Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. In the Outdoor Historical Museum where we paint in my sketchbook workshop, there are lots of antique "props" and I couldn't resist painting this handsome old cart. I don't know why the wheels were painted yellow but it definitely made for a more interesting watercolor. In my preliminary pencil sketch, I placed the cart in the middle of the composition so that the yellow wheel, the focal point, would be off center and close to the bott

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. In my sketchbook workshop, one of the places we paint is an Outdoor Museum which is a wonderful setup with barns, farmhouse, working blacksmith, farm animals, windmill, old school house, log cabin, and a museum filled with historical implements and photo's showing how the pioneers lived. I painted this behind the farmhouse where the vegetable garden spilled over into a flower garden. I encouraged the other artists to focus in on one t

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I have always loved painting sunflowers and I have even done some in watercolor that are 40 x 60 inches. This is a small painting that I did on location in Washington Park here in Denver during one of my weekend workshops. I started by drawing the big sunflower then added five smaller ones in an interesting arrangement. Rather than exactly copying the flowers as I saw them I arranged them to suit myself. I then added a few buds but di

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. It was another hot day in Denver so we stayed in the shade at Hudson Gardens and painted in their rose garden. I enjoy demonstrating for the other artists and explaining my painting as it develops. My favorite part is when they ask questions because I often learn as much as they do. I started by explaining that this time I chose one flower and placed it in the upper right corner of my watercolor paper. This focused my attention as I l

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. In Steamboat Springs Colorado, where I do my summer workshop, there is a gorgeous Botanic Gardens and this is a painting from the lily pad pond. It was a warm sunny day and most of the pond was covered with cast shadows from nearby trees. This is a view from a walking trail that surrounds the pond. Flowers were blooming all over the lily pads and I choose these three because of their location. The dark water showed off the flowers and

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. This is a demonstration painting from my Steamboat Springs Watercolor Workshop. As I got close to finishing it started raining and we all gathered our supplies and ran for the shelter of a barn. Unfortunately my water container spilled directly onto my painting which was resting on another painting from the day before and by the time I got to the barn the two paintings were stuck together, As I separated them the paper ripped and piec

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. Washington Park here in Denver is one of my favorite places for plein air painting. This bridge along the jogging and walking trail is a familiar sight and one I have painted several times. On the days when the canal is full of water it shows reflections from the bridge and that is what interested me on this occasion. Comfort is important when painting outside and there was shade to the right of the trail so that is where I chose my v

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. When I decided to paint my harmonica instructors portrait it was obvious to me that I couldn't get everything I wanted in one image so this is what I came up with. His name is Nic Clark and he is a young star teaching at Swallow Hill here in Denver and playing and recording with different bands around the country. Anytime Nic has a harmonica in his hands he is happy and more than anything I wanted to capture that happiness in this pai

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. This is a plein air painting I did on a ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Steamboat was a ranching and mining town before it was a ski area and many of the working ranches still remain. This shed with the red trailer out front was an irresistible subject. I started with the cerulean blue sky then moved onto the green hills. Using three different values of olive green I painted the closest hill then added cerulean blue to cool off

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. This is another painting I did of Rods garden in Taos New Mexico. Like I mentioned last Sunday, his garden was set up for painting with adobe walls as backdrops for the flowers. This was like an artist's dream because everything was right there and I really didn't add or subtract anything. The depth was created by the overlapping walls and the few dark trees behind the walls. I painted the flowers just the way they were and concentrat

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. This is a painting I did a few years ago at my friend Rod Goebel's hacienda and studio in Taos, New Mexico. When I look at it now I am reminded of the song by Gershwin in the Porgy and Bess Opera. It starts out "Summer time and the livin' is easy." That is exactly what I think of when I look at this watercolor. It was a special time in my life when I could visit my friend in Taos and paint in his magnificent garden. Rod planned his ga

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. This is another painting from my June Weekend Gardens Workshop. We had painted in the morning and then stopped for lunch at the cafe. Our paintings were discussed then we looked for a place to paint in the afternoon. With only a little over an hour left we settled next to a garden with these little flowers. They were poking up out of dark planting soil and I knew that later in the summer they would be covering all the dirt. I wasn't

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I just finished the first of my Summer Weekend Garden Workshops and this was one of my demo's. It was a beautiful sunny morning with no wind and we set up our painting gear in the rose garden where I was attracted to the gorgeous yellow roses in all different stages of development. After a preliminary pencil drawing I started painting the yellow bud in the center of the three buds. Transparent yellow and yellow ochre were used and for

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. My Taos, New Mexico Watercolor Workshop was so much fun that I decided to include another of my morning demo's. This was painted at a friend's house near the Mable Dodge Luhan House where we were headquartered for the workshop. It was a beautiful sunny morning and I wanted to keep the demo short so that everyone would have more time to paint. As usual, what seemed like a simple idea really wasn't and I found this out when I started. I

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I just spent the last week teaching a Watercolor Workshop in Taos New Mexico and this was one of my demo's of the Mabel Dodge Luhan House where we were headquartered. It was a beautiful morning with sunlight and shadow showing off the rich colors of the adobe building and the cottonwood tree. I started with a cerulean blue wash for the sky and painted right over my drawing of the trees. This way I could leave bits of the sky showing t

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I decided to send out flowers for Mother's Day. This is a painting I did in a friend's garden in Taos, New Mexico. Rod had an enormous garden which was the envy of all the gardeners in Taos and this was one little spot near his studio. I was attracted to the tall blue flowers that were a stunning backdrop for the white daisies. I started with the big white daisy near the center leaving unpainted white paper and framed it with cerulean

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. It has been a few years since I painted a portrait so I decided to use myself as a model. I put on all my favorite things for plein air painting, Levi jacket, red plaid shirt, and Panama hat. I had a friend take some pictures of me in my front yard so that I would be in the sunlight and I used those for reference. The drawing took forever as I sight measured my features and the patterns on the shirt and jacket. I actually left most of

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. In Denver there is a Historic Park with beautifully restored Victorian houses lined up on both sides of a greenbelt and benches with lots of shade are also provided. It is one of my favorite places for plein air painting and I take one of my workshops there every summer. This brick Victorian is one of my favorites because it has all the characteristics of Victorian architecture which are, tall windows, wrap-around porches, gingerbread

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. On a visit to Manhattan years ago, it rained while I was on 5th Avenue and I took several pictures that I painted from when I returned to Denver. Today, taxi's are still a major part of the city traffic although they no longer display the iconic checker patterns. The older cabs with the checker design were retired because of their heavy weight which made them fuel inefficient. They still have the red light on the roofs which tells if

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. My annual watercolor Workshop in Taos New Mexico is rapidly approaching and this old adobe casa is a subject that I have painted year after year. It is located next to the famous Saint Francis Mission and each year it is in a further state of decay. Sadly the last time I was there it was so far gone that it was no longer an interesting subject. It was sad to see the rubble that was once a favorite painting subject. I am glad that I ha

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. After my watercolor workshop in the French castle, I spent four days in Nice with a friend. We spent a lot of time exploring and I found this house nestled in a cliff garden located in a little town further up the coast. It was like nothing I had ever seen before with plants as big as trees, unexpected colors, trees that looked like giant birds nests and quintessential French architecture. Whoever lives there obviously took a lot of p

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. Plein Air Painting while traveling is such a rewarding experience and the paintings I bring home are so much more interesting than any photographs. Some of those paintings are turned into larger works in my studio and that was the case with this one. I was enchanted with this little french house in Provence and there was a bench near by so I set down with my watercolor kit and went to work. It was quiet and peaceful and I was having t

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. The castle in France where we held the Watercolor Sketchbook Workshop is such a magnificent fortress with so many interesting views and this is another demonstration painting that I did from one of the walkways. This tower overlooks the town and the three figures give an idea of the grand scale. The ocean surf splashes against the wall and sometimes overwhelms unsuspecting visitors and while I was painting I did see several people get

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. Another page in my sketchbook from the workshop in France. This is right next to the castle and I was delighted the little yellow flowers were in bloom because they made the lawn much more interesting. I knew this would make an interesting subject and I walked around looking at it from different angles and finally decided on this view point. The trees around the castle were fascinating and really fun to paint. It took some time to fig