Storm Break

...Storm Break...

oil on linen panel - 12" x 16" 

I love problem solving, which means I had a lot of fun with this one! Originally, I challenged myself to do the whole painting in black and white and only have the three spots of bright blue in the sky. But when I did that, it was basically a gray painting, and it was rather dull and uninspiring. I like the dynamic shapes of the clouds! They seem to be having a scrimmage in a gentle U-shaped bowl composition. So, I reworked the painting, putting more color in the shadows. Now I am happy with it. For some reason, the idea of two clouds duking it out, makes me smile.

Meanwhile, Oscar watched the whole thing from his high perch in the corner of the loft. It is hard for me to find a place to put paintings to dry, because he goes everywhere. I'm thinking of putting up some narrow wall shelves (too narrow for a cat!)

Deepening Shadows

...Deepening Shadows...

oil on linen panel - 8" x 10"

This little scene is close to where I live, and it always looks so good! I want to paint it every time I walk by! The place is actually called Meeker Slough, but I didn't think that sounded like a very appealing title. Besides, the subject of the painting is the mood, not the place. The place is just the setting, to create the mood, or feeling. Sometimes I get totally blocked trying to think of titles for paintings.

Right now, we are having a storm with rain and 20 mph winds, and temps in the 30's. All the poor fruit trees got confused by the nice weather and are in bud, so we are hoping the temperature won't drop further. The plants here are usually confused! Some trees just dropped their autumn leaves last week. The spring flowers are blooming along the Bay Trail.

Point Isabel Sunset

...Pt. Isabel Sunset...

 oil on canvas on panel - 6" x 6"

This was a beautiful evening at the dog park at Point Isabel. There were a lot of people there with their dogs (which I didn't include in the painting). I had taken an online class from Deborah Paris on Painting Skies, which was really good! So, I want to do some more sky paintings. This one is quite small because I am trying out the technique and composition to see if I want to do a larger one. It has a fantastic glow, due to the final glaze of Gamblin transparent orange and brown pink.

Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty | Video on TED.com

Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty | Video on TED.com

Cathedral State Park

...Young Hemlock...

Yesterday, I went with my art buddies, Judy and Maria, to Cathedral State Park, near Aurora, WV. It is one of the last stands of virgin forest in the state. Ironic, that in the presence of huge 300 year-old trees, I would be most attracted to a young sapling, but I liked its expressive gesture. With all the chaos of detail, simplifying was a challenge. I used charcoal that Maria had made in her grill, from maple wood. It is smoother and gives a more sensitive line than any commercial charcoal I've used. Thanks Maria!

Child Portrait, step-by step, in charcoal #2

I'm sorry this is not a good quality image, it was still on the easel. You can see I've refined and softened the skin. Still working with vine charcoal here. By the way, the finger cots are not used now because once you get a lot of charcoal on the page, they tend to pick it up, so I have switched to a maul stick.

Ordinarily, I don't like portraits of small children with open mouth smiles, because young children have gaps between their teeth that create a snaggle-toothed look. But this little boy has nice close teeth. This is not really a finished portrait, but a study for a larger oil I will be doing next.

Child Portrait, step-by step, in charcoal

I like to begin portraits with a charcoal study. Actually I was this far along before thinking my blog readers might be interested, so I'm sorry I didn't take some pictures earlier. You can see the grid lines I used for placement, and you can see I massed in the shadows using soft vine charcoal. I sort of work back and forth with the charcoal and an eraser, putting in darks and taking them out, till it gets to where I want it.

 

Here is the set-up in my studio. There is the image on the computer screen. I like working from the computer because it is so easy to enlarge the image. Any artist who has tried to work from a photograph, even 8" x 10" size, knows what I'm talking about. As you can see, I made it easier on myself here by converting the photograph to black and white.

 

For you trivia buffs, I know this looks like a condom... It is a finger cot. I like to use my pinky finger to steady my hand, and this keeps skin oils off the paper.