New Watercolors - Ralph F. Wilson

One of the resident butterflies where I live in Loomis, California, is the Lorquin's Admiral (Limenitis lorquini). Here's my take on it. Part of my 31 Paintings in July series. 220712. Watercolor and ink, 10" x 7".

At Thanksgiving time I think of the Pilgrims -- Puritans escaping persecution in England. They England too late in the season, so the Mayflower suffered a grueling 10-week voyage across the Atlantic. After their companion ship the Speedwell was deemed unseaworthy, they sailed from Plymouth, England, on 16 September 1620, and finally set anchor on Cape Cod November 21, 1620.

Some of my wife's and my ancestors were aboard -- Stephen, Constance, and Giles Hopkins. Oceanus was born during the voyage. Also present were John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. Half the pilgrims -- and most of the women -- died the first winter.

My painting is patterned after the Mayflower II, a replica built in 1957 that now resides in Boston harbor. The angry sky reminds me of the courage and struggle of those early American settlers who preceded us in this land. 221205. Watercolor and ink, 14" x 20".

Russian Gulch State Park is just a mile or two north of the town of Mendocino along the North California coast. I was fascinated by the outcropping that becomes a small island at high tide. At its crest are a few leggy examples of Mendocino Shore Pine. The forested slopes that rise from the shore have a mixture of Coast Redwood, Douglas-fir, and others. When I photographed it in July 2022, the tide was out, but using artistic license, a brought in a flood tide which pushes the beach under the bridge and makes the outcropping an island. 221208. Watercolor, 21" x 14".

On a photo day with my son Dan in mid-December 2022, I watched this Great Egret (Ardea alba) standing in shallow water at the edge of Tomales Bay near Inverness, California, waiting for a fish to spear. None appeared this time, and he eventually flew away with his great wing strokes. I tried to capture the dancing waters behind the egret with various colors of blue horizontal lines. 221223. Watercolor, 10" x 14".

In mid-December 2022, my son Dan and I enjoyed a photo day together. At the end of the road that goes to the north end of Point Reyes peninsula is the Pierce Point Ranch, once an active dairy farm. i was fascinated by the towering Monterey Cypress trees (Cupressus macrocarpa), widely planted along the north coast for windbreaks a century ago from their native habitat around Monterey. 230115. Watercolor and ink, 10" x 10".

'The Sower' (1850) by Jean-Francois Millet has inspired artists like van Gogh and Tissot. Here's my attempt at a possible bookcover for my study Parables of Jesus for Disciples (2023). 230124. Watercolor and ink on hot press paper, 10" x 14".

Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) is native to the area around Pacific Grove. But a century or more ago people began to plant it along the north coast in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. These tall trees was a theme of Bay Area artist Arthur Mathews (1860-1945). This is my attempt at the genre. The background is the north coast beyond the Westport Headlands (north of Fort Bragg). 230123. Watercolor, 14" x 21".

I love the leggy, wonky shapes of these Monterey Cypress trees (Cupressus macrocarpa). Native to the Monterey-Carmel area of California, in the early 1900s they were planted along the North Coast from San Francisco to Fort Bragg and north. This painting reflects a row of trees at the edge of a golf course. 230315. Watercolor on 300 lb. cold press paper, 20" x 14".