Artful Alley

Artful Alley, oil on gessobord, 12 x 12"

Here is another alley scene, composed with the intention of continuing to practice and hopefully improve my drawing skills, but continue to pull knowledge on form, color, and perspective from the broad landscapes I have been working on.  I am about half-satisfied with this painting. I had trouble with the actual alley and its trajectory and kept reworking it. As I look at the image of the finished product while I write this, I see I still didn't quite get it. Win some, lose some. I think I learned some as well.

Active myrtle, quiet alley

Active Myrtle, quiet alley, oil on gessobord, 12x12"

I have been painting so many broad landscapes over the last year or so, that I started thinking long and hard a few days ago about a possible shift. It's not that I am bored with the subject matter by any means, but I am constantly wanting to improve my painting skills in other areas as well.  I've been looking and studying so many artist who do urban observation really, really effectively and thought maybe I could move with baby steps in that direction.  It requires more patience obviously, because of the detail involved, and it will sharpen my drawing skills.  We shall see. I started with this alley scene so let me know what you think!

Quiet Lake

Quiet Lake, oil on gessobord, 12x12"

I did some quick sketches at Bernheim Forest and Arboretum a couple days ago. I had planned on staying for a few hours, but the heat and the bugs got the best of me.  I enjoyed the small amount of productivity I was able to accomplish in a short amount of time.  I used one of the sketches to produce this painting,  remembering the light  that was affected by the heat and humidity that day from memory. 

Cascading

Cascading, oil on gessobord, 12x9"

If you have ever been to Boulder, CO then you know there are constant streams running throughout. When I was there last summer, there was one within walking distance from the hotel. Even though the streams are small-ish in width, the water always runs rapid because of the trajectory of the nearby foothills.  The rocks are still large enough to hop around on and take some fun photos. This painting is from one of those days. 

Park Road

Park Road, oil on gessobord, 8x10"

The "heat dome" has spread over the majority of the U.S. and I went out to plein air paint earlier this week. I learned a lot during my 3 hours in the park near my home such as:   
1. when the light is overly bright, tone down your colors  2.  when dealing with mostly greens, decide the spectrum and mix up four greens to simplify this spectrum.  3. Bring food if you haven't eaten yet. I started to get shaky even though I was in the shade.
Also,  I want to say that several strangers spotted me and stopped to chat and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations.  Thanks for taking the time  out of your exercising  to do so.  

Neighboring

Neighboring, oil on gessobord, 12x9"

I wanted to paint early and quickly this morning. I got the early part right but the quickly didn't work. This painting was supposed to be a 20 minute sketch but turned into an hour painting, because my greens kept getting muddy. At one point I almost scrapped the whole thing but didn't. If nothing else I enjoyed sitting and painting outside, which I am hoping to do more of soon.

Crossings

Crossings, oil on gessoed board, 24x18"

I've been working on another moody palette landscape for a few days.  My goal in the next few months is to get a phone or camera that will take better pics for the blog.  There are layers here that just can't be seen. I often have people say that the paintings are so much more colorful in person, so hopefully better images coming in the near future.

Fishing Lake

Fishing Lake, oil on board, 20x16"

I finally feel like I am headed in the right direction with this one. It's probably hard to tell by the photo , but there are layers of color interacting with each other in the painting, as well as the gestural mark making, which I've always been drawn to.  These isolated lake scenes are becoming my favorites and have allowed me to not feel so inhibited.

Open Road

Open Road, oil on gessoed board, 24x18"

I've been working on this one for the last three days.  It is not one I felt rushed to finish, and allowed myself the time to think about attempting new things and changing others that I felt weren't working. The photo I worked from was taken on my trip last summer where we drove from Louisville to Colorado, Utah and New Mexico and saw non-stop beauty along the way. This was a simple highway scene, to contrast the grand-scale beauty within those states, but it was it's simplicity that brought me to it.  Sometimes the simplest things go unnoticed within the grand scheme of things. As Ghandi said, "Simplicity is the essence of Universality"

Overcast Lake

Overcast Lake, pastel on paper, 12x9"

Hugh and I did a return visit to the park with the lake, with the dog. This time the weather was overcast, windy and cool compared to bright, sunny and hot yesterday.  I sat uphill from the Lake to draw this time.  Because the light was static I used local color for the ease of drawing during my time constraints.  

static I used local color for the ease of drawing during my time constraints.  

Sandy Beach

Sandy Beach, pastel, 12x9"

I took my dog to a large park with a lake in the middle. We found this small beach, to serve as a point of launch for him to get in the water. While he was sunning himself afterwards, I pulled out my pastels and did this 20 minute sketch to use as a reference for a future painting.

Across the Fence

Across the fence, pastel on paper, 12x9"

I felt like working outside with my pastels this morning, but I couldn't venture too far. I have colorful views all around me so I just picked one and began. This one turned out to my liking. The sun was high, the light was bright and the colors vivid. Nothing better.

Reflection

Reflection, oil on board, 16x20"

These colors are really moody in a beautiful kind of way.  I have to believe that is my subconscious talking.  Despite the fact that I want to paint on some days, it's been difficult. And then when I feel up to it, I haven't had the motivation.  But the photo I took back in April that I used for this painting was inspiring - half sky, half water with a glowing parcel of land in the middle. I also love the word reflection because of the dual meaning. So which ever version you choose for your interpretation, it works!