Simple Pleasures II

Cherry Trio • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Last Thursday's Calistoga ArtWalk was a wonderful evening for me. Thank you to everyone who stopped by for my reception! If you're in Calistoga sometime between now and the end of August, and haven't seen it yet, I hope you'll stop by All Seasons Bistro and take a look at the drawings I'm showing there.

I added a couple more small pieces shortly before the opening – okay, I started to get a little more paint-y with the apple, but I still consider these essentially drawings with color washes (albeit multiple layers). They're on either side of the wine library doors, and easy to miss, so be sure to go all the way to the back of the restaurant to find them.

Blue Plate Apple • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

By the way, All Seasons is a marvelous restaurant, well known for both their food and their very large wine collection. Their current dessert menu includes two or three desserts with cherries, so my little cherry drawings turned out to be thematic without my knowing it.

This show, and the work I've been doing lately, has really taken me back to my drawing roots, which has been a joy. My big brushes and canvases are calling, so I'll be returning to my bright, warm palette of colors and California landscapes soon... but I don't intend to stay away from my pencils and sketchbooks for too long....

Simple Pleasures: Show at All Seasons, Calistoga

Two Peapods • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Since I've been in a drawing mode lately, it's appropriate that my next show, Simple Pleasures, be one of drawings and drawings with acrylic washes.

Peapods Snuggling • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

These are three new little (all 7" x 5") pieces that will be part of the show.

Pair of Cherries • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

The reception is Thursday, June 2nd, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at All Seasons Bistro, 1400 Lincoln Avenue, in Calistoga, California. It's part of Calistoga's First Thursday ArtWalk, so you can also stroll over to several other spots and see the new shows in town. If you're in town, come join us!

Sketching Calistoga

Calistoga City Hall • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

I'm giving a two–hour sketching workshop periodically throughout the summer, beginning today, called Sketching Calistoga. In it, we take time out to discover and sketch some of the lovely (and funky, or it wouldn't be Calistoga) scenes in town.

This morning, the skies were threatening rain, and I reconsidered all the indoor alternatives (the stagecoach at the Sharpsteen Museum, the Oscar Ben Sharpsteen won for his work on Disney's Fantasia, J.Kirk's coffee roaster at Yo El Rey, the folks sipping and chatting at the Calistoga Roastery...). But they cleared up, and I went sketching outdoors with Joe from Sacramento.

Napa River, in Calistoga • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

We started with the Napa River, here looking up towards its headwaters. Now, you may not see the Napa River in this sketch, but, trust me, it's there. It's an untamed stretch of nature, with lots of overarching trees, rocks, and thickets of bushes, and the river itself, small here in Calistoga, lazily heading towards us. The light and shadow changes quickly, and you have to work quickly.

Then it was off to City Hall, whose facade has charmed (or dismayed) people since the 1880s. The wonderful thing about sketching is that we begin to really see all the lovely details of things around us that too often we just pass by. The world is a pretty amazing place – using a sketchbook and a pencil or pen or two is a really great way to see it.

You can find out more about Sketching Calistoga at Sketching & Drawing – Napa Valley Art Workshops. The next Sketching Calistoga workshop will be Sunday, May 22nd, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00. My other art workshops are also listed at Napa Valley Art Workshops.

The Farmer's Market – a great place to sketch

Calistoga Farmer's Market – Melons at the Sunflower Stand • © 2008 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Calistoga's Farmer's Market opened yesterday, and it will be open every Saturday morning through the end of harvest season. There's plenty to sketch at the market, which I'm planning to do more of. This sketch is one I did three years ago, labeled "Melons at the Sunflower Stand."

Spring sketching

Calistoga City Hall • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Ah – it's spring, and the mind turns to... sketching – what else? There's nothing quite like getting out in good weather with a sketch pad and some drawing implements....

I've been waiting for the rainy season to come to a close, so I could do some more drawing outside. When I was in college, I took drawing pads everywhere I went, and was always drawing. Most of the time now, my drawing simply serves my painting, but it's always good to get back to basics.

Here's a small drawing I did during a dry patch this winter (our unseasonable January spring) of Calistoga's City Hall. It's got such character. Okay, it's downright funky... that's our town. I especially love the Christmas lights strung up across the upper floor. The bell in the bell tower doesn't ring anymore, but it did once.

The drawing is small, about the same size as the image here – but that's all you need. A pencil, a little drawing pad (and, okay, an eraser). Spring is here!

Two paintings for the Yountville show

Knights Valley Oak • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

I decided to bring three of my small paintings on panels as part of the nine paintings I'll have at A Taste of Yountville. Two of them I'd been wanting to revisit – just a wee bit – so I sat down with them today.

Three Trees, Knights Valley • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

The compositions remain the same – I've just made the colors, values, and layering just a bit more interesting. Both are scenes I found in Knights Valley, a lovely, pastoral valley just northwest of Calistoga and the northern end of Napa Valley. I'm finishing the framing now, to deliver tomorrow.

Napa Valley Open Studios artists in Yountville

Napa Valley Open Studios artists at A Taste of Yountville, detail of brochure

This weekend I'll be in Yountville, a major destination for food and wine lovers, for the 18th Annual A Taste of Yountville. Yountville is a very small town with more many-starred restaurants per capita (a lot!) than any place else in the world. I know people who make pilgrimages to Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery there....

For this year's festival, Yountville Arts invited Napa Valley Open Studios artists to join the fun. On Friday night, there will be a reception with wine and small bites ($20) from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Head over to the Yountville Community Center, in the Generations Room, to join us.

The show and sale will be open on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. My space will be facing the patio, on the end, right next to the booth of Nick Cann, a dear friend and wonderful artist (and, I just learned, style leader! You can ask him to explain).

And, by the way, the little image of a vineyard on the right of the brochure (above) is from my Knights Valley Autumn. I'm pleased it was chosen! (The image of the farm worker on the left is by one of my favorite painters, Beverly Wilson.)

The event is not too too far from the Westin Verasa Napa, where my new show just went up last week (and where you can currently see Knights Valley Autumn). I'll post photos later ... it will be up through the end of May.

Painting palms

Three Palms for Gail • © 2011 Karen Lynn Ingalls

I've just returned from a one-week trip to the California desert.... Although I spent most of my time photographing, I did manage to squeeze in a little plein air painting time.

The light changes quickly as you paint outdoors, especially in early morning or late afternoon. The best solutions are to work quickly, paint small, and at some point commit yourself to a certain light and stick with it (a good memory is very helpful).

The finished painting on the easel, after the sun has gone down (the palm trees are out of the picture, to the right)

I painted these three palm trees in late afternoon light, at the top of Racquet Canyon Road, in Palm Springs.