Johnnie Liliedahl Study - Reflections at Flatford Bridge

So I was excited to get my next DVD study by Johnnie Liliedahl from Smartflix.com the other day.  This one is a two hour demonstration including some building structures and the main focus being reflections in the water.  I really like her teaching and style, having gone through her Forked Path study. She paints VERY loosely on the underpainting and glaze layers and then zeroes in on details in the painting phases.

So here's my underpainting.  At this stage, honestly, I have to wonder how I'll dial it into an actual painting worth looking at, but I felt that way with the Forked Path painting I did...and I liked how that one turned out :-)

Blue Jay - Final (maybe)

I think I've pushed myself about as far as I can go on this without wrecking it.  Debated on whether to tame the bright branches on the right, but they actually show up more in this photo than in real life so decided to leave it.  Had a tough time laying in the berries.  My Erengi ArtAspirers are fairly firm OPs.  I have a few Senneliers which are alot softer and lay over the Erengi's very well...but didn't have any reds for the berries.  Note to self...pick up some more Sennelier's for the highlights!

So I think I'm done on this one (unless I go back a mess with those other branches)  ;-)

Blue Jay - WIP II

Finally, had a few hours free to for painting last night!  More work on the Blue Jay.  This part was scary...I like the Jay and was having problems dialing in the color on the background.  Lot's more work to go.

Blue Jay - WIP

Did a little more on the Blue Jay tonight. I'm just amazed by OP artists that can define such fine details in their OP paintings.  This is a fun painting though...I like working with many shades of blue.

 

Had another "duh" moment...discovered what those little metal tabs were for on my easel...yeah, they do a really nice job of holding onto my canvas without the easel itself getting in the way.  Neat!!

Switchin' gears...going OPs on this one...

This afternoon I sat down to draw with my daughter at the kitchen table.  Didn't have time to setup or cleanup the oils so I grabbed my oil pastels (OPs), found a good picture to "attempt" and got busy.  After the kids were in bed, I did a little more and decided to continue on this drawing to see where I could take it!  So at this stage this go either way...my best OP yet...OR a real OP disaster. I've forgotten just how unforgiving OPs are compared to oils!!