High Noon on the Patio - Forest Edge

High Noon on the Patio - Forest Edge

5" x 7" oil on gesso board


My camera had a hard time with this photo, distorting values and colors as usual...Either way, this is an interesting little painting.  I used a palette of quinacridone purple, cadmium orange, and viridian green because when I sat in my lawn chair, eating lunch and thinking about this painting the day before, that's what I saw. I took a photo and did my best to premix values before I went outside because I knew the light would change quickly. I painted this between 12 and 1pm. The color combination made it tough to match the variety of colors, especially the greens, but I think it worked and it was more about the values anyway. The round thing in the lower left quadrant is a soccer ball that my dog, Riley, has been slowly chewing through the last two years.  That's her water dish just above the ball. I really like the greenish shadow on the flower pot in front and the mid value orange on the ball.  The chair is actually black, and I could have made it nearly back, but I felt like that would distract from the ball and the flower pot.

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.

'Wet Snow'

16" x 20"
Oil on Canvas Panel
$100

This is the last of three that I'm posting for October. I like this one a lot although my photo is bad as usual. When I look at my last 15 or so paintings I can see improvement, which is my goal. I've posted some links to a few of my favorite artists below - Although I know I'm improving, when I took at the work of the artists below, I realize that I have a long, long way to go. Some formal teaching might help too at some point.

http://jennifermcchristian.com/
http://www.johnsingersargent.org/
http://qiang-huang.blogspot.com/
http://www.bluecloudstudios.com/default.htm
http://matthewpeck.com/

Goin to the Show!

The 17th Annual Reston Juried Show that is...My painting "West Leigh and Hancock," was one of 44 works selected by judge, Daniel Wise, a fine artist and charter member of the Washington, DC Society of Landscape Painters, to hang in the exhibition this year. It's an honor just to have a painting selected to appear in the show because there are a large number of submissions from all over the DC Region in every available medium, not just oil or landscape. Wish me luck!

If you're in the area and you'd like to stop by and check out the exhibit, here's where and when:

DATES & LOCATION:
June 7th – July 6th , 2010

JoAnn Rose Gallery
Lake Anne Reston Community Center
1609-A Washington Plaza
Reston, VA 20190

"Snow on the Lines"

16" x 40"
Oil on canvas
Offers Accepted

This painting is hanging in our bedroom and has been since mid-February, 2010. But, it goes to show that you never really know when a painting is "finished." I thought this painting was finished until last night when I was laying in bed staring at it and thinking that it needed a few spots of bright-white in the foreground...So, I added them just a few minutes ago.

There are differing schools of thought on adding to paintings once they are supposedly "finished." Some artists are very much against "retouching" and view it as a blasphemous act that takes away from the original, creative moment. Others, like myself apparently, think it's done when we say it's done. I respect both lines of thought.

I painted this during one of the many 2010 blizzards - I think this was during the first February blizzard. Either way, these are the woods near our house in Reston, VA. The open, white area in the distance is an underground power line that runs through the neighborhoods. It's nice that Reston chose to bury their power-lines. Keeping the area around the lines open has allowed the surrounding neighborhoods to get a lot more use out of the space. There are garden plots, sports fields and courts, and paths all along the lines throughout Reston. It looks pretty good too...