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?

Farmhouse

 

Farmhouse

8" x 8" oil on board

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This is an image of the farmhouse that we used to rent in Highland County, VA, that is sadly no longer available for rent. I tried out a new palette from another favorite painter, Richard Oversmith, that I'm really liking.  The palette I was using from the workshop with Jon Redmond had a couple of colors, cadmium red light and sap green, that I just don't find much use for.  Richard Oversmith's palette uses a different red and green that match better to the way I see things and result in a fresher look, in my opinion. I'm happy with this one and hope to turn it into a larger painting. 

I'm going to email the owners of the farmhouse to see if they'll let me on the property to paint this June when I'm out there for my annual solo painting retreat. 

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 were 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. 

Strickler Knob

 

Strickler Knob

9" x 12" oil on board

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Strickler Knob is a great but difficult hike that involves a lot of rock-hopping - not great for little kids or dogs, but the views are spectacular. The gap in the mountains is Route 211 near Luray, VA. 

Would my paintings be better if I didn't do them on Friday night after a grueling week of teaching and little sleep? Maybe...

Seldom Seen

 

Seldom Seen

6" x 6" oil on board

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I like this painting and it was fun to paint. I painted over an old painting, which is always satisfying, especially when it's a terrible painting as was the case here - a muddy old painting of sardines in a bowl.  

It's tough not to fall into the trap of painting "things." Things, meaning trees, mountains, individual leaves, etc. When you're painting "things" a painting is much more likely to become muddy and dead. 

What I like about this painting is that instead of painting "things" I suggested them with shapes, color temperature, and values. I'm always afraid that my judgement is completely wrong but to me, this reads mountains and trees with light on snow just as much or more than a photo-realistic painting does. The longer I paint and the more I study painting, the more I prefer paintings that are abstract and a little mysterious - paintings that force the viewer to make his or her own conclusions. 

Valentine's Boquet

 

Valentine's Bouquet 

11" x 14" oil on board

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These flowers were a Valentine's gift for my wife, Sarah, but I'll admit that I had this painting in mind when I bought them.  I bought a nice bottle of wine and made a lobster dinner, too, so it wasn't totally selfish.  I may still make some changes to this because the background colors distract a bit from the flowers. 

One more thing: It seems I did not know how to spell bouquet before this post.  In addition to making a dumb grammatical mistake on Instagram when I posted this involving duel vs. dual, I just realized that I spelled bouquet incorrectly.  

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. 

Woodpile

 

Woodpile

8" x 10" oil on board

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I attended a two day workshop over the weekend with a painter named Jon Redmond. (click name for link to his work) Jon is a famous painter, not in the Basquiat, Gerhard Richter sense that most people think of when they picture a famous artist - Jon is famous among painters. Painters who have dedicated their lives to seeing the beauty of simple, everyday scenes that many haven't learned to see.

I got to observe Jon's process and learned some things about how to use paint that I think will push my paintings to a new place. This painting was my first attempt with those techniques and even though it's a nice looking painting, it was NOT a good use of what Jon tried to teach.  I need to practice a lot more.  I felt so lame doing this, but I asked him to look at some of my paintings.  He had some good things to say but also some things that were hard to take. I appreciate the hard to take feedback most of all, and I think it will push me even more than the techniques and the knowledge of paint.  I really want to be good at this, and I respect the fact that people dedicate their lives to painting and never come close to Jon's level. I'm so lucky to have received that feedback, and I hope to be able go back and prove myself one of these days. 

Mexican Sunflowers

 

Mexican Sunflowers

9" x 12" oil on board

SOLD

I cut these from my yard right before the first hard frost, which wasn't until MID NOVEMBER! I tried to do them in only two colors, cadmium orange and phthalo blue, but I wound up have to add a yellow to get a touch more variation. 

Watering Can II

 

Watering Can II

9" x 12" oil on board

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I had scraped this one and was ready to wipe it, but I decided to daub in some of the values with my fingers.  I liked the effect, so I kept going.  You can see evidence of the scraping over the left shoulder of the watering can - evidence of the daubing in the circular shadow marks and highlights - those are from my fingertips. 

Scraping caused the background to be really greyed down and loose which made the color of the watering can pop.  Mental note to remember that for future paintings.  I also used a modified Anders Zorn Palette with only four colors" alzirian crimson, Venetian red, yellow ochre, and ivory black, plus white. 

Pitchers

 

Pitchers

12" x 16" oil on board

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What better activity than painting when you're home with a sick daughter?  She was too sick to paint with me but hey, I was close by and I heated her up some lentil soup to eat on the couch while I painted.  Don't judge.

I bought the pitchers for the sole purpose of painting them and both were purchased during anniversary mini vacations with my wife.  The yellow one is a French ball pitcher, purchased from an antique shop in Matthews, VA.  The blue pitcher is from an antique mall in Charlestown, WV - I wish I knew the style and provenance, but I forgot. 

October Light

 

October Light

8" x 10" oil on board

SOLD

I almost called this one, "Soccer Practice," because it's based off a photo that I took during my son's soccer practice. In the photo, there are kids playing soccer and parents, sitting in chairs staring at phones, which is what parents do during soccer practice. I didn't think that would make a great painting, so I left them out.  

I used three colors; viridian green, cadmium orange and manganese violet plus white. Working out the values and warm vs. cool was tough - it would probably be better if I gave it another try but as usual, it's all about time. 

Morning In Nelson County

 

Morning In Nelson County

8" x 10" oil on board

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Instagram

My wife, Sarah, and I just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  This painting is based on a photo from our 5th wedding anniversary down in Nelson County, VA. I think I snapped the photo as we were leaving the bed and breakfast on our way home from a weekend of hiking and wine drinking. We're celebrating our 15th at the Inn On Tabbs Creek, on the East River in Mathews, Va., near the Chesapeake Bay.  We're going to an oyster roast and then spending a day out on the boat, hopefully catching some speckled trout and rockfish. 

I haven't been painting from photos a lot, lately, but I wanted to try a new technique, which was turning the reference photo upside down while painting. The idea is to think more about shapes and warm vs. cool instead of painting things like mountains and trees. I think it worked!  I can feel the morning when I look at it and that was my main goal.  

Speaking of new things; I'm on Instagram!  I hate it and I'm already totally addicted and can't stop staring at my phone, but at least it's a good way to get visibility.  Here's a link:  

https://www.instagram.com/erik_bohn_painting/

Give me a follow!

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.