Strange Path III

Strange Path III
5" x 7" oil on board
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Ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and white.

Philodendron Over Alaska

Philodendron Over Alaska
16" x 20" oil on board
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This is an interesting painting. It's called Philodendron Over Alaska because it's painted directly over a painting I had started from a photo reference from my wife's trip to Alaska.  I just couldn't get the original painting to work, and it bothered me that I had wasted a perfectly good 16" x 20" board, which is larger than I usually paint.

I'm not sure what possessed me to paint over Alaska without sanding it down or attempting to wipe it away, but the result is kind of cool.  Because I used thick brushstrokes in the underpainting, there are lots of interesting textures throughout the still life.  It almost looks like it was painted on plywood.  And because I used the same palette to mix the underpainting, I was able to let it poke through in places.  For example, the red and lavender of the chair is all underpainting with the wall blocked in to form the shape.  In reality, the chair is black, but I thought the red underpainting complimented the vase and added to the harmony of the painting.  I used the same effect in parts of the philodendron where you can see red and lavender poking through.

Strange Path II

Strange Path II
8 &1/2" x 11" watercolor on paper


Last Sunday, Sarah said she was bored so I convinced her to do some watercolor painting with me.  Getting started, I didn't have the most serious of intentions.  I was going to give Sarah some pointers and have a beer or two while painting leisurely. However, I wound up really liking the painting.

Sarah's painting turned out nicely as well.  Here are the suggestions I gave her:

1. Draw out the scene very lightly before starting.
2. Use only three colors to keep things simple:  red, blue, and yellow.
3. Paint in shadow areas first.
4. Move colors around. Don't limit a color to one spot.

Here it is:

Strange Path - Framed!

8" x 10" Oil on Panel
$75 - Framed - Sold

This is one of several paintings that I had framed for an exhibit that I have coming up in January.  The others are matted with glass over them and I'm trying to figure out how to photograph them without a reflection of myself in the glass...

I'm very impressed with how this turned out - the frame looks a little dark in the photo, but it has some reddish accents that really pull out the colors in the painting.  'Strange Path' will be on exhibit starting in January, but you can still contact me if you want it.  I'm trying to keep my prices down, but with the cost of framing, I had to up it a little -

"Strange Path"

8" x 10" Oil on Panel
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Yeah, it's a little strange, but I like it. I just wanted to mix things up a little because I'm getting pretty tired of everything I've been painting. In the coming year I plan to make to some changes to my painting methods (not that this painting is indicative of those changes). I think you can learn a lot by painting in studio from photo references as a beginner, but I'm starting to think that for me to truly evolve as a painter, I've got to get outside and stay outside.

You reach plateaus as a painter as you do in any artistic field and lately I've felt like the colors are there, the composition is there, the subject, but the paintings are still lacking and the only thing I can pin it to is a lack of spontaneity that I think, (I hope), will come from painting primarily outdoors. This might mean less frequent blog posts, but hopefully it will also mean the next step in my growth as a painter.

'Alaska Highway'

8' x 10' Oil on Panel

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I Went with a monochromatic color scheme of Phthalo Blue and white to create a dreary, wet sort of feeling. The photo that I worked from came from my wife's photos from her tour of Alaska last summer. I like how the road curves to the right and the mountains extend to the left suggesting that the road probably follows the base of the mountains.

"Glacier"

11" x 14" Oil on panel
Feels good to paint again after a busy week.  I've been lucky the past few months to have had enough time throughout the week to sneak in at least one painting, but the past week kept me busy day and night and I'm afraid it might stay that way for a while.  So, I may not post as frequently in the coming weeks, but I'll try to take advantage of the time that I have.

This may or may not be Mendenhall Glacier in the Tongass National Forest near Juneau, Alaska.  My wife toured Alaska this past summer and saw a lot of glaciers, but can't recall exactly which one this is...She did tour this area and definitely saw the Mendenhall Glacier and from what I can gather from the internet, this appears to be correct...I worked from one of the photos she took while biking the area.

I tried to make the glacier and the snowy mountain in the distance the center of focus by contrasting their bright colors with the dark forest in the top right. There are no reds in the actual photo, but I feel like they help to balance out all of the greens and blues and to add a little interest. I like this one.