I Forgot to Take a Picture!!!

Morning at Oak Bottom (in progress) - 9 x 12 - oil on linen

I'm totally enchanted by the way the sunlight rolls over the hills in the morning, when everything is soft and dewy, hitting the tops of the tallest trees first. Here I was trying to remember to take pictures of my work at different stages, so I could show how the painting developed. Well, that's a good idea, except I forgot to take a picture when the painting was finished!

You can see how I started here, wiping out the lights and creating paths for the eye to follow around the painting. There is more detail in the finished painting. The two little vertical lines on the right are markers to remind me where to put the two white sailboats.

It turned out that this painting (the completed version), was the one the park superintendent chose as my donation to the National Park Service! (Well, we all have moments like this...)

Study for studio painting

Landscape Study

This is my current work. It is a small painting (5" x 7") which I did as an experiment. I am trying some new colors: especially laying in the underpainting with cobalt violet. Since I like the effect, I am doing this painting again, only larger. Also I will work on some compositional problems when I do the larger work. This is why it is good to do small studies.

Oh, in case you have not had your daily dose of cuteness today, I have baby geese!

 As you may know, I live in a beautiful place. I am in an upstairs loft condo at the edge of a lagoon.

Well, yesterday morning, I looked out the window and there were two Canada Geese with 13 baby goslings, right below my deck!

See how they come and get under their mother's wing to get warm... So cute!

Of course, Oscar, the wonder cat, was on the case right away!

Here he is, hanging off the edge of the deck to get a better view!

After awhile, the parents took their little ones into the water, and they all swam away.

Here is Oscar, looking very disappointed... Poor guy.

Five Little Paintings...

First layer--transparent color

Here are the same paintings from last time. I have added transparent oil colors, thinned with Liquin. Now, they're starting to look like something. How do I know where to put these transparent colors? Well, it's generally the darks, the shadows, the bright clear colors, and the stuff underneath (like the ground under the grass or color of light in the sky). Basically, it's my gut feeling of what would look right... just based on experience. Now, they will dry overnight.

You have a good evening...

Shelves

I got two narrow picture shelves from Ikea and hung them yesterday. These, hopefully, will keep my paintings safe from Oscar, while they are drying.

This shelf has some 6" square panels with basic underpaintings on them. Even at this stage, it's pretty easy to tell which ones are dark dominant. (The light and mid-value dominant ones are not so easy). Well, it will become apparent in the next stage. Stay tuned...

"Brilliant Autumn"

6" x 8" - oil on canvas

Here is the Cheat River again. I paint it a lot. Autumn is the most colorful time of year, and I like to make the most of it by getting a lot of photos. I also kayaked here. The water was so shallow, I could see every grain of sand on the bottom. There are dangerous rapids just downstream. (I don't do rapids.)
I like this one. The evening light had a lot of orange in it. I toned the canvas orange, and was still adding it to almost every color.

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