Low Water Bridge - State Route 612 III

 

Low Water Bridge - State Route 612 III

8" x 10" Oil on board

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I'll let the photo below make my excuses for me.  The guy in the blue chevy truck with the camper top had given up and Rainey went under the car shortly after I took the photo of my easel. I stayed mostly dry because I was under the rear door of my car but rain was blowing in on my easel and board and it was getting cold. I actually like this painting, though.  It's a little abstract and I like the colors and the mountain peaking through in the upper right. I hope I haven't complained too much about standing by a river and painting one of my favorite spots on earth.  I really think it's what makes life worth living. 

Low Water Bridge - State Route 612 II

Low Water Bridge - State Route 612 II

8" x 8" oil on board

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Sure, I said painting a scene a second time lets you see things you didn't see the first time, color mixtures are realized, values, etc. But...the rain...the old man in his blue chevy truck with the camper top, who could have parked on the other side of the road instead of directly in your line of sight...excuses.  It was really enjoyable, actually. And there are things I like more about this painting than the last.  But painting ripples in a river is hard and clearly I need more practice at it.   

Low Water Bridge - State Route 612

Low Water Bridge - State Route 612

8" x 8" oil on board

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These next three posts may not do well to prove my point about the benefits of painting a scene multiple times...this might be the best of three and it was the first.  But, I blame that on the increasingly heavy rain that once again held off until the very moment I broke out the easel. I guess you would call this river crossing a low-water bridge, although you actually have to drive through the river to get from one side to the other.  But there is concrete underneath, so I guess that counts as a bridge? Route 612 cuts across Summers Mountain and connects Bullpasture River Road to Cowpasture Road; a "shortcut" if you're heading back to route 250, headed toward Staunton, VA. It's long and winding and there's really no reason to take the road unless you have property up there or you're adventure riding like we did back when my brother first got his driver's license.  One time we popped a tire when we were halfway over the mountain and we didn't have a tire iron to change the tire.  We waited a looooong time before finally walking miles back to Cowpasture Road and waiting some more for someone to come by.  In addition to the rain making things difficult, a guy pulled up and parked DIRECTLY in front of me on the other side of the river.  He had to have seen me...So I had to crop him out of the painting.  Imagine his blue chevy truck with a camper top in the middle right, in front of that tuft of grass. Excuses.

Updated photo with frame: 

Seldom Seen Hollow II

Seldom Seen Hollow II

9" x 12" Oil on Board

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I completed this painting almost immediately after the previous posted painting and yes, it was still raining.  However, the cabin had a little covered porch on the back, so I stayed dry for this one.  Maybe I'm making excuses, but the majority of my paintings are completed within tiny windows of time. When I'm able to find time. And usually, I only have time (and energy) to complete one painting of a subject in a sitting.  That means that the posted painting is most often my first attempt at painting a subject.  I'm sure this is obvious, but what I've realized on the rare occasions when I have time to complete multiple paintings of the same subject is that only near the end of finishing the 1st painting, sometimes even days or weeks later, do I actually have any idea how to handle the subject; meaning, I notice things that I didn't notice before starting, figure out color mixtures, etc., because I've stared at the subject for hours and hours.  This is what leads me to overwork or muddy up those color mixtures, values, etc.;  I've worked and worked, but only at the end do I really see what needs to be done and by then it's too late.  Trying to rework a painting at the end rarely ever works out. And for some reason, once I've "finished" a painting, I have a tough time making myself go back to it. 

I guess this is why painters paint the same subject over and over again.  Once is not enough.  Twice is inordinately better.  And painting the same subject back to back like I did this day was extremely informative.  By the time I finished the first painting, I noticed things or figured things out that I applied to this painting such as the color in the shadows.  It's like trying to figure out how to play a guitar chord and not getting it right until the end of the song. Even while painting this second painting of the same view, I continued to see things I hadn't noticed before.  If only this property were mine, I'd master that view...

Alzarin Crimson, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow light, manganese violet, sap green, viridian, chromium oxide green, pthalo blue, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, titanium while. 

Seldom Seen Hollow I

 

Seldom Seen Hollow I

8 x 8 Oil on Board

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I went on a three night getaway to a VRBO farm in Doe Hill, Va., Highland County.  The property is 172 acres, backing up to the National Forest.  I went alone with Rainey, my dog, and the plan was to fish, paint and rest up after the end of a grueling school year.  I did all those things, despite the fact that it rained most of the time.  This particular painting was completed in the rain.  It was not raining when I set up, but began pretty steadily the moment I got started.  So steady that it interfered with the paint adhering to the board.  It's tough to see in the photo, but there are some interesting textures, I think because of the water's impact on the paint.  I also had to try and "finish" this really quickly, but I still like the way it turned out.  Rainey is such a good dog - despite the rain and the cows lurking nearby, she never left my side. This is the view from the back of the farm, looking toward the National Forest.  I walked until I was too tired to walk anymore and never reached a property boundary that I could tell.  It is WILD back there - tons of wildlife and native plants that I just don't see anywhere else.  I loved it. Just realized you can see some water droplets if you click on the photo. I tried to blow them all off before I took the photo.