Sunflowers Keep the Blues Away

This was really my very first watercolor  in 2016 and I was very pleased with it. It sold to an old high school friend.

Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, 

the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

Resources To Keep

1. http://knowledgebase.danielsmith.com/ColorFinder.asp

Butterfly for mom - just to make her happy since she loves butterflies

Persimmons ala Cezanne

Salsa Mama

This is a beautiful, amazing colored pencil of my mom from a photo I took in May 2016. It was done by my best friend from high school, Ann, and she gave it to me as a gift. This colored pencil drawing looks like a photo!

POPPIES

African Candleabra Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) - 100+ year old Succulent

Leo Carrillo Ranch is a hidden little gem buried in suburban Carlsbad. It was once a working ranch and the weekend home of actor Leo Carrillo, best known for his role as sidekick “Pancho” on the television show The Cisco Kid. These were done on location in my watercolor journal.

Spineless Cactus in front of the Hacienda

(Leo Carillo Ranch)

Porch After the Rain (Oil, c. 1990's)

This was painted in oil three decades ago and hung over my parent's bed until they died.

Pastel Birds (1990's)

Oil pastels on black paper. Done 3 decades ago - also residing with my mom.

Maroon Morning, Good Friends and Coffee

I meet two "sisters" of the heart for coffee every Friday morning early. This was my impression of the Eastern sky as the sun was still behind the distant mountains but turning the sky interesting colors with the foreground palms darkly silhouetted. I carry a watercolor journal, a fountain pen, and a miniature watercolor palette in my purse and painted this at Starbucks while waiting for my gal pals. You never know when inspiration might strike!

ABE'S BOOKMOBILE

This is from @urban_crumbs (Anna) photo of her little boy, Abe, 

sitting on her husband's shoulders engrossed in a book. 

I will rest safely in my Father's arms.

Fire and Rain

Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, 

a torch flung to the trees.

September 2017

Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: (Job 5:10)

This is the first time I've ever worked large format on a full sheet, standing at the easel. Remarkably freeing. This just came out of my head with no sketch. I adore orange and blue together - the juxtaposition of the warm and cool  complimentary colors evokes emotion. I threw some punches of Winsor Green (Blue shade) in, painting with the actual tube of paint and my fingers. When I finished the painting and kept looking at it, it whispered RAIN in my ear and I had to add it - or rather subtract it. The colors I typically paint with are non-staining so I was able to rub out the raindrops using damp paper towel pieces wrapped around a credit card. Keeping the focal point of the paper white, which I had preserved, then started to look like back-lit fog around the mountains and trees. In painting this I started to hear a hint of my own voice - that which is unique and individual about any artists expression. We start by imitating others in life, much like a child learns to talk. But at some magical point we push through and begin to hear our own voice and discover our own passion, our own style. I look forward to that journey of discovery.

Monochromatic Studies - Abe

These were painted from photo references of a little boy named Abe who lives in Philadelphia. His mom, Anna, is the photographer @urban_crumbs.

My Miracosta college watercolor teacher really liked the above. She said if I did it in color (instead of mono) I could enter it in a show. Made me feel good.

I let Abe's hair get totally out of control in my painting which kind of ruined it. Less is more.

Oceanside Pier

Ink drawing and watercolor wash done at Oceanside Pier as the sun was setting and the moon was rising. It was windy and the sea was turbulent. I decided not to include the structures on the pier just to simplify the drawing.

Cactus, Cactus, Cactus! I love cactus!

I painted this wonderful cactus at Leo Carillo Ranch in Carlsbad. Such a peaceful place. These spineless cactus were bred by a horticulturalist in hopes of creating a replenished source to feed the cattle but the cattle didn't like it and it gave them diarrhea. However, Leo Carillo loved them and had them planted all over the ranch and around the hacienda. They get really tall and the bright green color is just amazing. Against a bright blue San Diego sky it pops and the edges of the cactus (minus spines) looks like it's been outlined in ink.

I painted a similar cactus in front of a house in Rancho Santa Fe one afternoon when I was out with Patti.

Inspiration (Rancho Santa Fe)

Twisted Sisters

    Eucalyptus Trees at Hancock Park in Carlsbad. Quick pull off the road watercolor impression.

These Boots are Made for Walking (Still Life)

Teal Waterfall

Used my Lamy Safari fountain pen loaded with brown ink to do this drawing and limited color watercolor wash in my watercolor journal. Gave this one to Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Betty.

Quickie ink drawing and watercolor done sitting on the cliff above Carlsbad Beach (2017)

Aunt Betty

Oil Plein Air @ Crystal Cove - Newport Beach with Patti Slattery

Patti and I took a full day workshop at Crystal Cove. We stood on the front porch of a beach cottage where Bette Midler's 1988 movie, Beaches, was shot. Patti had never done oil before and really liked it. The instructor had easels set up and palettes, brushes, and canvas at the ready. We were painting some coastal rocks with waves crashing against them. It was a overcast coolish day and we took our lunch with us, pausing to eat at the table with the umbrella in the photo below. Very enjoyable.

Large oil painted 1999 years ago - "Carolina Moon"

I think I was channeling Thomas Kincaid when I did this!

Mom on the Back Stoop

I did this for my mom on Mother's Day as it pretty accurately represents her often standing on the back stoop when we were kids playing outside. She'd step out from the kitchen where we lived in North Carolina to cool off and watch our childhood antics.

Art Renewed

2017 

Wow, I had just started this and signed up for private art classes in Colorado Springs where we had retired. That was just 13 days before we were pulled to San Diego. Never made those classes in The Springs, but thanks to Patti Slattery, my artist soul has re-emerged here in beautiful San Diego. 

6 Years Ago

See Your Memorieschevron-right

Cheryl Banks

January 10, 2013 · 

And so it begins...the re-emergence of "Cheryl the Artist". She was asleep in Virginia but her artist-soul has been awakened by the proximity and inspiration of other artists and the beautiful Colorado vistas. Signed up for 3 classes at the best art school in The Springs, attached to the Fine Art Museum. So excited I can barely contain my joy. "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." — Pablo Picasso

BOOKLIST RECOMMENDATIONS ON DRAWING

 Find your own voice and don’t worry about what everybody else is doing!

General drawing and urban sketching books:
The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing on Location Around the World
Sketch! The Non-Artist’s Guide to Inspiration, Technique, and Drawing Daily Life
Urban Sketching: The Complete Guide to Techniques
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist

Books about perspective drawing and cityscapes:
The Urban Sketching Handbook: Understanding Perspective
Perspective Made Easy
The Art of Perspective: The Ultimate Guide for Artists in Every Medium
The Urban Sketching Handbook: Architecture and Cityscapes 

Books about working with watercolor:
The Watercolor Artist’s Bible
Urban Watercolor Sketching: A Guide to Drawing, Painting, and Storytelling in Color
Local Color: Seeing Place Through Watercolor
The Complete Watercolorist’s Essential Notebook
For more advanced painters: Watercolor Painting: A Comprehensive Approach to Mastering the Medium

Anthologies featuring other artist sketchbooks or journals for inspiration:
An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists
A World of Artist Journal Pages
The Sketchbook Project World Tour

Ballerinas (1990's) Pencil and marker

Older art

 

(Charcoal and digital)

“It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.” 
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

 Succulent Cafe in Oceanside with Patti Slattery.

This is an eggplant illustration I did while in art school in Tucson. It was first done in just graphite, then Prismacolor colored pencil and Prismacolor marker. The lesson was working on realism and catching all the highlights, shadows, etc.

People energize a scene

I'm practicing different drawing and painterly techniques adding people to scenes. It's necessary to work quickly when sketching a live scene. No time for detail, buy adding people brings more life and interest to the composition. It's important to quickly capture the silhouette and large shapes that will help portray  the subject accurately. Form and mass, or volume. Then follow along to add realistic, expressive details with each new passerby. Once your composition is in place, use ink to draw in all the details and develop form, then bring the subjects to life with watercolor. Going to take practice!