The Artist's Garden

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I have been spending more time painting in my sketchbook these days. I enjoy the portability and having everything in one small shoulder bag. Also, being able to try new ideas and not worry about finished paintings. This is not to say that I don't take my sketchbook works seriously because I do. Each page is a new expression and another step on my artistic journey.

This painting, which covers two pages in one of my sketchbooks, is of the flowers right off my front porch. I spent the afternoon siitting in the shade of a giant maple tree as I painted my daisies, black eyed Susans, and the rocks that I lined up along the edge of my flower garden. Because I am left handed, I often start right to left so that I don't get my left hand in wet paint. Starting with the white daisies. which are mostly unpainted white paper, I surrounded them with rich darks that I turned into leaves with a technique called cutting back.

The rocks were first covered with light valued grays mixed with cerulean blue, brilliant orange, and yellow ochre. When that was dry I added layers of darker grays mixed with French ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, mineral violet, and burnt umber. Finally spattering was added for more texture. The black eyed Susans were painted with transparent yellow, lemon yellow, burnt sienna, and cobalt violet. The leaves are a combination of olive green, lemon yellow, cerulean blue, and perylene green.

As I painted across the two pages I left a section of unpainted paper so that I could develop one flower on a white background. This gave me the opportunity to paint a flower on a larger scale with more detail. I chose a pink flower with a center of earth tones that was growing at the base of the maple tree. The pink petals are a mixture of cobalt violet and rose dore and the center is a combination of burnt sienna, transparent yellow, burnt umber, and cobalt violet. The stem and leaves were painted with olive green, lemon yellow, and perylene green. I planted sunflower seeds and they are already knee high so I look forward to painting them later this fall.

My three day sketchbook workshop is August 22, 23, & 24 2025. For more information look on my website dennispendletonstudio.com under classes and workshops. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton