Daily painting #62: A crane, a cafe, and a collage.

I did this collage of the thirty paintings I did in June. The final painting actually took 3 days, but on several days I did more than one painting, so I probably did at least 30 paintings all told. Some are better than others, but I like most of these a lot. Some standouts include the Jefferson Memorial, the Great Falls picture, the roses, the yacht, and Voltaire.

Collage of June daily paintings.jpg

The daily painting craze continues in July! Today I started painting a giant red crane, but it kept changing positions, perhaps because it was being blown around in today’s high winds. After an hour I gave up, wiped out the painting, and did a quick sketch of diners across the street at Olazzo, an Italian cafe and restaurant on Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda. I had only about half an hour, as the diners finished their meal and left. If I’d had more energy, I would have found substitute models, but by this point I was tired and called it a day.

Geoff Watson, “Sketch of diners at Olazzo’s,” study, July daily painting #1, oil on panel, 8” x 10,” 2019.

Geoff Watson, “Sketch of diners at Olazzo’s,” study, July daily painting #1, oil on panel, 8” x 10,” 2019.

Daily painting #46: Bacchus cafe

I returned to the Bethesda intersection I inhabited a few days ago, but this time I painted a different corner cafe — Bacchus of Lebanon, on Norfolk Avenue. I stupidly knocked over my easel several times, and the third time I lost my favorite brush down a storm drain — arrrrgh! It was a No. 7 Eclipse long-handle flat from Rosemary Co. That brush and I have been through a lot of paintings together. It put me in a grumpy mood. (It didn’t help when a passerby sought to reassure me that the brush would make good gnawing material for the local rats.)

I still managed a respectable painting. The idea was to showcase the umbrella and its strange jungle of plants, juxtaposed with urban features like street signs and garbage cans. But if I paint this scene again, I might try leaving out the plants for a simpler composition. Also, I forgot to put flowers in the flower pots! I thought of it after the sun was already setting, and I could no longer see anything. :) I might add them tomorrow.

Geoff Watson, “Bacchus of Lebanon,” June daily painting #15, oil on panel, 9” x 12,” 2019.

Geoff Watson, “Bacchus of Lebanon,” June daily painting #15, oil on panel, 9” x 12,” 2019.