Dawn's Early Light

Dawn's Early Light, oil on gessoed board, 16x20"

One of the interesting things about waking up beside a large lake is the amount of space available for natural light and color to present themselves on a minute-by-minute basis.  Yesterday's painting showed a near colorless scene right as the morning has broken. The scene for today's painting is after the sun has gathered some energy and illuminated  everything on the horizon. 

Morning Mist, Looming Clouds

Morning Mist, Looming Clouds, oil on gessoed  board, 16x20"

I spent four days last week on a houseboat on Lake Cumberland. It was an interesting experience as far as painting goes - I was able to do some paint sketches. The first morning I was up so early and everything had lost its color. It slowly, slowly was regained as the clouds parted and the sun appeared.  This scene is right in the middle of all that.

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.