It's In the Details

Mission San Juan Capistrano, 9 x 7½" watercolor

Where would we be without our phones to tell us what day we were where? After painting Hidden House Coffee in San Juan Capistrano, I moved my car, so as not to overstay my welcome in the free lot, and slipped over to Mission San Juan Capistrano. Sitting outside a Starbucks, I painted this view of the entry to the landmark mission. Paintings in this style beg for details. The person who introduced me to calligraphic watercolors, Frank Webb, was a former student of Watercolor Great Edgar Whitney. It is difficult for me to remember which is a Webb quote and that which Webb pulled from his large collection of Whitney quotes. Speaking of calligraphic watercolors, “It is not about the nouns; it’s about the adjectives” is one of my favorites. Subject matter with more adjectives than this scene offered would have made for a better calligraphic watercolor.