Harpers View

"Harpers View" 

oil on canvas, 12x9"

I spent part of last weekend in the Northern Va area, painting in the cemetery at Harpers Ferry, WV. It is such a beautiful location. I edited the scene a great deal, for artistic and sacred reasons. Still the painting turned out much to my liking.

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. 

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.

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.

Morning Shadows and Red Bud

Morning Shadows, oil on gessoed paper, 12x9"

I was walking my dog this morning on this cold, clear day and returned to find the sun blasting my neighbors garage. I ran inside, grabbed a piece of gessoed watercolor paper, brushes, turp and medium, and I threw some paint on my palette. I moved quickly because I didn't want to lose the light.  Twenty minutes later (I was moving really quickly!) and with frozen hands and legs (I was standing in shorts) I finished this little painting. I am quite happy about a few things here: that I was able to pull this off so fast - actually the majority of my life has been pretty spontaneous so I shouldn't be so surprised, and that I improvised in a few ways I wasn't used to and it still worked. My hands have warmed up enough to type so I will just say, maybe another quick painting later today.

Collection

Collection, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 12x9"

Day 5, 30 paintings/30 days

Cattail collections are becoming some of my favorite subject matter.  Perhaps it has to do with plant matter, or being at the waters edge, or standing in the beautiful, reflective light or the fact that every time I work on a cattail painting, the color palette is so calm and appealing.  

Winter Color

Winter Color, oil on gessobord, 12"x9"

The day I was painting in Indiana (on the one pretty day we've had here in the Ohio Valley in 3 weeks) was fun and had my mind turning with new ideas. I painted for two hours before the wind picked up, to the point I had to stop. As I was packing up, I glanced uphill and spotted this tree illuminated with the first sun of the afternoon.  I did a quick sketch on a fresh gessobord, then finished packing up for the day. When I was driving home I remembered I had forgotten to take a  reference photo for this, so this one was all done from memory.