Sketching in St. Ives, UK - Part one

Posted: February 14, 2019

As a sneak preview of the techniques I'll be teaching in May of 2019 at Chapel Cottage Studio in Abergavenny. I'm posting examples from my travels in Bristol, London, Abergavenny, Swansea, St. Ives and the little stops between. I'm looking forward to expanding my community of friends and artists during my stay this spring.  I'll be traveling to Liverpool and several other new places as well as returning to cities, towns and villages I've visited before. 

During my 2018 trip:

My first glimpse of St. Ives was from a small parking lot high above an expansive beach populated with bright swim suits, cabanas, umbrellas and towels.  I couldn't resist a quick sketch, using the stone wall as a plein air studio table.

The ink sketch in the upper left corner was done on the train from London to Newport.

 Direct watercolour technique is great for quick sketches and for capturing the essence of the...

December 12, 2018

The above clip is from a documentary filmed and edited by my daughter, Nicole, in 2005.  The rest of the documentary is not soooo dark; it's filmed in my studio and in one of the galleries where I had a solo exhibit in 2005.

In 2004, Pat Sonne and I began working together to bring the process of creating art into the public eye during open mic sessions in local pubs.  Aside from it being incredibly fun, our goal was to inspire the inner artist within people who might not step foot into a gallery or museum, as well as to dispel the notion that an artist creates art only while standing at an easel wearing a beret. Pat, a life drawing model, moved to the music while I sketched her movements. We were "working the pubs" three to four nights a week for about two years.

Ladd Hoover filming at the Todd Wolfe Blues Jam in Easton, PA

Feeling the urge to expand the concept of painting movement in public venues, I set out on my own and painted during yoga...

I use three different magnetic Pocket Painter Palettes.  To see other Watercolor Travel palettes click here.

Nine-Well Watercolor Art Pocket Palette:

Nine-Well Magnetic Watercolor Art Pocket Palette

I love that I can see through the lid so that I know which primaries I'm taking with me and when I need to refill the wells.  I only need six pigments, a warm and cool of each primary.  I use the three little wells in the middle to keep my mixes clean.  Thanks to the deep lid, I can paint sketches that require larger areas of a wash while still keeping three separate color mixes clean (in the little wells).  The magnetic square on the bottom keeps the wells in place and allows for easy removal of each pan for cleaning and refilling.

My Standard Six Pigment Palette

My standard six-pigment palette is Gamboge, Aureolin, Joe's Blue (phthalo), Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium Red Light.  I arrange them (as shown above) as they would...