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.

Patches

Patches, oil on canvas, 9x12"

It hasn't snowed here in a while but when it did I went out to photograph some fields and a small lake nearby. Even though I thoroughly enjoy painting outside in the snow, it was much too blustery during this last batch.  Here is an active field, shut down and enjoying the peaceful silence.

Solo Silo

Solo Silo, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 9x6"

I changed this composition quite a bit from the photo reference I used, and I like the way it turned out.  I have had this photo tagged to paint for over a year now, coming back to it until it finally shouted at me long and hard. It portrays late fall, early winter ....perfect for a cold January new year.

Groomed

Groomed, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 9x12"

day 6, 30 paintings/30 days

 This photo reference was taken was from the northern part of Sonoma County in California's wine country, near Healdsburg. It a wonderful place to visit. I would love to set up and paint en plein air soon, as those endless rows would put me in a painter's trance.

Grey Skies, Ohio River

Grey Skies, Ohio River,  oil on gessobord, 9x12"

After packing up my painting gear on Sunday, I took the back roads in Southern Indiana. About an hour later ended up here...O'Bannon Woods State parks. It has an amazing section way up on a river bluff. I hiked down as far as I could without falling off the ledge and set up the easel.  The wind was strong, and the footing a bit ominous, and it was quite exhilarating!!

Here is where I set up my easel. Luckily I had the sunshine after about an hour of painting to warm me up.

Magic School Buses

Magic School Buses, oil on gessoed board, 9x12"

Normally I post as I paint, but this one I painted, then forgot about for a few weeks, so here it is now. My daughter plays viola for the Louisville Youth Orchestra and they had a change in location for rehearsal a few weeks back. It was quite a trek. Knowing I would be in a non-urban location, and knowing it was going to be beautiful weather, I took my painting gear and my dog and set up to paint during her three hour rehearsal. There were buses parked in their lane, that made for a colorful contrast against a grove of trees just starting to turn their fall colors.

Big Prarie Meadow 2

Big Prairie Meadow 2, oil on gessoed board, 9x12"

I did a smaller, quick sketch of this scene, just a couple of posts ago on location just to see if I wanted to do a larger  version.  I started round 2 on site as well. I blocked the composition in with the same palette, and changed a few things that were occurring, such as light. I also zoomed in just a tad.  I finished it in the studio from photos.  The gessoed board is a different brand then normal (Speedball as opposed to Ampersand) and has more of a slippery surface.  This trips me up a bit at the start, so I have found through trial and error, that I work better in shifts on this brand of board, allowing the layers to settle but not dry. I love the way this turned out....vibrant color and abstract layers of the landscape.

Overwatered

Overwatered, oil on gessoed board, 9x12"

While I was busy working on another painting at Patoka Lake, Indiana a couple weeks ago, I took a break to walk several feet away from the easel.  Looking out at the lake I spotted plants growing in abnormally high water, at least 20 yards from shore. Their distance was due to the ongoing heavy rains the area has had since June. Still, they were surviving, thriving and hardy despite being almost unnoticeable. The yellow and red leaves were a beautiful contrast to the greenish reflection surrounding the top half which dissolved into pristine blue.

Capital Reef Cows

Capital Reef Cows, oil on gessoed board, 9x12"

Capital Reef National Park in Utah is an amazing place to be visually overwhelmed, in a good way. I had an amazing panorama that changed throughout the day, depending on the light, clouds and winds that passed through it. 

On the roads around the park, you see "Free Range" signs signifying cows are found everywhere.  There was a wire fence outside the boundaries of the hotel that I stayed in, probably to keep the cows from knocking on our doors, but they were there, always hanging around.  Most of what I saw were mama cows and their babies. The calm landscape was filled with their calls if their babies ventured one sage bush too far.

Capital Reef morning

Capital Reef Morning, pastel, 9x12"

This is a drawing I did while staying at the Capital Reef National Park lodging. This was my hotel view and it was breathtaking to open the door to this first thing in the morning. We took a horse trip all through the layers of this incredible park. I took a lot(A LOT!!!) of pictures of open range cows that added another dimension to the landscape. I'm in awe of Mother Earth

Chaos

Chaos, oil on gessobord, 9x12"

I painted this last month, but it was lost in the shuffle of preparing for the art fair.  The cattail series quickly became my favorite subject matter....it was a great opportunity to learn to paint foreground and interpret intermediate ground using color rather than detail.  Each of the paintings presented something new and fun, and I am hoping to return to them soon. 

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Cow Pasture

Cow Pasture, oil on gessobord, 9 x 12"

I am slowly starting to adjust to painting larger than my 6x6"-ish norm.  This painting at 9 x 14 is a comfortable "large".  When I get too much larger I tend to have the most problems with things like scale, and which brushes to switch to.  But I am getting there.  I love the way this turned out. Microscopic cows in their big universe, full of color and enough grass to live on forever. Sounds like a great life!

Celebration

Celebration, oil on canvas 9x 12"

The background turned out just the way I wanted it too on this painting. So for this, I am entitling it "Celebration"!!

Vacant

Vacant, oil on gessobord, 9x12"

Done on an extremely cold day, when I seemed to be channelling Cezanne.  Would love to paint en plain air but it's 5 degrees! This is a 9x12", larger than I normally paint. I am offering it for $250

Brunelleschi's Dome, through the Geraniums

Brunelleschi's Dome, through the Geranium's

oil on gessobord, 9x12 inches

Everything around Florence can be viewed through geraniums because geraniums are everywhere! And one can almost see the Dome of the Florence Cathedral from anywhere. It appears at the end of many nook-and-cranny walking streets at every turn, floating above it's octagonal drum. It is an engineering feat (it is said Fillipo Brunelleschi watered down the lunchtime wine of his workers while construction of the dome took place, as a "safety first" procedure). The problem solver extraordinaire and first engineer of the Renaissance is buried within the Cathedral.

The city of Florence is such a vivid place. Full of artisans and artists and overall cool folks. If you are ever there, look up the little outdoor restaurant of Francesco Vini with the beautiful Roman face. He will sing on the sidewalk to lure you in. 

                             

   

Four in the bowl

Four in the bowl, oil on canvas, 9x12

Another still life painted from a series of photos that I took of various fruits and objects.   I have been trying to figure out as I have been working through these paintings, whether to paint thin or thick.  I always seem to want to paint thin and gesturally when I start a painting, but it always seems like the end product is thicker and more refined than originally intended.  Not really a problem, just trying to work through it.

Four in a row

Four in a row, oil on canvas, 9x12

I gathered up apples, avocados, lemons, limes and other still life items and took about 20 pictures outside today.  The sun was directly overhead, which did not make for interesting shadows.  I just tried to work with placement instead. This is the first painting from these setups. The apples were various shades of yellow rather than reds; no shadows, no color range made for a difficult painting day. Tried to work through these frustrations and I feel, in the end, that the painting works.

Carrot, Carrot

Carrot, Carrot, oil on canvas, 9x12

I painted Carrot, Carrot instead of going to the farmer's market on a recent Saturday morning, but it ended up being a good trade off.  Instead of painting in my normal location I moved the operation outside to my covered deck where the light was pretty intense and there was a strong glare. Thus, the shadows ended up being almost a "high noon " angle. The fruit and vegetables ended up looking like long, lost distance cousins in the middle of a deep conversation. The plight of the refrigerator vegetable drawer!  : )

Guaca Molé!

Guaca Molé!, oil on canvas, 9x12

Moving on from my photo-landscape series, I have set up and painted a few still life.  It's interesting that with any drawing or painting class that one takes throughout their artistic career , still life are always at the forefront for studying form, detail, perspective...they have it all. It has been a very long (over 25 years) since my last still life. This was exhilarating!