Art Blog - Caroline Henry

This is one of those sketches you create when you just want to sit down and imprint the day and place in your mind. A warm sun toned down by a jaunty breeze, a coffee, a sketchbook, and a happily placed bench provide everything you artist's soul could desire at this moment. The flow of ink over the smooth bristol paper is a joy. So the pen records: A small lighthouse overlooks a harbor and bay. Sailors take advantage of sun and wind. Other people stroll the breakwater or enjoy the beach. The relaxed busy-ness of a day at the shore creates the narrative of this 6" by 6" drawing (15 cm by 15cm) The potential buyer will probably also recall precious moments at waterside as I do writing this on a brisk January day… Continue reading… 1 comment

Two terra cotta pots sit next to a farm style wire-covered garden gate, each holding bright red and yellow blossoms.This is a sketch, the sort of art that appeals to a person who enjoys feeling that they are there, peering over the shoulder of the artist. To me sketches have a wonderful informal feel, and looking at the sketchbook of an artist view into the artist's way of seeing. While some artists destroy everything except their most polished works, we are fortunate that others hang on to things, so that we have a good chance to view sketches by Degas, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, and many, many more. I enjoy being invited to view the sketchbooks of artist friends, and at an exhibit I will often linger over any sketches or notes encased for view as an addendum to the main display… Continue reading… 0 comments

Watercolor wash with pen and ink produced a vignette of a creekside area very near the apartment door of someone dear to me. This is another of my sketchbook pieces, done during the recent weekend. My sketches often inform other works, but this one will probably simply stay in the sketchbook. It was a morning moment when my tendency to be an early riser gave me an opportunity to take a cup of coffee out to a quite spot of wilderness within an urban area and record the pleasant scene… Continue reading… 2 comments

I made this sketch on a recent trip to Felton, California, a small town among the redwood forests in the coastal mountains south of San Francisco. The bridge is reputed to the the tallest covered wooden bridge in the world, and I drew it straight on to emphasize the height. It was a brisk fall morning, with a wind sufficient to damage and shut down San Francisco's Bay Bridge, some miles to the north, but simply chilly in Felton. I worked fairly quickly because I did not want to be out in that location too long. Under pleasanter weather conditions, I painted a plien air acrylic version of the bridge in two morning sessions last year. That is listed on my Etsy site http://www.etsy.com/view_listing… Continue reading… 0 comments

Our LOST (Lodi Open Studios Tour) event last weekend was pronounced best ever by the artists and by the many visitors who talked about their pleasure in the tour. I showed some of my art in the garden leading into the studio. This is a popular feature with my studio visitors as well as that of my friends Sam Bassett and Pepe Pool http://www.studiosamba.net/index.html who show their concrete sculptures in a garden setting. I sold a large framed painting from the garden, not the one shown here but a poured watercolor pieces called "Heavenly Path". I love how organized my studio is in the aftermath of the tour. I know it won't stay that way, but it's been five days and it still looks good… Continue reading… 0 comments

Two boys play in a pool among oversized boulders at Zion National Park in Utah USA. The watercolor painting depicts both the rugged majesty of America's southwestern region and the charm of children at play anywhere. This painting started as a plein aire watercolor sketch. The original composition covered a larger area, getting into the scrub brush and canyon wall behind this scene and including a boy climbing on the large rock behind the wading, dancing boy. In the end it seemed better to focus on the more intimate scene. The story becomes one of childhood living in the joy of the moment, for the time being unimpressed by the grandeur around them and sending laughter rippling against the mighty walls of Zion… Continue reading… 0 comments

The sketchbook drawing here has nothing to do with the theme of this blog post except that I drew this river scene at a restaurant on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta area where the wall are adorned by painting by Dorcys Burchell who still produces delightful paintings as a nonagenarian. The restaurant building itself is a drab rickety structure getting on in years itself, but the paintings add a spark of warmth as powerful toward its ambiance as the river view outside. Thousands of little diners have their walls adorned with "cute" prints (reproductions) or "junque". Those who buy original art, which can often be purchased from local artists at surprisingly reasonable prices, or allow local artists to display and sell work on their walls, are doing themselves a favor… Continue reading… 0 comments

This drawing, like the one called 'Stormy Beach Watch" which I added to one of my galleries yesterday, is a result of one of my habits when away from home. I am by nature and early riser and Tom is not. If we don't having anything early scheduled, I will let him sleep, grab my art bag, and take a walk. Usually involving a stop for coffee along the way, on this day at Java Junction, an aptly named coffee house next to the railway from the beach up to the redwoods. I can always find something worthy of sketching--more than enough so that I will often spot sites for a later visit. The morning light creates lovely value studies. The morning I did this I noticed a perfect low wall for sitting on and viewing the river mouth as I walked down for coffee and knew I would draw it on return… Continue reading… 0 comments

Tillie's exists in an old downtown building and is a favorite gathering spot for business people and shoppers. Sidewalk tables offer a charming street scene, but in this drawing I turned toward the facade and interior. A fountain and mural bracket the window which sports a neon coffee cup and "Espresso" sign. Inside a young lady with the lovely name Aurora prepares sandwiches. 6" by 8" in 9" by 12" mat. When I first started creating art, while working full time as an English teacher, as was apt to do most of my sketchbook work while on weekend or vacation trips. Then I began to carry the sketch book more regularly in my day to day life… Continue reading… 0 comments

A recent week, renting a cabin in the Coastal Redwoods south of San Francisco, allowed plenty of time for hiking and sketching with paints or pencil. One afternoon, after spending the morning on plein aire painting of what may be the world's tallest covered bridge, I had an urge to do a watercolor sketch of the base of one of the giant redwoods. We walked back into Henry Cowell State Park to a grove of the ancient giants where I was able to paint seated on a comfy log bench. The way the base of these trees grows I like to imagine they are curling their toes into the forest floor to hang on when the wind blows against their towering forms. It's easy to believe there are a few Ents among the true trees… Continue reading… 0 comments

This is a set of sketches I made last weekend at the UC Santa Cruz arboretum. These are in pencil and watercolor, done in a watercolorist's sketchbook, wire bound, watercolor paper, hard cover, 10" X 7" pages. It fits easily into a backpack with drawing tools,a small watercolor palette, and a tube of brushes with room left over for lunch, camera, binoculars, and a field book. I can't say enough good things about carrying some sort of sketchbook all the time--it is a chance to capture colors, atmospherics, and shadow in a way that your camera won't; it's practice in stolen moments in your busy day, it passes time when yu have to wait… Continue reading… 1 comment