Woodpile II

Woodpile II

12" x 12" oil on board

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I painted this en plein air (outdoors) over a two day span between the hours of 9:30am and 11am.  I got most of it down the first day and then focussed on details the second day.  One subtlety that drew me to the scene was the crisscrossing hills in the background.  

On another note...I've been on instagram for a little over a year, and I'm thinking of getting off of it. Throughout the past year, I've felt more distracted, less focussed and present as well as more anxious and down on my abilities as a painter and even as a person.  I am now completely addicted to my phone, and I hate it. I enjoyed my trip to Highland County less because of my obsession with posting and seeing how many likes my paintings were getting.  I'm thinking about posts and how the paintings will look online instead of just enjoying painting and being in nature. It is fantastic to be able to see the best painters in the world in one place and then scroll down for some rare footage of the Grateful Dead but for all the reasons mentioned, it's just not worth it.  I'm looking for ways to simplify my life and this seems like a no-brainer.  Just have to hit those buttons...

Afternoon at the Miller's

Afternoon at the Miller's

12" x 12" oil on board

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This is the flip side to my previous post - the other side of the miller's house at Colvin Run Mill, painted the afternoon of the same day. I polled a number of folks regarding which one I should enter in the Paint Great Falls plein air competition, and this painting won out, almost 2:1, so I went with it.  Still, I'm doubting myself because I kind of prefer the other painting and, alas, it did not win a ribbon. 

Evening Light - Backyard

Evening Light - Backyard 

8" x 8" oil on board

This is one I'd like to revisit or turn into a more finished painting.  I was just trying to get some practice in before the Paint Great Falls outdoor painting competition. I worked on this for under an hour, which may be obvious. Sometimes, though, I like the ones that take under an hour just as much or more than the paintings that take multiple hours. 

Roudy's Retreat

Roudy's Retreat

8" x 10" oil on board

Great little Airbnb cabin in Montebello, VA, that is equidistant to Nelson County wine country and the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.  I gifted this painting to the owner of the cabin for the cost of shipping and materials.  Hope she hangs it!

April 5th, 5pm

April 5th, 5pm

8" x 8" oil on Board

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Fairfield Porter has a painting called, six o' clock (linked). I haven't researched the meaning of the name, but I'm guessing it was chosen because the viewer can look at the painting and, based on light and shadows and other details, guess the exact time it was painted and maybe a lot more about what was going on in and around the scene. I don't mean to put myself in the same sentence as Fairfield Porter, but it is my goal to pass along a sense of time and place.  Can you tell that it was one of the first warm evenings of spring, or that my kids were squirting themselves with the hose behind me? Or maybe that my wife was sitting in a chair to my left, having a drink? My dog was wandering around? I could hear lawnmowers and cardinals and bumblebees buzzing in the redbud behind me. I was stressed out because I had just finished doing the taxes and we had to pay a hell of a lot, while our 401K's and index funds were bleeding out money. But I didn't think about that for a while. Did you get all that?

Nelson County Back Road

Nelson County Back Road

9" x 12" oil on board

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Although I used a photo reference for this painting, I tried to paint as though I was outside - meaning, quickly and without a lot of thinking in the moment. That's my favorite way to paint and one of the reasons why I prefer to paint outside. Outside, conditions change so quickly that you don't have time to overanalyze, which is what I do when I have too much time on my hands.  I do think it has a fresh look to it. 

Hidden Hollow

 

Hidden Hollow

12" x 12" oil on board

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I like the way this turned out, considering how it started. This is another one from the Seldom Seen property that I visit out in Highland County, VA. To get to the hidden hollow, you have to hike up and over a small mountain.  I did this with all my painting gear on my back - no big deal...this was during Virginia's first real cold snap back in early January and deep in the mountains with no urban radiational heating, it was cold! My poor dog Rainey, faithful as she is, sat by my side the entire time.  I could tell she was getting cold and on top of that, she had munched down on some cow pies and wasn't feeling her best. I was getting cold too, so I reached a point where I thought I could head back to the cabin and touch it up there (although I forgot to take a reference photo).  But, once I had everything packed up, I realized the painting wouldn't fit in my panel carrier.  That meant I had to carry the painting back down the small mountain in my hands without dropping it, which I did...Until I got to the cabin door and a gust of wind blew it out of my hands and onto Rainey's back.  Rainey was covered in paint and my painting was scratched up and covered with dog hair. I picked out the hair, but it took a few weeks to get around to fixing it up.  I tried to build on the colors that were there and since I didn't have a reference photo, it was mostly by feel.  I did leave a small patch of scratchiness in the lower left just because. 

Melting

 

Melting

8" x 8" oil on board

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The plan was to practice and explore with this one, but I wound up liking it, so here it is. One idea that I'm trying to keep in mind moving forward is that shadows are not opaque. When I look at some of my older paintings, the shadows are black, opaque (ugly), curtains and in real life, that's not the case - shadows are transparent. So I'm trying to build shadows through layers of transparent paint, allowing the lower layers and even the toned board to peek through.  If I did anything right with this one, it's that.  I particularly like the shadow in the lower right, which is my house. 

Seldom Seen Ridge

Seldom Seen Ridge

12" x 12" oil on board

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I had a day and night by myself at the cabin in McDowell, VA before my friends met me the next morning. It was glorious - I spent the day hiking around and painting. This is the second painting I completed.  I'm still working on the other one but it should be up soon.  

I painted the first draft of this as the sun was setting behind me to the left, and I had to quit before it got too dark. It was also the first really cold weather of the year and even though I was painting next to the fire and warming myself with bourbon, it was still damn cold. 

The bourbon also tricked me into thinking the painting was finished, which led me to post it, prematurely, on Instagram.  I took it down a couple of days later after I realized it needed some touching up.  I've also had Jon Redmond's voice in my head, telling me to "finish" my paintings and make them more interesting, so I spent quite a bit of time on this at home.  Of course, I forgot to take a reference photo, so I had to build on the colors that were there and do a lot of things by feel. I even pulled up the location on Google Earth to see if the shadows were created by ridges or clouds - I thought they were ridges, and they were.  Here's the fire I painted beside and I posted the original just because.  Painting by the fire with a cup of Knob Creek might be the ultimate freedom.  

Backyard Snow

 

Backyard Snow

6" x 6" oil on board

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I have three paintings currently in progress.  Despite completing this painting in one sitting on the sun porch yesterday, I'm trying to spend a little more time "finishing" my paintings: adding some washes or glazes, thinking of more interesting ways to say things, etc., which was the advice I received from Jon Redmond.  It's a bit of a quandary for me, though, because pleinair is my favorite way to paint. And when I paint outdoors, I feel like it's a snapshot or memento of a particular place and time and to go home and mess with that takes away some of the freshness of the moment and somehow detracts from the freedom I felt in the moment, although I'm sure no one cares about that.  Not to mention the fact that the more I fiddle with paintings, the worse I usually make them. So, I'm trying to find a balance, and I'm still getting the hang of some new techniques.  One new technique or tool that I feel has added another dimension to my paintings is using a scraper tool or paint squeegee.  That's what I used to create the highest value parts of this painting - I just scraped away the paint down to the toned board and voila, sled tracks/footprints. I also used it to create the little highlights at the top of the painting. Almost all of my recent paintings have felt like a step forward, and I have more ideas than I have time for, so that's a good thing. 

Native Garden Painting (With Kids)

 

Native Garden Painting (With Kids)

8" x 8" oil on board

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I often tell myself I'm going to revisit paintings, do another sitting, touch things up. But I never do and this is no exception. It's probably for the best because my rare attempts to improve paintings usually have the opposite effect. 

I wish the native garden still looked like it does in the painting - that would mean it was late July, but we've moved on to purple and white asters and golden rod - still going strong, just another phase.  I'm happy with it, considering I had two little monkeys painting alongside. 

River Copse

 

River Copse 

8" x 10" oil on board

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Today was not exactly a pretty day, as you can see from the sky in the photo below - and maybe from the painting...But, an overcast sky actually makes for less challenging painting conditions, even if it's not as colorful as a sunny day. It's less challenging because the light and shadows don't seem to change as quickly when the sun is blocked by clouds. The last three days have also been 100 degrees +, so upper 80's and overcast felt like a spring day. Still, painting on a rock in the middle of the Potomac River is not without its challenges.

One challenge faced was that my normal put-in at Violet's Lock, which lets me launch below the broken down dam, just upstream from the copse pictured in this painting, was blocked by a massive deadfall. This meant that the first thing I did this morning was navigate some fairly challenging rapids with all of my painting and fishing supplies, food, etc., strapped to my kayak. The uncertainty of the route and not knowing extent of the rapids, however, was scarier than reality, and I made it through just fine.  Later in the day, I was sucked into a much larger drop while bouncing around, casting for smallmouth and not paying attention to my route through the boulders. 1.5 feet doesn't sound like much, but when you're caught off guard in an overloaded kayak, it's disconcerting.  I got a little sideways, for sure. 

Fishing may have been more successful than painting today! I caught one decent smallmouth after another with some big boys mixed in - one of the best days of fishing I can remember and an all-around great day. 

 

Return to the Junction

Return to the Junction
6" x 6" oil on board

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Back to the junction of the Bullpasture and Cowpasture Rivers for this one.  Just upstream from the location of my last Junction painting in Highland County, VA. I had to wade across the river to get to a rock ledge where I stood to do the painting.  The rocks are SUPER slippery so it took all my skill to make it across without dumping myself and all of my painting supplies in the river. Sarah and the kids were downstream floating around and hunting for crayfish - my dog Rainey was laying in the shade beside me. 

Super tough to capture sufficient detail without over doing it, especially when your kids are calling for you to help them catch crayfish.  Regardless, this was one of the best days in recent memory. The more time I spend painting beside a river or sitting neck deep with a beer in my hand while my kids look for creatures, the better. Hey look - there I am!

Evening in the Hollow

 

Evening in the Hollow

11" x 14" oil on Belgian Linen

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The first evening I spent at the cabin, I looked up the hollow as the sun was lowering toward the ridge and thought, "why paint anything else?" I love this painting. It might be the favorite of all that I've ever done. But it still doesn't come close to capturing the pristine beauty and color of Seldom Seen Hollow. 

What I love about my favorite painters and what I've tried to work toward, is the ability to say so much with so little detail.  It appears simple, even though I know it's far from it. I think I'm closer with this one than I've ever been. 

Fence Line

Fence Line

8" x 10" oil on board

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This is the seventh of seven Highland County paintings - I'm saving my favorite for last.  I painted this quickly because the sun was going down, and I like the looseness.  This is the view looking southeast so I got to stand in the shade on the side of the house as the sun was setting diagonally behind me. I had been standing in the sun all day, so the shade felt as good as jumping in the river had earlier in the day. When the sun sets at the cabin, the cows seem to take up a conversation, each mooing its own distinct moo.  Sometimes the conversation dies, only to be revived a minute later by a braying that sounds more like a donkey than a cow. Once started, they all have to get a word in. 

Cowpasture Crossing

 

Cowpasture Crossing

8" x 10" oil on Belgian Linen

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I had scoped out this spot on my first day in Highland County - I wanted to paint it because I loved the shadows on the dirt road and the way the Cowpasture River (yep, that's the Cowpasture - see previous post) reflected the sky above. To get to the spot you cross a swinging bridge and head upstream from the junction of the Bullpasture and Cowpasture.  The Cowpasture River looks more like a hog wallow here than a river. 

I know no one wants to hear me complain about standing by a river, painting, but this painting was torture to make.  I was nervous because, while painting my first painting of The Junction, I had seen some sort of fertilizer or manure spreader with wheels taller than I am, pass through the very spot I would be painting. While I hadn't seen any no trespassing signs, I worried that if the farmer saw me standing on his land, he might not like it.  Whether he minded me painting there or not, he would have to pass back through on his way home. Hopefully, he would finish and head back before I finished my first painting. He didn't, and I decided to risk it. 

While painting this painting, I could hear the spreader doing its thing, so it was looming in the back of my mind that I might have to face an angry farmer or at least have to move my easel mid-painting to get out of his way. This sounds bad, but I also didn't want to have to take a break to talk to the farmer because it only takes a few minutes for the light to change completely. Now, I was hoping I would finish the painting before he finished the spreading

While the impending interaction with the farmer was unnerving, that was not the torturous part.  If you've ever seen a cow covered in biting black flies, that's what I'm guessing I looked like.  There were no cows around, only my dog Rainey, who drew in even more flies, so they all came to me.  At least cows have tails to swat with- I had a brush in one hand and paint on the other, so swatting was not an option.  

Then, as I was contemplating giving up out of pure misery, here came the manure spreader.  An alien rover with tinted windows - I had no idea who or what was going to hop out of that thing.  Rainey was cowering and refused to move and the thing didn't seem to be slowing down. I had to jerk Rainey by the collar with one hand while holding my tripod and easel in the other and trying to keep all of my brushes from sliding off the tray.  I got Rainey into the bushes beside the road, however, I had to search for my brushes.  

Finally, the thing stopped. What hopped out was a sixteen-ish year old boy who was nice as could be. He apologized profusely for making me move and said he wouldn't have to come back through again that day. So that was a lot of worry about nothing.  Regardless, I was done with this painting.  Despite the mental and physical torture, it turned out ok. 

The Junction

The Junction

8" x 8" oil on board

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The merging of the Mississippi and Ohio it is not.  The Cowpasture River is little more than a trickle before it meets with the Bullpasture River. Sometimes it dries up completely in summer, but the Bullpasture always seems to run strong and cold.  It's odd to me that after they meet, they take the Cowpasture's name.

This was a tough paint.  The values of water follow different rules from the values of solid objects or land. I don't have a ton of experience painting water, so it was tough to judge those relationships and I'm not sure I got it exactly right.   The Cowpasture sure felt great after two hours of standing in the sun, while getting devoured by black flies.

The View South

 

The View South

9" x 12" oil on board

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The VRBO cabin that I rent for my annual painting retreat, near the town of McDowell in Highland County, VA, faces south. To get to the cabin from the vantage point of this painting, you walk up and over the rise in front of you.  The cabin sits on a large terrace, halfway down a massive hill at the entrance to the hollow. The view south from the cabin's front porch is miles and miles of the same - hills, hollows and mountains. There's a reason why Highland County is known as Virginia's little Switzerland.  

Storm's Coming

 

Storm's coming

8" x 10" oil on board

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The storm clouds spilling over the ridge looked incredible so of course I had to paint them. Storm clouds change quickly, however, and by the time I got my easel in position, the clouds over the peak were not the clouds that had drawn me in. I actually had to copy these clouds from a different part of the sky and superimpose them on top of the ridge.  And what follows storm clouds?  That's right - so if it looks a little rushed, that's because it was.  Luckily, it was a quick shot of rain, unlike last year's retreat, which was a three day downpour. And the evening following the storm was one of the more crisp and spectacular evenings I have experienced. 

Country Crab Apple

 

Country Crab Apple

8" x 8" oil on board

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The first of SEVEN paintings that I completed in three days during my annual painting retreat to Highland County, VA. 

I told myself this was going to be kind of a warmup.  I asked for and received a new travel easel that if you've read this blog before, you've heard me talk about getting for years.  So this was a test run, but I started to like what I was seeing, so I finished it out. 

The new easel and tripod worked great and they definitely had a positive impact on the paintings I completed during this trip. Setup with my old easel was ten minutes of fury with parts breaking and balancing things so my panels didn't fall out on the ground. Now, I snap the pochade box onto the tripod and I'm ready to paint. There's no way I could have completed seven paintings in three days with my previous setup.  So thanks!