded Peak Revisited" plein air oil painting, as I figured that it would be much easier to handle a small watercolour sketch in the wind and changing light conditions, which it was. I hope to do a studio oil from this sketch and the photos I took that day.

This is my kit for my plein air ink and watercolour sketching. The sketchbook is a Robert Bateman Recycled Artist Quality sketchbook, which works great for watercolours as it has 110lb paper that is acid free, and doesn't buckle when it gets wet. The ink comes from a permanent Ultra Fine Point Sharpie marker, and the palette is a Winsor and Newton pocket watercolour kit -comes complete with a small retractable brush, flask for water, and the lid serves as a water container. There is a small thumb hold on the bottom, and I did the previous sketch "Blakiston Creek" while holding the palette and sketchbook in my left hand and painting with my right hand while standing in the bushes. Very convenient! I like to write where I was and the date, and the sketchbook becomes a visual diary of my travels.

I teach my sketching method to people at the Leighton Art Centre yearly, and I have never had a student not have success with it, no matter if they were experienced painters or people who had never painted or drawn before. It really is a fun, quick and easy way to capture your visual memories.

Enjoy!

The View Up Waterton Lake

watercolour and ink sketch, 4x6"
This is the last sketch from my Waterton trip. I painted this on the way down from Bertha Falls, while I waited for my hubby to hike up to Bertha Lake. I was just too pooped to join him for another 2 hours of steep climbing. He says this is a hike I shouldn't have missed, but there is always next time.
Enjoy!

Mt. Anderson -Waterton

watercolour and ink sketch, 4x6"
This one was begun in the car at Red Rock Canyon waiting for a sudden rain shower to pass. By the time I had finished, the sun was out again, so I put in a bit of blue sky!
Enjoy!

Blackiston Creek

ink and watercolour sketch, 4x6"
This was done from a view point along the Red Rock Canyon Road. The mountains in Waterton are very different from the Banff/Kananaskis ones as they are so full of colour. The quickly moving clouds presented a challenge even for this quick study. Those familiar with Waterton, know that it can be really windy here.
Enjoy!