Saturday, January 17, 2015

Cart Path

Cart Path
8" x 10" oil on board
$70 plus shipping

I registered for a "plein air workshop" this Saturday at Art Frame Solutions, which backs up to Reston National Golf Course, the location for this painting.  I think this is the twelfth hole. Turns out, I was the only one registered, or maybe I was the only one stupid enough to stand outside in the freezing weather to paint.  It was chilly to say the least.  There weren't a lot of options for subjects, and there were a few people who apparantly like playing golf as much as I like painting, so I chose these two bushes.  They were the most interesting subjects and this was the location least likely to lead to death by golf ball. It was so cold that my paint literally froze.  It was like wiping play dough on the board, and I forgot to bring any linseed oil or medium that might have loosened it up.  Still, I like the way it turned out.  I tend to overwork my paintings, and maybe because it was so cold, I spent as little time working it as possible.  The photo makes the color temperature appear a little warmer than it appears in person.

Autumn Begins




Autumn Begins
Oil on two, 8" x 8" cradled hardboard panels
$175 plus shipping

I should have taken a profile picture to show the edges of the hardboard panels.  They are 3/4" deep with finished edges, so you don't even have to frame these if you don't want to.  They look really nice. It was such a pain in the ass to arrange these side by side in the blog editor that I was afraid to add another photo.  

The location is the George Washington National Forest right on the border or possibly in West Virginia - the Tibbet Knob hike.  This was a tough subject, but I like the way it turned out and, as usual, they look better in person.  

Here's a closeup of the brushwork:


Sunday, January 11, 2015

Midmorning in Forest Edge

Midmorning in Forest Edge
5: x 7" oil on board


The second of my power outage paintings.  Did I mention that it was 6 degrees outside?  I started this one around 10:30am, and it got a little cold inside by the time I was finished.  This one is a little cleaner than the first because I had a lot of my colors mixed after the first painting, which freed me up to focus on my technique.

Morning in Forest Edge

Morning in Forest Edge
5" x 7" oil on board


We had a snow day on Wednesday, and the power was out all day.  I had nothing else to do; even the battery in my Kindle was dead.  So I sat by the back window and painted.  The light was changing quickly, so I had to paint fast, and I went with another limited palette of Prussian blue, cadmium red, yellow ochre, and white to keep things simple.  I started this one around 8:30am and fished around 10:30am.  Then I did another.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Watering Can

Watering Can
6" x 8" oil on board

I experimented with my color palette again, and I really like the effect. The colors I used here were ivory black, yellow ochre, and cadmium red.  I feel like this palette creates a nice earthy look that goes well with the watering can.  The toughest part of this painting was the initial drawing of the can and getting the right proportions on the board.

I also experimented with my edges, attempting to direct the viewer's eye by softening certain lines, making others disappear altogether, and making some hard and clear.  The idea is to direct your eye to the hardest lines.  You might have to zoom in to see, but there's some cool stuff going on in this one.

Escapee

Escapee
8"x 10" oil on board
Sold

I've been experimenting with color palettes and values a lot lately, especially with the effect of limiting the darkest values in my paintings.  I feel like limiting the range of values to a higher key creates a pleasing, harmonious effect. However, my photo editing woes continue; in this case, the photo increases the contrasts and makes the darkest values look darker than they are in person. I did this with a palette knife using ultramarine blue, cadmium red light, and cadmium yellow light. I really like the way it turned out.