Summer/Fall 2015

Starting in July here is one of my summer watercolors I just completed. It is a painting of somebody contemplating the next step in their life. The model for the watercolor is my wife. The size of the painting is 15" x 22" (38cm x 56cm) If you are interested in purchasing a print of an original contact me at ken@kenharris.com

Finished this painting the morning of  7/12/15. It is of a stone wall with some wild flowers in Kempford, UK. It was from a photo I took there 5 years ago. To buy this painting as a card go to: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KenHarrisWatercolors?ref=hdr_shop_menu

The sketch below  is a watercolor study of a charcoal drawing done by Andrew Loomis. He was an incredible painter and illustrator. I have been reading his books to learn about drawing the figure and to learn more about color. What I like about doing color paintings from Loomis' charcoal sketches is that he has already established all the basic, structural values. Structural values are the foundation for any painting.

Below is a painting about Northern California, where I am from. It is different from Southern California. In some ways more rural. This is from a photo I saw on Facebook of a friend's ranch. I liked the design of the clothes "wagging' in the wind. The light hanging clothes against the shadowed background of the trees and building. Light against dark..

The painting below, I finished at the beginning of August. It is a copy, or my translation, of the Birth of Venus by Raphael. It was done in Acrylic. It has been hot in California this year so painting out in the garage with acrylic is a bit tough. The paint dries too fast. I discovered this Flo additive for the paint. It really thins the paint. Almost like watercolor it seems. It helped finish the painting. See more of my art at: http://www.kenharris.com

Today is the end of August. The month went by too fast. It has been very hot. Our house has no AC. I started this at the beginning of the week and did a bit each night when it was cooler. Finished this AM, 8/29/15. This is a story of a back street in Aix on a hot summer morning. 

I did the watercolor below of Cassis 9/9/15. Cassis is on the Mediterranean coast of the south of France, in between Marseille and Toulon. This is a view of the harbor on a lazy summer afternoon. The size is 30cm x 44cm (11" x 15").

Below is another painting from the south of France. It is a subject I like. There are some good places to paint. This is of a square in Aix-en-Provence. It is early evening on a hot summer night. It is painted on a half sheet of watercolor paper, 15" x 20". 

This is painting below is of the Edison Electric plant in Huntington Beach, CA. It measures 15" x 20" and is painted on 300 lb. watercolor paper.

This is a watercolor image of the Clarkson Bridge in Cullman, Alabama. First built in 1904, the unique truss bridge (invented in the U.S.) stretches 270 feet over Crooked Creek. Cullman is a beautiful area of the united states. I really enjoyed working on this painting. The motivation of love is a great power when painting.

Below is another version of Notre Dame, Paris during a rainy day in July. To help get the feeling of rain, I painted clear water onto the paper and brushed in vertical strokes of color into the wet areas.

This painting of the boats at sunset took I completed in approximately 1.5 hours. I painted the reflection of the sky first in the water are. Then I painted in the sky. While the sky was still wet, I brushed in the trees with a one inch flat watercolor brush. The color bleeding slightly into the sky. With my finger nail (like Turner), I scraped out a few preliminary tree trunks and branches. Next, I proceeded to draw the boat and quickly painted the rocks with a round brush. I finished by adding dark reflections of the trees into the water and put in a few more scrapes with a razor blade.