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

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. This is another page in my sketchbook from the workshop in France. The castle where we stayed was such an interesting subject with its location on the Cote d'Azur. I was intrigued by this spot because of the tree growing up inside the wall and the handsome tower. It was a misty morning with an occasional light shower and I was partly protected up against the wall. There were three of the big potted plants and I used one as a table for

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I just returned to Denver from my workshop in Southern France sponsored by the Art Students League of Denver and this is the demonstration I did on the first day. We talked about vignettes and how the colors bleed out before they reach the borders of the watercolor paper. The idea is to make an interesting composition with the edges of the paint and the negative shapes. I painted on my 6 x 9 inch Hahnemuhle sketchbook with toned paper